Alternatives to Metastock?

[Chorlton]

Hello All,

My current configuration at home is TradeSim for backtesting purposes and Metastock v9.0 for my charting.

However, recently I have been experiencing a number of problems with MS as a result of a "mswin" error message which I keep getting. This normally happens when I try and run an exploration.

I have attempted various fixes to resolve this but to date no solution has been found.

Consequently, I am now looking at what other options I have. I am a little reluctant to upgrade to MS v10 as I have read on the web that the "mswin" problem can still occur, so instead I'm now considering using a different piece of software.

My first choice was to choose Amibroker as I know a number of posters on here already use it and find it a very good program especially at the price!! However, I have also read that using Amibroker with TradeSim requires an additional piece of software as it does not integrate fully.

The other alternative I have seen is BullCharts. Unlike Amibroker this program does integrate smoothly with TradeSim, although at $795 its almost twice the price.

As a result I'd be interested in others views about the pro's & con's of both Amibroker & BullCharts and also any advice on what other choices I could consider in my situation....

As always, Many Thanks.....

Chorlton

 

[nizar]

Hello All,

My current configuration at home is TradeSim for backtesting purposes and Metastock v9.0 for my charting.

However, recently I have been experiencing a number of problems with MS as a result of a "mswin" error message which I keep getting. This normally happens when I try and run an exploration.

I have attempted various fixes to resolve this but to date no solution has been found.

Consequently, I am now looking at what other options I have. I am a little reluctant to upgrade to MS v10 as I have read on the web that the "mswin" problem can still occur, so instead I'm now considering using a different piece of software.

My first choice was to choose Amibroker as I know a number of posters on here already use it and find it a very good program especially at the price!! However, I have also read that using Amibroker with TradeSim requires an additional piece of software as it does not integrate fully.

The other alternative I have seen is BullCharts. Unlike Amibroker this program does integrate smoothly with TradeSim, although at $795 its almost twice the price.

As a result I'd be interested in others views about the pro's & con's of both Amibroker & BullCharts and also any advice on what other choices I could consider in my situation....

As always, Many Thanks.....

Chorlton

Its very disappointing to here this.
BUT if I was you, I wouldn't give up yet.
You shouldn't have buy new software just because of some "glitch" that came with it.

 

[lusk]

I see you are running XP, have you installed all the service packs? I wouldn't get rid of MS, just get the most current version and if your XP is upto date you shouldn't have any issues.

 

[Chorlton]

Its very disappointing to here this.
BUT if I was you, I wouldn't give up yet.
You shouldn't have buy new software just because of some "glitch" that came with it.

Hi Nizar,

I agree with you but this "glitch" makes it impossible to carry out any developing.

The rest of MS seems to work fine except for when I try and run an exploration. I don't believe anything is corrupted as I have uninstalled/reinstalled a number of times. Maybe its a resource/memory issue. Who knows....

I'm pretty confident that the problem began after a Microsoft XP automatic update a year or so ago. Its only become a problem now due to the fact that I want to develop my own system and backtest it and need the functionality of the Explorer.

Hi Lusk,

I see you are running XP, have you installed all the service packs? I wouldn't get rid of MS, just get the most current version and if your XP is upto date you shouldn't have any issues.

XP is definately up-to-date with all its service packs as well as any other non-critical patches. If I'm honest, I think the problem appeared shortly after installing one of them but I can't say for definate now.

With regard to the current version available (v10) that would still cost me to update to it. Additionally, I read on another forum that someone else was experiencing similar problems to me and they had the V10 version installed!!! Consequently, I'm not too confident in forking out money only to have the same problem.....

Thanks anyway though........

 

[breakeven]

Have a look at FChartsPro on http://www.spacejock.com/. Brilliant package and community feel and feedback about it. I have had any problems and questions answered in short time. I have used it for about 6 years now.

 

[Temjin]

Try the good old "fix-most-of-your-software-problems" solution,

format your computer and fresh install Windows again.

Try MS again without the service packs or critical and non-critical security updates first. Then install these patches and try again.

If it is really the patches problem, consider running the computer without these updates. It is a risk but better than the risk of not doing your trading job properly.

 

[tcoates]

Chorlton

I dont use Metastock, but find that some of solutions presented are a tad extreme.

Forgive me for saying, but you have not really indicated what solutions you have tried. Have you checked all the posts on the Equis forums site related to this error?

Also try

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?p=365158
http://forum.equis.com/forums/thread/21620.aspx
http://forum.equis.com/forums/thread/23552.aspx

Tim

 

[Chorlton]

Chorlton

I dont use Metastock, but find that some of solutions presented are a tad extreme.

Forgive me for saying, but you have not really indicated what solutions you have tried. Have you checked all the posts on the Equis forums site related to this error?

Also try

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?p=365158
http://forum.equis.com/forums/thread/21620.aspx
http://forum.equis.com/forums/thread/23552.aspx

Tim

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the help.

The first link refers to my other thread

The other two I've seen and have already tried to cover the points mentioned within.

In terms of solutions which I have tried to date, they are:


1. Changed the compatibility mode of mswin to both NT and 2000.
2. Uninstalled and reinstalled MS a number of times
3. Uninstalled and then removed all entries of Metastock, Equis and mswin from the registry, followed by another install.
4. Have checked mswin to ensure it is not a virus.
5. Have checked my entire hard-drive for viruses - none found.

Regards,

Chorlton

 

[Chorlton]

Try the good old "fix-most-of-your-software-problems" solution,

format your computer and fresh install Windows again.

Try MS again without the service packs or critical and non-critical security updates first. Then install these patches and try again.

