Traders' Roundtable

For a non-programmers design of a first long term trend following system.

Any wisdom for those who know both?

Pros and Cons? TraderStudio is a lot cheaper so would be good to understand what the extra bucks buy in TB.....

Back in November of last year I participated in this thread: Deciding on a Backtesting and Trading Platform because the person who initiated the discussion showed his lack of experience in trading and made evaluations based upon that inexperience that I didn't think should be left standing without some clarification.

If you go to the link, my comments begin on the second page and eventually progress into a polite exchange with TradersStudio's developer. If you decide to make any decision from what I've stated, be sure to weight the comments in light of how you believe a trading platform should function, and not on my bias of what I believe is important to a professional trader.

Good luck with your evaluation.

Many thanks for the link - I'll start ploughing throw it now

In your opinion can a classic trend following system which is not the most complex beast in the world be built and tested without any programming - i.e. using pre-canned blox from for example Trading Blox Pro?

I am trying to break things down into bite-sized chunks and whilst I am voraciously consuming research on money managment, position sizing, psychology, trend concepts and want to spend time designing, building and testing a system, I don't think that I have time to learn to programming too.

I would rather that would be a further step in my education a little down the road when I have some trading experience under my belt...

There's so much good info in the thread - too much for this newbie - it makes my head spin.

I think I need a dumbed down summary...

I have enough capital to fund a long term diversified trend following system and the associated risk of drawdown that strategy can bring, so long as I have a robust simple system with a positive expectation. I have done enough reading and research to understand that money management, position sizing, stops and all the other non-entry signal good stuff are crucial to this approach.

So I want to invest in a tool that will allow me to achieve the above in build and test without the need for programming to give me as much confidence as I can possibly have as I start out on my long road down the trading road...

Am I asking too much?

Hi SizzyB,
I don't know TB-PRO well enough to be of much value to your question. I'm also a "roll-your-own poison" kind of trader that hasn't taken the time to understand the value of the systems included with TB. My delay in looking at what is available is caused by my work to port my methods from TradeStation to TB. Someday that will be over and I'll spend some time on the included systems.

I'm sorry to say in this case you'll need to wait until others more experienced with the included systems and TB-PRO have a chance to see your posting and offer advice.

Hi SizzyB,

I would recommend TB Pro without hesitation. The built in systems include several that are suitable for long-term trend following.

Pro gives you a lot of functionality, and allows you to assemble your own system using pre-constructed parts. For example, you may take the ready-made triple moving average system and add a trailing stop for your exit mechanism.

Essentially everything is there to put together a working system.

I purchased TB Pro last July, and after four months of intensive use, upgraded to the Builder edition. In my case, I reached a point where the only way I could make the enhancements I wanted, was to actually do some programming.

My background is discretionary trading and investing – I had no programming experience whatsoever. However, with the generous support of Tim and the TB community, I have developed enough proficiency to stumble through. You’ll be interested to know that learning a bit of coding has led to significantly improved results.

This isn’t to say the inbuilt systems aren’t up to scratch – it simply means that coding has enabled me to design systems that are tailored to my specifications.

Like you, I also did some research prior to purchasing TB. One thing that struck me was the caliber of regulars on this forum. That was more than enough encouragement to go ahead. If they were satisfied, then why would I be any different.

The last thing I would say is to give yourself time. You don’t need to be up and running in the next couple of months. Take whatever time you need to explore Pro, then, if you want to go further, step-up to Builder.

Good luck!

Jason