does anybody know if any software with charting capabilities more advanced comparing to TS exists ? what should be changed in TS charting to become ultimate charting tool? or no ways to be bettre already? i`d like to get something like charting software wishlist. any opinions from real traders greatly appreciated
TS is outstanding and its charting is very, very, very good, they're not the only ones out there. Stocks & Commodities Magazine shows all the current competing packages out there. Get a copy, review them, download their samples, consider their market data fees and services and make that decision. let us know what you find....
If you're a programmer and want to "create a TS clone", as you said, I would consider a few things: If you want to sell the software and become the next Bill Gates, you probably won't succeed by yourself. Writing good charting software is a huge job, and there are already a LOT of programs on Windows (hundreds) which have a head start. You'd have a better chance at grabbing good market share on Mac or Linux, but their market shares are much lower, so unless one or the other really "takes off", you won't get rich anyway - but if Linux or the Mac DOES take off, you'll be set for life. If you're not interested in getting rich from your software, and just want to make something better than what's already out there, or have fun programming and learn new stuff, then you should join some of the open source projects already out there. That way, you'd be working as part of a team with other people, and would get better results because of teamwork, and you'd be able to shape and improve software that already has a following (and all the hard work's already done for you). Check out QTStalker, for instance - http://sourceforge.net/projects/qtstalker/ - It's already quite useable, but lacks a bunch of features that we'd all like to see. Instead of writing the "engine", you could work on the fun stuff, like new indicators and adding functionality to the solid foundation that is already in place. Or you could work on porting it to Windows, if that's what you're into, or making it into a realtime program. There's lots to do on all the little projects out there - starting another one will not be as successful or as satisfying as working with others to finish a project that's already started... But if you just wanted to write plugins for Tradestation or whatever, that's cool too. Everybody wants more plugins. I have a friend who's a plugin addict. Doesn't make any money trading, but has a huge pile of plugins anyway. Just my 2 cents, which is about $450 Canadian.
I'm a Tradestation user and really like the rock solid data (so far), but as far as the all extended capabilities go, system testing etc... I really don't need it all. As far as becoming the ultimate charting tool... personally, I like Qcharts better, but their data sucks. I think the problem becomes one of a program trying to become too many things to too many people, and in the process becoming a little too complicated, for what should normally be, very simple things. But, for the price (approx. $99/mth plus data fees if you have an account) it'd hard to beat. sp