are you admitting i won that debate?? YES!!! thats my first win in a whileLOL (fiji is always schooling me
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...$200 a month.
. Can you get historical 1 hr and 4 hr data on Tradestation?
i didnt say "'to play this game seriously' is to use tradestation".
i said its hard to play seriously with free software.
trading has not changed overall, but the amount of analysis that goes into building a successful mechanical trading system sure has. back in the day all you had to do was buy breakouts, but with the advent of computers the market became more efficient to most of the patterns that were once winners. this position is shared by most of the market wizards.
sure, you can spend days (or weeks) analyzing your trades, but with good software you can do the same task in seconds. literally. to not utilize the computer to its full capability is to be at a time disadvantage, and why i say that its hard to play this game with free software.
Forex Trading: The hardest way to make easy money.
- Joined Mar 2004 | Status: Magic Man | 3,220 Posts
Yes you won that debate and you didn't have to try more than once. It seems Fjii needs coaching from you
yeah TS gives tick data through yearly data. the smaller the increment, the less history they have. for instance, with tick data you can only get the past couple years. intraday data you can get 3 years, and daily data you can get like 10 years.
i have a program called OwnData that lets you import custom data as far back as you can find. takes some time to format the data, but once you get the hang of it you can do it pretty easily.
Relax and be happy.
- Joined Mar 2004 | Status: Magic Man | 3,220 Posts
Merlin is backtesting really that valuable and acurate?
). is it accurate? well, thats a more difficult quesiton. if i had to give a yes or no, i would say NO...it is not accurate.
it takes a few cycles of building systems then trading them before you understand the disconnect between the backtest results and real results. there really is no other way to learn it.
once you get the hang of this art, you will find yourself building systems that are easy to trade. i always say that is the most important aspect that i consider in a system. who the heck cares what the backtest says if you cant trade the system in real time the same way? backtesting is a great tool, but like any great tool it takes some time to learn how to use it.
Relax and be happy.