gambler, QP2 or TC2000? Has anyone used both these products before. If so, how would you rate each one in terms of functionablility and ease of use. Also, how long do you have to wait before you can access the current day's data after market close. Can't help you on QP2 but I have used TC2000 for a number of years for end-of-day data and evening scanning. It's a fairly simple, straightforward program, easy to use, minimal programming capability but sufficient for many needs, good charting, extremely fast filtering (their ads claim ability to scan 9000 stocks in about 2 seconds and it's no false boast). You can download the current day's data throughout the day (20 min delayed), as often as you like, and end-of-day data is available from about 5:30-6:00p EST onward. Don Worden posts interesting notes, observations, and suggestions daily, but if you want those you'll usually need to wait a few hours more. Or you can ignore them, go ahead and pick up the current day's data, and get his notes later that evening or any following day.
gambler, I've used QP2 for a few years and it's useful. The best aspect of it is that you can program pretty much anything you want in terms of patterns or tech indicators (provided they support it) and have it scan the database. Scans are done in a few minutes on a reasonably fast machine. Their customer support is among the best I've used, and the program is very stable and reliable. There are lots of scans already written both within the program and on various websites. You can click through the charts that your scans select very quickly. Charting is much better than typical website charts but not up to tradestation/metastock level. Data is usually available 7:30 or so EST.
Hi, I compared both services and stayed with QP2 . Reasons : scanning with HGS warehouse ( Included in QP2 ) for fundamental data is fairly easy. Fundamental database is more comprehensive (Marketguide ) than with TC2000. For technical screening, QP2's scanner is more versatile - one can create almost any scan for technical indicator signals or self defined patterns. In TC2000, you need to create a lot of so called PCF formula as workarounds, since TC2000 can only use scans on pre-calculated parameters ( that's why it's update is so fast ). But once hou have defined about 20 PCF's, which have to be re-calculated after eacg data update, the process slows down considerably. Charting - TC2000 charts are slightly better than QP2's. However, both programs are not nearly as good for charting than MetaStock ( which own too ) or, my new favourite, Amibroker. It's amazing, what AB offers for a price of only 70 $ a year. IMHO, it's already as good as Metastock, but offers some additional features, like assigning stocks to sectors, markets, industries, portfolio management tool, backtesting on multiple securities ( if you like, you can backtest your favourite system against all stocks in your database with a keystroke ), access to fundamental data via weblinks ( yahoo finance - Marketguide ). If you wish, even automatic download of free historical and 20 minute delayed data from YHOO - US stocks and Indices only. RT version is in preparation . Import of historical data in MS format, from QP2 or TC2000. Direct access to QP2 data is scheduled for the next release. Release updates about every 4-6 weeks based on customer recommendations ( adding new indicators, functions etc. ) Great custmoer support and direct contact to the author via Yahoo group. Fairly active usergroup and downloadable formula ( infact, one can use almost all formula for Metastock in AB, the script is only slightly different, but most of the functions are identical ) For more info see www.amibroker.com downloadable demoversion available at their website. The demo is fully functional, but you can't save the changes or the data.