Recommend me a trading program matching the below criteria

[Steve C]

Hi all,

I have read so many threads about trading software, and I have no idea what to use. I really want to go with one and learn everything there is about it, rather then learn bits and pieces of three or four.

Criteria:
*I am a complete beginner
*As cheap as possible or even free is a high priority
*I have no coding experience
*Have just started learning about technical analysis
*One I start trading I will be looking at positions of 1 week to a couple of months (not day trading)

Software that is popular and well known would also help with the inevitable questions I will have.

Look forward to your thoughts,

Steve

[CanOz]

Hi all,

I have read so many threads about trading software, and I have no idea what to use. I really want to go with one and learn everything there is about it, rather then learn bits and pieces of three or four.

Criteria:
*I am a complete beginner
*As cheap as possible or even free is a high priority
*I have no coding experience
*Have just started learning about technical analysis
*One I start trading I will be looking at positions of 1 week to a couple of months (not day trading)

Software that is popular and well known would also help with the inevitable questions I will have.

Look forward to your thoughts,

Steve

You just cannot go past NinjaTrader, because its FREE with Free Kinetic EOD US stock data. Just DL it and have some fun....

CanOz

PS - If you do get it, let me know and i'll pass on any indicators and stuff that i've had written for it....Something else to play with.

[Gringotts Bank]

Hi all,

I have read so many threads about trading software, and I have no idea what to use. I really want to go with one and learn everything there is about it, rather then learn bits and pieces of three or four.

Criteria:
*I am a complete beginner
*As cheap as possible or even free is a high priority
*I have no coding experience
*Have just started learning about technical analysis
*One I start trading I will be looking at positions of 1 week to a couple of months (not day trading)

Software that is popular and well known would also help with the inevitable questions I will have.

Look forward to your thoughts,

Steve

Incredible charts has free delayed data, paid live data. Very easy to use. Does basic scans.

[Steve C]

Thanks for the reply Gringotts,

I have also done some reading and Ninja Trader appears(?) to be a good program to learn, especially considering it is free and allows for extra features that will come in handy as my knowledge grows.

[tech/a]

Thanks for the reply Gringotts,

I have also done some reading and Ninja Trader appears(?) to be a good program to learn, especially considering it is free and allows for extra features that will come in handy as my knowledge grows.

Or bite the bullet and pay $400 and just get Amibroker.

[sinner]

Or bite the bullet and pay $400 and just get Amibroker.

Amibroker pro is only $280 now!

[Steve C]

Or bite the bullet and pay $400 and just get Amibroker.

I have seriously considered that tech - but If I have no programming experience, just thought it might better to use a program that had preloaded GUI strategies... food for thought anyway.

Thanks

[sinner]

I have seriously considered that tech - but If I have no programming experience, just thought it might better to use a program that had preloaded GUI strategies... food for thought anyway.

Thanks

There is no such thing as a 'preloaded GUI strategy'.

All trading software will come with essentially the same set of preloaded indicators, a fact which should tell your their approximate value. An indicator is not a strategy.

[Steve C]

There is no such thing as a 'preloaded GUI strategy'.

All trading software will come with essentially the same set of preloaded indicators, a fact which should tell your their approximate value. An indicator is not a strategy.

Thanks for clearing that up Sinner - I was repeating what I had read by other posters in another thread but it was obviously incorrect.

Cheers

[joshsmi]

Thanks for clearing that up Sinner - I was repeating what I had read by other posters in another thread but it was obviously incorrect.

Cheers

Preloaded strategies are losing strategies. So go ahead doing things 90% of people do. Shark "Market" is happy eating them alive and is even more happy getting fed with new freshmen every day for free.

[MACD]

Ninja is awesome. I would definately recomend it for futures. What are you looking at trading? as this may affect the software and tools you look at?

[lenny]

SC87

Grab a copy of unholy grails by Nick Radge it will be money well spent for a newby that is looking to start trading.

[Steve C]

SC87

Grab a copy of unholy grails by Nick Radge it will be money well spent for a newby that is looking to start trading.

Will do Lenny, that is the next book on my to read list, just starting Van Tharp - Trade your way to financial freedom at the moment.

