You can download it on the forum, or visit John's blog directly.
More detailed information is on John's blog.
Mike
John Thom has released a new version of his NinjaTrader Indicator which adds a panel to your chart to display news events (direct from forexfactory's feed).
You can download it on the forum, or visit John's blog directly.
More detailed information is on John's blog.
Mike
You can download it on the forum, or visit John's blog directly.
More detailed information is on John's blog.
Mike
Here are some Money Management thoughts. I came up with these after having a quick conversation with another trader who, in my eye, has very weak money management skills.
He's been trading stocks and doing ok, but he often averages down and his approach has been to just buy more if it goes against him. He has a very large account and in terms of position sizing he tends to leave himself some room to average down, but this obviously is an extremely dangerous game. One single bad trade could wipe out months of gains if you keep averaging down until your leverage is exhausted.
At any rate, the trader is now venturing into futures and I wanted to instill upon him the importance of sound money management. Profitability is all about money management and discipline.
So I covered some of the basics, which I will lay out here as well:
- Assuming a 25,000 account size.
- Use 1% risk, meaning no one trade can lose more than $250.
- Require a 1% reward, or better. This means your edge has to have a win/loss dollar ratio of 1:1 or better.
- Trader is going to trade CL. With 1% risk that means he cannot trade more than 2 contracts (even that is pushing it) with $25,000.
- As the equity builds, we can add a third contract and that third contract is really where the majority of profits will probably come from. It will be the true runner and raise the win/loss dollar ratio beyond 1:1.
- The edge must have a positive expectancy, and it will with a win percentage of 65% or better.
- Set daily, weekly, and monthly stop-loss and profit-target goals to tell us when to stop trading.
Now that's a lot of stuff, so lets break it down into some real-world examples before going further.
After researching the edge, it is the belief of the trader that he will trade approximately 5 times a day. That's 25 times a week, and roughly 100 times a month. It is believed that the edge (again, after research) is right about 65% of the time, and we are using 1% risk and 1% reward (equal).
Specifically, we're using a 12 tick stop and a 12 tick target, and will trade 2 lots on CL until the equity is sufficient to where we can add a third lot, and so forth. We need an additional $12,000 of equity for each lot we trade, using a 12 tick stop and 1% risk.
- Five trades a day
- 12 tick stop per contract
- 12 tick profit target per contract
- 2 lots
With CL, 12 ticks is really a very inefficient way to exit a trade. But until we add a third target, it can be difficult to do so otherwise. With a third target, a runner can be left on and very easily capture enough ticks to equal 2 or 3 whole trades (24-48 ticks on the runner). In fact, with CL quite often runners can go for 80-100 ticks.
You might question why we're waiting for a third lot before doing a runner. Why not do a runner with lot #2? It is possible to do it, but after having talked about it I felt that due to some psychological reasons (and not pure math) it would be far better to implement a "it's either a winner or it's a loser" trade mentality in the beginning. That means that we want to make it simple. Does the edge really exist? If so, then we'll know, and until we know 100%, we are going to keep it as simple as possible. That means there is no order management mid-trade. No breakeven stops, etc. All in, all out.
Ok so if we anticipate trading 100 times a month, with a 65% win rate, and our WLD ratio is 1:1, and we trade 2 lots with a 12 tick target/stop, that means each winner or loser is $240, plus commission which is $10. So a net winner is $230, and a net loser is $250. So already you can see that when you factor in commission, our WLD ratio just dropped from 1:1 to 0.92:1.
If we win 65% of the trades, that means 65 out of 100 trades are winners ($230 x 65) for $14,950, and 35 out of 100 trades are losers ($250 x 35) for $ 8,750. That leaves us with a net profit of $ 6,200, which on a $25,000 account would represent a 25% gain in one month's time.
At that rate, we would require two months of back-to-back winners at the 65% win rate before we accrued enough winnings (and assuming we do not take a draw out of our account) to be able to add the third lot (runner).
Now remember, the 65% win rate, the 12 tick stop and target, and the 5 trades per day were all factors provided by the customer who after doing his own research believes those figures to be true.
Time will tell :)
But, just in case everything is not perfect -- I advised the trader to make some firm contingency plans. That is where the daily, weekly and monthly stop loss limits and profit target limits come in.
