Ensign: Comments Please...

Quote from ProfLogic:

OldTrader,

It has been 18 months to 2 years since I used it but I still have friends that use it daily. Oh, and I started using Ensign in 1996 too. When did you start using it, last year?

Bogus? How do you know how I used Ensign?

If the auto refresh is a global setting now that is fine but I dumped Ensign along with a hundred or so other people partially because of the refresh. Ensign used to give you a choice when you reopened a chart to refresh 1 day, 2 days & up to 6 days. If they fixed that fiasco that is great. They probably didn't have a choice after my group left.

I don't know about you but at the time I got rid of Ensign I was running, as I always do, the fastest computer available with 2 gig of RAM when everyone else was maxed at 512 meg. I kept 10 to 15 symbols opened with multiple charts (6 minimum) in each at all times and every morning I got "out of memory" errors. It wasn't just me it was a lot of others as well. We contacted Howard and was told to have Support look into it. Between Sheldon and Lamont (I think) they couldn't figure it out and passed it back to Howard who basically told us that it was our collective imagination.

Now, over the 8 years previous to my leaving, I had referred a good 200 people to Ensign (with no referral fee) so you would think I would at least get a teeny tiny bit more consideration than a blow off but that wasn't the case. So I packed up and took most of them to another software company. The ones that stayed weren't real comfortable on a computer to begin with so they stayed where they were comfortable.

The auto-refresh on eSignal is 90 days by the way on Tick charts and up to 10 years on Daily charts.

My current software is less expensive than Ensign, more user friendly, less cumbersome, I can currently have over 130 charts open, all of the time, without a single memory error and I can get custom programming done for it in Easy Language. I even have integrated a trading platform into it for ease of use. Something Howard told me I was never allowed to do with Ensign.

I have no idea what or how much you watch each day so I won't presume anything but for those of us that actually put our trading software to task, average isn't good enough. To each their own. Everyone's needs are different so don't assume you know even a speck of the information I go through each day.

The information about the trial is ambiguous but I do agree that one needs to test it for themselves and put it through its paces.
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If memory serves I started using Ensign just over 2 years ago.

I monitor 100 symbols on quote pages. At most though I'm going to have open perhaps 5 charts at any one time. I do open and close charts throughout the day. I'm running 1 Gig memory at this time. No problems doing what I do.

Doesn't sound like we use the software in the same way. I would not have a need for 130 charts open simultaneously.

That said, for more normal usage, I think Ensign is good software. I haven't had the problems you described (of course it's now understandable why), and have had no issues with support at all.

Either way, he can do a 1 week trial at no cost. Test it for himself.

Sorry for the preconceived notions. You were describing a situation which didn't sound right based on my experience. Sounds like things must have started to change around the time you left and I started. They do updates probably a couple of times per month or so.

OldTrader
 
Ensign has 1 day, 2 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 2 months,
maximum, 1 day DTN backfill (every tick) and 100,000 ticks backfill.

This is included in the package. Have no idea what you get when
you use eSignal as your data/backfill source.
 
the thing that is confusing me I think is this term "refresh".

My understanding of this term is from second tier "non-streaming" platforms whre you have to manually click to have your charts/data update.

Obviously none of us want this, we are used to the data updating itself directly from the servers, which is proper streaming data. The idea of "refresh" has no applicability here and it is perhaps confusing the issue.

Also, on www.ensignsoftware.com I can find no information concerning a trial, one week or otherwise. What I would need is a fully functional trial, ie using my esignal data feed...

I am going to trial multicharts but it sounds a little beta-ish to me, like all the functions I expect to have are "coming soon".
 
Quote from journeyman:

the thing that is confusing me I think is this term "refresh".

My understanding of this term is from second tier "non-streaming" platforms whre you have to manually click to have your charts/data update.

Obviously none of us want this, we are used to the data updating itself directly from the servers, which is proper streaming data. The idea of "refresh" has no applicability here and it is perhaps confusing the issue.

Also, on www.ensignsoftware.com I can find no information concerning a trial, one week or otherwise. What I would need is a fully functional trial, ie using my esignal data feed...

I am going to trial multicharts but it sounds a little beta-ish to me, like all the functions I expect to have are "coming soon".
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Every once in awhile Ensign has a 2 week trial. You might want to
ask to see if you can get one.

You do not have to manually click anything to have your charts
"refreshed". You can have it set to do it automatically. When you
open up a new symbol, it fills in the historical data by itself.

The trial is 100% fully functional.
 
It may have changed but I think you can get a 2 week trial any time.

"Time" charts can be configured to auto refresh, tick, constant volume and range bar charts have to be manually refreshed.
A task that requires two key strokes.

Everyone's experience with customer support, at any firm for that matter, will be different. Different issues, different people on the other end of the phone even different perceptions of what's "good" or "bad".

My first experience with ensign was when I decided to try their trial one weekend.
I downloaded/installed but had some questions which I emailed to them. I got a response two hours later - on a Saturday.
I've sent emails to my broker before that never got responded to - ever.
I don't know that you would get a response on Saturday consistently and it is just one incidence, but I couldn't help but be impressed.
 
Quote from TL Trader:



"Time" charts can be configured to auto refresh, tick, constant volume and range bar charts have to be manually refreshed.
A task that requires two key strokes.
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I was trying to get the info on the manually refreshing of tick, vol,
and range bars in my post but forgot. The two keystrokes to backfill
tick, vol or range charts has to be done for each symbol though...

Painstaking task if you have a lot of symbols...:(
 
Quote from CONR:



I gave up on it though and switched to Sierra. I find Sierra to be much more user friendly and they offer more volume related studies including market profile.

[/B]
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May I ask what the website is? Thanks.
 
Quote from version77:

I was trying to get the info on the manually refreshing of tick, vol,
and range bars in my post but forgot. The two keystrokes to backfill
tick, vol or range charts has to be done for each symbol though...

Painstaking task if you have a lot of symbols...:(
More...

This is what I thought. They haven't created an auto refresh for tick or volume charts.

You are correct. The more symbols the more aggravating the process.
 
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