Metastock Forex Brokers
After using paid charting packages such as eSignal, Intellicharts, Metastock, and Xtick, I just don't see a compelling reason to NOT use the freely available Metatrader. I've become semi comfortable with Metatrader except that I just haven't taken the time to learn to program in MQL4 which is short for Metaquotes Language 4. Just like my conversation about brokers yesterday, there is no perfect charting solution. You just have to choose which have the features that you need most. I will continue to use Metatrader not only because it is free but because the other paid packages don't provide me with anything more.
There are a lot of brokers out there that use the Metatrader server trading platform. Why? One reason may be because they don't have to spend the time and money to develop their own. You simply download the Metatrader client terminal and connect to any broker that publicly allows trading through their Metatrader trading platform. Brokers are providing their own price feed so one of the things that will be different within the Metatrader client terminal between brokers are the prices. So if you decide to use Alpari as your broker, you can do so by logging into their server from within Metatrader. If you then decide to switch to Interbank, the only change are the login and the prices. If you switch, the prices will re-populate with that particular broker's price data. In addition to these changes, the time on your charts will also change which is the one annoying thing about Metatrader. If Alpari is at time zone GMT and Interbank at GMT -3, this will be reflected on your charts. The time in Metatrader is not based on your local computers time.
This finally brings me to the reason for this post. There are no major forex brokers that use the Metatrader platform but I wish there were because the ability to trade directly from within the platform could be its biggest strength. Instead of purchasing an expensive API, you can automate your trades from Metatrader. The H-system trading system I've been using for the past 3-4 weeks is a perfect candidate. I've been sleep deprived during this time because a lot of the trades are opened during the European session. I've seen a lot of advertising from Interbank FX I just don't know how much I could trust a small broker with my money. Does anyone have any experiences with Metatrader platform brokers? I'll certainly be looking into this because I just cannot ignore the power that Metatrader can have when combined with a live account.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Squeeze and Metatrader Indicators
My mailbox gets flooded with requests for the eSignal indicator I wrote that emulates the TTM Squeeze indicator. The TTM Squeeze indicator is offered for sale by John Carter on his website at http://www.tradethemarkets.com . My version is free but instead of responding to every email I get, I've added a new menu to the website where it is available for download. In addition, I have added about 300 metatrader indicators for download. This will be a repository for all to share indicators. As long as you are a registered user, you can upload indicators.
To download indicators, go to the right menu item titled, "Metatrader Indicators" or visit:
http://www.forexproject.com/option,com_docman/Itemid,203/
To download the Squeeze indicator, follow the same link but click eSignal Indicators.
For those of you that ask whether this squeeze indicator can be used for metatrader or tradestation or any other platform, the answer is no. It can only be used for eSignal.
I am in the process of writing a squeeze indicator for metatrader but I am still learning the MQL language so it may be a while until I release it. I did just finish a simple indicator that plots 5 EMA's that John Carter uses on all of his charts so if this is of interest, download here:
http://www.forexproject.com/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,299/Itemid,203/
Popularity: 9% [?]
Migrating from eSignal
I've made the decision to start migrating off of eSignal. The price of eSignal just isn't worth it when there are cheaper and better alternatives out there. First, I've received a free 3 months to Real Time Pro which is supposedly the #1 trading platform in Europe. I may explore this platform a little more as it is a little less than $100 cheaper than eSignal per month.
I'm starting to like MetaTrader a lot more and not only because it is free. I find that the development of custom indicators and other programming customization to be quite prevalent with MetaTrader. It's probably because it is free. There is also a lot of support from the community for this platform unlike eSignal. It's very much like open source versus proprietary.
I also have to say that eSignal for the price is just too damn buggy, slow, and tempermental.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Amibroker is great and cheap
As I’ve written in the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of backtesting. I’ve used esignal (my data provider), metastock, and now amibroker to automate the backtesting process. If you ask any experienced and successful broker, they will say that you are absolutely crazy to not back test and forward test your system before going live with it. Here’s a quote from an experienced trader, chaffecomb:
I’ve absolutely no idea how some people can trade without first backtesting, however that’s just the way I’m wired! …
Check out his website. He tracks multiple trading systems that he developed and basically trades on autopilot. http://users.bigpond.com/morleym/index.htm
Out of the 3 systems I’ve used for backtesting, I really think that amibroker is the best and it’s the cheapest. Here are the pros and cons I’ve noticed for each:
Esignal
Pros: Nice reports and graphs post-backtest; the ability to backtest already written custom indicators with minor modifications
Cons: Expensive; no ability for optimization
Metastock
Pros: Full featured suite of already made trading systems
Cons: I found the entire product very confusing and I’m a programmer; Expensive
Amibroker
Pros: Intuitive user interface; fast; ability to optimize backtesting
Cons: they don’t provide data so you need to download free data or use your currency provider (esignal plugin)
The most important backtesting functionality is the ability to optimize your trading systems. For example, what if you wanted to backtest a moving average crossover. With esignal, you would have to manually change the moving average periods you want to test which would require an individual backtest for each moving average pair. With amibroker or metastock, you can use variables and have the program go through an entire range of moving averages all in one shot. It really is a powerful feature.