Let's talk about the loss limits first:
- Daily loss limit: 5 losing trades
- Weekly loss limit: 15 losing trades
- Monthly loss limit: 50 losing trades
If the trader expects to trade five times a day with a 65% win rate, that's approximately 2 losers and 3 winning trades per day. So it seems logical that in any one single day if you experience 5 losers, something is not working quite right and it's a good idea to stop trading for the day (both from a psychological standpoint as well as from a market behavior standpoint, ie the edge is not working today).
If the trader expects to trade 25 times a week with a 65% win rate, that's approximately 9 losers and 16 winners a week. So again, it seems logical that if you've hit 15 losing trades you should stop for that week.
And again, if the trader expects to trade 100 times a month with a 65% win rate, that's approximately 35 losers and 65 winners a month. If you hit 50 losing trades in a month, it seems logical that something is not working right and you should stop. You may only be 2 1/2 weeks in and you don't trade the remaining 2 weeks, but that's the way it is.
Now let's talk about profit targets:
- Daily profit target: 7 winning trades
- Weekly profit target: 30 winning trades
- Monthly profit target: 100 winning trades
We add the daily targets so if the edge is performing well we are allowed to keep trading past the "typical" or "average" but not so far as to start impacting us psychologically and risk over trading.
Having both sets of limits also allows us a little leeway, so for instance if we had two bad days we could trade more than 5 times a day for the remaining three days a week if those days are better, so that we can make up for the losses we took early on.
The idea is that you keep trading until you hit one limit or the other. If the daily stop loss limit is 5 trades, the the winning limit is 7 trades, that means if you have 4 losers and 6 winners you take one more trade. Same for weekly and monthly. But once you hit either side of the limit, you must stop.
The limits are designed to minimize psychological impact as well as minimize dramatic shifts in your account size. Consistency is king here. Our task at hand is to prove whether or not we really have an edge, and whether or not it is the size we thought it was, the frequency we thought it was, etc. Our goal is not to double our account in one month, our goal is to prove the edge. Even if an edge works out to be only 2% per month, that's 24% a year and when you start compounding, that is astoundingly HUGE. You could soon rule the world with a return like that, so remember to keep your goals modest or they will humble you.
This is a good exercise -- in fact it's a "must" -- for any trader who's purpose is to be profitable and believes they have a defined edge.
Mike
He's been trading stocks and doing ok, but he often averages down and his approach has been to just buy more if it goes against him. He has a very large account and in terms of position sizing he tends to leave himself some room to average down, but this obviously is an extremely dangerous game. One single bad trade could wipe out months of gains if you keep averaging down until your leverage is exhausted.
At any rate, the trader is now venturing into futures and I wanted to instill upon him the importance of sound money management. Profitability is all about money management and discipline.
So I covered some of the basics, which I will lay out here as well:
- Assuming a 25,000 account size.
- Use 1% risk, meaning no one trade can lose more than $250.
- Require a 1% reward, or better. This means your edge has to have a win/loss dollar ratio of 1:1 or better.
- Trader is going to trade CL. With 1% risk that means he cannot trade more than 2 contracts (even that is pushing it) with $25,000.
- As the equity builds, we can add a third contract and that third contract is really where the majority of profits will probably come from. It will be the true runner and raise the win/loss dollar ratio beyond 1:1.
- The edge must have a positive expectancy, and it will with a win percentage of 65% or better.
- Set daily, weekly, and monthly stop-loss and profit-target goals to tell us when to stop trading.
Now that's a lot of stuff, so lets break it down into some real-world examples before going further.
After researching the edge, it is the belief of the trader that he will trade approximately 5 times a day. That's 25 times a week, and roughly 100 times a month. It is believed that the edge (again, after research) is right about 65% of the time, and we are using 1% risk and 1% reward (equal).
Specifically, we're using a 12 tick stop and a 12 tick target, and will trade 2 lots on CL until the equity is sufficient to where we can add a third lot, and so forth. We need an additional $12,000 of equity for each lot we trade, using a 12 tick stop and 1% risk.
