Ok - we need to separate a few concepts here: 1. Charting software. This software category charts stocks and indicators and can function in a real-time or end of day mode. The leaders in this category include: eSignal, Tradestation, Ensign and a bunch of others that I can't think of. Most offer both real-time or EOD feeds, so if you are holding for longer periods and want a charting program, any of these will do. Hell, Prophet.net and Stockcharts both offer very good EOD charts for free. 2. Backtesting software. This software will allow you to create automated buys and sells (such as "buy when the 20-day moving average crosses the 50-day moving average"), and then test those buys and sells against historical data. Products in this category include: eSignal, Telechart (from Worden), Tradestation, Metastock and a bunch of others. 3. Portfolio backtesting software. This is software that will allow you test one or more trading systems against a portfolio of instruments/equities and offers tools to manage money across those positions. Products in this category include: Tradestation (with add-ons), TradersStudio, TradingBlox, QuantDeveloper, Trading Recipes and RightEdge. 4. Black-box systems. This is software that you purchase or subscribe to that generates the buy and sell signals for you. The systems can be day trading, swing trading, or long term trend following - or anything else you can think of. They may run in one of the other software solutions, or they may provide a dedicated software tool to provide the signals. Generally, they don't tell you how they work (which can be problematic). There are a ton of these out there - MESA, eASCTrend, etc. I can't possibly name them all. A good place to start, in looking at these systems, is Attain Capital (I have no connection to the firm) - they provide an excellent system ranking service that covers some of the major systems: http://www.attaincapital.com/systemrank/index.htm. So all this is to say that there are any number of products depending on your need. If you're just looking for simple EOD charts, I'd be surprised if your broker did not provide them. And a disclaimer: I may have left off some products - great apologies to anyone I left out or if I've mischaracterized something - feel free to correct. I've used most of these tools in one way or another but I don't consider myself an expert across them all.
I haven't reviewed the thread lately, so sorry if this is a repeat, but in category 2, for price/value ratio, Amibroker must be mentioned. I am sure that if your coding skills are good enough, it could provide category 3 functionality too. The program also works fine in terms of EOD charting for me, not sure about RT. There is an IB plug-in available.
I am just trying to get good information on some of the available Black Box and Artificial Intelligence trading systems. Specifically, which do people find the most: 1. Accurate 2. User friendly (for someone without programming skills)
I hear alot of people use esignal too. Same for tradestation and now I am hearing tradestudio across this entire forum. Can someone link the site for tradestudio.