MetaStock 12 vs. Amibroker

[Stockman2678]

Hi,
I'm interested to here everyone's opinion in regards to charting software, in particular Metastock 12 and Ambibroker.
I am looking at short to medium term trading and will be using EOD data to test my systems.
I am interested to here the pros and cons of both software packages.
Which application do you use?
Which one is the easiest to use?
Which on is best for system testing?
Which one has better support?
Which one has the best overall value?
Thanks in advance

 

[Boggo]

Hi,
I'm interested to here everyone's opinion in regards to charting software, in particular Metastock 12 and Ambibroker.
I am looking at short to medium term trading and will be using EOD data to test my systems.
I am interested to here the pros and cons of both software packages.
Which application do you use?
Which one is the easiest to use?
Which on is best for system testing?
Which one has better support?
Which one has the best overall value?
Thanks in advance

Metastock versions up to 10 are excellent but I wouldn't touch v12. It was the benchmark software but now it doesn't even read Metastock data, greed seems to have killed the goose unfortunately, a real pity imo.

I stopped updating at version 9 and that is what I still use.

(click to expand)

 

[Stockman2678]

Thanks Boggo,
So whats considered to be the benchmark now?
Thanks

 

[Boggo]

Thanks Boggo,
So whats considered to be the benchmark now?
Thanks

From what I can see Amibroker seems to be the way to go for EOD (end of day data).
There are a number of posters on here who seem to be familiar with Amibroker who will probably provide some views.

 

[Country Lad]

I stopped updating at version 9 and that is what I still use.

You are more up to date than me. I am still on v7.2. I was quite surprised it worked on Win7 with only some minor hiccups. Does all I need.

Cheers
Country Lad

 

[Stockman2678]

From what I have read, Metastock 12 is not getting much support as you are locked in with Thomson Reuters for data. Is this a big issue?

 

[trash]

No comparison between the two as AmiBroker is clear winner no matter if intra-day or EOD. No matter if MS 10 or MS 12. AB's much more innovative and powerful.

Some weaknesses of MS: Metastock format only saves around 65000 quotes per symbol for example. It's beyond me why such format is kind of standard. It's like brainwashing people. Secondly MS is slow. Then MS doesn't have portfolio backtest or optimization only baskets of symbols are possible to backtest. AB -> portfolio trading, MS -> Hm, no. AB provide a free API. MS doesn't provide a free one. Explorer of MS has number of column limitations as far as I remember.

For example in AB you can do exploration like this one http://i.imgur.com/f7xpnnX.png and with endless number of columns and rows (only depending on your hardware capabilities).

Support of AB is very good. No experience with MS support so can't comment.

Which one is the easiest to use? Well, I don't know. It depends on what you define as easy. I would say the easiest one to use is that one that provides all possible things to do. If multiple things can't be done then a software is not easy to use, IMO. Then it's frustrating to me. But some others would define easy to use differently. So yeah it depends on what you prefer. AB UI is completely customizable. So you can make it look like no second installation.

AB provides chart trading (again customizable by user himself). Another strength of AB's that it's fully customizable.

The only field were MS could compete probably is charting. But as for the rest there is no comparison. Save your money you won't look back.

 

[AlterEgo]

I used to use MetaStock 8, but switched to Amibroker some time ago. IMO Amibroker is far better and more powerful package, and as an added benefit it also costs less. I wouldn't even consider MetaStock.

 

[Stockman2678]

I used to use MetaStock 8, but switched to Amibroker some time ago. IMO Amibroker is far better and more powerful package, and as an added benefit it also costs less. I wouldn't even consider MetaStock.

Thanks AlterEgo,
Is it relatively easy to set up and use?
Is the coding easy to pick up and write your own systems?
Thanks

 

[AlterEgo]

I agree with Trash.

The biggest drawback that I found with MetaStock was that it could not do a portfolio backtest, and if it can't do that it's next to useless IMO. MetaStock is good for displaying charts, and adding indicators to charts, but that's about it. For system testing Amibroker is the way to go.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks AlterEgo,
Is it relatively easy to set up and use?
Is the coding easy to pick up and write your own systems?
Thanks

For setting up, I'd recommend using Premium Data, as that makes the data setup easy, plus it integrates into Amibroker and sets up all the industry sectors etc for you.

As to coding, well I suppose it depends on how complicated the system is that you're trying to code. Simple systems are quite easy, and very similar to how you would code it in MetaStock - Amibroker uses many of the same or similar functions to what MetaStock has. Amibroker can use more advanced programming features though, if you want to program something more complicated that is beyond what the built-in functions can do. I haven't yet got to this level of programming ability though.

 

[Stockman2678]

Thanks,
Amibroker is looking better by the minute.
So premiumdata.net is the preferred data provider?
Does this data update automatically when you open the application?
Thanks again

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks,
Amibroker is looking better by the minute.
So premiumdata.net is the preferred data provider?
Does this data update automatically when you open the application?
Thanks again

Yes, that's the preferred supplier for EOD data.

To update the data, you just open the Premium Data application and click "update".