MultiCharts: Trading Software for Automated Trading and Backtesting

Tresor

This post will be about Margin calculation. If I am not mistaken most of us trade futures contracts and want to optimize and backtest strategies for futures. At the moment MC does not support margin calculation. There is one blank box which says ''Margin'' but it is actually not taken into calculati...

Tresor

Tresor,

If possible, please attach the EXCEL report.

Thank you.

Khalid

Sure,

I attach the Optimization Report (csv converted to xls; the line painted red was backtested) + Performance Report. The strategy was tested on 13 minute bars.

Regards

Tresor

Since we have a limited number of volunteers contributing to this thread I decided to once again raise the issue of Max Intraday Drawdown to make sure this issue is on the list for fixing. I attach 3 screenshots of a strategy that (i) I first optimized and after selecting the settings that I liked b...

Tresor

Hi Tresor, The differences may be accounted for by the different MaxBarsBack value set for the strategy in the portfolio as compared to the MaxBarsBack value set for the strategy in the chart. Also, maybe the capital that you specified in portfolio is not sufficient to take all the trades. The fast...

Tresor

Khalid, Many of us bought MC because we sincerely felt that MC was going to succeed. Everybody wants to be in the winning team :) Recently this feeling faded. Fs wrote he had sent many e-mails but there was no reaction / denial of obvious issues. He probably was one of many who did so. The frustrati...

Tresor

Marina, Although I am not quite ready yet to put MultiCharts back on my computer, I consider myself a stakeholder in MultiCharts success. Now that you have started 'OPTIMIZATION AND BACKTESTING BUGS', I shall write very specific (non-judgemental) comments and suggestions there. Khalid Khalid, Thank...

Tresor

Hello Marina, Khalid and Fs, The discussion is becoming more and more fierce. Let's have a rest from this and let's give the issue a fresh and unemotional start :) Marina has just started the thread on the bugs in the Portfolio Backtester. Fs, please copy your e-mails here in public: http://forum.ts...

Tresor

OK, This is my first and minor report on the Backtester (more to come later when I find time). Version MC 3.1.1353.400 The problem is: when I apply strategy signals on the chart and then backtest in the Backtester the same strategy with the same signals' inputs with the same data then the first sign...

Tresor

Marina, Thank you for admitting with this post that there might be a problem with the backtester :D Guys, Let's come up with reports on the Backtester so that TSS could make the product we all use better. If we miss this opportunity to do it now, we might never get another chance like this. Thank you.

Tresor

Marina, Portfolio Backtester seems to be an important issue to many of us. The issue of fixing it appears on many threads in many posts in different forums. People ask the same questions time and again, they complaint time and again. I think that if TSS states that it will prioritize its resources t...

Tresor

Tresor, I am not sure how the above problem that fanus helped us identify is related to reversing the positions in backtesting. Anyway, the fact that the logic of reversing the positions is wrong, is a known issue and will be fixed in one of the future versions. The margin dialogue box has been mad...

Tresor

Marina, Just optimize any strategy you want and apply to this strategy a fixed amount of stop loss of e.g. 100 dollars. To make it short, the intraday drawdown should not exceed $100. When you make a drawdown of $100 you shoud be automatically stopped out. However when you receive the optimization r...

Tresor

Hello Guys, At the moment there are a number of pre-built exit studies in MC. However they are split between LX and SX thus giving the opportunity of having different exit parametres from a long position and yet different exit parametres from a shor position. E.g. there is: (i) ATR Trailing LX and A...

Tresor

Tresor, if you want to use it for backtesting. Be careful. It is simply not accurate. I have spent weeks e-mailing Marina with backtesting results, showing her that they calculate drawdowns incorrectly and she kept on insisting that it is correct. Only after I posted on Elitetrader, did Andrew conf...

Tresor

Hi Marina,

Sounds like it is high time to switch to MC ver 4. Thank for the answer.

Could you also please have a look at this post: http://forum.tssupport.com/viewtopic.php?t=5412 and tell me if this problem requires your support on-line assistance?

Regards

Tresor

Khalid,

What happened?

Tresor

Hello Marina, I believe at the moment the majority of optimizing in MC is done to get best profit over a period of time. Then you can sort the results by % profitable, max intraday drawdown, etc. Would it be possible to adjust Portfolio Backtester to optimize to get ''BEST SHARPE'S RATIO'' or "SMOOT...

