Investment Software - What do you recommend for the beginner?

[WonkeyDonkey]

Hey Guys,

Question is in the thread title, what investment software do you recommend to the beginners? Ive searched and come across many "which software?" threads but none that were suggested for the beginner that would also help with the learning curve for T/A. Also cost per month etc would be an issue for the newbies.

I realise most of this will be everyones so if you could, supply some reasoning as well

Cheers
Donkey

 

[lost872]

Hey Guys,

Question is in the thread title, what investment software do you recommend to the beginners? Ive searched and come across many "which software?" threads but none that were suggested for the beginner that would also help with the learning curve for T/A. Also cost per month etc would be an issue for the newbies.

I realise most of this will be everyones so if you could, supply some reasoning as well

Cheers
Donkey

Hi Donkey,
I'm new to the game as well and I'm not too sure if this is for you but I have opened an account with IB and use their TWS software for the trades.
You will have to pay for some market feeds as is the case with most real-time quotes, I will be sticking with this (I know there are better programs out there) as I want to learn all I can on the one platform.

I don't want to be overwhelmed with info and different ways to do things at the start just keep it simple until I have a firm grasp of what I'm doing and hoping to make some coin in the process.

Hope this helps in some way.

lost872

 

[LiL_JaSoN]

Incredible Charts is prob the best free software

Although prices are delayed, you can always chart out your TA at the end of the day to see what's coming ahead.

 

[Tanaka]

I came across this link the other day: http://emini-watch.com/recommended/best-charting-software/

There are 4 detailed free videos about choosing the right charting software, the videos are made by a professional trader. Even though I am set up with my software now, I wish I had viewed these videos when I was starting out. The reason being is that charting software features and prices vary a lot, and beginners will always have to learn how to use the program. The last thing you want to do is get half way through your learning and think this software doesn’t do what I need, I had better spend more money on the right software and data feed.

If you don’t need real time quotes, you are happy with End of Day or daily snap shots, and you want to customise entry and exits from trades and run scans but you don’t want to learning programming, then BullCharts is really handy. Instead of programming they have drop down boxes to choose the conditions you want. Or if you ever get into programming BullCharts can also be programed.

If you don’t mind learning a little programming and want something cheaper a lot of ASF members like Amibroker.

If on the other hand you just want to add indicators and lines on a chart then most charting software is equally accessible for beginners.

It probably makes sense to go with something that has a large online following, that way if you do have difficulties you can just Google the answer.

Big online followings in no particular order:

AmiBroker
MetaStock
TradeStation
Ninja Trader
(others feel free to add to the list)

Anyway, do your own research. One last thing, it makes sense to think about what kind of trader you are/will be. Some charting software is much better than others depending your style.

Tanaka

 

[Reasons]

Hey Guys,

Question is in the thread title, what investment software do you recommend to the beginners? Ive searched and come across many "which software?" threads but none that were suggested for the beginner that would also help with the learning curve for T/A. Also cost per month etc would be an issue for the newbies.

I realise most of this will be everyones so if you could, supply some reasoning as well

Cheers
Donkey

I used ProRealTime for a while and found it very good. It is free.

www.prorealtime.com

It is the exact same software that IG Markets use for their advanced charting. Provides simulated entries into trades and alerts the same as the live one in IG and heaps of other features, lots of global markets.

Only let you do daily ASX data, not tick or minute, etc timeframes when I used it, but really good for free. You can pay for live feeds if you want them and they will follow you up by phone to get you to try a few free live feeds for a week or so, the aim being to get you to buy something. But they were low key sales and helpful if you needed assistance. Had lots of video and manuals to support its use.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Id probably be the short - medium trader with my views atm but that may change. Ive been thinking to go with either MetaStock 11 (EOD) and pay the one-off of $500, or Amibroker pro for $280. This would probably be coupled with data from http://www.premiumdata.net/ . Ill also get the intraday charts with Amibroker, since Metastock is just EOD.

Im being lured atm by MetaStocks PowerTools: The Explorer, Expert Advisor, and the System Tester. Is there similar features in Amibroker?

For users that have used both, what conclusion did you come up with?

 

[toocool]

data from http://www.premiumdata.net/ . Ill also get the intraday charts with Amibroker, since Metastock is just EOD.

I just went with Metastock stand alone EOD with premium data and its been awsome for scans and tests, its paid me back the out lay in the first week and more.

There is so much info on here regarding scans and the such, just search and read.

I also paid the $5 extra a month and got the intraday snap shots from premium data well worth it IMO it updates at 20 past the hour every hour the ASX is open.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

I just went with Metastock stand alone EOD with premium data and its been awsome for scans and tests, its paid me back the out lay in the first week and more.

There is so much info on here regarding scans and the such, just search and read.

I also paid the $5 extra a month and got the intraday snap shots from premium data well worth it IMO it updates at 20 past the hour every hour the ASX is open.

What was your deciding factor in sticking with MetaStock? Alot of people have moved over to AmiBroker, saying after learning the programming language its miles ahead... Thoughts?

 

[toocool]

What was your deciding factor in sticking with MetaStock?

I didnt really stick with Metastock more so just went for it over Amibroker and others as im a new user.

I guess after reading this forum for quite a while I picked up a lot of ideas from posts about scans and codes for Metastock so I went that way.

Im just stating to work my way through the Metastock formula primer now so as far as my own custom scans they might be a while of yet.

 

[LiL_JaSoN]

While were talking about charting software,

Does anyone recommend any good charting software for macs? most of them seem only compatible with windows.