If it is really the patches problem, consider running the computer without these updates. It is a risk but better than the risk of not doing your trading job properly.

Hi Temjin,

I'm very reluctant to do this as I have a very large number of programs and other files installed on my machine some of which I no longer have the installation CD's for as I lost/misplaced them when I emigrated.

If it is really the patches problem, consider running the computer without these updates. It is a risk but better than the risk of not doing your trading job properly.

Even though I appreciate the advice, I would never do the above. I would rather purchase other software than run a machine without the neccsessary patches especially those which relate to security.

Thanks anyway though........

 

[tcoates]

Here is a new link to try re explorations... could be that one of your files (data folders) might be corrupt?

http://www.purebytes.com/archives/metastock/2005/msg04904.html

Tim

 

[Chorlton]

Here is a new link to try re explorations... could be that one of your files (data folders) might be corrupt?

http://www.purebytes.com/archives/metastock/2005/msg04904.html

Tim

Hi Tim,

Thanks once again...

I read the post & deleted the specified files (~MSFL.*) from my pc.

But after running Metastock again it still crashed when I tried to execute an exploration

I'm still hedging my bets that it has something to do with one of the updates from Microsoft but not being an IT guru I can't confirm this.

Anyway, I think I'm going to cut my losses with MS and look at Amibroker instead.

Thanks to all who have tried to help............

Chorlton

 

[tcoates]

Chorlton,

Doh. Think you have exhausted all my useful links.

I use Amibroker and cannot complain. While I use a local database you should be able to the use the Metastock plugin so that you can use your existing database.

Tim

 

[Sir Burr]

While I use a local database

Tim, does your data supplier have Amibroker format? Who would that be?

Thanks SB

 

[tcoates]

Sir,

Good news and bad news... There are plenty of paying services out there. I use data collected from a number of sources both free and paying - numerous reasons, none that I care to go into detail here about.

Regardless of where you get your data from, if you can get your data in a CSV format then you can import it into Amibroker. While Amibroker has a number of formats that you can import (and I have not bothered to look at them,) what I did was go through the import wizard, specifying the layout of the file (and fields if necessary) and then on the last page of the import wizard, you have the option then of saving (creating) a file format. After then you can select this file format when using the regular import ascii function.

For example, suppose that you use Commsec data. You go through the wizard as mentioned above, and then on the last page when you save the format, you name it Commsec. When you use the import ascii function, the next time you can select this as your format.

And if you have different providers for indexes vs stocks, then you can also be more specific in the filename format. For example, for indexes you might name the format "World Indexes" with a filename format of wi*.*.

Even if the format is same as the stocks, when you use the import ascii function it filters out files not matching the filename format - it is a standard Windows file open dialog.

Tim

 

[tcoates]

PS. Who do I use?

Commsec (for initial data)
CoolTrader (daily csv files)
float.com.au (if I have problems with Commsec)

One thing that you should note about any of the above, is they dont deal with stock splits etc. So you have to do that yourself.

Other people would want the provider to do this for them, but I dont see this as a big hassle.

Tim

 

[Chorlton]

Tim, does your data supplier have Amibroker format? Who would that be?

Thanks SB

Doesn't Amibroker use the same format as Metastock?

 

[Sir Burr]

Doesn't Amibroker use the same format as Metastock?

Hi Chorlton,

Yes and no! :

Continue to update and keep your MS data folders exactly the same as you have them. You access these folders using Amibrokers "Metastock Plugin". See details here:

http://www.amibroker.com/guide/h_extsources.html

The plugin converts the MS data to Amibroker folders. These Amibroker folders/data is called the "local database".

The MS plugin works in the background so once setup as shown in that link, these nothing to do except (anyone correct me if I'm wrong) any new symbols in the MS data must be "Retrieved" which is annoying.

When I remember, I "Retrieve symbols" after downloading JustData and then run a system Exploration.

SB

 

[Chorlton]

Hi Chorlton,

Yes and no! :

Continue to update and keep your MS data folders exactly the same as you have them. You access these folders using Amibrokers "Metastock Plugin". See details here:

http://www.amibroker.com/guide/h_extsources.html

The plugin converts the MS data to Amibroker folders. These Amibroker folders/data is called the "local database".

The MS plugin works in the background so once setup as shown in that link, these nothing to do except (anyone correct me if I'm wrong) any new symbols in the MS data must be "Retrieved" which is annoying.

When I remember, I "Retrieve symbols" after downloading JustData and then run a system Exploration.

SB

Hi SB,

Just to clarify, with the use of the plugin Amibroker can use my existing folders or does it recreate them in which case does this mean that the data in those folders is stored twice?

PS. Thanks for the link .....

Kind Regards........

 

[Sir Burr]

Hi SB,

Just to clarify, with the use of the plugin Amibroker can use my existing folders or does it recreate them in which case does this mean that the data in those folders is stored twice?

PS. Thanks for the link .....

Kind Regards........

Hi Chorlton,

Yes, Amibroker creates it's own folders from your existing MS folders/data.

So yes, the data is stored twice. In Metastock format and Amibroker format.

SB

Edit: By the way, just for interest I checked folder sizes.

I have all ASX stocks (only) plus a few OS indexes:

MS folder size: 279 MB
AB folder size: 102 MB

 

[Chorlton]

Hi Chorlton,

Yes, Amibroker creates it's own folders from your existing MS folders/data.

So yes, the data is stored twice. In Metastock format and Amibroker format.

SB

Edit: By the way, just for interest I checked folder sizes.

I have all ASX stocks (only) plus a few OS indexes:

MS folder size: 279 MB
AB folder size: 102 MB

Thanks SB,

I've just installed Amibroker so here begins the journey...