Stator Portfolio Management Software - any good? [Archive]

RichKid

15th-November-2005, 05:31 PM

I'm still searching for some cheap or free portfolio mgmt software.

We've been trying to develop one here on ASF too. See the 'excel guru' and related threads. See the stator website www.stator-afm.com (http://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/sponsors/stator) for some inspiration guys- has screenshots and a layout map.

I came across Stator, how do current users find it? Any hiccups?

Tech/a, I notice you use it, how do you find it? Do you use its full functionality? Thought I'd ask as you've now had a few months to get through it, does it compare well to tradesim, amibroker and other portfolio mgmt software you've use?

I know there is a demo on the Stator site (with limited functionality) but I want to get some feedback first as there are some bonus items which you lose out on unless you purchase within 30days of dl the demo (eg lifetime email support). I may take more than 30 days to evaluate it. I wish the upgrades were free (currently only upto 12mths) but that would be asking for too much I guess??. Nice to see that many users (owners) can use it for just the initial payment.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

tech/a

15th-November-2005, 07:31 PM

Rich.

Its the best I have seen.
Its totally different to Tradesim.
Tradesim is systems testing software.
Stator is portfolio management sofware.
You can compare systems with each other or with all systems you trade.
It can be used by planners to track multiple System owners and compare results of each.

Click of a mouse and all is updated.
Takes a little time to enter and exit trades but when you get the hang of it it is quick and efficient.

Worth every penny in my veiw.
Particularly when I havent been able to find anything close at any price!

RichKid

15th-November-2005, 07:45 PM

Gar

1st-October-2007, 01:25 PM

http://www.stator-afm.com/ (http://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/sponsors/stator)

I'm considering grabbing a "standard" version of this program, I've tried the demo and it seems to do a lot of the things I've been looking for in a single package for a reasonable price.

Just wondering if any of you guys/gals have had much experience with it and have any comments on its abilities/limitations/support etc :)

Cheers :xyxthumbs

*edit* thanks joe, I had a bit of a search but I didnt find this thread

Gar

15th-October-2007, 12:52 PM

Well after playing with the demo version for a couple of weeks I purchased a full licence last night, I got 20% off on a promotion too which I'm pretty stoked about :D

Very happy so far

osmosis

17th-October-2007, 04:55 PM

Did you evaluate the Topshare software at all?

Gar

17th-October-2007, 07:19 PM

Nah, I haven't heard of it to be honest.

One thing that I have found annoying with stator though is when entering penny stock trades into the system it seems to round off to 2 decimal points, for example 0.029 becomes 0.03

I haven't had time to look into this properly though so there might be a setting I can change.

tech/a

17th-October-2007, 08:17 PM

Ive been using stator for years.
Just upgraded to the latest version after using the old for so long.
Printed out the manual 425 pages.
This is serious software.
Its evaluation of your trading methodology is simply awsome.

If you want the Lambourgini for the VW price tag this is it.
This will tell you how good your trading is.Infact it will show you instantly wether your performing to expectation.

Takes a while to learn how to drive it ---just as you'd need re education to drive a Lambourgini to its best limits.

Stator

28th-October-2007, 09:49 PM

Gar wrote;
----
with stator though is when entering penny stock trades into the system it seems to round off to 2 decimal points, for example 0.029 becomes 0.03
----

Price data in the database is stored to eight decimal places so your issue only relates to the display of data only.

If you have a look in Global Options under "Instrument Defaults" you can specify the number of decimal places for price data for different Instrument groups. You can also read about this in the Stator help file at;

Global Options/Instrument Defaults/Instrument Defaults

Kind Regards
Anthony

nizar

28th-October-2007, 10:29 PM

Price data in the database is stored to eight decimal places so your issue only relates to the display of data only.

Thats hardcore.
Even forex is only 4 or 5 decimal places.

Tech/a
Do you actually have a lambo?

canaussieuck

28th-October-2007, 10:33 PM

Just added this to my list of software to purchase. thanks all.

Cheers,

Wysiwyg

28th-October-2007, 11:23 PM

Just added this to my list of software to purchase. thanks all.

