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Hello Jlami11,
The virtues of AB are often extolled in this forum (along with the
vices) but I don't think I have seen a post that even goes close to
doing it justice.
Tomasz is too modest to list all the good points in one place
himself, although God knows that after 100k posts it is well overdue.
Here is my attempt that will have to suffice until bettered.
*******************************************************************
Conclusion:
The bad news is that it takes a lot of patience to master AmiBroker,
especially for those who are not seasoned traders/programmers.
The good new is that it is worth the effort.
If there is a better program out there Tomasz would have known about
it a long time ago ;-)
(If you are in a hurry skip to list at the bottom of the post).
*******************************************************************
An interesting question.
As a relatively new Ami user I can empathise with you.
Keep in mind that there is no *holy grail* of software or anything
else in trading.
Also my only intention is to offer help to you and give credit to
AmiBroker where it is due.
What you are really asking is; "Will AmiBroker be worth the time I
will have to put in to learn it, will I be capable of learning it
and what will I be able to do with it when I am competent?",
(that is like looking for your glasses!).
Ultimately you are the only one who can answer that.
You need to clarify how serious you are about trading and clearly
state your trading objectives to yourself first.
I am continually amazed by the number of people who come into this
forum and who, presumably, want to be winning traders, but obviously
do not have a winning attitude (I am not suggesting that is you. I
am simply providing some context to my comments).
If that is the case they can not blame the software for their
eventual and inevitable failure.
My experiences may provide some guideance for you.
I am a non-programmer, non-mathematician and a self-taught computer
layperson.
I do not have a tertiary education.
I am probably of above average intelligence but I don't know exactly
where I am on that line and I have no interest in finding out.
Fortunately I do have abilities and talents of some kind that get me
by, althoguh I am not sure exactly what they are either.
Four years ago I had zero experience in investment of any kind when
I set myself very high investment goals.
I will rephrase the last part; I knew specifically what I wanted to
achieve as an investor (if the format would allow it I would bold or
underline specifically, as in, the % return I am going to get and
the hours per week I am going to get it in).
After the intitial learning phase I also quickly identified what
investment styles I *believed* in and which ones suited my personal
characterstics and objectives e.g. I don't want to spend hours
reading company reports, financials etc so I went away from that
type of trading.
Once again I would underline *belief* and *personal characteristics*.
In short, when I bought AB I knew why I was buying it.
At that stage I had already settled on *trading* as my chosen
primary investment vehicle and I also had a definite trading style.
I wanted to use AB as the tool to develop and implement that on a
wider scale.
I am continually improving and growing so I never say never as far
as trading goes but so far nothing I have learnt in AmiWorld has
changed my view on trading; it has simply confirmed and enhanced it.
I didn't know exactly what I was getting with AB but I did exchange
a couple of emails with support in which I discussed the capability
of AB in the key areas of my interest.
My questions were somewhat naive, and Tomasz probably scratched his
head a little, but he gave me a professional reply.
Specifically I enquired about customising my own stops and one or
two other similar questions, as I do not trade in anything I don't
understand.
If I can code it myself I definitely understand it.
I had also found that what passes as folklore in common investment
culture more often than not does not stand up to analysis, so I
prefer to go my own way; no *canned* anything for me.
My conclusion was that on the balance of probability AB would do the
job. I also formed a favourable impression of the CEO/developer i.e.
he was obviously no dummy with an exceptional empathy for his users
and that is an important thing when buying and using trading
software.
You have to have confidence.
(That wasn't too bad an assessment based on two short emails was it?
Time has proven that to be spot on).
Like all products, only long term ownership will provide a complete
answer to buyer satisfaction, so I went ahead and purchased.
I am quite used to spending money on dead leads etc; that is normal
business practise and I consider it to be a part of development
costs.
I didn't hesitate to spend USD$199 on Ami.
Like any business, there was no guarentee that cost would ever be
recouped. That is not to mention the intellectual capital invested
e.g. my first 2 trading years and $15000 were purely speculative
ventures, until I reached a point where I was able to prove to
myself that, compared to the majority, I was quite good at it.
For the record my trading disposition is objective, mechanical
system, TA based, but I do keep an open mind and will snap up
anything that works.
I consider myself to be a developing trader.
It is not something that can be mastered in a few hundred or even a
few thousand hours; not from my background anyway.
I could write a book on the subject, and I might one day, but to cut
to the chase.
I have used a lot of other market programs but my experience is
lightweight compared to some in this group.
I will benchmark my comments against the last program I used, which
was one of the majors.
I was very happy with it in every respect until after 1000's of
hours of commitment to learning it, I found it couldn't actually do
what I really needed it to.
The backtester didn't work, at least not the way I expected it too,
and at that time my expectations were not as high as they are now.
I managed to jig around that problem by using the programs explorer
as a psuedo-backtester and exporting the results to Xcel for
analysis.
I was proud of myself, as a non-programmer, for achieving that.
I set up four older computers with a KVM switch as my test-bank and
reeled off a few thousand hours of backtesting until I simply came
to the end of the line, fullstop.
Why stuff around with homemade backtesters when there are
professionals writing and maintaining them for a living?
Hence AmiBroker, which incidentally was recommended to me by the
developer of a quite well known money management program.
It was very hard to have to start all over again in a new program,
especially after being able to use the old one fluently.