- Five trades a day
- 12 tick stop per contract
- 12 tick profit target per contract
- 2 lots
With CL, 12 ticks is really a very inefficient way to exit a trade. But until we add a third target, it can be difficult to do so otherwise. With a third target, a runner can be left on and very easily capture enough ticks to equal 2 or 3 whole trades (24-48 ticks on the runner). In fact, with CL quite often runners can go for 80-100 ticks.
You might question why we're waiting for a third lot before doing a runner. Why not do a runner with lot #2? It is possible to do it, but after having talked about it I felt that due to some psychological reasons (and not pure math) it would be far better to implement a "it's either a winner or it's a loser" trade mentality in the beginning. That means that we want to make it simple. Does the edge really exist? If so, then we'll know, and until we know 100%, we are going to keep it as simple as possible. That means there is no order management mid-trade. No breakeven stops, etc. All in, all out.
Ok so if we anticipate trading 100 times a month, with a 65% win rate, and our WLD ratio is 1:1, and we trade 2 lots with a 12 tick target/stop, that means each winner or loser is $240, plus commission which is $10. So a net winner is $230, and a net loser is $250. So already you can see that when you factor in commission, our WLD ratio just dropped from 1:1 to 0.92:1.
If we win 65% of the trades, that means 65 out of 100 trades are winners ($230 x 65) for $14,950, and 35 out of 100 trades are losers ($250 x 35) for $ 8,750. That leaves us with a net profit of $ 6,200, which on a $25,000 account would represent a 25% gain in one month's time.
At that rate, we would require two months of back-to-back winners at the 65% win rate before we accrued enough winnings (and assuming we do not take a draw out of our account) to be able to add the third lot (runner).
Now remember, the 65% win rate, the 12 tick stop and target, and the 5 trades per day were all factors provided by the customer who after doing his own research believes those figures to be true.
Time will tell :)
But, just in case everything is not perfect -- I advised the trader to make some firm contingency plans. That is where the daily, weekly and monthly stop loss limits and profit target limits come in.
Let's talk about the loss limits first:
- Daily loss limit: 5 losing trades
- Weekly loss limit: 15 losing trades
- Monthly loss limit: 50 losing trades
If the trader expects to trade five times a day with a 65% win rate, that's approximately 2 losers and 3 winning trades per day. So it seems logical that in any one single day if you experience 5 losers, something is not working quite right and it's a good idea to stop trading for the day (both from a psychological standpoint as well as from a market behavior standpoint, ie the edge is not working today).
If the trader expects to trade 25 times a week with a 65% win rate, that's approximately 9 losers and 16 winners a week. So again, it seems logical that if you've hit 15 losing trades you should stop for that week.
And again, if the trader expects to trade 100 times a month with a 65% win rate, that's approximately 35 losers and 65 winners a month. If you hit 50 losing trades in a month, it seems logical that something is not working right and you should stop. You may only be 2 1/2 weeks in and you don't trade the remaining 2 weeks, but that's the way it is.
Now let's talk about profit targets:
- Daily profit target: 7 winning trades
- Weekly profit target: 30 winning trades
- Monthly profit target: 100 winning trades
We add the daily targets so if the edge is performing well we are allowed to keep trading past the "typical" or "average" but not so far as to start impacting us psychologically and risk over trading.
Having both sets of limits also allows us a little leeway, so for instance if we had two bad days we could trade more than 5 times a day for the remaining three days a week if those days are better, so that we can make up for the losses we took early on.
The idea is that you keep trading until you hit one limit or the other. If the daily stop loss limit is 5 trades, the the winning limit is 7 trades, that means if you have 4 losers and 6 winners you take one more trade. Same for weekly and monthly. But once you hit either side of the limit, you must stop.
The limits are designed to minimize psychological impact as well as minimize dramatic shifts in your account size. Consistency is king here. Our task at hand is to prove whether or not we really have an edge, and whether or not it is the size we thought it was, the frequency we thought it was, etc. Our goal is not to double our account in one month, our goal is to prove the edge. Even if an edge works out to be only 2% per month, that's 24% a year and when you start compounding, that is astoundingly HUGE. You could soon rule the world with a return like that, so remember to keep your goals modest or they will humble you.
This is a good exercise -- in fact it's a "must" -- for any trader who's purpose is to be profitable and believes they have a defined edge.
Mike
Why is it so hard to follow your rules?