Cheers,

Me too, thanks.

tech/a

29th-October-2007, 07:27 AM

Tech/a
Do you actually have a lambo?

No.

This is great software. I'm reading the 400 page manual wow!

Stator

29th-October-2007, 11:21 PM

----
This is great software. I'm reading the 400 page manual wow!
----

Keep in mind, I much prefer to write the software than write about it ;)

Cheers
Anthony

Wysiwyg

9th-November-2007, 12:03 AM

Me too, thanks.

Downloaded the trial version today and decided it is way more than i need.Good layout and functions but more than i require at this stage.:)

tech/a

9th-November-2007, 06:03 AM

Only use that which you need and learn about that which you "Think" you dont need.
You may learn things about your trading you really should know!

Gar

9th-November-2007, 10:06 AM

Price data in the database is stored to eight decimal places so your issue only relates to the display of data only.

If you have a look in Global Options under "Instrument Defaults" you can specify the number of decimal places for price data for different Instrument groups. You can also read about this in the Stator help file at;

Global Options/Instrument Defaults/Instrument Defaults

Kind Regards
Anthony

I just noticed your post Anthony, that too was easy :)

Thanks for that mate

osmosis

9th-November-2007, 02:02 PM

I still haven't got any feedback regarding "Topshare" (www.topshare.com.au) and how this compares to Stator. Anyone out there using Topshare Portfolio Management Software?

jet328

6th-April-2008, 09:32 PM

Anyone know how to handle a demerger in Stator?
eg Toll splitting into Toll & Asciano or PBL splitting into Crown & CMH

I can work out how to handle a straight share split in the the one company eg. 10:1 but not when they split into two companies.

Agree with the other replies, very good software & produces great reports for the end of FY

Cheers :D

hissho

6th-April-2008, 10:08 PM

Has anyone tried "OTrader"?(www.otrader.com.au)

i've asked tech/a and he said he hasn't tried it...anyone else did?

Thanks

Shane Baker

6th-April-2008, 10:19 PM

CeeJay

6th-June-2008, 03:27 PM

I still haven't got any feedback regarding "Topshare" (www.topshare.com.au) and how this compares to Stator. Anyone out there using Topshare Portfolio Management Software?
Here's a thread on Topshare:
http://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5467&highlight=financial+software&page=2

If you've still got any questions, fire away...

Cheers,
Chris
www.topshare.com.au

anthon

5th-February-2009, 02:39 PM

I like the look of Stator Pro but I have 2 questions to people using it:

1. Where can I find the PDF version of the help? I can't locate it anywhere

2. Do people use this in conjunction with a standard accounting package or can Stator handle some normal accounting tasks as well?

Stator

5th-February-2009, 04:09 PM

Hello.

----
1. Where can I find the PDF version of the help? I can't locate it anywhere
----

The PDF help file is available as a download to customers after they have made a purchase. The PDF of the help file is a must if you would like a hard copy of the help file.

If you would like to obtain the PDF help file please send me an email and I can provide further information.

----
2. Do people use this in conjunction with a standard accounting package or can Stator handle some normal accounting tasks as well?
----

I can only speak from personal experience. Stator covers all of my investment/trading needs and I only use Stator ... I am a bit biased but have developed the software to cater for a wide range of customer needs.

Should you have any other questions, feel free to let me know.

Cheers
Anthony
www.stator-afm.com

MichaelD

5th-February-2009, 11:15 PM

2. Do people use this in conjunction with a standard accounting package or can Stator handle some normal accounting tasks as well?

I have used Stator for several years now and it is absolutely phenomenal for managing trading. Anthony is fantastic at supporting the program - I cannot recall ever waiting more than 1/2 day for an answer to any queries I've ever had. I'm 100% happy with Stator (OK, 99.9% - I preferred the old look of the equity curves, not the new look).

However, Stator most definitely is NOT a general accounting package and does not function at all well at this task. You cannot, for example reconcile against a bank statement. It does not do double entry accounting.

Realistically, all it can provide is a few relevant lines to plug into a more general accounting program (Trading P/L, Trading Cash, Open Equity, etc).

canaussieuck

5th-February-2009, 11:30 PM

I've downloaded the demo but it keeps crashing. I cannot get enough time to play with it if it keeps doing that.

