Ensign Windows and eSignal Data

quickly I respond, [you can use the 'quote' feature, instead of retyping someone's text by the way :)]


Originally posted by fooliosbrother
First, thank you very much for your detailed response. I really appreciate you taking the time.

If I understand you correctly, it appears that you can only get about 29 days worth of 5min data on the SP. Not much to work with. If I move over, I'll join you in your crusade.
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Yes, that sucks. Join me and let's convince them.

there a some markets not updating in realtime in the chart.
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some european futures markets would not update in realtime. again, let me point out it is easy to fix. It is only a pity that's not done fully automatically.

I have heard that eSignal can fall behind during the open or during a fast market. It sounds like this has not been your experience. Second, how often do you experience bad ticks and are they easily corrected through the software or are you dependent on eSignal to edit the data?
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eSignal has always been very kind to me. I do notice once in a while a pause, but because I have other providers I know it is all of them at the same time [probably some burst in my ISP's networks].

you can modify the data in Ensign in case of bad ticks. Bad ticks are as common as with other packages. but I like the auto censor mode of qcharts. eSignal does not have this.
You know what ? the great thing with ensign is you can code your OWN bad tick filter, in real time !!! yes, that's right ! it's a pretty good piece of software.

 

tneo,

since you seem to have lots of experience with system developing/ backtesting, what do you think of tradestation2000i for a programming-illiterate trader? :). i know you favor the ensign/esignal combo, but easylanguage seems to be easier for me to handle (?), i'm looking for a simple, relatively easy system developing/backtesting for intraday trading on stocks/futures.

thanks/
nov-
 
Originally posted by novembr

what do you think of tradestation2000i for a programming-illiterate trader? :). i know you favor the ensign/esignal combo, but easylanguage seems to be easier for me to handle (?)
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Tradestation is the reference. Anyone offering a backtest software has to compare himself to Tradestation.
Easylanguage is probably easy enough to learn. It comes with many examples of strategies and how to code them.

there are serious drawbacks to Tradestation though :
- some entries might be difficult to code [stop orders limit] because TS makes too many assumptions. so when you have a strategy with a different approach than 'simple entry at open next bar', it can be tricky.
I usually want full control on entry including limit and slippage control and simulation.

- reports are useless although they are plenty. this is because results have priority on $ instead of percentage. $1000 on a $5000 account or $75000 that's not the same. you need to export results to another package [I don't remember if it's possible].

- support for intraday realtime trading is poor and awkward in TS2000. This is addressed by TSPro Online [which I did not test yet, although I have seen it at TradeStation Show in New York].

This is a bit negative (!). Don't get me wrong, I used Tradestation for quite a while and it was interesting. It is true the software is very organized and helps you build trading strategies in an organized way. It has an interesting approach where you can combine/filter signals. So it is good to learn.

However, there are better software for the money available now. My best recommendation :
try http://www.wealth-lab.com
it is free for the end of day online version. You will be able to define strategies, test them and do all kind of things. Users will help you a lot too.
If you feel confortable with it, then you may consider Tradestation or Ensign or RavenQuote etc.. That's the best test to see if you can program strategies even though you are not a software engineer.

neo
 
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