Hello Gyles,
It is hard to know a program when the trial period is only a week, so Iâll add some information about Trading Blox Builder (TBB) from my experience with the software.
Letâs start off with speed because that area seems to be overly important to people and it should be cleaned up first.
Quote from Gyles:
One drawback is that the product is somewhat slow,
After seeing this comment I decided to create a simple speed comparison test with my other Trading and Testing platform, TradeStation (TS). In my case I have all the versions of TradeStation going back to the original release in June of 1991 up to the current 8.3.xx version recently released. My version of Trading Blox Builder (TBB) is version 2.2.5 and that is the version Iâll use for the testing, although all of versions in the 2.2.x series run at the same speed.
Speed Test:
Apply one of my long-term dual time frame (daily & Weekly data) systems to a portfolio of 9 markets of CSI data files for a time range starting in 1-Jan-1995 to last night. This system generates the exact same trades in both platforms when the trade sizing, and other trade restricting filters are disabled in TBB.
In TS it needed 17-seconds, and in TBB this back test needed 7-seconds. This result wasnât different than what I had found previously, but this was the first time I made the effort to get a time estimate documented.
Orders for Tomorrow:
Quote from Gyles:
Another issue is that you need to run the orders for tomorrow and back-test the result separately.
This is actually an advantage in TBB. For example, to get the signals from a worksheet in TS you are required to open the same worksheet used in back testing so the open signals and orders can be viewed. Time required: 17-seconds. In TBB, you just hit F7, and the order page appears in 4-Seconds (both times shown here are using the system defined above).
As to this approach being different than what I am accustomed to in TS, it was a change for me as well, but I like the speed in which it generates the orders, and the Hot Key makes it simple.
Almost no Public Domain Code:
Quote from Gyles:
However, there was a drawback (a big one), is that there is not any large libraries of public domain code for this product like you see with âWealth Labsâ had earlier before Fedility purchased the product or TradeStation.
This is true right now, and it will be a while before the scope of available indicators and functions available in TBB gets close to what TS provides. TradeStation has been around since 1991, but TBB has only been around a few years. However, this isnât a big negative for those of us who create our own trading systems. It also isnât much work to add just about any of the published indicators that are often included in many charting focused platforms. For example, if the user gets Perry Kaufmanâs âNew Trading Systems & Methods 4th Editionâ book. Perry provides a use description and the code in text and TS file format on the included CD. With Trading Blox Basic being very close to Microsoft Basic, Power Basic and Easy Language, the places where some code words are different isnât much of a stretch to find the replacement word, so getting the code in TBB to create an indicator just takes a little effort and patience right now.
Still, the user needs to have some inclination to want to create a system or indicator to make this approach work. However, for those of us whoâve been trading for a while and have learned that most of what is provided in most packages isnât useful, we donât miss the clutter.
For certain a lot of extra stuff makes the software look very capable and it can save time if the available code is useful, but without some history on how to apply or why that tool might be useful, any use becomes guesswork and that isnât a good way to risk money. My recommendation is for people to spend the time research anything they want to use before they make any plans to see if it works. If they follow that approach chances are theyâll find code that is close enough to mold into what they want and should be able to get it running in most any back testing program.
A neat feature about writing code in TBB is its ability to allow the user to take the output from a calculation or value assignment generated in the system code, and then show that value on the chart. This is really easy way to show Stop Exit location lines or signal entry location without having to jump through hoops with duplicate code and global DLL arrays to get that information into a displayed chart.
I have more comments to add about Trading Blox Builder that I can post later, but for now it is time to get ready for next weekâs signals.
