Ensign: Comments Please...

J

journeyman

I have hit the wall on the charting capabilities with esignal "advanced" charting.

My number one contender is Ensign and I have some questions that I hope current users might respond to:

1) There is a use of the phrase "historical refresh" on the website - I am worried that datafeed is not genuine real-time?

2) There is no mention of being able to link charts to quote windows. I must be able to have charts linked to specific lists... is this possible in Ensign?

3) How well does Ensign work with Esignal? I have had trouble with Amibroker and Esignal where Amibroker seems to add numerous bad ticks that do not appear in Esignal. Is Ensign the same or is it datafeed neutral?

4) I have seen no mention of multimonitor support on Ensign: is it multimonitor certified?

5) Is Ensign a Hyperthreading/Multithreading application?

Any general comments on using Ensign with esignal as a real-time intraday trading and historical backtesting system would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jman
 
I can respond to a couple of your concerns.

You can use it over multiple moniters. I tested it with IQFeed and found it to be fine. IQ is cheaper than Esignal by the way.

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.

One other thing, Ensign's tech. support turned me off. I called in and spoke to Sheldon about something and I questioned his response and he told me if I didn't like it to go use somebody elses software. That was all I needed to hear during my trial run.
 
Quote from journeyman:

I have hit the wall on the charting capabilities with esignal "advanced" charting.

My number one contender is Ensign and I have some questions that I hope current users might respond to:

1) There is a use of the phrase "historical refresh" on the website - I am worried that datafeed is not genuine real-time?

2) There is no mention of being able to link charts to quote windows. I must be able to have charts linked to specific lists... is this possible in Ensign?

3) How well does Ensign work with Esignal? I have had trouble with Amibroker and Esignal where Amibroker seems to add numerous bad ticks that do not appear in Esignal. Is Ensign the same or is it datafeed neutral?

4) I have seen no mention of multimonitor support on Ensign: is it multimonitor certified?

5) Is Ensign a Hyperthreading/Multithreading application?

Any general comments on using Ensign with esignal as a real-time intraday trading and historical backtesting system would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jman
More...

1) You can use ensign with several data feeds : esignal, DTN satellite, IQ, Quote.com, IB, ensign internet and cybertrader. Most are real time some are not.

2)If you mean you can open a chart from a quote window then yes. You can also open a quote window from a chart.

3)I'm using IB and DTN for the historical backfill. I think DTN is probably the weak link here.

4)I only use one but I think it is.

5)Sorry, I'm computer challenged.

Generally speaking I'm happy with ensign. It's roughly half the price of what I was using before and probably better software to boot. The backfill can be an issue from time to time. For example I have trouble with HSI sometimes and occasionaly have problems on weekends with everything. Although this would probably depend on your choice of feeds. I have used esignal in the past but not with ensign.
 
Quote from journeyman:

I have hit the wall on the charting capabilities with esignal "advanced" charting.

My number one contender is Ensign and I have some questions that I hope current users might respond to:

1) There is a use of the phrase "historical refresh" on the website - I am worried that datafeed is not genuine real-time?

2) There is no mention of being able to link charts to quote windows. I must be able to have charts linked to specific lists... is this possible in Ensign?

3) How well does Ensign work with Esignal? I have had trouble with Amibroker and Esignal where Amibroker seems to add numerous bad ticks that do not appear in Esignal. Is Ensign the same or is it datafeed neutral?

4) I have seen no mention of multimonitor support on Ensign: is it multimonitor certified?

5) Is Ensign a Hyperthreading/Multithreading application?

Any general comments on using Ensign with esignal as a real-time intraday trading and historical backtesting system would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jman
More...

I'm a current Ensign user, a former ESignal user.

You bring your own datafeed in a sense. If you're bring a real time data feed then your data will be real time.

I use a number of "quote pages" in my current layout. A quote page is in essence a window with a list of symbols. You can click on any specific symbol and open a chart.

Again, you bring your own data feed. Ensign is just software. By the way, if you're an IB user, their data feed is free.

I currently use Ensign over multiple monitors.

Can't answer your last question.

Finally, one of the posters here knocked Ensign support. I've found support to be quite good. You can call, get a real person on the phone quickly. If there is an issue that they are not familiar, the get Howard on it.

I think Ensign is good choice. I think they still have a trial..that's how I started.

OldTrader
 

1) There is a use of the phrase "historical refresh" on the website - I am worried that datafeed is not genuine real-time?
More...

Ensign is not a datafeed. Depends on the datafeed YOU subscribe to. (although they are currently providing FXCM forex feed, free).


2) There is no mention of being able to link charts to quote windows. I must be able to have charts linked to specific lists... is this possible in Ensign?
More...

Yes.


