Quote from syswizard:
and there is STILL no real-time version. One million dollars in development ?
Hard to believe....something is wrong here.
Only Mr. Ruggiero knows how much money he has spent. However that is not the issue. Also note that developing a true real-time software is a very complex endeavor. Even an EOD platform is very complex. Some vendors may do things in a very ad hoc (and incorrect manner) â but my experience with TradersStudio is that they are very very careful and diligent in their software releases. Mr. Ruggiero will NOT release a real-time version until it have been substantially tested and certified internally. If you truly understand the various salient and latent factors in system development, you will understand that this is a time-consuming process â if done correctly.
There are two key issues here:
1. Is the product competitive in the back-testing/trade strategy development landscape?
2. Is the product well supported?
Unequivocally after seven months of DAILY usage for live trading and R & D, the answer is YES to both questions.
I'm an active trader and have been researching and developing systems for over 12 years. I can confirm that from my experience the product is solid - the designers clearly are traders and have incorporated in the software many powerful features. The programming language is extremely flexible and simple. This is a powerful advantage for the non-programmer trader.
Yes, there are many features I wish the software had (Native Bracket Orders for example) , and many things I wish it did easier or better. However, my current beta version is substantially improved from the initial version I purchased in August 2007. Many of my suggestions, features and bug fixes have been included...and yes a few of my suggestions were rejected and some have been placed on hold for future releases.
So on balance it's a fine productâ¦.and I have found Mr. Ruggiero most cooperative, responsive and indeed I have learnt a lot from him just by using the software. He is truly passionate about his product and the marketsâ¦and he really understand systems trading - - many vendors do not.
The best thing about Traders Studio is that it is a product designed and conceived by an authority in systems development - so in essence you have the benefit of Mr. Ruggieroâs decades of real trading experience. This is an extremely positive benefit. For example, I have made suggestions and had discussions with the support team that revealed to me some pitfalls in my thinking. If the support team were just staffed by software geeks this would not be the case.
I can also confirm that because the software was designed by traders - the back-tested results in Traders studio are extremely realistic. Donât expect to code some HolyGrail system (with flawed underlying logic) in TradersStudio..that of course canât be said for competing products.
With regards to support, they have always responded promptly - even at odd hours to my requests and inquiries. They have added features at my request , and fixed bugs I discovered.
My only and my major complaint is that bug fixes and new features take too much time. This can slow down substantially the R & D process and I don't like it as time is money. I have made this complaint to Mr. Ruggiero. I do understand, however, that software development is complicated and delicate so at times a simple feature addition or bug fix is not as simple as it seems. Additionally, Mr. Ruggiero typically wants to group several features additions and bug fixes in one beta release so there may be a wait time to create all the new features/bug fixes. I think bug fixes and new additions should be done very frequently on an intermediate basis as opposed to rolling them up in large batches. So this is a philosophical difference, but Mr. Ruggiero does provide frequent updates during the wait process, - so again there is always frank communication. Nonetheless, I still think they can and should be much faster in making these fixes, additions and changes.
Finally, I do think that there is NOT yet a product on the market yet â and I have looked at most if not all of them except Mechanica (and Mechanica is an EOD platform) that can do EVERYTHING an experienced system trader would want...they have their various weaknesses and strengthsâ¦but I do think that TradersStudio has the greatest potential to reach that level and I am encouraged that Mr. Ruggiero is working aggressively to reach that target.
In summary, TradersStudio is a very fine product and the developers and support team are the best I've seen.