Cheers,

CanOz

BentRod

6th-February-2009, 02:43 AM

canaussieuck

11th-February-2009, 10:21 AM

Cannie,

Works fine here, but I don't use it anymore as I can't import from Oanda.

Hopefully Anthony can add that function later. :pray icon:

Are You on XP Sp2/3 or Vista 32/64?

Any error codes etc when it crashes?

Thanks Bent, i use XP and i'll check the error code next time i fire it up.....if my 30 days is still valid.

Cheers,

CanOz

n5032245

3rd-March-2009, 07:51 PM

just signed up and have just sat down to read the manual. getting excited.

is there a general overview somewhere to get my head around what it is that i am going to be learning/stoked with along the way?

BentRod

4th-March-2009, 12:13 AM

N50,

The tutorials on their site might help

http://www.stator-afm.com/stator-tutorials.html

oldpos

24th-March-2009, 05:53 PM

No.

This is great software. I'm reading the 400 page manual wow!

Hi Tech/a,

I'm considering Stator. Do you still use it and is the above quote still relevant.

cheers.

Stator

1st-April-2009, 10:06 AM

To address a couple of questions put forward:

1. There are various learning resources available to help learn Stator.

The main resource is the help file with relevance to the following topics;

Getting Started/Quick How To ...
Welcome/Stator Concepts

We also have online tutorials which are also mirrored in the Stator help file, just go to our website and click on the "Tutorials" link.

Once upon a time we had PDF booklets available which were targeted towards different trading groups, i.e. Stator and CFD's, Stator for System Traders etc. The trouble we encountered was that these documents quickly became out of date and maintaining them became very time consuming.

Perhaps this is something that we will introduce again when we release v3.##.

Conceptually, the core functionality is to enter and exit trades. All of the other functionality such as Accounts, Watchlists, Trading Pools, Position Sizing, Charting, Memo Notes etc are all secondary to the main functionality of entering and exiting trades.

Stator is designed to operate fine even if all you do is enter and exit trades.

2. Stability
Stator is tested for stability prior to each release and the current version is stable on each of our test machines.

3. PDF Help file
For those that are interested ... the Stator help file is available as a HUGE PDF file.

Makes for some good bedtime reading :)

I hope this helps.

Cheers
Anthony
stator-afm

Stator

12th-April-2009, 06:30 PM

------
From my previous post

Once upon a time we had PDF booklets available which were targeted towards different trading groups, i.e. Stator and CFD's, Stator for System Traders etc. The trouble we encountered was that these documents quickly became out of date and maintaining them became very time consuming.

------

In response to a few of our users requesting additional assistance getting started with Stator, we have resurrected our "Getting Started Guides".

The getting started guides are PDF's available for download, each covering Stator functionality targeted towards different types of traders and they proved very popular.

The following guides are available for download;

- The Stator DEMO
- Information for System Traders
- Information for CFD Traders
- Stator and Historical Data

They are available from the following page;
http://www.stator-afm.com/getting-started.html

Happy Easter and let me know if you have any questions.

Anthony
Anfield Capital Pty Ltd

Wysiwyg

25th-September-2009, 05:56 AM

Hello any Stator users out there. Please help if you import FX data to Stator.

I was hoping someone would have an example of a FX trade imported using a comma to seperate the data (csv). Obviously a FX trade is very different. I will give an example of the fields I am trying which I think are necessary, but aren`t working in the final calculation. I have tried variations but to no avail.

08-Sep-2009,AUDUSD,Short,1,0.85635,0.85840,.01,USD,08-Sep-2009,0.85686,0.85840,10000,YES

So to break that down is ..

1) Entry Date = 08-Sep-2009
2) Entry code = AUDUSD
3) Position type = Short (short or long option)
4) Entry quantity = 1 contract
5) Entry price = 0.85635 (price of AUDUSD when trade opened)
6) Entry exchange rate = 0.85840 (daily exchange rate used by broker)
7) Leverage = .01 (.01 is 1% in Stator, .1 is 10%)
8) Trade Currency = USD (Quote currency)
9) Exit Date = 08-Sep-2009 (same day)
10) Exit Price = 0.85686 (price of AUDUSD when trade closed)
11) Exit exchange rate = 0.85840 (same as entry exchange rate for same day)
12) Fixed cost per contract = 10000 (value of contract mini, standard is 100000)
13) Is fixed cost per contract = YES

Wysiwyg

2nd-October-2009, 12:18 AM

Hello any Stator users out there.

