Which program seems to work better? I understand they can back test, but can these programs filter similar to a 1st Alert terminal? I'm looking for a comprehensive volume filter. Any Ideas?
I would also like to know a little about Metastock. I would like to know if Metastock EOD is worth buying or can you get the same info free from the web. I already have a real time data service so EOD would work for me if I can get some good ideas from it. Any help is appreciated.
I've used it, along with MS Real-Time, for years... works great. (There are some fancy features which I don't use, so can't vouch for them... ie, scan all stocks in a folder for certain characteristics, "expert" analysis, built-in trading systems, candlesticks pattern analysis, and more... + some optional plug-ins). You can probably get the basic charting and studies for free on the web, but perhaps not so neatly and conveniently packaged. Best features are probably "smart charts" and scrolling. In smart charts, a separate file is maintained and linked to your data chart. Whatever studies, lines, text, sysmbols you put on a chart are automatically redrawn and updated each time you display the chart. Works seamlessly. Also stores groups of charts as "layouts" with their smart charts. In scorlling, you can click a button and advance to the next chart + its smart chart. Makes it easy to scroll through a folder quickly. Check their website for the possiblility of a month-month lease deal. Maybe you sign up, test your little heart out for 30 days and cancel if it doesn't suit you. Works with only about half dozen EOD data vendors, so check that out first. I've used Reuters with the EOD. Works great. Presently, I use eSignal with MS Pro. They've been 100% on technical support.
Metastock produces outstanding looking charts. It is a great program if you are very visual. Also the scanning works very well, as long as you are using some very simple methods, such as Close>some percentage of something AND Volume>something else. However, forget about any serious backtesting or analytics. Tradestation will be your choice there. It is tremendously more capable and powerful. The drawback is that you cannot scan a database of symbols as you would do in the Explorer in Metastock. I understand that there's been some speculation that an upcoming version of Tradestation will have some Radarscreen capability, although it's only rumor and I wouldn't "hold my breath" waiting for that one. (I've owned and used Tradestation 4, Tradestation 2000, and Metastock Pro for the last eight years. TS2000 is what I primarily use for real time system trading and backtesting. I trade index futures only, so the lack of scanning capability is not a big drawback for me.)
Dave, What backtesting data capability does Tradestation have. I use one minute data(futures). 1. How many one minute bars can be backtested at once? 2. How much data is available historically for one minute futures data? 3. Can you program tests using multiple time frames? 4. Is the realtime data corrected, and therefore is different than the data that you will use in testing historically? I have found some apple/oranges differences in realtime vs. historical tests of the data with MS. This is because the realtime data gets corrected after the fact. Not a big deal since it should work out the same over the long haul. Changes in volume, highs/lows/closes occurs and can cause differences if using price patterns or some indicators. 5. How difficult will it be for me a 17 yr. MS user to go to Tradestation 6? I guess you do not use TS 6, so the above would need to apply to that software. Thanks, Bob
Several immediate advantages come to mind: the ability to use Stop and Limit orders, the ability to load almost unlimited amounts of data for testing, e.g. over 1 million bars versus a 62,500 limit, much more extensive analytics such as MAE, MFE, drawdown calculations, the capability to assign values to variables selectively (as opposed to every bar, or worse, having to use the PREV function in Metastock), and if those aren't enough, you can program anything else to output your trades, daily results, weekly results, etc. to a text file. I find the Sharpe Ratio to be particularly useful. As many as your computer system resources will allow. This varies depending on your operating system and computing power. I know of many people who have loaded 1.3million bars and over before their system resources began giving them trouble. Again, it depends on your data vendor. TS6 users are stuck with a single data feed, which I believe goes back for a little over 1 year on 1 minute data. I've chosen Quote.com for my historical data, and that goes back currently to April 1997 on a 1 minute basis. Yes. You can add up to 50 symbols to the same chart using any timeframe you desire, except tick based bars (e.g. 50 tick bars). Combine 1 minute, 5 minute, and 187 minute bars if you'd like. Throw in a 780 minute bar as well for a two day equivalent. Whatever you like, you aren't limited to a maximum of a 60 minute intraday bar either. I understand this is more of an issue for equities traders. There are only a few instances where a print was later busted/corrected on Globex, so it really hasn't been an issue for me trading the index futures. TS6 will be more prone to the issue you are describing. It depends how comfortable you are with Metastock's Formula Language. I think those who have just used it superficially (or any trading language for that matter) will likely have a harder time with any new trading language. If you are comfortable with a formula language, it will be much easier to switch. All of the features and subtleties will come as you use the language more and more. Having said all of this, I don't want to appear to be totally biased towards TS. It's the one I use all the time, and the one I'm most comfortable with. However, there are some excellent alternatives that you should consider as well. Three of those are WealthLab Developer, Amibroker, and Neoticker. Do a search for those on this site, and you'll find a lot more information about those.
Could you please explane why you only consider TS as an replacement for MS? I think you should define your needs better (if you are not happy with MS) to find the correct software. My feeling is, that TS is moving more and more towards a broker who is offering a software that happens to be able to do some backtesting on individual symbols. I dont see any sign of any impovements in the software since years. Saskia