Time for me to upgrade?

Questions about MultiCharts and user contributed studies.
Nick
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Time for me to upgrade?

Postby Nick » 12 Feb 2008

Am I likely to experience any problems upgrading to the latest 3beta1? I notice some of the teething problems seem to have been ironed out with hotfixes and just wondered how people are finding things now. I wonder if this is the 'final' beta1 and will V3 release be fairly soon? (are we likely to have beta 1 2 3 etc. or is release version 3 imminent)

I'm actually running a couple of versions behind most people as I found that pretty stable (2.1.976.1109) is that likely to be an issue? While I am keen to get the new goodies based on past experience I'd rather wait till things have settled down a bit.

Thanks,
Nick.

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TJ
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Postby TJ » 12 Feb 2008

if you are concerned, obviously you are, I would suggest you to install the beta in a different computer to try it out. After all, beta is a beta, and should be treated as such.

Computers are cheap these day, I am sure serious traders would have more than one computer at their disposal. installing the beta in a different computer will save you time in rollback, in case things do not work out to your satisfaction.

Trading is a business, we should treat the tools of business the same way any other business would.

No successful business would commit its livelihood in an unproven system. Neither should a trading business.

When dealing with trading software.hardware, everybody should operate like an IT manager -- always have backups, always test upgrades before going live, always have a rollback plan, always have disaster recovery provisions.

Remember: It is your trading business, only you can protect it.
Last edited by TJ on 12 Feb 2008, edited 2 times in total.

drwar
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Postby drwar » 12 Feb 2008

Nick

TJ's advice is right on the money.

J~

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Postby Nick » 13 Feb 2008

Exactly! that is why I have not upgraded as yet and the reason for the question. There is another issue, time, in the past I have spent a lot of that most valuable of commodities wrestling with betas (albeit on separate machines). There is also the licensing issue, I'm loath to buy another licence to beta. There is also the time to switch from one version of MC to another, even on separate fast machines its not fun in fast markets.

It's kind of a catch 22, I'm happy to invest the time and provide feedback but if there are likely to be further fixes in the near term It makes sense (for me at least) to wait for those.

Are you guys still running the old version in your live environment or have you switched in the new beta? On the whole are things stable and 'solid'?

Cheers,
Nick

P.S. My head is erring on the side of caution but actually I am looking for an excuse to upgrade :D

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Postby TJ » 13 Feb 2008

I am running 3.0.1130.3300.

It is running well.

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Postby TJ » 13 Feb 2008

... There is also the licensing issue, I'm loath to buy another licence to beta. There is also the time to switch from one version of MC to another, even on separate fast machines its not fun in fast markets...
in a "real" business, there is redundancy for everything.

If you are a simple trader, switching between machines is not a big deal.

If you are into system trading, I don't think you can avoid buying a second license. You will need to build a testing rig, along with a the testing software, to run development and testing in real time. Of course you can use your trading machine for development at night, but testing it in real time will take you away from trading, which will cost you more than the price of the 2nd license.

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Postby Nick » 13 Feb 2008

Thanks for your feedback.

You make good points TJ. Actually I am pretty much a 'discretionary' trader but another key issue is time frame you trade. A few seconds delay can be a big deal to a scalper but is usually trivial to someone who is going for the main inter day swings. Just as an example the DAX can easily move up 20 points and down 20 points in a matter of seconds thats a range of more than $3500 per contract.

I used to have completely replicated infrastructure for absolutely everything. Accidents still happened (broker -> Exchange issues for example). Nowadays I travel a lot and trade on my laptop. I have two brokers and if something goes wrong I just try to close as quickly as possible or hedge the position with one of them. I do have broker software on my girlfriends laptop and a rudimentary charting package but to be honest she dosen't always travel with it! Also downsizing from multitudes of screens is no bad thing!

Hotel internet connections on the whole are pretty good nowadays and I have a few favourites where I am as comfortable trading as at home. Really compared to as little as say 10 years ago infrastructure is streets ahead.

You raise good points that every one should carefully consider. Actually it disaster recovery goes much further than that, what do you do if a market goes limit up or limit down against you or worse trading is suspended because of some major event? (9/11 springs to mind).

There is yet another aspect. Irritating bugs, even ones that might sound quite trivial, can distract your focus and/or provoke emotional responses. This can be detrimental to your trading. I'm quite comfortable missing a trade because of me being daft or even because my internet is out. There is something uniquely frustrating about having everything in place but your charts not displaying data or studies correctly or your broker platform playing up. Maybe that's just me though, I don't think so.

Anyway I have rambled a bit but I will probably have a try out next week. Actually its option expiration this week maybe taking a day off this week would be better.

Final thought I may install virtual machine software on the laptop to try stuff out (not just MC). Seems like this is quite handy for this sort of purpose.

Thanks again,
Nick

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Postby TJ » 13 Feb 2008

but really, we are "testing" the software for MC, they should provide us with a free second license. ;-)


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