Tresor

Yes.

I have probably said more than how much, and what, is appropriate on a public forum.

Let's chill out during weeknd

Tresor

We are in an imperfect world...
There are products that are useful...
and then there are products that sell...

TJ, FULLY AGREE

Tresor

Khalid, Please read my post again. 1. I am NOT anywhere assuming Tradecision's Strategy Builder is offering satisfactory user experience.In fact what I claim is that the concept of Strategy Builder was screwed up by them and would need to be be shaped other way. 2. I introduced the term ''enhancing ...

Tresor

Have a nice weekend guys

Tresor

Hi Khalid and TJ, Khalid, I rate high your trading comments on kreslik.com. You are a trading guru for me. When you look at the Strategy Builder you say ‘’The system will wipe out your account’’. TRUE. TJ, I read many post of yours on programming and MC. You are a programming guru for me. When you l...

Tresor

Tresor, Hi Marina, please see this link: http://www.tradecision.com/product/trading_systems/strategy_builder.htm I wish strategy development was as easy as pointing and clicking a mouse; this is not strategy building but repackaging of indicators. At times I am harsh with TS SUPPORT, but during the...

Tresor

Hi Khalid, This forum only allows certain extension types in attachments. Just zip the .pla file and you'll be able to post it here. This forum is a product developed by a 3rd party, we do not have control over its features. Regards. Marina, why not to allow one more file extention and ask the deve...

Tresor

I have omitted strategy building ...
Could you elaborate on that please?

Regards.

Hi Marina, please see this link: http://www.tradecision.com/product/trad ... uilder.htm

Regards

Tresor

hello to all. I am sure many of you are familiar with John Carter and TradeTheMarkets. One of the indicators he uses is called the Squeeze, and I have seen it available to the public from different sources. The file I have in my hard-drive is somehow not working with MultiCharts: can anyone help? T...

Tresor

I hope the above answers your question.

I does. Thank you

Tresor

Hello, I am using MC 3.1.1353.400 and I noticed that sometimes when I put strategy signals on a chart and then backtest the same strategy with the same signals' inputs in Portfolio Backtester then first signals on the chart are not the same as first signals in a list of trades from a performance rep...

Tresor

Hello, I use ASCII mapped files (1 tick resolution) for my real time charting. I can always easily export 1 tick resolution data from QM. But now I wanted to export these data in 1 minute resolution. And got a dialogue message: the file cannot be recognized as 1 minute bar as attached in the screens...

Tresor

Marina and Khalid, I think that this is a brilliant idea! Marina, just think, if Khalid is a skilled trader and has 10 friends who are beginners in trading, but all 10 wanted to trade the way Khalid does, they would all need to purchase MC to get Khalid's signal real-time! ''Viral trading''??? There...

Tresor

Thank you Marina, you've much helpful for me

Tresor

When I start MC a small DataManager application also starts, this DataManager needs to be configured with your eSignal account and that's all there is to it! I normally download the whole eSignal package, eSignal is made in such a way that the accountnumber gives access to different features of the...

Tresor

Guys, Thanks for your input. I have one question: If: - I buy data feeds from different vendors, like (i) one data feed from eSignal and (ii) the other from IQFeed, - then generate ASCII files from both vendors and will compare the ASCII files tick by tick on the same Symbol. Will both files be the ...

Tresor

Hi Tresor, You don't need to run MC and eSignal at the same time. All you need it to have them both installed on your PC. This allows MultiCharts using eSignal's API. It won't create any additional load for your processor. Hi Marina, Do I also need to install other vendor's application if I choose ...

Tresor

Thanks Marina for the explanation. Of the convesation that I had with another eSignal guy it flows that I need to run simultaneously MC and an additional eSignal application. I would like not to bother my processor with additional application. I just want my MC connected to RT server directly (not v...

Tresor

Hello, I am looking for a real time data provider. I contacted eSignal and they said that apart from paying their monthly fees like CME mini USD$30 I would also need to pay $125 (also per month) for using their application. All because MC is not eSignal 3rd party approved software. See my chat with ...

Tresor

phil,

Any chance of you sharing that nice correlation matrix?

~mojo

Hi mojotrader,

I found an article on correlation. You may want to look at this: http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespok ... s-cor.html

Tresor

If you can post or send email, that would be grateful.

