Does anybody know/have experience with about software titles built to automate the process of keeping one's "trade journal"?
Good Question. I have been doing some searched on that subject. Havent found much but tax prep software. Any body know of a great software program that will download your trade data and analyze it. I am interested in calculating performance such as short vs long morning vs afternoon day of week I have made a spreadsheet for all my trades but its very cumbersome to manipulate all of that data. Thanks Warren
I'm going through the same problem too. I've had to stay with Excel for now but it is getting cumbersome with integrating trades from multiple platforms and brokers. I'm currently trying to automate this process as much as possible and it would seem there is something off the shelf that would work better. The problem is that most brokers don't support the same software and the formats of data vary widely. For now, I am going to attempt to automate Excel with macros and VB until something better comes along.
I played around with the free version of StockTickr a bit and from looking at their website it appears to be pretty powerful (it's an online program). I believe it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $50/month for the full-featured version. Looks to support a decent number of brokers (IB, TOS) for importing trades.
Yes that is exactly the problem I am running into. Most software seems to be greared twards setting up tax doc's. As a newer trader I am looking to evaluate my trades and get a clearer picture of where I need to improve the most. I'll keep looking too!
I'll add to this crowd. I'm looking for a nice package that will import my historical trades from IB, plot them visibly on a chart that hopefully I can customize to evaluate my past performance. I'm currently looking at Amibroker, but unclear how to import my significant trading history into it - seems clumsy. Any suggestions welcomed! And I have also looked at StockTickr. I like what they do, but (1) it seems awfully expensive for my purposes (would be $500+ per year) and (2) it doesn't allow a ton of customization of the charting views.
I use Realtick, Think or Swim and E Trade Pro for my platforms. Here are my results so far. 1) http://blog.stocktickr.com/ $50/mo $500/yr. Fully automated with approved brokers. Advanced statistical analysis. Charts showing your entry exit and stop. So far this is the most expensive and best tool. Multiple account support. 2) http://tradingspreadsheets.com/default.aspx $47 / market $20 additional each account. Manual trade entry. Basically a professionally generated excel sheet. 3) http://www.tradeperformance.com/ $295 and $25 / mo support A few brokers supported. Able to import QIF and REDI-plus files. Performance Analysis: Accurate Return on Investment Calculation Trading Rules, Trade Record Keeping: Position Monitoring: Tax Reporting: Others encountered on my search: http://amibroker.com/ $200 Looks like mostly a trading platform. Charting, back testing Account manager, automated trading interface. http://www.tradecision.com/ $2000 $200 Looks like mostly a trading platform. Seems like each has its merits. I am going to demo choice one stocktickr since it will mark my trades for me on the chart. (a time consuming task I do every night) and also has many different ways to look at results. It appears they integrate multiple accounts as well. They also have you tube tutorails which help me understand a new work flow faster. Hope this is helpful. Warren
This is the best yet - supports Interactive Brokers with bulk downloads, <$100 a year, just what I was looking for. Going to trial it now