Can you please help me importing trade data into Stator.

Tipene

15th-March-2010, 05:25 AM

Hi Wysiwyg
I have only just seen your post after doing a Google to see if I could do exactly what you are attempting.
If you are still trying, the good news is Stator handles that sort of import just fine. There is even some flexibility in date format (the reason my initial attempt failed)
Your setup looks to me like it should work. Did you have all the import parameters ticked in the same order as your spreadsheet column labels?
If you have a lot of data the import is not instant. 60 closed trades taking about a minute on my PC.
I'm no expert but if you are still trying to do this can help to my limited ability.

Hello any Stator users out there. Please help if you import FX data to Stator.

I was hoping someone would have an example of a FX trade imported using a comma to seperate the data (csv). Obviously a FX trade is very different. I will give an example of the fields I am trying which I think are necessary, but aren`t working in the final calculation. I have tried variations but to no avail.

08-Sep-2009,AUDUSD,Short,1,0.85635,0.85840,.01,USD,08-Sep-2009,0.85686,0.85840,10000,YES

So to break that down is ..

1) Entry Date = 08-Sep-2009
2) Entry code = AUDUSD
3) Position type = Short (short or long option)
4) Entry quantity = 1 contract
5) Entry price = 0.85635 (price of AUDUSD when trade opened)
6) Entry exchange rate = 0.85840 (daily exchange rate used by broker)
7) Leverage = .01 (.01 is 1% in Stator, .1 is 10%)
8) Trade Currency = USD (Quote currency)
9) Exit Date = 08-Sep-2009 (same day)
10) Exit Price = 0.85686 (price of AUDUSD when trade closed)
11) Exit exchange rate = 0.85840 (same as entry exchange rate for same day)
12) Fixed cost per contract = 10000 (value of contract mini, standard is 100000)
13) Is fixed cost per contract = YES

Wysiwyg

15th-March-2010, 06:41 PM

Hi Wysiwyg
I have only just seen your post after doing a Google to see if I could do exactly what you are attempting.
If you are still trying, the good news is Stator handles that sort of import just fine. There is even some flexibility in date format (the reason my initial attempt failed)
Your setup looks to me like it should work. Did you have all the import parameters ticked in the same order as your spreadsheet column labels?
If you have a lot of data the import is not instant. 60 closed trades taking about a minute on my PC.
I'm no expert but if you are still trying to do this can help to my limited ability.

Greetings Tipene. Yes I have imported hundreds of trades using the following arrangement in order. I arranged the FX data from my broker into the correct columns of a spread-sheet in this order by copy & paste and used the daily currency pair exchange rate for "entry/exit exchange rate". Still a few grey areas with which daily exchange rate. My brokers daily exchange rate differs from the Australian official rate because the broker uses the exchange rate at the time of calculating their client statements. Next batch of imports I will use the broker daily exchange rate even though it is "officially" inaccurate it should not matter.

Thanks for the offer and enjoy. :)

ENTRY_CODE
ENTRY_DATE
ENTRY_POSITION
ENTRY_QUANTITY
ENTRY_PRICE
ENTRY_EXCHANGERATE
ENTRY_LEVERAGE
ENTRY_CURRENCY
ENTRY_MULTIPLIER
EXIT_DATE
EXIT_PRICE
EXIT_EXCHANGERATE

rjs99

31st-August-2010, 06:25 AM

Hi i have just bought stator and having major problems trying to get historical data on
i use amibroker when i put in amibroker\data it doesnt recognise dat suffix i get nothing it is a very hard program to get your head around either that or i am stupid lol any assistance would be very helpful
ron

Paradiso

17th-September-2010, 09:27 AM

Wysiwyg

26th-September-2010, 02:20 PM

I have question about the importing trades function via a csv or spreadsheet. Stator allows you import either an open or closed trade.