The first 3 months of Ami were very de-motivating.
I found it to be a hard program to learn and I had to grit my teeth
more than a few times.
One of the reasons it is hard to learn is that it has a lot more
depth and breadth than my previous program.
That automatically demands more learning time.
It also has a different business model to what most of us have come
to expect e.g the manual in AB is not a textbook that is posted in
the mail nor is it merely the help files.
The *manual* in Ami is dynamic and offers a lot more than help files
but it is also less structured.
It also leaves out a few bits and pieces here and there that a lot
of beginners would expect to find.
I am comfortable with that but some people aren't.
It is not a good system for beginners but it is a great system for
seasoned performers.
Why begrudge them that; they are entitled to their place in the
world?
I guess in a way, that makes Ami a boutique program, although I am
sure Tomasz will correct me if that is wrong.
My attitude is; "if you can't beat them join them".
I am playing catch-up at a furious rate.
My trading objectives are very high.
I bought AB in the belief that it was the program most likely to
enable me to meet those objectives.
I have had the program approx 6 months and have spent a lot of hours
per week on it.
I don't have the definitive answer but so far AB has not
disappointed.
The ultimate responsibility is not on Tomasz's shoulders, it is on
mine.
Initially Tomasz answered my *buying* questions and provided a free
trial.
It was my decision to buy.
Let the buyer beware.
I am continually learning and improving so the things I want to do
in the future may well be different from my current expectations but
I am confident Ami will accommodate my growth.
I have said that if I don't achieve my trading goals with Ami there
will not be another program, which is my way of saying that Ami is
good enough if I am good enough.
I do have a cut off point and I will retire my trading career if I
retire Ami.
I won't look back and list the negatives of other programs.
I will not list the negatives of AmiBroker either (I am into
positivity) although I will say it is not perfect.
******************************************************************
My list of AB positives (not in any particular order):
1. price
2. *fully* customiseable
3. distant horizon (most traders will never exceed its ability.
Those who do exceed AB's limits don't mind sharing their
knowledge and Tomasz doesn't like coming second so that should tell
you something).
4. transparent and controllable
5. honest dialogue
6. ethical company
7. allows use with a wide range of data providers
8. cheap and free data options for those who need that
9. trading orientated program (truly for traders by traders)
10. trading friendships
11. trading mentorships
12. active forum with a sprinkling of diverse specialists
13. quick responses to program 'bugs'
14. 24-48 hour support
15. rapid pace of development
16. responsive to suggestions
17. extensive support material albeit hard to find at first
18. open architecture
19. personal contact with CEO
20. CEO accepts and answers criticism in public
21. trading specific programming language (you don't need to learn
C++ etc just learn AFL. If that is your first language it will be a
challenge but I am doing it. I only read half a dummies book,
quarter of an online manual on scripting and a bit of Wikipedia here
and there and away I went. My prior formula language and backtesting
experience does help though).
22. the last market software program I will ever have to master
23. challenging
24. offers trading opportunities I hadn't thought of before
25. good rapport with and respect for the developer
26. provides easy access to basic fundamental data in formulas
27. provides access to unlimited external database (especially
useful for referencing extensive fundamental databases)
28. cheap and reliable *industry standard* charting program for
those who just want that
29. time efficient (there are no unneccessary frills anywhere in
Amiworld. If anything there are probably not enough frills depending
on who you ask).
30. mature program (10+ years)
31. extensive library (official and unofficial) of popular industry
indicators etc
32. licenced to use on more than one machine
33. speed
34. 64 bit and dual core processors not a future problem?
35. backward compatibility not a problem?
36. has trading orientated functions the others do not have?
37. array based processing which is a very *commonsense* approach
for laypeople. Use is analagous to Xcel spreadsheet rows except for
more advanced uses where programming procedures like looping come
into play (when you can see your code output being written into Xcel
rows in your minds eye you are nearly there).
I have spent a lot of time in Xcel prior to AB so that helps me to
step into AFL. If you are good with Xcel functions you will
definitely be good with AFL.
38. industry standard *canned scans* are easily achievable with
simple code
39. It is a very pragmatic program e.g I have 5-10 tasks on my
advanced list that are industry wide trader breakers. I have already
cracked two or three of those in Ami without even getting out of
second gear and I am optimistic about the rest (Null data handling,
custom indexes and survivor bias are the first three demons to bite
the dust).
40. readily perform trainging examples and problem solve using
explorer.
41. ASCII import for the data masochists
In short it does exactly what the publicity blurb on the homepage
says it will do, and more!
There are probably additional postives but a mint tea and a bowl of
muesli is calling.
BrianB2. =8-)
P.S Tomasz, this doesn't provide you future immunity from my
withering critiques.
--- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "jlami11" <jlami11@xxx> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I just wanted to know how Amibroker compares to other software.
>
> In particular I heard tradingblox was pretty good and could do
alot,
> while requiring less programming. Or would programming required be
the
> same if more advanced functions were needed e.g. dynamic pos
sizing,
> dynamic risk control etc etc.
>
> Has anyone used tradingblox? and if Amibroker and Tradingblox were
the
> same price, which one would you prefer?
>
> Lastly is Amibroker generally superior to other software? I ask
this
> as I come from a non-programming background and would not be easy
for
> me to adapt to diff. software in future.
>
> Thanks in advance any help is appreciated.
>
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