I looked at the release notes, and had to make a double take because I was expecting some ground breaking features for a brand new version, but was sadly mistaken, as I did not see much I cared about.
Most of the changes I saw were new EasyLanguage features. Wonder if MultiCharts will implement those.
The following is the summary of the changes:
What's New in TradeStation 9.0
Below is the release history for TradeStation 9.0. Click on a release name or What's New link to access additional information. The most recent releases appear at the top of the list.
Release What's New Online Seminar Release Date
Update 8521
* Matrix Auto-centering-Related Fixes
* Addressed user and internally reported issues
11/12/2010
Base
* A Message from the TradeStation Development Team
* New TradeStation Quick Start
* Enhancements to the TradeStation Development
Environment(TDE)
* Enhancements to EasyLanguage
* EasyLanguage Class Library (ECL)
* New TradeStation Analysis Techniques and Functions
* OptionStation Enhancements
10/20/2010
The following user says Thank You to aslan for this post:
Hi, I am a total FOREX newby and have not started trading yet but am in the process of trying every single domo platform I can.
It is amazing what I have learnt in 1 week but one of the things that frustrate me most is the fact that I cannot seem to find a platform I am comfortable with. I know millions of traders use all the generic platforms such as MT4 and such but I like to think I am different (don't we all???....LOL) One of the things that seem to frustrate me most is that we look at charts and make our decisions based on those chart indicators then we have to manually type or set a trade unless you set templates for 1 click trade.
To me this methodology seems crazy, why not be able to effectively open, close, set and adjust trades directly from the chart and that is how I eventually came across Tradestation. I have viewed the demo and to me this system makes a whole lot of sense.
My problem is I can find very little information on the web re this platform and the 2 or 3 threads I have found have been negative towards the brokes greed but nowhere does anyone seem to give feedback on the actual platform.
Can anyone currently using this platform or has in the past used this platform, please tell me the good, the bad and the ugly about this system?
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The biggest disadvantage to TradeStation is that you have to use them as a broker. So you may pay more for commissions, have less desirable margins, etc. But if you are trying to simplify things, then those could also be viewed as positives.
TradeStation is a solid platform with a lot of features and functionality. But if you don't want to use them as a broker, then there are likely better platforms out there and you can also find a better broker.
Good. Easy Language is fairly intuitive, easy to learn.
Good. Trade virtually any instrument you decide to pay for data feed.
Good. Competitive brokerage fees, especially for higher volumes.
Good. Customer service (at least in my experience) has always been helpful.
Bad. No demo. You have to open an account, which means you're eating data and platform fees while you sim. Your platform fees get waived if you make at least 10 trades (roundturn) a month.
Bad. Exclusive brokerage (unlike Ninja where you can choose any number of brokerages).
Bad. Backtesting. Still cannot backtest with tick/tick the way you can with Ninja...
Bad. Platform is pretty complicated, takes quite awhile/effort just to learn how to do simple things like bracket orders and setup charts to your liking.
Bad. Cannot sim and trade live at the same time...must open a separate account and pay for a second data feed. (not sure if anyone offers this capability, but it's a real PITA)
The following 4 users say Thank You to RM99 for this post:
Hi Big Mike. thanks for the feedback.......it sucks that Tradestation mainly deal with professional, traders because as I see it their charting program is quite brilliant. Pity they are so greedy but maybe that could change if they opened their software to ammateurs.
I really do like the fact that you can manipulate stop losses and positions directly on the chart with the new chart trader ability.
Do you know of any other software that has this feature or are Trademaster the only one with this brilliant feature. I have searched high and low and cannot seem to find any other program that has this????
Sierra is good chart-based trading; I like their 'from the chart' trading the best. Though I have to use Esignal and Ninja for some other stuff; if I could--I would use Sierra Charts for all my trading needs.
Alot of brokers now support Sierra Charts.
peace
r247
The following user says Thank You to researcher247 for this post:
When I first started trading, I used ThinkOrSwim and I thought the chart trading features was a must have. I eventually moved to TS and, initially, I was upset that it did not have a chart trading feature. I felt like I was having a withdrawal depression without chart trading.