For this short post I will use my life-long friend Gary as the guinea pig in the example
Most everyone has a very hard time following their rules in the beginning. After months or years of struggling and financial losses, your mind is in self-preservation mode and every action it takes is almost always in direct conflict with the necessary actions to trade successfully.
I won't get into the psychology of why, but I will cite a simple and true example. I hope Gary doesn't mind
Yesterday Gary and I were on the phone talking about some mistakes we see traders making over and over on the forum. And our conversation reminded me of a particular instance that happened a long time ago with Gary and I. I recalled it and we both had a good laugh.
What I remembered was that a long time ago when Gary was first developing a new strategy, and he and I were on Skype together as we often are, trading... Gary entered a position. It was working fine, in his favor. He then began to question himself. He and I have different charts, keep in mind.
I said something like "why are you questioning this?" because it looked fine to me, nothing had changed to make me think it was going to fail. And he kept saying "I don't like it." but when I asked him why, he couldn't answer, at least not with specifics. I reminded him, "hey this looks fine to me, follow your rules" but he kept saying no, he was going to just take it off. I think he had suffered from a couple stops in the day before this trade and was second guessing his strategy. Remember, he worked a long time on developing this strategy and had sim traded it for a long time, but didn't have much experience trading it cash yet. This was a cash trade.
So I knew his rules loosely, and even though I didn't have his chart in front of me, I kept reminding him "hey, your rules say to stay in until xyz, right?". Of course they do, but his response was "yes, but I just don't like it. Something isn't right".
So now I am starting to raise my voice a bit because it's like I need to "snap him out of it". I am getting to the point where I am like "Gary! Follow your damn rules! There is nothing wrong with this trade! You can't even tell me what you don't like about it!".
Still, Gary is acting like he is going to pull the trade any moment. Why? Because he is up, enough to cover his prior losses probably, and is mind is in overdrive to protect itself, screaming at him to EXIT!!!! But in trading it's all about probabilities, and all about discipline. It's very little to do with where you enter, it's everything to do with what happens next and where you exit.
Gary spent months working on this system and then traded it sim for weeks and was killing it. Yet when he went to cash with it he relapsed into old ways of not following his rules. I could sit there on skype, yelling "Gary! Why are you even CONSIDERING not following your rules?!?! Don't you remember where that gets you!!?! Don't you know that you MUST. FOLLOW. YOUR. RULES.!!!!!!" and yet he was still just barely listening, his mind was blocking me out, the fear was taking over.
Now, this story has a happy ending. During the 3 or 5 minutes I was having this "conversation" with him, it popped. He was now up two times as big as before, then three, then four times. I convinced him to follow his rules and because of it he ended up taking a huge winner.
What does this tell you? Gary and I have been friends for over 15 years. We've been through a lot of stuff together. Yet even with me YELLING at him to not take the trade off, and to follow his rules for the love of pete, he almost didn't.
So you can imagine how hard it is for someone who doesn't have that person in the background telling them they need to follow their rules 10 times over and over... that person would almost certainly NOT follow the rules. And of course then they beat themselves up, which leads to a whole new set of problems which ultimately causes them to have even more fear.
Anyway, I wanted to share this little story because I wanted to underscore the importance of psychology in trading. It's not indicators that make you win or lose. It's what you do in the above situation. This is the mountain you have to climb in your trading career before you can be successful. All the way up the mountain, you are struggling and gasping for breath, afraid you will fall, avalanche, everything. But once you get to the summit you have a real sense of accomplishment, a real sense of pride, you conquered your fear, and now each time you climb that mountain in the future it is easier and easier.
Mike
For this short post I will use my life-long friend Gary as the guinea pig in the example
Most everyone has a very hard time following their rules in the beginning. After months or years of struggling and financial losses, your mind is in self-preservation mode and every action it takes is almost always in direct conflict with the necessary actions to trade successfully.
I won't get into the psychology of why, but I will cite a simple and true example. I hope Gary doesn't mind
Yesterday Gary and I were on the phone talking about some mistakes we see traders making over and over on the forum. And our conversation reminded me of a particular instance that happened a long time ago with Gary and I. I recalled it and we both had a good laugh.
