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I am leaving Tradestation

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:05 pm
by michal.kreslik
Hello, friends,

I have cancelled my Tradestation subscription.

Starting July 1st I won't be available on the Tradestation forums nor I will be able to help you with EasyLanguage programming.

It was a tough decision for me given the fact that I have already done so much work in TS and EasyLanguage. But I've taken the hard first step by cancelling my Tradestation subscription and I feel much better now.


[align=center]"The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers."
- Brian Tracy[/align]

I am going to switch to NeoTicker - a platform that is far superior to Tradestation in many aspects:
  • unlike Tradestation, NeoTicker supports forex trade automation
  • unlike Tradestation, NeoTicker development team reacts quickly to their clients needs (have a look at this:

    http://forums.neoticker.com/showthread.php?t=1465

    - just 21 days from the initial complaint to a fix release!).
  • as opposed to Tradestation, I may choose freely my own broker (or brokers!) to connect to with NeoTicker


Tradestation has changed its business model, which is perfectly legal. They no longer strive to offer the best trading/development platform in the world, but rather to earn big bucks on brokerage services.

This message is clear and I don't blame them for this core business shift.

At the same time, I want the best development environment and trading platform available, so I'm not in sync with this new direction of Tradestation Securities!


[align=center]"Unless we change our direction, we are most likely to end up where we are headed."
- Chinese proverb[/align]

And honestly, I don't want to end up where Tradestation platform is currently headed (nowhere).

Anyway, I will be happy to help you with your projects, ideas and strategies in NeoTicker! One may even choose out of several programming languages to use with NT. As far as Avery told me, Avery's indicators are in the process of being converted to NeoTicker by aspTrader.

Also, some prominent TS users I know of are seriously conflicted because they are clear that their work is centered in a stagnant platform and they realize they have to do something sooner of later.

This also means I will not use Grail genetic optimizer for Tradestation more (GGO), so my GGO license is for sale - if you are interested, contact me. Wouter of GGO agrees with this transfer. I will be using the new Grid optimizer in NeoTicker instead.

I know I have done the right thing, although it will take some work now.

One more quote:

[align=center]"Control your destiny or somebody else will."
- Jack Welch[/align]

I am in a firm control of my destiny now.


Michal

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:50 pm
by eudamonia
Michal,

Good luck and please keep us updated. I myself am seriously contemplating switching to either NeoTicker or Quant Developer in the next 6 months (NeoTicker most likely).

I agree 100% that Tradestation is quickly becoming outdated because of their focus on brokerage.

Obviously what still holds me (and many other) TS users back from changing is the amount of time and effort spent coding our strategies in TS and becoming familiar with TS.

I am very curious to hear from you about how the transitition goes. Please keep us posted.

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:06 pm
by TheRumpledOne
All we need is an automated Easy Language to Neo Tracker code converter...

I smell a business opportunity!!

I GET A 2% ROYALTY FOR THE IDEA...LOL!

Actually, if someone from NeoTicker is reading this...

THIS IS YOUR WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

POUNCE!!

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:15 pm
by eudamonia
TRO,

I believe this has been brought up before at Neoticker. The owner won't go for it because of the legal issues. However, a third party wouldn't have that problem.

What would it take to code something like this up, TRO? Lol :)

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:15 pm
by brwkem
Michal which datafeed are you going to use?

Since I trade both futs and equities my choices are limited:
esignal or dtniq(better plan than iqfeed)

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:18 pm
by TomKeough
Michal,
Welcome to the NeoTicker community!

I was a TradeStation user since TS4 but kept my TS2000i, IB, and Grail connection until January of this year (never did buy into the TradeStation as broker thing). I now use NeoTicker with IB and just sold TheGrail Suite last week and am now using the NeoTicker optimizer. I am learning Delphi programming for my trading systems and attending aspTrader's Sunday NeoTicker Webinars. I hope you will join us!