 

[KurwaJegoMac]

While were talking about charting software,

Does anyone recommend any good charting software for macs? most of them seem only compatible with windows.

Get yourself parallels or use bootcamp and you can run any windows based software.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

What features did/are you mostly using in MetaStock? e.g MACD indicators? etc

LiL_JaSoN: do u have an intel based mac? if so, have you considered dual booting windows and mac os? that way you can still use windows only programs while keeping all your mac stuff. Or you looking to be "mac only"?

 

[LiL_JaSoN]

What features did/are you mostly using in MetaStock? e.g MACD indicators? etc

LiL_JaSoN: do u have an intel based mac? if so, have you considered dual booting windows and mac os? that way you can still use windows only programs while keeping all your mac stuff. Or you looking to be "mac only"?

Yep, i just brought a macbook pro 13" as a secondary computer

Just wondering was there any programs that can run on mac alone,

but i guess the best bet is to run windows on it.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Haven't seen any come up mac compatible. Prob your best bet would be dual boot. Maybe windows 20gb partition for work (trading, reports etc), mac for play

 

[colion]

Hey Guys,

Question is in the thread title, what investment software do you recommend to the beginners? Ive searched and come across many "which software?" threads but none that were suggested for the beginner that would also help with the learning curve for T/A. Also cost per month etc would be an issue for the newbies.

I realise most of this will be everyones so if you could, supply some reasoning as well

Cheers
Donkey

Some brokers offer clients web-based charting and analyses. It might be worth looking into this option as a starting point.

 

[AlterEgo]

Im being lured atm by MetaStocks PowerTools: The Explorer, Expert Advisor, and the System Tester. Is there similar features in Amibroker?

For users that have used both, what conclusion did you come up with?

I've used both MetaStock (this was ver 8.0, so not the latest version) and later moved over to Amibroker. In my opinion, Amibroker is heaps better, particularly in regard to system back-testing. I found MetaStock practically useless for system testing, as it couldn't do a proper portfolio type back-test. You also couldn't use looping code in MetaStock. This can all be done in Amibroker though. You seem to be able to do just about anything in Amibroker, providing you're capable of coding it. MetaStock seemed to be too limited in what it could do. And when you consider the price, there's no comparison. I can't understand how they can justify selling MetaStock for double the price of Amibroker, when (in my opinion) it's inferior to Amibroker?

 

[AlterEgo]

Im being lured atm by MetaStocks PowerTools: The Explorer, Expert Advisor, and the System Tester. Is there similar features in Amibroker?

For users that have used both, what conclusion did you come up with?

And yes, Amibroker has similar features.

 

[AlterEgo]

And yes, Amibroker has similar features.

And from memory, the Explorer function's output in MetaStock was limited to 6 columns of data from what I recall, whereas it's practically unlimited in Amibroker (I don't actually know what the limit is, but I've never reached it). I don't know if this has changed in later versions of MetaStock, but it's a limit that I found annoying at the time.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Some brokers offer clients web-based charting and analyses. It might be worth looking into this option as a starting point.

Im with Commsec so after paying $20 brokerage each trade, i probably wouldnt be making the 8 trades a month to use IRESS for free, and i wouldnt be to happy giving commbank another $80 a month

I've used both MetaStock (this was ver 8.0, so not the latest version) and later moved over to Amibroker. In my opinion, Amibroker is heaps better, particularly in regard to system back-testing. I found MetaStock practically useless for system testing, as it couldn't do a proper portfolio type back-test. You also couldn't use looping code in MetaStock. This can all be done in Amibroker though. You seem to be able to do just about anything in Amibroker, providing you're capable of coding it. MetaStock seemed to be too limited in what it could do. And when you consider the price, there's no comparison. I can't understand how they can justify selling MetaStock for double the price of Amibroker, when (in my opinion) it's inferior to Amibroker?

I guess the MetaStock name pulls in alot of business from traders all over the world, tv advertising in US and other countries ups the price. It also relies on people not wanting to learn coding themself and just use the In Built features. But yes still does not justify the 2x price of Amibroker

And yes, Amibroker has similar features.

Are the features In Built already or must they be coded like most others? what standard indicators, features etc are already in built?

Cheers for the replies so far

 

[AlterEgo]

Are the features In Built already or must they be coded like most others? what standard indicators, features etc are already in built?

Amibroker has all the commonly used indicators built in, but yes, MetaStock does have more already built in. The code for any other popular indicators that may not be included in Amibroker can usually be found on the internet, or else coded yourself. MetaStock code is fairly similar to that used in Amibroker too, so if you can find MetaStock code for an indicator on the internet, it's usually not that difficult to convert it to Amibroker format (depending on the complexity of the code).

MetaStock does have many trading systems already built in - if they are of any use though I don't know. Amibroker has none built in, but they can be coded of course. The thing that really lets MetaStock down is the system back tester. MetaStock can't do a true portfolio back test (and I can't stress enough how important this ability is), unless you buy TradeSim to work with it. MetaStock's coding also isn't as powerful as that in Amibroker, unless you buy a 3rd party add-on to do it.

So, in a nut-shell, MetaStock has more "stuff" built-in, but Amibroker is more powerful and flexible in the way you can code for it. In my opinion, MetaStock isn't really a complete package - it really needs additional 3rd party add-ons to do what Amibroker can already do. For the price of MetaStock, it should really have these add-ons already built-in. If it did, I'd probably have to re-think what package I'd go with.