3) How well does Ensign work with Esignal? I have had trouble with Amibroker and Esignal where Amibroker seems to add numerous bad ticks that do not appear in Esignal. Is Ensign the same or is it datafeed neutral?
More...

No problem. Should be" datafeed neutral" but I haven't used all possible feeds with it.


4) I have seen no mention of multimonitor support on Ensign: is it multimonitor certified?
More...

Not certified (is there such certification? by who?) but works with multi monitors. However, the main application window must be sized across the multiple screens otherwise individual windows cannot be dragged across screens. This is an MDI-type application... all windows are contained within a main container.


5) Is Ensign a Hyperthreading/Multithreading application?
More...

No.


No chartware is panacea. Ensign is good for the cost.
 
Quote from journeyman:

1) There is a use of the phrase "historical refresh" on the website - I am worried that datafeed is not genuine real-time?

2) There is no mention of being able to link charts to quote windows. I must be able to have charts linked to specific lists... is this possible in Ensign?

3) How well does Ensign work with Esignal? I have had trouble with Amibroker and Esignal where Amibroker seems to add numerous bad ticks that do not appear in Esignal. Is Ensign the same or is it datafeed neutral?

4) I have seen no mention of multimonitor support on Ensign: is it multimonitor certified?

5) Is Ensign a Hyperthreading/Multithreading application?

Any general comments on using Ensign with esignal as a real-time intraday trading and historical backtesting system would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jman
More...

1 - Bring your own data feed
2 - You can open multiple Quote windows in Ensign
3 - Ensign is datafeed neutral and works with eSignal
4 - Ensign supports as many monitors as you can hook to it.
5 - No

General comments - It is not for someone that watches a wide variety of markets. Every time the computer is shut down and reopened each individual symbol has to be refreshed to fill in the missing data. The refresh feature only goes back for 6 days as well so God forbid you go on vacation for more than a week because that data is really history. It doesn't do an automatic refresh unless this was a recent fix. It is also a memory intensive program. If you leave your computer open all night with multiple markets open, there is a good possibility you will have a memory error sometime in the evening and have to reboot and refresh in the morning. Ensign started out as a wonderful program and hasn't been able to stay caught up with itself in a few years. Tech Support is a little arrogant as well.
 
ProfLogic - this "refresh" idea has me a little concerned, I note that the website is very carefully worded that way - but the esignal info says "refresh" is provided by esignal... I have NO IDEA what that could mean...

I am looking at Ensign because it appears to have the best charting capabilities I can see out there and good customisability with studies - both of which suck with esignal "advanced" charts...

Do you have a different package to suggest ProfLogic?
 
Quote from ProfLogic:


General comments - It is not for someone that watches a wide variety of markets. Every time the computer is shut down and reopened each individual symbol has to be refreshed to fill in the missing data. The refresh feature only goes back for 6 days as well so God forbid you go on vacation for more than a week because that data is really history. It doesn't do an automatic refresh unless this was a recent fix. It is also a memory intensive program. If you leave your computer open all night with multiple markets open, there is a good possibility you will have a memory error sometime in the evening and have to reboot and refresh in the morning. Ensign started out as a wonderful program and hasn't been able to stay caught up with itself in a few years. Tech Support is a little arrogant as well.
More...

Prof:

How long has it been since you used Ensign?

I ask because the information you just put out is bogus.

Auto refresh? It's a global setting. Just takes a check mark in a box for it.

Memory issues? I've not had the problem at all. Never needed to reboot, even once.

Not sure what you're talking about in terms of refresh times. This guy will get his refresh from ESignal. My autorefresh goes back 4 months or so. But hey, maybe you take 5 month vacations.

Arrogant tech support? Not something I've experienced either. Always polite, helpful, and quick.

Again, I ask you...how long since you've used Ensign?

For the OP....do yourself a favor...download the trial. I went to the website and read the information about ESignal. I don't think you know how to read my friend. The trial will tell you everything you need to know though.

OldTrader
 
Quote from OldTrader:

Prof:

How long has it been since you used Ensign?

I ask because the information you just put out is bogus.

Auto refresh? It's a global setting. Just takes a check mark in a box for it.

Memory issues? I've not had the problem at all. Never needed to reboot, even once.

Not sure what you're talking about in terms of refresh times. This guy will get his refresh from ESignal. My autorefresh goes back 4 months or so. But hey, maybe you take 5 month vacations.

Arrogant tech support? Not something I've experienced either. Always polite, helpful, and quick.

Again, I ask you...how long since you've used Ensign?

For the OP....do yourself a favor...download the trial. I went to the website and read the information about ESignal. I don't think you know how to read my friend. The trial will tell you everything you need to know though.

OldTrader
More...

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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