There is a third party chart trading tool that's very nice but it's a bit pricy (see another post on this site about that). Then I started using the matrix in TS and realized that this is a much better way to manage trades, at least for the short term day trading type of trades. The matrix provides a more granular control over where to place entries and stops. Whereas ToS chart trading made it approximate based on the size of the chart and how steady my hand was on placing the stop line. The pro of the TS matrix, if you can call it that, is that I can watch the bid and ask volume on the matrix. I've used this as a way to place stops around big volume bid or ask prices. The downside is that I have another window open and something else that could be considered a distraction. I tried using the equivalent in ToS (called the Active Trader) and it did not compare with TS' matrix. I don't think I would ever go back to using a chart trader.
I don't use the strategy or back testing features of TS, but there are definitely some other lacking features of TS that are overdue for updates. One issue I don't like about TS as a broker is that you have to have different accounts for futures, equities and forex trading. There is no "all in one" account. So if you don't want to get caught in the "pattern day trader" net for each of those accounts, you have to fund them with US$25k each.
The other plus of TS is that it's extremely stable. In the past year, I've have 3 experiences where it hung or had to be restarted.
Regards,
-C
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” - Sun Tzu
The following user says Thank You to cbritton for this post:
Being a newby at FOREX, it is mind boggling the amount of information out there and there also seems to be as much positive as negative towards most brokers, most platforms and the charts these various platforms provide….cutting through the clutter is simply a process of trial and elimination by playing with the various platforms to find the one which is most comfortable for me as an individual.
I now believe I have come down to a fine list of where I need to start as a beginner and then as I become more experienced and familiar with trading I will naturally look for a better platform and/or broker and/or charts.
The combination factors I have selected were to firstly choose my preferred platform then find the right broker that supports that platform because to me it seems crazy to read and plot a chart and then place a position on a different platform that is not synched.
I have decided I want to develop my own technique and work out my own indicators so I do not necessarily need a plarform that provides robots or preset trading strategies so I do not need a Market Maker Broker that provides simplicity gimmicks, rather it is in my interest to use a Non Dealing Desk Broker which does not work against my positions and gives me a smaller spread which ultimately means I potentially make more money and/or it also costs me less per trade.
I also need a broker that will allow leverage up to X200 plus scalping plus does not require me to start with a $10K min trading account so all these factors have reduced my option of brokers which is a good thing.
For those that are interested in my research , here are the result of my trials.
* I have tried eToro – absolutely love the simplicity but spreads are way too large and system just seems too simple – charts are crap - This is a Market Maker Broker so it instantly puts them out of the equation anyway.
* I have tried – DealBook 360 and DealBook Web. Nice system but for some strange reason it does not feel right??? As I see it, DealBook is like Apple v Microsoft where Dealbook is Apple.
* I have tried Matatrader 5 but as I understand it is still in beta phase and not many brokers use it although it is based on a new platform and does have enhanced features over Metatrader 4 so possibly something to watch going forward.
* I have not yet tried the Tradestation software and it appears I will probably not use it because Tradestation as a broker, price themselves out of the market for beginners and they make no quarms about the fact that they appear to only want to deal with professional traders......if you look at their prices, you wonder why anyone would use them....maybe their software is just sooo brilliant but unfortunately at this stage I will never know.
* I have tried AxisTrader using Metatrader Axis platform linked to MyFx Console which allows for simple template 1 click trades – at present, this seems to be my preference…not sure why but maybe because they are Australian, good reputation, excellent spreads and simple 1 click template setup trading. This uses the Metatrader 4 system. BUT what brings this together for me is the synch with MyFx Console.
It appears that 80% of trader use a spin off of Metatrader 4 so I suppose at this stage I cannot go too far wrong.
So there you have my journey and now that I have made my decision of platform and broker I will now start studying, working out my own indicators and demo trade, demo trade, demo trade......
PS: I forgot to mention in my previous thread, during my trial phase I have tried to communicate with many brokers and all bar 2 have taken the time to actually call me. All the others have been via email only and there have been days delay in communication. So to sum up, in the past week I have had amazing support service from AxiTrader with numerous phone calls from them so if this is any indication considering I am not even trading yet, it appears my selection of broker based on service has been pretty good.
using TRAD as a broker is a choice in the end... one can still use the platform, and send the other to other brokers triggered by the TS9 platform.. there are tools that enable you to do that, and some ELD's written by other platform vendors... as an example.. Tradevec enables systems trading from tradestation... another one that does similar thing is NinjaTrader, and then there is also tradebullet... and that is just to mention a few.
