Hi, If you already have a trading strategy, AmiBroker is (in my opinion) the best tool for validating that strategy and telling exactly what would have happened if you DID take all those missed trades, including the losers!
If you do not already have a strategy, AmiBroker is well equipped to help you develop one. Depending on your level of programming experience, expect to spend several months to a year trying to develop a profitable strategy that will consistently beat the better mutual funds. Further, if you haven't already got a strategy, I would suggest starting with an end of day (EOD) strategy rather than day trading. EOD trading is orders of magnitude easier to design/test/implement than a fully automated system and the backtest results will be more accurate than a semi automated strategy that relies on sending notifications. For example; What fill price would you use when backtesting a notification system? By the time you actually placed the trade, the price would surely have moved on. Note that by placing limit orders each night for possible execution the next day, you can have an EOD strategy that approximates day trading without need for remote notification. This is the approach that I use. And, yes, it has been profitable. Finally, AmiBroker is only half the equation. You will need a reliable data vendor to run your simulations against. Without trustworthy data, you're just shooting in the dark. Many on this list choose to use free data providers such as Yahoo. Others use paid subscription based data. I have often seen requests for help on getting the Yahoo data sorted out. I don't recall having seen many (any) requests for help on getting an EOD provider straightened out (e.g. Worden Brothers TC2007, Norgate Premium Data). You can draw your own conclusions ;) As far as costs go, AmiBroker is certainly among the least expensive, if not *the* least expensive while offering far more than any other tool that I have evaluated. I apologize for being blunt. But, if you don't think that you will be able to recoup the cost of AmiBroker within a year of trading, then you probably should reconsider trading at all. That opinion holds for data vendors too. If you don't think that you will be able to cover the $25-$40/mth for EOD data, then it might be better to have a fund manager invest your capital for you. I suggest that as a genuine point for consideration, not as an insult or taunt. Free data might be useful during the development stage. But, once you think you've got something, I personally would want to confirm it on paid data before going live. Food for thought. Mike --- In [email protected], "Warren" <newsnd...@...> wrote: > > This might be a subjective question, but are you really making money system > trading with Amibroker? > > I want to purchase AB but am hesitant thinking I'm reaching for some pie in > the sky. I'm more interested in automated trades since I feel I have missed > trades that were very profitable but could not trade them because I work full > time. I plan to have the AB notify me by cell phone to do these trades or > just automate with human confirmation. > > Thanks for any comments or direction. >