But how would I import the following scenario

Jan 2009 Bought 1000 shares of XYZ
Mar 2009 Sold 200 shares of XYZ
Feb 2010 Bought 1500 shares of XYZ
Apr 2010 Sold 1800 Shares of XYZ

So basically I am not closing the position entirely and I am not sure how I enter these trades?

Simply import the trades that were made. Stator does the calculations. If you only have few trades to record then do them manually and you will see the adjustments made to the portfolio after each trade entry.

quinn123

26th-November-2010, 10:12 AM

Hi,

has anyone had success in importing there closed trades from commsec to Stator-AFM? I find entering the trades manually too time consuming. The format commsec exports trades in doesn't suit Stator I have found. Is interactive brokers better?

The issue I have is that it takes some time to plug you trades in. If you are making alot of intra-day trades its a little time wasting to be sitting there plugging all your buy/sell orders in.

I'm now thinking of only using stator for my medium-long term investments because these are the only investments I would be thinking about holding for more than a year and which will have capital tax reductions.

For my day trading I'm thinking of just having a seperate bank account. Then working out your capital gains tax is easy. It would just be your ending capital for financial year minus your starting capital in the financial year minus any credited capital plus any debited capital from the account.

What do you other day traders use for calculating your capital gains for tax time.

If you were making 50 trades in one day you would understand where I'm coming from becasue plugging 50 trades into stator at one time would be a challange in itself.

Cheers,

Quinn

So_Cynical

26th-November-2010, 07:56 PM

Hi,

has anyone had success in importing there closed trades from commsec to Stator-AFM? I find entering the trades manually too time consuming.

It took me 3 weeks to type in 3 and a bit years (110 transactions) worth of buys and sells...i still haven't finished with the dividends. :sly: Stator as you suggested is probably not really suited to high frequency day trading.

Paradiso

6th-December-2010, 06:09 AM

Wysiwyg

6th-December-2010, 07:12 AM

Some very basic features are missing, such as the ability to partially close a position. It is all or nothing. There are plenty of reasons why someone might want to only partially close a position and for the application to simply refuse to accommodate this is very weird.
That is a lie. Please get your facts right. Of course you can partially close trades in Stator.

Wysiwyg

6th-December-2010, 08:37 AM

If you were making 50 trades in one day you would understand where I'm coming from becasue plugging 50 trades into stator at one time would be a challange in itself.
Quinn

Hi,

You need to format in correct order your trade data (I copied and pasted the relevant data to each column in a spread sheet because the broker layouts are different). You can see below how I have in order (ticked box numbered) the "fields" that I match in the spread sheet. You will have to format your cells in the spread sheet too. Keep a master copy of your spread sheet so all you have to do is populate the columns with copy and paste once per day or week or month.

* You can also arrange your Stator form to match the layout in order of your brokers statement but for my Forex trades, the broker statement does not provide all the data I need so I created my own spread sheet blank to copy and paste multiple trades to.

So_Cynical

6th-December-2010, 09:16 PM

Stator is an over-complicated product and I would suggest extreme caution for anyone thinking about buying it. The application seems to have a very limited focus and would not suit everyone.

Some very basic features are missing, such as the ability to partially close a position. It is all or nothing. There are plenty of reasons why someone might want to only partially close a position and for the application to simply refuse to accommodate this is very weird.

Like all good, powerful software it just takes a little getting used to..in 6 months ill probably still be learning how to drive it....i tested pretty much every product on the market and probably a few many would of never heard of, i couldn't find anything that was perfect and that had all the features i wanted but finally settled on Stator as it just made the most sense.

Must admit it was only after installing the Stator demo first...getting pissed of at it and then testing everything else over a 4 or 5 month period, that i finally came back to Stator with a new respect.

Paradiso

1st-January-2011, 06:35 AM

That is a lie. Please get your facts right. Of course you can partially close trades in Stator.

Here is part of an email sent to me from the Stator support desk

Hello XXXXXX,

So for a partial sale of 300 shares, you would enter the entry details along with the exit details all on one line in your import file. Showing the quantity for the trade as 300.

You need to treat each closed trade as a whole trade, forgetting that they may have been a partial sale of a parcel.