HaeRim

I sent an e-mail

Tresor

Does anyone find Tom Demarks indicator usable on MC?

Is there any particular TD indicator you want? I happen to have a few of them working in my MC.

Regards

Tresor

Yeah, I totally sympathize, but you have to continually dink around and reset the scales over time. See: http://forum.tssupport.com/viewtopic.php?p=19223&highlight=#19272 I played around (a lot!) and the ai functions don't work for subcharts... This is a kluge, but seems to be ok for the most part:...

Tresor

Gee

Thanks TJ

Tresor

I have one more favour to ask with regard to MC charting.I would like, when putting one indicator on another on a subchart, e.g. TRIX on MACD (both have ZERO lines) that MC displays both Zero lines in the same level / both lines should not mismatch). Please see the screenshot attached. The same woul...

Tresor

Hi guys, Authorization doesn’t work quite the way it should in the current MC version. We are working on the fix that will ensure that authorization is only requested every 30 days. The problem will be fixed in the 4.0 beta due within 1- 1.5 weeks. As for the patch to ensure the continued work of M...

Tresor

Hi TJ, You are right when you say OI is calculated at the end of day. This is how OI is calculated in US exchanges. However there are a number of exchanges (including the one I trade) when OI is calculated every tick. See the screenshot of my ASCII file. The red underlined numbers are OI (52,892 a f...

Tresor

Thank you Marina so much.

Tresor

Hello MC guys, I have just bought a strategy that has word ''aiOptimizing'' in it. I could compile the file with no problems but applying the strat to the chart I received: Message: Error in study....: ''aiOptimizing'' is not yet supported Could you in a future beta version of MC include this word p...

Tresor

Thanks Marinaa

Tresor

Hello, In this post http://forum.tssupport.com/viewtopic.php?t=5278 Stanley says MC can work 30 days without internet connection. 1. I opened MC while off-line and happily my MC started working without asking me for my registration name and my registration key. 2. I closed MC after 5 minutes. 3. I t...

Tresor

When it comes to importing ASCII files and then ploting it, I am missing one feature that if added, would make me very happy. Namely, Open Interest in ticks. Unfortunately, importing Open Interest feature is supported only on daily resolution, not in ticks or minutes :cry: See attached file. Unfortu...

Tresor

Hello,

I attach Zigzag Trend Strat. My Portfolio Backtester says it cannot be optimized. Can anyone help to solve this problem?

Regards

Tresor

I have one more question,

If I send a *pla file to someone who uses TS, will this person be able to open the *pla file and use it in TS?

Regards

Tresor

phil,

did you use any data mining software to arrive at these correlations?

Regards

Tresor

Thanks Marina

Tresor

Hello, Could anyone please elaborate a bit on a system of classification of extentions allowed for MC? I already know that *.sef are locked files. What is the difference between pla, eld, ela, other extentions? Which of these are for functions, which for indictors, which for show-mes, which for sign...

Tresor

Works perfectly. Thank you TJ.

Regards

Tresor

Hello, I enclose a screenshot. There is: a) a Symbol with 20 minute compresion b) Stochastic that refers to this 20 minute Symbol c) the same Symbol but with 4 hour compression, and d) again Stochastic. I want the d) Stochastic to refer to 4 hour compression, not 20 minute compression. How do I do i...

Tresor

Hi,

I am posting an idicator that detects regular divergence between the price and MACD. Just insert it onto your chart, then insert it again and change the plotseries to 2 ( this will then display the MACD itself with Trendlines ).

Regards

Tresor

Thanks TJ

Will do this

Tresor

Tresor: Thank you for sharing your test. Good to see how 2x CPU produces better than 3x result. FYI, on the last test, only 2.5GB of RAM was used. Therefore the additional RAM beyond 4GB was not a factor. note: XP can utilize 3GB RAM. Most people install 4GB in their computers these days. note: if ...

Tresor

Hi all, I have run 3 tests of VPCI strategy on on 3.5 year data, 16 minute time bars, with the same optimizable inputs. The results were as follows 1. Fujitsu-siemens laptop T4215 with 1 x Intel T7400, 2.16 GHz, 2GB RAM, XP 32 bit, time: 14:02:52 2. HP DL 140 server with 1 x Intel Xeon E5130, 2GB RA...

