Slow responder here, sorry.. I have a little experience with Openquant, but single instrument only. The backtester is slow but you can just toss all your whole test into one big sim anneal backtest and come back in the morning... I really never had any crash problems with OQ. If I want something to work I keep it behind a white listing firewall, I swear, 98% of problems just never happen then
Agree. I can't imagine how much money a guy like that can lose trading... It's quite understandable how he wants to be a vendor now...
The entire TickZOOM platform is open source to Gold members. Only the engine which does nothing else but convert data to bars and events is closed except to members who pay extra to get that source. There is a trial demo open only to applicants who's application gets accepted. There's an old video demo of tickzoom but a very simplistic GUI. A new one will be updated and publicly available but only during our "windows" of opportunity to apply.
You're right. TickZoom remains committed to open source, makes heavy use of compatible open source and will remain so. But, unfortunately, the only viable business model was to charge major bucks to provide world class support and service. For example, if a member reports a critical bug or needed enhancement in tickzoom, they get a new build released and fixed in hours (not months or years like others). That's all due to 2 reasons. 1) an extreme amount of automation in the Q&A, testing, build, and release system. 2) TickZoom keeps a very limited number of users. We recently booted the freebie users. And we only support trial users during the limited trial window of opportunity every couple of months. In short, tickzoom aims to "make love" to paying members. And the TickZOOM paying members love this attitude very, very much as you can imagine. They all volunteered to post testimonials and answer questions during the next window of opportunity. If anyone can't afford tickzoom or get accepted for the demo, let them use TradeStation, NinjaTrader, OpenQuant, MultiCharts, Trading Blox, etc. There's plenty of other trading platforms.
Everyone, with all due respect to bluelou, it appears you will continue to find an increasing number of posters on elitetrader and elsewhere unhappy about being turned down as potential members. That a byproduct of the fact that we only have 5 openings for this next window of opportunity. An unfortunate situation. I'm open to ideas on how to remedy that. Wayne
It's kind of you to put in a positive word and I concur. That's why I brought on board a business manager. He's semi retired with tech and other experience at business management. He's been very helpful. Yes, my primary value add to the business will be in the software engineering. FYI, people say TZ switched from open source to closed. That's false. It was never different that it is right now except it ET discussions. It has always been a fully open source platform and commercially open source engine. What recently did change was that we booted the anonymous, freebie users ability to download the trial version and closed the forum to members only. That happened because tickzoom added game changing features suggested by members. Those same members hate to see any anonymous freebie user getting access. Unfortunately, none of the paying members like the idea tickzoom offering anything free except a limited time trial. All the paying members tell horror stories of signing up for software, even expensive packages but their needs "fell on deaf ears" as the software companies focused on adding features to attract new users rather than assisting current users. Thanks again jdeezero05.
Interestingly, my entire trading record including discretionary before automated is well above break even. But not much, admittedly. In discretionary trading I was one of those that tended to lose back big winnings. As far as automated, that's working well. I just wish there were more capital in my account. But it grows. But even a 50% return on $1 is only 50 cents. LOL To your point about losing money with a system, it's strange what nay sayers claim about trading and even automated trading. In contrast, TZ has a variety of successful members including institutions that make millions auto trading (before finding tickzoom) and individuals who successfully trade automated for their living (also before finding tickzoom)...no "day job". To that point, tickzoom screens members to only accept winners and preferably traders who are already winners before finding tickzoom. Those same nay sayers often recommend to let them join because there's tons of money to be made by selling software to the 90% of people who will only waste money on software and course and never profit from the markets. I say, let those people please use a different software platform. Wayne
You mean, standard software development best practices like build files, automated unit and functional testing, continuous integration etc.?
Bluelou, By the way, you were very nice on the phone and I don't take any of this personally. Since, on the phone, you told several stories about getting burned by several other trading platform vendors, it's understandable the pain you experience. And I apologize for our acceptance policy. We have to make decisions in the memberships best interest. Your negative press here is appreciated since, as they say, "all press is good press". It seems that applicants turned away from tickzoom will provide far more publicity than satisfied members. I wish you every success in your trading! Sincerely, Wayne P.S. To everyone, I'm disabling notification on this thread to avoid the temptation to keep beating a dead horse. I wish you all the best.
All I have to say is... for you to stick with one alias. People changing their aliases every 2-3 months is a good indication of a troll / spammer... You're already starting to get a reputation as a churn with how you handled bluelou's question in and out of ET. Seriously, think twice before you do something and don't post things while drunk... It's "only ET" but it's a public forum. You have a track record for being inconsistent and posting "stupid" comments in a serious tone. In another words, you're a very easy target... Good luck with you. You'll need it.