i have not done much backtesting before. if i were to start now, what program should i use? tradestation and wealth-lab are discussed a lot here. what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? what are you guys using? are you happy with it? i will point out a major deciding factor for me.... if i'm going to put time into learning the syntax for these programs, i want it spent on something that will last. basically, i don't want to spend a lot of time learning a language that will be extinct in a year. thanks
Delphi Pascal that Wealth-Lab is based on will stand on its own for years to come thanks to Borland's Delphi reputation. Plus, if you ever decide to switch to Ensign, you will have to problem to do so as Ensing has a very similar language (a subset of Pascal).
I felt the same way as you do before I moved to WL. I was a long time TS4 user and had to make a decision to move to another software or to stay with TS and except the various limitations. With a new company like Wealth-Lab there is always the risk that it will go out of business and that all of my learning will be in vane. After transferring my system from TS to Wealth-Lab I am very happy as it is. For me the software does everything I need right now and TS will not have in ten years. Some improvements I would like to see are already on the feature request list and I voted for it. They are mainly nice to have but not essential for my trading. WL deserves to be named here whenever the question of software comes up because it is a superior product. There forum is the best in system testing with a lot of very smart people participating.
From what I have read, Wealth-lab Version 3 promises to be an awesome product. It is due for release late first QTR 03. I think this product will make a big impact when it arrives. Runningbear
great to hear you are getting started.. I have used tradestation2000i for awhile and happy with it but wealth-lab can do portfolio testing and money mangement is a real plus.. don't know about TS6 though
My biggest problem with WL is that it doesn't supprt the big hitters in datafeeds like ILX, Hyperfeed or SPComstock. GIGO nitro
You can program loops in AmiBroker using JScript and VBScript. See for example http://www.amibroker.com/newsletter/13-2001.html