Tresor

Perhaps TSS should run a new poll for top 3 (or top 5, 10, etc) Exchanges that people would like to see included in an MC integrated-data platform.

Brendan, What would the poll be for if TSS haven't decided they want to be data vendor.

Regards

Tresor

OK but I'm in London and trade LIFFE, LSE, LME, IPE. What about customers all over the rest of the world? The reason many of us bought MultiCharts is because we are not catered for by TS. Geoff is right. I am from Europe too. But what about Asia, Australia and South Africa, Australia? This would ta...

Tresor

Hi Tresor, According to this document http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/highlights/multicore.mspx what you're saying is true: more than 2 processors can't be used in XP and Vista. To be honest, we're not sure if it really won't work. Actually, all 4 cores might be used in optimization on XP. I wou...

Tresor

Hi Tresor, Do you have any particular questions regarding optimization on multi-core machines? Regards. Hi Marina, There's is one question that I have had in my mind for a few days. Namely, I contacted Microsoft Support and a guy told me that even if I buy a machine with 4 CPUs, then XP Proffesiona...

Tresor

Hello, I found some replicas of TTM indicators at traderslaboratory.com forum so I take this opportunity and put the here for those who would like to save some hundreds dollars. You can see some instructional videos of how they work here: http://www.tradethemarkets.com/products/item5.cfm http://www....

Tresor

TS guys,

Could you make it possible in this forum to attach pla files?

Regards

Tresor

Many thanks. Works perfectly.

Regards

Tresor

Thanks Marina.

Anyone out there having experience with optimizing on a machine with more than one processor on board?

Tresor

I have one more question;

Is optimization faster when data is ASCII mapped or when data is ASCII imported?

Regards

Tresor

Hello, Could a kind soul help me to write the below code so that MC could compile this reversal signal: If DMIMinus crosses_above DMIPlus Then Sell This Bar on Close; If DMIPlus crosses_below DMIMinus Then Buy This Bar on Close; The idea that I have in my mind is shown in the attachement. Many thank...

Tresor

you can take a look at this test run: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1849141#post1849141 It was done on a Intel Q6600 quadcore processor. You can see in the Task Manager that MultiCharts utilized all 4 CPUs to the max ! Hello TJ, Many thanks for the link. The machine Tums bu...

Tresor

Hello everyone, I am just about to start a series of serious optimizations. My little laptop with Intel T7400 is too slow. Please see a print screen attached. It takes 61 hours to calculate one strategy on 3.5 year data (20 minute compression). I need to calculate at least 20 such strategies. Can yo...

Tresor

Marina,

many thanks,

Regards

Tresor

Hi TS Support,

Did you think of adding a module for neural net modelling?

Regards

Tresor

OK, Marina,

thanks

Tresor

Dear Tresor, 1. The Backtester2 screenshot shows that Equity Percent allocation is 100%. Which means that if you entered a position and used up all of your resources, you didn't have enough capital to, say, reverse. The catch is the Optimization Report showed neither loss or profit. Only Zeros. 2. ...

Tresor

Hi, I applied Keltner Channel LE and SE study to my chart (attachment Backtester1) with settings LE(Close,20,1.5) and SE(Close,20,1.5) and MC nicely displayed buy and sell signals on the 600 sec compression. First I run backtesting with settings as in attachment Backtester2. I did not understand the...

Tresor

TJ, You're the MAN :mrgreen: Many thanks for help. I will resume my Easy Language learning this weekend. Thank you very much for motivation. BTW, what do you think about this strategy? http://www.traders.com/Documentation/FEEDbk_docs/Archive/072007/TradersTips/TradersTips.html https://www.mta.org/ew...

Tresor

TJ,

Did you try VPCI signal strategy?

Tresor

TJ, What can I say, I am a trader, a discretionary one (with little experience in trading and with no experience in coding and logic). I thought it would be much easier and profitable for me to test some of the available strategies first and then in a hard-to-define time frame maybe do some little c...

Tresor

You are my saviour :) Here you are: [LegacyColorValue = TRUE]; { Type : System Name : EZL.Channel BreakOut Notes : Example of Channel Breakout w/ Entry and Exit Orders Inputs: le.Bars (14), se.Bars (14), lx.Bars (14), sx.Bars (14), le.Ticks (05), se.Ticks (05), lx.Ticks (05), sx.Ticks (05) ; Inputs:...