Just to clear up my comment above, apparently NinjaTrader allows you to create your own systems using a visual interface rather then writing programming code like you have to do in amibroker - can anyone confirm?

and MACD just trading basic ordinary shares at the moment. I am going to have a go with NinjaTrader and try and learn as much as I can whilst also reading as much as I can about technical analysis - hopefully in a few months I will have a go in real life with a very small amount of capital.

[waza1960]

Just to clear up my comment above, apparently NinjaTrader allows you to create your own systems using a visual interface rather then writing programming code like you have to do in amibroker - can anyone confirm?

Ninja Trader :
See top screenshot you can select various conditions to make simple strategies a good starting point IMO.
As well you can view the code which is a good learning experience.
Keeping in mind that I regard Ninja Trader as hopeless for Automated Live Trading but good to start learning the basics of systems design/backtesting /optimisation etc.

The other screenshot is a true GUI (block based construct) which is available in different patforms I would stay away from this approach as the underlying code is much more complex to enable this approach.So no advantage to learning code.

just starting Van Tharp - Trade your way to financial freedom at the moment.

I'm just reading this again myself one of the best books re systems trading IMHO.

BTW Amibroker has a Strategy wizard of sorts but pretty basic and not as intuitvie as Ninja Traders IMO.

[howardbandy]

Hi Steve --

At some point in the process of developing trading systems, probably with the thought of actually trading, you will need some measurements of system performance and some way to give yourself confidence that the system is tradable. The gold standard by which estimates of future performance are judged is the out-of-sample performance resulting from automated walk forward validation runs. Walk forward testing relies on an objective function that incorporates the subjective choices you personally make about the goodness of a system.

As you are selecting a trading system development platform, consider the capabilities each has to develop and validate systems. Can you define custom objective functions? Can you run automated walk forward tests? Whatever other capabilities each platform has, without these two it will be difficult to validate any system.

Seconding the comments made earlier in this thread -- you will not be successful without be enough of a programmer to develop your own systems, and without being enough of a statistician to analyze the system performance. The barriers to entry to this game / profession are very low; the rewards for being good at it are very high; lots of people try; winners win what losers lose.

You can read some of my thoughts on the design, testing, validation, and analysis of trading systems at my website:
http://www.blueowlpress.com/WordPress/

Best regards,
Howard

[lenny]

SC87

Just on the unholy grails book steve, Nick has turn key code for the systems in his book that plug straight into amibroker.

So if any of the systems suited you could just purchase the code which is already fully tested and proven.

Might be of interest to you

[Steve C]

SC87

Just on the unholy grails book steve, Nick has turn key code for the systems in his book that plug straight into amibroker.

So if any of the systems suited you could just purchase the code which is already fully tested and proven.

Might be of interest to you

Brilliant - Thanks Lenny.

[joea]

SC87

Grab a copy of unholy grails by Nick Radge it will be money well spent for a newby that is looking to start trading.

On the above book, what you have is a book written in a "logical reality" style.
The emphasis is on the overview of computations relating to the strategies edited by Nick.
I think intending readers should understand that they have to apply effort to trading as well!!

The above comment on "money well spent", could apply to the trading majority!!

joea

[Paradiso]

Hi all,

I have read so many threads about trading software, and I have no idea what to use. I really want to go with one and learn everything there is about it, rather then learn bits and pieces of three or four.

Criteria:
*I am a complete beginner
*As cheap as possible or even free is a high priority
*I have no coding experience
*Have just started learning about technical analysis
*One I start trading I will be looking at positions of 1 week to a couple of months (not day trading)

Software that is popular and well known would also help with the inevitable questions I will have.

Look forward to your thoughts,

Steve

As you say - You are a beginner just starting to learn Technical Analysis and have no coding experience. You should stay as far away from automated trading as possible. Trust me it is a fool's errand and you will burn through your capital.

Learn & practice discretionary trading till you have got a hang of the market you trade. Trading with real money is emotionally different to trading with demo accounts so keep that in mind. Once you are consistently winning in your discretionary trading then figure out if you can write down a set of rules to emulate how you trade. Only then you should worry about auto trading (if at all).

I use Ninjatrader myself. It uses C# so you pretty much make it do anything you can dream of.