aspTrader,
it's true we have grown too much accustomed to the
all-in-one type of work with Tradestation. Development platform, history data provider and broker rolled into one.
The troubles it brings once you're not content with one of these layers is clear:
- you can't change the layer
It requires more work to choose and choose wisely. But at the same time, you are
free.
Forest, imagine yourself being presented with a package of:
Isn't that terrific to have all in one for one price?
No, it isn't. Choosing a wife, a house and a car requires more work but is definitely worth the hassle.
aspTrader, there might be issues however with
different history data provider and a broker. I have never used that horrible Tradestation GAIN capital group for my FX broker, so I have always calculated my signals based on
TS data and entered my orders with a
different broker by hand. Sometimes the trade was successfully closed in TS, but with my broker the price behavior was slightly different, so I had to close the trade sooner than the profit target was hit.
After attending the aspTrader's online demo of the new
Grid Optimizer, I am clear about the matter. The Grid Optimizer employs alternative search methods (nearest neighbor search aka "SmartSearch", Monte Carlo simulation) that are way more effective than the standard exhausitve optimization. Although it's still
not genetics, it's pretty good.
The only issue concerning me right now is the
FX tick data availability for backtesting.
MetaTrader4 is a
great platform, too, especially for the FX trader and the alpha version of the builtin GA looks promising.
Right now, it seems it's more probable I'd go for NeoTicker. In this case, anyway, I would learn MetaQuotes Language 4 and start using MetaTrader4 as my backup platform, since you never know - what if the TickQuest management slips into apathy towards their customers' needs in a one year's time just as the Tradestation management did?
Lenar, I hope you are reading this - can you point us to some cutting edge features in which MetaTrader4 is superior to NeoTicker4? After all, you know the platform you develop best. Maybe we have overlooked some important issue.
Switching the platform where you have already done so much work and leaping into the dark is a tough decision.
But I am a pioneer of my life.
"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore."
- Dale Carnegie
Michal