I’m using amibroker now and I don’t see how I would ever use anything else. In addition the full version was only about $250.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Forex Project Custom Indicators
I’ve received numerous requests for my version of the Squeeze and the pivot point indicator. I have started a group on esignal where all my indicators and relevent files are located. You can download them from here:
http://share.esignal.com/groupcontents.jsp?groupid=852
I have encrypted the indicator source code so it cannot be viewed or modified. This is not for any reason but to prevent shady people from publishing my work as their own and from attempting to profit from it.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Raghee Horner’s EZ2Trade
EZ2Trade is an esignal add-on based on an approach called "Three Classic Tools to a Three-Step Set-Up." These automated studies allow you to automate trendlines, support and resistance, fibonacci levels, minor highs and minor lows, the wave, candlestick patterns, pivot points, and trailing stop/strength indicator.
I recently added this to my esignal plan in an effort to try to emulate these studies into a custom indicator that I will write. The reason behind this is the cost. To subscribe to this it costs $195 per month.
After using this for the last 2 days, I cannot express how valuable I find these studies. I’m a busy guy and trying to follow multiple currency pairs during multiple time-frames can be quite a task. EZ2Trade automatically creates trend lines and support and resistance directly on the chart. Without this tool, creating trend lines manually tends to be the most time consuming task. It’s actually amazing how well the add-in was designed, how accurate the lines are, and how customized you can make it.
Another component of EZ2Trade that I’ve found useful is the Candlestick Pattern component. This identifies candlestick patterns as they develop on your chart and places a unique icon under the candlestick. So if a morning star develops on your chart, this will identify it and notify you. This component is also customizable and you can add, delete, or modify patterns using your own set of criteria.
You can read more about his add-on on esignal.com if your interested. I’m finding that I am becoming dependent on this more and more by the hour. It truly is an indispensible add-on. In addition, it is looking like a project to develop such an indicator may be quite an undertaking.
**UPDATE**
I found out that Raghee Horner doesn’t actually own this product. It is developed by a company named Divergence Software and if you purchase it through their website, the price is substantially cheaper. You would need to purchase S/R Analyst which is $350 a year and if you want the Candlestick pattern component, that costs $75 (one-time fee). That’s an unbelievable discount of $1915 for the year. You almost wonder how Horner charges that much. Could it be that she includes her Daily Forex Report. I don’t see how that could be worth the 2 grand. For only $350 a year, I probably won’t even bother trying to write such a custom esignal add-on.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Forex Trading Performance This Week
With Week 2 over and under my belt, and with 288 Days left to reach my goal, it’s time to summarize my performance.
I finished up $750 and 80 pips, a little better than Week 1 ($650/73 pips).
http://www.forexproject.com/My_Forex_Goal/
I made a lot more trades this week (21 trades) compared to 11 trades in Week 1. 8 of the 21 trades were profitable. Even though 13 trades were losers, my average pip loss per trade was 20 compared to my average pip gain per trade of 42. These numbers are a bit skewed considering a had an 111 pip profit on the Yen this week. If it wasn’t for that trade, things would be looking a lot worse.
My percentage balance increase in Week 1 was 6.5%.
This week my percentage balance increase was 7.0%.
Hopefully an upward trend is starting.
I get inspiration from other traders and you should to. One reader rung the 10% bell 3 times this week. I can only strive to be that much of a guru.
I have yet to find a concrete trading method that I use. I have basically fused many different methods together into a big mess. I found that my biggest problems this week were:
1. Lack of trading time
2. Chasing trades
3. Rushing into trades
#2 and #3 could be attributed to my lack of trading time but going forward, not a lot more time is going to free up for me so I have to learn to be efficient.
My biggest discovery this week was eSignal. This is by far the best trading platform I have used and I’m getting it free compliments of forex.com.
My bonus at my full-time job this year was suprisingly better than I expected so I will allocate a percentage of that bonus money to my trading account.
I’m going to try to do a little research this weekend for some articles I’m going to write. The first project is to find out examples and tips to using order types such as One Cancel Other, If Then and If Then/OCO. I know what they are but I have yet to use them. FXCM doesn’t offer them but my new account at forex.com does. The second project is to gather a list of most popular technical indicators from everything I read on a daily basis. I’m always interested when I hear someone that uses an indicator in a way that I never thought of. This is going to be an ongoing project.
I’ll be ready for next week. I’ll talk to you later.
Popularity: 2% [?]
eSignal Training
Some of you are probably well versed with eSignal but for those that are not or for those that don’t use eSignal, here is your chance to check it out. eSignal is offering web-based training tomorrow at 4:30 pm EST (9:30 GMT). It does not require pre-registration.
<http://esignal.breezecentral.com/r89541042/>
How: Click the link above and choose "Enter as Guest"
Agenda:
An intermediate level class introducing the basics of eSignal including the
following topics.
– Style Templates
– Building & Customizing Style Templates
– Loading Style Templates
– Time Templates
– Defining a Time Template
– Building & Applying a Time Template
– The Auto-Time Template
– EFS Basics & Resources
– What is EFS?
– EFS Editor & Formula Wizard
– EFS Help Center & Additional Resources
– 15-20 minute Q&A
Popularity: 2% [?]
eSignal Advanced Get Charting
I received my welcome email for eSignal’s Advanced GET Charts. I opened a broker account with forex.com and they offer Advanced GET for free as long as your balance is over $1000 and you make 10 trades a month. I don’t have a lot of experience with eSignal. I’m hesitant to move off Intellichart Desktop which I like a lot but we’ll see.
Your Advanced GET Charts account has been activated.
Download Advanced GET Now
Advanced GET Charts requires an easy, one-time installation. To view the installation instructions and start the process, click here:
http://www.forex.com/forex_charting_advancedget.html#inst
Your user ID and password are provided below. This information is required to login to Advanced GET Charts and will remain enabled as long as your trading account is active and in good standing.
Popularity: 3% [?]