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

So in effect, it is up to the user to manually create partial stock sales. So for example if I bought in 2007, 1000 shares of BHP and I sold 500 of those shares in 2009, I must go back to that 1000 share purchase entry and delete it and in turn create 2 x 500 share purchase and then I can close one of those.

In order to import my entire portfolio and trading history, the amount of work required would be huge and simply not worth the effort.

With such a high barrier to entry, this software is not for everyone.

Wysiwyg

1st-January-2011, 07:05 AM

You need to treat each closed trade as a whole trade, forgetting that they may have been a partial sale of a parcel.[/B]

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.
Mate. You don't understand. :eek7:

So in effect, it is up to the user to manually create partial stock sales. So for example if I bought in 2007, 1000 shares of BHP and I sold 500 of those shares in 2009, I must go back to that 1000 share purchase entry and delete it and in turn create 2 x 500 share purchase and then I can close one of those.
I have done a trade to show you the "basic" process that most if not all portfolio management software has. That is partial closure of a trade. :rolleyes:

Note on the picture the dates and the *sale details. Purchase price 1000 BHP at $30 on 1/1/2007 and sale of 500 on 1/1/2011 at $45. Very basic.

Paradiso

5th-January-2011, 11:20 AM

Mate. You don't understand. :eek7:

I have done a trade to show you the "basic" process that most if not all portfolio management software has. That is partial closure of a trade. :rolleyes:

Note on the picture the dates and the *sale details. Purchase price 1000 BHP at $30 on 1/1/2007 and sale of 500 on 1/1/2011 at $45. Very basic.

I am afraid you don't understand.

I am talking about importing my entire trading history using the import function. I have no time or inclination to manually enter all my trades for the past 5 years through the Stator user interface. Which is what you are posting about.

What Stator support is telling me is that I can't import my trading history because the software cannot import partial position close. So my choices are

a) Go through my entire trading history data file and account for every partial close by splitting the opening position in two or more opens.

OR

b) As you have said, I can manually enter my entire trading history through the stator front end.

Both choices are extremely tedious and simply not worth the effort.

Liar's Poker

5th-January-2011, 12:00 PM

It took me 3 weeks to type in 3 and a bit years (110 transactions) worth of buys and sells...i still haven't finished with the dividends. :sly: Stator as you suggested is probably not really suited to high frequency day trading.

Cynical,

Doesn't Stator automatically fill your dividends once you have entered all your buy and sell orders?

:confused:

-Liar-

So_Cynical

5th-January-2011, 10:37 PM

Cynical,

Doesn't Stator automatically fill your dividends once you have entered all your buy and sell orders?

:confused:

-Liar-

I just had 5 stocks go ex div in late December and nothing happened automatically.

I think i did stumble across that feature and figured i would get around to setting it up one day...i was hesitant because dividend amounts keep changing and i figured it was just easier and more accurate to do it manually as the divi went ex.

I mite give it a go with HDF now im out of the reinvestment plan...ill put it on my "to do" list

Liar's Poker

6th-January-2011, 09:57 AM

I just had 5 stocks go ex div in late December and nothing happened automatically.

I think i did stumble across that feature and figured i would get around to setting it up one day...i was hesitant because dividend amounts keep changing and i figured it was just easier and more accurate to do it manually as the divi went ex.

I mite give it a go with HDF now im out of the reinvestment plan...ill put it on my "to do" list

If you don't mind, could you let me know how go with this once you have a chance to test it out?

I've tested a few software packages that have been shocking when it comes to tracking dividends and stocks with DRP's.

-Liar-

Wysiwyg

6th-January-2011, 10:26 AM

I am afraid you don't understand.

I am talking about importing my entire trading history using the import function. I have no time or inclination to manually enter all my trades for the past 5 years through the Stator user interface. Which is what you are posting about.
Paradiso, Anyone can firstly import all the open trade data into Stator through Tools -> Import Data -> Import Open Trades.
Secondly import all the closed trade data into Stator through Tools -> Import Data -> Import Closed Trades.

So import all open trades and then import all closed trades. This will require copy and paste of data into correct columns on a spreadsheet.