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Best Application for Backtesting?


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Best Application for Backtesting?

  #1 (permalink)
 waverider 
Brisbane Australia
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Ninja; Amibroker; TWS
Broker: Kinetick, IB
Trading: Stocks, Futures
Posts: 46 since Dec 2009
Thanks Given: 28
Thanks Received: 6

Watched Big Mike's video online comparing Ninja and Multicharts for backtesting - awesome stuff, thanks Mike. Just starting to get into backtesting now and want to start in the right place. What is the best(?) platform for backtesting the ES for someone with limited, but definitely no C+ programming skills... Something serious, I'm dedicated .. Is Multicharts the way to go?
Thanks so much!

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  #3 (permalink)
 
sam028's Avatar
 sam028 
Site Moderator
 
Posts: 3,765 since Jun 2009
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MC coding is maybe better for you, the coding language is easier to understand than C#/NT for "normal" users.

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  #4 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
Frequency: Every few days
Duration: Weeks
Posts: 50,399 since Jun 2009
Thanks Given: 33,175
Thanks Received: 101,541

Personally, I find MultiCharts to be way, way above and beyond NinjaTrader for backtesting. I also find EasyLanguage to be more efficient. I am a HTML, Java, Perl, PHP, C# programmer, and I don't feel "restricted" by EasyLanguage at all. In fact, I enjoy it, because it forces me to write code that is useful for trading and not simply an ego boost to my programming capabilities

So, my recommendation is definitely MultiCharts. But I make that recommendation not just because of backtesting, but because MultiCharts is a solid trading platform, where other platforms are not and they force you to spend valuable time troubleshooting, reinstalling, fixing/repairing, or pulling your hair out instead of trading.

Mike

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  #5 (permalink)
 
bobbakerr's Avatar
 bobbakerr 
Riverdale, Idaho, USA
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Optimus Futures + MultiCharts + TradeStation
Broker: Optimus Futures, Rithmic Data, TradeStation
Trading: CL, ES
Posts: 115 since Aug 2010
Thanks Given: 241
Thanks Received: 51

Mike, will MultiCharts allow me to Backtest two different Tick Charts (of the same symbol)?

(I want to Enter off a 480-Tick chart and Exit off a 240-Tick chart.)

From what I've Googled so far, the implication is that I can. However, I want to be able to do it only in a program like EasyLanguage. I have no knowledge of C+, etc.

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  #6 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
Frequency: Every few days
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Posts: 50,399 since Jun 2009
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bobbakerr View Post
Mike, will MultiCharts allow me to Backtest two different Tick Charts (of the same symbol)?

(I want to Enter off a 480-Tick chart and Exit off a 240-Tick chart.)

From what I've Googled so far, the implication is that I can. However, I want to be able to do it only in a program like EasyLanguage. I have no knowledge of C+, etc.

You can have two dataseries, dataseries #1 is 480 tick and dataseries #2 is 240 tick. You can use both dataseries in decision-making, like when to enter or exit, but the actual entry and exit itself will always take place in dataseries #1.

MultiCharts has intrabarpersist, it basically means that unlike NinjaTrader, you do not need to wait for a 'bar' to 'close' (all 480 ticks) before a signal can be generated and sent into that bar. Personally, I think the way multiple dataseries are handled in MultiCharts is 10000x better and simpler than NinjaTrader, but you should always take the trial before you buy to make sure it fits your needs.

Mike

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  #7 (permalink)
 
bobbakerr's Avatar
 bobbakerr 
Riverdale, Idaho, USA
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Optimus Futures + MultiCharts + TradeStation
Broker: Optimus Futures, Rithmic Data, TradeStation
Trading: CL, ES
Posts: 115 since Aug 2010
Thanks Given: 241
Thanks Received: 51

Thanks, Mike. I think I will do the 30-day Trial of MultiCharts. I currently trade using Zumo and it's Firetip trading platform. I have downloaded TradeStation to try to backtest my strategies, but am not that good at programming to use ADE, global variables, etc.

I really like your forum!

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  #8 (permalink)
 waverider 
Brisbane Australia
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Ninja; Amibroker; TWS
Broker: Kinetick, IB
Trading: Stocks, Futures
Posts: 46 since Dec 2009
Thanks Given: 28
Thanks Received: 6

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I'm going to get started with MC. It's better than tradestation and all the rest it would seem ? (for backtesting) ... (and hopefully trading if they get a good DOM happening) ...

Is there any way to get it free if you don't use it for live trading (like Ninja) ?

Thanks again,

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  #9 (permalink)
 
LukeGeniol's Avatar
 LukeGeniol 
Italy (IT) Italy
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: ATAS, R|Trader, NT8
Broker: Rithmic
Trading: CL, Brent, GC, TF
Frequency: Daily
Duration: Minutes
Posts: 1,499 since Apr 2010
Thanks Given: 408
Thanks Received: 985

Give a look at Wealth-Lab.NET - Hometoo, it has a very good credit.
And lately I found this Quantum Charts, but dont know how it is.

Luke.

Take your Pips, go out and Live.
Luke.
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  #10 (permalink)
DummyWill
Louisiana mostly
 
Posts: 9 since Aug 2010
Thanks Given: 3
Thanks Received: 18


I'll throw in another vote for Multicharts as a backtesting platform. (Greetings, btw, first post on the forum).

With a good mind for logic and some basic programming skills, you can create strategies with MC or Tradestation that would take a huge amount of code and professional-level programming skills to write and debug in some other products.

If you're not a former Tradestation user, setting up Multicharts can be a learning curve, but it's not awfully steep. The relationship between your data feed, MC QuoteManager, and the MultiCharts executable itself, for instance. And the way different products use their own jargon (is that an Indicator or a Study? A Strategy or a Signal? etc). In other words, getting from the download to where you're staring at your tick chart, comfortable with the product, and ready to start backtesting.

Definitely consider the download and free trial period, it's fully functional, and focus that trial time on backtesting (for example, I've been using MC for a year and a half now and have never even opened the intraday scanner-- it has features for everyone, only use the ones you need, especially when the clock is ticking).

But if you do have any questions, I think you've come to the right forum!

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