LOL, I am not going so start trading with X200 leveredge but once I get good at it, I would like to know I have that option available to me. Besides, with my curren broker I can trade a lot smaller $ entry positions with up to X200. They do not require that my minimum buy in must be $1K or even $100.
I ran Tradestation and NT/Mirus side-by-side for a few months. 75% of the time there was minimal difference, but Tradestation definitely had more data lag during high volume and even froze occasionally while NT hummed along. The only time I have had NT lag issues was when I had too many indicators (that will get you in trouble anyway), global draw objects on too many charts, or certain indicator shading opacity. Tradestation writing was so much easier for a non-programmer, and the historical data was better, but for stability, NT was in a completely diffferent league.
Hi Gary, thanks for the feedback. I have eventually decided to use AxiTrader which uses the MT4 platform but I have attached MyFx Console and the 2 together work great. Granted the charts leave a bit to be desired but at this stage I am now focused on getting my trade indicators right and doing a lot more practice trading then once I am more confident and am trading live then I will look at more in depth charting software.
I will first try and master my system on a basic charting program.
That last one is nice. I was not aware that OOEL was able to do multi time frame calculations from one indicator. For those who don't have tradestation or access to the support site, this is the description for the one I'm talking about:
This RSI indicator example is set up to look across three different time frames and alert the trader when an oversold or overbought condition exists across all three multi-dimensional times.
It's interesting to me because I'm looking at building a multi time frame indicator and this should give me some insight on how to do it with OOEL instead of the ADE/GlobalDictionary approach. The others are some pretty nifty eye candy. I'm not smart enough to understand that activator indicator....
Thanks,
-C
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” - Sun Tzu
re data issues at TS .... that is why I left them several years ago but since I like their platform so much and they have a new data center, I was 'hoping' the data issues were gone, which is why I popped some token money back into an account there.
Is anyone else having data issues with them? I am not, with futures anyway, after one week back in the fold.
The data fees are pretty unacceptable if you're trading multiple exchange instruments ( a big mistake for their business is not participating in the CME fee waiver; maybe they will, with new ownership) but I'm not so I live with the CME fee as the price of having a great platform (as user friendly as it gets) with massive, easily accessible (key) historical data for back testing.
I'm starting to totally regret going down the Easy Language path.
1) TS does not natively support limit orders. So essentially, if you trade tick/tick you have to do some very painful and sophisticated workarounds in order to not violate the "15 second" rule. If your exits update more than once every 15 seconds, the TS stop server will not hold your stops.
2) You can still only get 6 months of tick data. Which isn't a big deal for some, for others, it's a nuisance. I can't populate "advanced" or tick based bars any further back than 6 months. So there's no backtesting further than 6 months for tick based charts.
3) You can only get 18 months of even basic chart data. Ironically, the Sharpe ratio won't even calculate with less than 36 months of data.
4) Trading multiple strategies on the same instrument/symbol is a non-starter. Still can't do it without serious headaches. So portfolio trading is out the window unless you open several accounts and pay for several data feeds. (you can do it, but the "position checks" don't work).
The list of limitations is quickly piling up for me. I'm starting to regret going the "Easy" route. I'm even debating dumping all that I've learned in EL and starting over with Ninja or something more capable.
Site Administrator Swing Trader Data Scientist & DevOps
Manta, Ecuador
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Trading: Futures & Crypto
Posts: 50,004 since Jun 2009
Thanks: 32,468 given,
98,287
received
I think you mean you regret going down the TradeStation path. As far as I know after taking a quick glance at those issues you listed, MultiCharts can do all of them. After all, MultiCharts was designed with automation in mind. It is much more powerful than TradeStation, and in my opinion NinjaTrader, when it comes to what it can do with automated strategies.
My trading has evolved to several simple -- for me -- techniques where I don't use that fine level of tick accuracy to auto-initiate the trades so it's not an issue for me with TS. Plus, I'm not executing multiple strats per symbol.
I've never had a problem with getting non-tick data going WAY back, on the cme futures or any stock symbols. That's been one of the strengths of TS for me; getting lots of historical data without any futzing around.
TS hopefully has put their data issues behind them.
As far as just being usable and user friendly from the git-go, TS was/is easier for me to use than MC but I can understand where someone who is doing more complex stuff and who really knows what they're doing with the platform would like MC more - I always welcome comparisons between the two.