What I remembered was that a long time ago when Gary was first developing a new strategy, and he and I were on Skype together as we often are, trading... Gary entered a position. It was working fine, in his favor. He then began to question himself. He and I have different charts, keep in mind.
I said something like "why are you questioning this?" because it looked fine to me, nothing had changed to make me think it was going to fail. And he kept saying "I don't like it." but when I asked him why, he couldn't answer, at least not with specifics. I reminded him, "hey this looks fine to me, follow your rules" but he kept saying no, he was going to just take it off. I think he had suffered from a couple stops in the day before this trade and was second guessing his strategy. Remember, he worked a long time on developing this strategy and had sim traded it for a long time, but didn't have much experience trading it cash yet. This was a cash trade.
So I knew his rules loosely, and even though I didn't have his chart in front of me, I kept reminding him "hey, your rules say to stay in until xyz, right?". Of course they do, but his response was "yes, but I just don't like it. Something isn't right".
So now I am starting to raise my voice a bit because it's like I need to "snap him out of it". I am getting to the point where I am like "Gary! Follow your damn rules! There is nothing wrong with this trade! You can't even tell me what you don't like about it!".
Still, Gary is acting like he is going to pull the trade any moment. Why? Because he is up, enough to cover his prior losses probably, and is mind is in overdrive to protect itself, screaming at him to EXIT!!!! But in trading it's all about probabilities, and all about discipline. It's very little to do with where you enter, it's everything to do with what happens next and where you exit.
Gary spent months working on this system and then traded it sim for weeks and was killing it. Yet when he went to cash with it he relapsed into old ways of not following his rules. I could sit there on skype, yelling "Gary! Why are you even CONSIDERING not following your rules?!?! Don't you remember where that gets you!!?! Don't you know that you MUST. FOLLOW. YOUR. RULES.!!!!!!" and yet he was still just barely listening, his mind was blocking me out, the fear was taking over.
Now, this story has a happy ending. During the 3 or 5 minutes I was having this "conversation" with him, it popped. He was now up two times as big as before, then three, then four times. I convinced him to follow his rules and because of it he ended up taking a huge winner.
What does this tell you? Gary and I have been friends for over 15 years. We've been through a lot of stuff together. Yet even with me YELLING at him to not take the trade off, and to follow his rules for the love of pete, he almost didn't.
So you can imagine how hard it is for someone who doesn't have that person in the background telling them they need to follow their rules 10 times over and over... that person would almost certainly NOT follow the rules. And of course then they beat themselves up, which leads to a whole new set of problems which ultimately causes them to have even more fear.
Anyway, I wanted to share this little story because I wanted to underscore the importance of psychology in trading. It's not indicators that make you win or lose. It's what you do in the above situation. This is the mountain you have to climb in your trading career before you can be successful. All the way up the mountain, you are struggling and gasping for breath, afraid you will fall, avalanche, everything. But once you get to the summit you have a real sense of accomplishment, a real sense of pride, you conquered your fear, and now each time you climb that mountain in the future it is easier and easier.
Mike
I was curious about some habits of forum users on Big Mike Trading, so I created a few charts. The chart data is based on the Trader's Edge stories area, a section at the top of the forum that features some of the more popular concepts on the site.
It is important to remember than this is not very scientific. Some stories are only one week old, while others are a month old, so the number of clicks is not going to be scaled proportionally.
The first chart is a list, from oldest (top) to newest (bottom) of subjects in Trader's Edge as of today, and how many clicks each story received. It's important to note, the clicks are only counted here for views directly from Trader's Edge. If someone views the story without going through Trader's Edge first, it does not show up here.
The second chart is an overview by category. I decided to place each story into a category, either Automation, Indicator, Education, or Journal. It isn't perfect but it gives an idea of where the majority of interest lies.
I might do this again later in a few months or a year, so we can have some more accurate info.
Mike
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It is important to remember than this is not very scientific. Some stories are only one week old, while others are a month old, so the number of clicks is not going to be scaled proportionally.
The first chart is a list, from oldest (top) to newest (bottom) of subjects in Trader's Edge as of today, and how many clicks each story received. It's important to note, the clicks are only counted here for views directly from Trader's Edge. If someone views the story without going through Trader's Edge first, it does not show up here.
