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Sorry for the late reply, but I missed this thread.
I own both AmiBroker and Wealth-Lab, and have used, and still use, both pretty extensively. Below are the pro's and cons for each, based *on my usage* of them and their suitability to my needs. Please don't flame me, as this is based on my perceptions, and yours will probably differ. :)
Amibroker Pro's:
- Fast. Incredibly fast!
- Automation interface is very complete, and Plugin API is excellent
- Built in Composite support.
- Great for rapid indicator/system testing because of the simple array notation
- The latest betas have portfolio testing which is truly necessary IMHO
- Excellent support, with thorough answers within hours
- The community following (this list) is a great resource for newbies of both trading and programming
- The third-party addins add some really great features and most are free
- Tick-by-tick updates of indicators is great for monitor systems in an auto-trading environment
- I prefer the C++-style syntax over the Delphi syntax
Amibroker Con's:
- No Quote.Com support. I know the developers API is expensive, but Quote.com is the only data provider to supply > 120 days of historical 1 min data and unlimited symbols. It goes back to 1997 for most stocks and indexes on a 1 min basis. I have >10 gigs of 1 min data for the SP500 components at my disposal thanks to Quote.com.
- Limited drawing support. What is here is great, but there are a few things that would make it superb. Being able to plot a triangle or box would allow one to plot Gartley's or highlight trades with a green or red box based on whether they made a profit or not, or maybe highlight the opening range in orange until it is over. Changing background colors would allow gradients to show a condition getting better or worse. You get the idea...
- No position management functions. I find it harder to program systems when you rely on a simple boolean on/off for entry/exit signals. In WL, once a position is created, you can use position-based functions like PositionEntryBar() or PositionActive() or PositionMFE() to loop through a collection of positions and apply simple tests/exits to them. Multiple concurrent position systems are greatly simplified this way as trade management is done on a trade by trade basis. FWIW, this would eliminate the need for functions like ExRem().
- No native class/object support. This can be done via the API, so it's not that big a deal. But for complex scripts (ie a native AFL genetic algorithm implementation via includes) this would be a life-saver.
- No auto-trading interface/API. This for me is the biggest reason I have WL.
- Position Sizing algorithms needs to be done via your script. WL allows you to separate the Positions Sizing from the trade entry/exit scripts. This makes it easy to try various position sizing algorithms without the need to change any code.
- No built in debugger (ie breakpoints, etc)
Wealth-Lab Pro's:
- Native auto-trading with attached portfolio management. This was implemented really well because of the attached portfolio, and I have used it with over 20 positions auto-trading at once on a 5 min timeframe. It didn't miss a beat.
- Rich set of graphics features. I have some pretty advanced plots that highlight all types of scenario's during the trading day.
- Built in debugger, with breakpoints and the ability to look at variable contents
- API's available for most areas of the program, including a broker interface
- Language is based on Delphi/Pascal (OOP) and allows for classes/inheritance/polymorphism/etc.
- Ability to download new "chartscripts" (systems, indicators, etc) via a menu option. This is a great *built-in* repository for those starting out, or for those looking to explore other ideas. Simply refresh the system by choosing "download chartscripts" from the menu.
- Position Sizing is a separate script. Once you see the difference that position sizing can have on a strategy, this feature becomes critical. You can apply any sizing strategy during system ranking/optimization/portfolio simulations/etc. This can dramatically change the results of these methods.
- Custom optimization fitness functions. You can program an expectancy function and use it as your optimization criteria for example.
- Full suite of position management functions.
Wealth-Lab Con's:
- Slow. Molasses slow compared to AB. If you have greater than 100,000 bars, forget about it.
- Indicators don't update on tick intervals. The last price bar (aka ghost bar) does, but nothing else.
- Plugin API is based on COM (slower) and doesn't allow for native syntax-highlighting
- You can't import ASCII files to a faster native binary format. So every system test you run has to re-parse the data, which can slow you down dramatically on large datasets.
- Simple/Rapid indicator and system development is slower compared to AB. The Metastock-style array notation in AB is a huge timesaver. There are wizards in WL3 to help with this, but I still find the process cumbersome compared to AB/MS.
- You can't auto-trade on less than 1 minute bars. It would have been nice to trade the ES or NQ on tick bars, but it can't be done yet.
These are *my* impressions on the two packages. I use AB whenever I need to rapidly test an idea, or if I am trying to run a test on a large set of data. I then move to WL to refine the ideas, apply position sizing, and then deploy them via the auto-trading. So for me at least, the two complement each other very well.
Hope I don't stir up any trouble with this post. I just wanted to stress that both packages have there place, and although AB is great in it's current state, there is always room for improvement. Or else TJ would have retired ages ago, right TJ? ;)
Daniel
On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 03:44:07 -0000, seneca_kw wrote:
> I enoyed the recent informative thread on AmiBroker vs Metastock.
> I'd appreciate a similar comparison with Wealth-Lab. I searched
> the archive but found no mention of WL.
>
> I'm not expecting a point-by-point rundown, but for those who have
> tried both, is there one feature or another that really was a
> difference maker?
>
> Thanks,
> Wayne
>
>
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