Congratulations on taking contorl of your life. Remember, "...and he not busy being born, is busy dying."
Tom

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:03 pm
by aspTrader
Michal,

Congratulations on taking a decision to control your future!

You're better than I... It took me 3 months to commit to doing NeoTicker after first getting clear that it was superior to Tradestation.

The impulse for my beginning the transition was this... I realized day after day that I was digging myself deeper into a platform solution that was stagnant while another platform had what I needed and was doing still more.

No one should feel that they are behind. My personal belief is that one or more platforms (including NeoTicker) surpassed TS just in the last 18-24 months in terms of overall technical superiority. So, this just occured recently and many people have been caught surprised...

Now, a few thoughts about the transitioning to NeoTicker.

1 IMO, it's important to understand that NeoTicker has NOT been designed to be "intuitive" to the new user. It's been designed to be "intuitive" to users experienced with using it. The folks who design and code NeoTicker are traders themselves and they have designed it and built it the way they themselves want it to function.

Also... There are a lot of powerful features under the hood of NeoTicker. Just about all the features folks have been crying about for years you know where. So, an issue is this: how is it possible to provide access to these powerful features in a way that is simple with a small footprint. Well it is possible... Here's my favorite configuration for the NT MenuBar... Small enough footprint for you?



Think about it... Would you REALLY have them design it any other way?

2 I host a free weekly "webinar" on subjects related to NeoTicker. I always post information about what's up for the next week here. These sessions began with introductions to NeoTicker coding and I and another NT user have decided to restart at the beginning....

In short, I'll be hosting a free weekly webinar to assist with new folks who want to get familiar with learning NeoTicker.

3 You can check out this link for a summary of issues to watch out for....

Just a couple specific points...

A) You're going to be asking yourself "What scripting language should I use?" IMO, the best answer, for TS users is Delphi Script without doubt. "Formula language" will be tempting for you. IMO, forget about it. Start with Delphi Script right from the start and you'll be on a solid track.

B) EVERYONE I have observed converting to NeoTicker from Tradestation (including myself) struggles THE MOST with 2 issues:

i) how NeoTicker handles variables differently than TS does

ii) what the heck is going on with "Itself.MakeIndicator"

Just be clear that these are very powerful functionalities that work differently than what you're used to as a TS user and prepare to be mystified for a while until you're not.

In the new user webinars I'll host, we'll focus on that functionality because I know it's the most puzzling at first.

More later...

Congratulations again Michal!

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:22 pm
by michal.kreslik
brwkem wrote:Michal which datafeed are you going to use?

Since I trade both futs and equities my choices are limited:
esignal or dtniq(better plan than iqfeed)


The great thing about NeoTicker is that you can use any broker that offers standardized order interface thru API.

The order interfaces are already working with these brokers:Other worthwile brokers do support order interface thru API. I am planning to write an order interface between Neo and Oanda in C#.NET, for instance.

Real-time data providers that connect to Neo:
Again, you can connect Neo to every datafeed provider (there are even free datafeed providers) that supports API (every worthwile does).

Michal

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:36 pm
by michal.kreslik
eudamonia wrote:Obviously what still holds me (and many other) TS users back from changing is the amount of time and effort spent coding our strategies in TS and becoming familiar with TS.

One should alwyas determine if he is going the right way.

You may find out you're not going the right way.

Then, regardless of how many miles have you already gone that wrong way, what good is it to walk that way one inch further?

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:47 pm
by eudamonia
Michal,

Once one has gone to the trouble of getting setup on a particular system, there is a certain amount of inertia you build up. Costs of certain software that only work with TS, system design and testing that will have to be converted, learning a new coding language and mastering its nuances, testing and debugging live execution, etc.

I have no doubt that I will eventually join you and AspTrader (among others), however, since I am trading live and making money with my systems on TS I can't all of a sudden pull the plug. It will definately take a transition period, where I will continue to let TS run in the background while I work with NeoTicker and get it setup to eventually replace TS.

Edward