The second chart is an overview by category. I decided to place each story into a category, either Automation, Indicator, Education, or Journal. It isn't perfect but it gives an idea of where the majority of interest lies.
I might do this again later in a few months or a year, so we can have some more accurate info.
Mike
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In this video I go over my indicators and setups for Wed Feb 24th 2010
NinjaTrader Daily Chart Review Feb 24th 2010 from Big Mike Trading on Vimeo.
Please use the trading advice thread on the trading forum for discussions :)
Mike
NinjaTrader Daily Chart Review Feb 24th 2010 from Big Mike Trading on Vimeo.
Please use the trading advice thread on the trading forum for discussions :)
Mike
Well today after NT7 blew up on me again non-stop, I really got fed up and kicked into high gear.
I'm looking at Neoticker as well as MultiCharts. But this thread will be about my experiences with MultiCharts.
First, you can download MultiCharts here:
Trading and Charting Software for FOREX, Stock, Future and Option Markets
I'm running 6.0 beta 2 (the latest available as of this post).
MultiCharts is the same cost as NinjaTrader, at roughly $100/mo or $1500 for a lifetime license.
There are two major differences between MultiCharts 6 and NinjaTrader 7. First, MC does not have a DOM. No manual order entry. It does support automated strategies and executions, but for discretionary traders you'll have to rely on an external platform for order execution. Version 7 of MC should correct this. Second, MC 6 indicators are built on the EasyLanguage platform, whereas NinjaTrader uses C#.
For me, if I do end up switching to MC I will keep NinjaTrader open just for my DOM and minimize everything else, and rely on MC for charting. It's the charting in NT that is causing me so much grief lately. It also means I have to convert a handful of my favorite indicators from C# to EasyLanguage. I've started working on that.
The list of other differences between the two platforms is extremely long, but I have to make a few general observations.
Advantages:
- MC's interface seems very polished when compared to NT's
- MC is incredibly quicker, far far faster than NT. And remember, I have a powerhouse of a system (Core i7 overclocked to 4ghz, 12GB ram, RAID 0 drives w/hardware raid) so this speed improvement with MC is due to better design.
- MC handles multiple dataseries (multiple time frames) with ease. It's second nature. There is nothing to it. IT JUST WORKS. With NT7, it does everything but work.
- MC has its Quote Manager separated from the primary charting application. This means an easy to use "module", if you will, to manage everything to do with quotes/streaming data. It was a breeze to setup IQfeed continuous contracts and to tell MC6 to cache the data locally, as well as to define session templates (trading hours).
Disadvantages:
- My favorite indicators have to be re-written from scratch. C# is far more powerful than EasyLanguage, so the hobbyist in me, the one seeking an automated strategy that trades while I guzzle cocktails on the beach, well he'll be sticking with NT for that development.
- No DOM. Yikes! No more to say. You can't trade with MC alone if you are a discretionary trader. Huge, huge disadvantage. But rumor has it, MC7 will fix that oversight and is only a few months away. The question becomes: will we get a v1.0 DOM, or will we get a v7.0 DOM (how good will it be?). Sure, it isn't a huge inconvenience for existing NT users to just have a DOM-only open and trade MC charts, but for new deployments it would really suck, and besides, I want a better DOM than what NT offers and my hopes are that MC will deliver one.
Tie:
- Community support. MultiCharts can piggy back on the TradeStation community, since the majority of all TradeStation indicators work in MultiCharts without modification. NinjaTrader has an huge community as well though, and while in shear numbers it isn't as large as the EasyLanguage community, the community makes up for size with quality.
I'm just getting started, so I'll post more soon. Follow the discussion on the trading forum, here:
http://www.bigmiketrading.com/platforms-indicators/2698-multicharts-multicharts-multicharts.html
Mike
I'm looking at Neoticker as well as MultiCharts. But this thread will be about my experiences with MultiCharts.
First, you can download MultiCharts here:
Trading and Charting Software for FOREX, Stock, Future and Option Markets
I'm running 6.0 beta 2 (the latest available as of this post).
MultiCharts is the same cost as NinjaTrader, at roughly $100/mo or $1500 for a lifetime license.