Tresor

TJ, Half of the stuff from Ask Mr. Easy Language says ''compiled with error(s). I can send you these files if you wish. The biggest problem I have is the book ''Building Winning Trading Systems with TS'' I made 3 - 4 first exercises. Each of them 5 - 10 lines long. Each could not be compiled :roll: ...

Tresor

Hi TJ, EL is not easy for me because English is not my mother language. I made some attempts to learn EL. I bought ''Ask Mr. Easy Language'' two weeks ago + some other books. I tried some exercises and it turned out that EL in MC is different in some aspects than EL in TS, so what I got in return fo...

Tresor

Thanks TJ

Volume Avg is okay. Can anyone please advise what to do if I want to have multiple volume bar colours (more than two)?

Regards,

Tresor

Hello TS Support, A boring introduction: I am in a proccess of devicing my reversal trading strategy. As soon as I device this strategy I am going to give a specificaton of this trading strategy to a programmer who will then code it for me. The strategy will be comprised of a few indicators /diverge...

Tresor

Thanks

Tresor

OK, thanks Marina

Tresor

Marina, Thanks for the reply. There is one more issue related to backtesting that scratches my mind. Namely, 3D optimization charts. Kill me or something worst, but I have problems, due to the complexity of the 3D pictures, to understand the wisdom that is stored in these pictures. Please look at th...

Tresor

Hello TS Support, I just came accros this website: www.fibonaccitrader.com/HELP40/default.htm Please click ''Divergences'' on the left-side menu. There is an analytical software that has a built-in function of detecting 4 types of divergences: a) regular bullish divergence, b) regular bearish diverg...

Tresor

Hello,

Could anyone please explain in easy-to-understand English what is:

(i) ''Point'' in symbol resolution;
(ii) ''Point (original)'' in symbol resolution; and
(iii) difference between the two

Regards

Tresor

It works now. Thank you Steven very much.

Tresor

Hi Steven again, I tried to optimize this strategy and whenever I do it the information ''Tried to reference back more bars (#) than allowed by the current MaxBarsBack settings. Please increase MaxBarsBack setting''. And every time this happens I increase the ''maximum number of bars study will refe...

Tresor

Steven,

Thank you very very much

Tresor

Hello Guys, Yesterday I encountered a trading strategy that uses different approach when the market is in chop and yet different approach when the market is in trend (using ChoppyMarketIndex function. The strategy was written for TS and is said to be profitable. I rewritten the code but since I am a...

Tresor

Awesome

Tresor

Hi Marina, Thanks again for your help. Now I undersand what "step" stands for. I am happy that you will add a feature of optimizing not only signal parameters but also data compression. This will be very useful because I use some paid indicators which do not allow for manipulating in their length. S...

Tresor

Hello Marina, I have been making some excersises with Portfolio Backtester for a few days and I seem to better understand this tool. GA optimization is excellent. I played around with Start Value and End Value. Worked perfectly and showed me that my intuition based assumptions were totaly wrong when...

Tresor

I found a good name for this box in investopedia.com www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/146.asp It might be called 'multiplier' after the article: ''Index futures trade with a multiplier that inflates the value of the contract to add leverage to the trade. The multiplier for the Dow is 10, for the Nas...

Tresor

I lack one thing in Portfolio Backtester in relation to futures contracts. Would it be possible in ''Format Settings'' - ''Poperties'' to make a box called ''Contract Leverage'' or similar name. The box would say ''If the price of the contract goes up / down by $0.1 then your income / loss is multip...

Tresor

Marina,

Many thanks

Tresor

Hi MC staff,

I am a new user of MC. I have never used a software that has a function of testing different strategies. Would it be possible to make a video tutorial on how to use the Portfolio Backtester?

Regards

Tresor

Hi Andrew, As far as a 'contract rollover' or a continous future contract goes, I suggest that the switching from an older into the younger contract is effected on the moment when the open interest of the younger contracts exceeds or equals the open interest of the older contract, in line with what ...

Tresor

TJ, many thanks for your advice.

Tresor

Hello, I am using 3.0.1137.3363 version of MC and downloaded the newest beta in order to replace the old one. I clicked multicharts.1195.4635_beta3 ikon and the setup wizzard dialoggue box offers two options: (i) repair (ii) remove Which of the two should I click in order to replace the old version ...

Search found 1104 matches

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MACD divergence detection indicator

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