syswizard

The big problem with MC is the lack of ability to send automated signal trades thru to the broker's servers. It can be done, but you've got to use this DLL called TWSLINK and write all of the buy/sell logic yourself using PowerLanguage and calls to the TWS API. This is a big job. Also, there is no way to specify an OCO order in it's programming language (PowerLanguage). So for automated trading, you've got to write the both the set-up and cancellation logic yourself....another big job. Their Chart Trading panel allows for OCO orders which do pass thru to the broker's servers (not all brokers are supported), but these can only be specified manually on the screen. Still, MC is rock solid, never crashes and it's very easy to rapidly test new strategies and ideas with PowerLanguage. Also, their tech support is just superb....they will even take over your machine to debug a problem.

A broker profile establishes the connection parameters to the Interactive Broker's Trader's Workstation or Interactive Broker's Gateway. You can have several profiles. For example I have one for my paper-trading account and another one for my live account. You can trade both at once if you prefer. The gateway is most commonly used with Multicharts because the trade orders emanate from there and nowhere else. On any chart that has a trade chart panel showing, you can select the account, and then place the order....limit, stop, market, etc. Multicharts will pass this order along to Interactive Brokers via their API. This order either rests on the Interactive Broker's servers or with the exchange servers. When executed, multicharts gets this confirmation from the source and then indicates on the chart the price at which the order was executed.

I'm with Multicharts right now. Mine is a 3 component set-up: 1) MC software installed locally (not web-based) 2) DTN IQFeed for data 3) Interactive Brokers Profile - both live and test Multicharts is very stable and efficient. It's running on my old laptop which has a quad-core intel processor that's about 5 years old. Rarely does the CPU spike above 50% with several Emini futures tick charts running. IQFeed is very stable and efficient as well. There are never any gaps in the intraday bars....so no data is ever lost. Now, the bad news is the quirks and error messages emanating from MC are not good....in fact they are misleading. Their Symbol Mapping feature needs a lot of work. Mapping is required when you have a broker profile and third party data feed. You must re-map ever time the front month of the futures changes....quite a pain. With some work on their part, they could do this automatically. Tech support is superb...as they will take control of your machine when required to debug a problem. The automated feature is OK. Their code editor is weak because it cannot handle a large library of source code very well....there is no search feature. However, the code editor is excellent when importing Easy Language code....it flawlessly compiled over 10k lines of EL for me....with no error. Now that being said, MC's code editor does NOT support the newer object-oriented syntax of Easy Language. All in all, it's a good platform....that could be even better with some enhancements.

I have a ton of script code in Multicharts via the PowerEditor. I am looking for a way to export all of the code into a single, large text file so I search and cross-reference the function calls, etc. The internal PLA format cannot be searched as far as I know.

This was stupid....it breaks the compatibility with the much-more-superior platform known as Multicharts.

- 21 Rich people who have stolen OPM (other peoples money) - 21 Rich people who have stolen OPM (other peoples money) and practice law as attorneys

Interesting. Another programmer said I should be able to pick it up fairly easily given the fact that I do this for a living right now. I am also thinking about the possibility of selling some indicators or systems or specialized trading tools. MC knocked the licensing fee down to $1000, so I could just add that to the cost of my offerings as a bundled package. Finally, I might be even able to get some contract work to convert existing power language/easy language over to C# dot-net.

Has anyone tried this new version of multicharts ? I'm thinking about it, but as an EL programmer, now I must learn the entire .NET platform and C# !! Is it worth the time and effort I wonder ?

One of the best ways to learn is to get on the msdn/social forums and just browse the posts. It's a treasure chest/trove of information. MSDN Forums For Excel alone, there are several specific forums. Got a specific problem ? Just post a question !

I believe that using AI and Neural Networks and Genetic Programming have all fallen to the wayside because of curve-fitting. I guess the issue is: how do you avoid it using these sophisticated techniques ? IOW: How can you teach your neural net NOT to curve-fit ? I don't think it can be done.

Back in 2000, the intraday swings in the Nasdaq were tremendous...sometimes 200 points. More importantly, these swings were "smooth"....thus making it very easy to hold without worry. Traders could make 2-3k in one trade. Today, it's much choppier thanks to HFT. It's very easy to get "rattled out" of your position only to see it go back to your original direction.

I think the issue is that the indicator lib and the strategy lib are SEPARATE. If I write a method/function for an indicator, it must be COPIED to the strategy lib if I need to use it in a strategy. I've checked with tech support on this and they are aware of it. Probably will be fixed in 7.0. In the meantime, it's just an inconvenience.

With release 6.5, they've done pretty well. However, ONE GLARING DEFECT: no common functions/methods permitted between indicators and strategies....instead, one must maintain 2 COPIES. This is a HUGE software design "no-no". I really don't understand it....how they "cloned" so much of Tradestation's concepts, yet they FAILED in this one important concept. SOMEBODY HELP ME OUT HERE !

I've been following a small hedge fund manager whose been posting his "systematic" trades on Elite Trader.com. Omigosh, he is just getting HAMMERED and whipsawed to death....he was up HUGE in short YM futures 5 weeks ago, and he held and got stopped out last week for a loss because that's what his system told him to do.

You might want to register and check here: http://codebase.mql4.com There appear to be a lot of MQL4 experts there. For you to pull this off, MQL4 must support one of these Windows communication interfaces: DLL DDE ActiveX My quick search of the above surfaced nothing, but that doesn't mean MQL4 cannot do these. You'll need to contact their tech support or the experts for a definitive answer to the above.