There are two major differences between MultiCharts 6 and NinjaTrader 7. First, MC does not have a DOM. No manual order entry. It does support automated strategies and executions, but for discretionary traders you'll have to rely on an external platform for order execution. Version 7 of MC should correct this. Second, MC 6 indicators are built on the EasyLanguage platform, whereas NinjaTrader uses C#.
For me, if I do end up switching to MC I will keep NinjaTrader open just for my DOM and minimize everything else, and rely on MC for charting. It's the charting in NT that is causing me so much grief lately. It also means I have to convert a handful of my favorite indicators from C# to EasyLanguage. I've started working on that.
The list of other differences between the two platforms is extremely long, but I have to make a few general observations.
Advantages:
- MC's interface seems very polished when compared to NT's
- MC is incredibly quicker, far far faster than NT. And remember, I have a powerhouse of a system (Core i7 overclocked to 4ghz, 12GB ram, RAID 0 drives w/hardware raid) so this speed improvement with MC is due to better design.
- MC handles multiple dataseries (multiple time frames) with ease. It's second nature. There is nothing to it. IT JUST WORKS. With NT7, it does everything but work.
- MC has its Quote Manager separated from the primary charting application. This means an easy to use "module", if you will, to manage everything to do with quotes/streaming data. It was a breeze to setup IQfeed continuous contracts and to tell MC6 to cache the data locally, as well as to define session templates (trading hours).
Disadvantages:
- My favorite indicators have to be re-written from scratch. C# is far more powerful than EasyLanguage, so the hobbyist in me, the one seeking an automated strategy that trades while I guzzle cocktails on the beach, well he'll be sticking with NT for that development.
- No DOM. Yikes! No more to say. You can't trade with MC alone if you are a discretionary trader. Huge, huge disadvantage. But rumor has it, MC7 will fix that oversight and is only a few months away. The question becomes: will we get a v1.0 DOM, or will we get a v7.0 DOM (how good will it be?). Sure, it isn't a huge inconvenience for existing NT users to just have a DOM-only open and trade MC charts, but for new deployments it would really suck, and besides, I want a better DOM than what NT offers and my hopes are that MC will deliver one.
Tie:
- Community support. MultiCharts can piggy back on the TradeStation community, since the majority of all TradeStation indicators work in MultiCharts without modification. NinjaTrader has an huge community as well though, and while in shear numbers it isn't as large as the EasyLanguage community, the community makes up for size with quality.
I'm just getting started, so I'll post more soon. Follow the discussion on the trading forum, here:
http://www.bigmiketrading.com/platforms-indicators/2698-multicharts-multicharts-multicharts.html
Mike
In another example of mathematical analysis way over my head, a group of forum participants have an ongoing discussion about Wavelets in algorithmic trading. One BMT Forum Member "sefstrat" has donated fully functional wavelet code for NinjaTrader 7.
This wavelet indicator uses a linear undecimated Haar transform implemented via lifting. This is a must have tool for trading algorithms...
sefstrat, which is absolute brilliant trader, provided the above screen shots and introduction analysis for his indicator. He also has provided the forum with other brilliant indicators like his Particle Oscillator Indicator for NinjaTrader 7, and he also is an advanced Matlab / NT7 user. He has the following to say about understanding wavelets:
"I would still encourage any who are interested in wavelets to read up on the theory behind them and how to construct other wavelet transforms via lifting. The more you understand wavelets the more useful they will be for you. A good place to start learning about more advanced techniques would be to research nonlinear transforms commonly used for 'edge detection'." -- sefstrat
Check out the trading forum for more.
Mike
This wavelet indicator uses a linear undecimated Haar transform implemented via lifting. This is a must have tool for trading algorithms...
sefstrat, which is absolute brilliant trader, provided the above screen shots and introduction analysis for his indicator. He also has provided the forum with other brilliant indicators like his Particle Oscillator Indicator for NinjaTrader 7, and he also is an advanced Matlab / NT7 user. He has the following to say about understanding wavelets:
"I would still encourage any who are interested in wavelets to read up on the theory behind them and how to construct other wavelet transforms via lifting. The more you understand wavelets the more useful they will be for you. A good place to start learning about more advanced techniques would be to research nonlinear transforms commonly used for 'edge detection'." -- sefstrat
Check out the trading forum for more.
Mike
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