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jlm890: Fantastic answer, John! I realize some of the questions may not be specific enough to get a clear answer, but I left them that way to try to cast as wide a net as possible, since I have no idea how varied the types of homegrown apps there are out there are. So, for #6, anyone can...

Yes, indeed--perl definitely keeps my part of the universe together! My family and I would be starving and broke right now if it weren't for my beloved perl... I guess why I never seriously considered it was that I believed that I could find a canned platform that could meet all my needs...

Thanks, damir, for the very detailed (and very surprising) response! I am a perl programmer by day and never seriously considered using it for trading. Just to clarify for others who might read this thread: on #4, the grid/farm stuff would be for backtesting (or conceivably for those guys...

hylt's poll on most powerful trading/backtesting software got me thinking: we've got a lot of built-from-scratch software platforms around here--some highly sophisticated, others not. I'm curious as to how these platforms are set up. If you've eschewed the software platforms on the market and...

riskarb: On behalf of all the ETers you've helped with your thousand+ posts, thanks for all the knowledge that you have so graciously imparted to us. Guys like mysticman are in no way representative of the many peope you have helped along the way.

Count me as one vote for someday offering historical back-fills through the IB TWS API (and also lifting the symbol limit) for a modest increase in the monthly subscription fee. I would like to streamline my setup, reducing the number of different software packages, data sources and...

How true! I recently lost 15% of my account in two days but was totally unfazed by the loss. Why? Because through dedicated backtesting and optimization, I know that my system's max drawdown is 19%--as long as I don't go beyond that, it can make up the loss on its own. Going beyond a 19% loss...

If you've replaced the chip, fan and heatsink with a brand new one and still have the problem, then you probably are having trouble with some other component (perhaps the supporting chipset on the motherboard). I suggest that you take the processor you have and plug it into a different system...

Jim: By the time you are ready to actually trade for a living, you will have already answered your question for yourself. What I mean by that is that you will already have developed one or more systems or methodologies that you have traded and perfected for a while and that you will know...

I agree with hanseng1--Tradestation's EasyLanguage is very easy to get started in. Wealth-Lab is more for programmer-traders. If you can program in any intermediate full-featured computer language, you should definitely try Wealth-Lab, but if you are new to programming, start with...

If you're new to programming, you'll find C++ to be extremely daunting. Visual Basic is easier, though still very tough. You should try your hand first at simpler languages like pseudocode, then step up to Metastock or Amibroker's easy proprietary languages, then TradeStation's EasyLanguage...

Dude, as a coder, you've got to check out QuantStudio (www.smartquant.com). I wish I had started on that platform--I'd be sitting pretty right now rather than having invested so much time and money into other platforms whose limitations cut me off far too early in my trading system development...

It's pretty much the same conflict as that between every individual's need for privacy and his/her need to socialize. Somewhere in the middle of these two competing (but not necessarily diametrically-opposing) needs is a balance point for the individual in question. The ultra-private (some...

More data to test on is generally better than less, so the longer time frame would offer a more significant result. However, this is not to say that the shorter, more recent time period should be disregarded. The best use is of both time periods: use the previous year (no overlap with the 3...

IBM wins hands-down in my book. I buy a laptop every other year (mainly as a write-off, but also to stay current). Of all the brands I've tried (and repaired), IBM is the best built laptop around. Yes, it is true that they are always a little behind the other guys in terms of capability, but...

Easyrider's right. The probabilities/odds/expectations on casino games that are usually bandied about are the theoretical numbers, which assume a perfect player. But since most players allow psychology and human foibles (fear/greed--the same stuff that plagues traders) to interfere with...

My main trading/backtesting/optimization platform is a 1.6GHz Pentium M in a teeny tiny little IBM X31 (under 4lbs!!). And the new ultra-ultra-thin X40 (or is it X41?) is also packed with a Pentium M. (Some models are Centrinos, others aren't.) Currently I do ALL of my trading activities on...

Cutten's second method worked for me, though I didn't go FIVE times normal, just double-size. Using profit and loss targets and sitting on my hands until they're hit is the basis of all of my latest semi-automatic systems. It works wonders--I don't stress about my positions now, because I know...

The same freakin' thing with Build 819 happened to me, though it took me a while to figure it all out because I've been using SOCKScap to traverse a SOCKS5 firewall. I tried everything under the sun that I could think of, and then I realized that SOCKScap keeps a copy of the desktop icon's...

LOTS. Before I switched to Amibroker and then to Wealth-Lab, I used stockcharts.com every day to do all of my picks. I wrote some freakin' long scans that would put all US equities through about eight filters (some based on indicators, some on price patterns) before presenting me with a...