CSI's 150 Futures Market Limit

PNW_Trader · Post by **PNW_Trader** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:40 pm

The topic of having large, diverse portfolios to improve system performance has been discussed quite a bit here (c.f. viewtopic.php?t=7954). My testing has confirmed this to be about as close to a free lunch (improving CAGR and DD simultaneously) as one will likely find. However, I've recently run into a limit with CSI's UA software and a limit of 150 futures markets (this is their highest package - Gold World Futures). Unfortunately, CSI doesn't have any good way around this. They say you can upgrade to a commercial license. But this drives the costs way up and you can no longer use UA (you must write your own script to download files directly via FTP - ugh). There is no upgrade option for UA beyond 150 markets.

How have others dealt with this issue? One idea I had was to subscribe to both CSI and Pinnacle. However, I'm hesitant to do this due to the added complexity of dealing with both simultaneously.

Any other ideas?

sluggo · Post by **sluggo** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:13 pm

I think the Gold license permits you to install UA on two computers. So . . . . . . .

IF you have two installations of CSI Unfair Advantage,

THEN you could have one 150-market portfolio on the first installation, and another (different) 150-market portfolio on the second installation.

Using mathematics,

If you have a number "N" of CSI UA installations, you can have access to (150 x N) different markets

Maybe just maybe there might be a way to do this even more easily, with multiple different "portfile.adm" portfolio definition files and a SINGLE installation of CSI UA on a single computer. No guarantees of course, but maybe it might work out nicely. Perhaps you could spend some time messing around with multiple different portfile.adm's and see what you find out.

tetranomad22435 · Post by **tetranomad22435** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 6:57 pm

I'm a complete newbie to CSI, but as such I was just making a second install and looking at their license agreement yesterday. The relevant section:

CSI grants to you (the registered licensee of the program and data) the right to make one (1) copy of the software and data for the sole purpose of backing up the system for use in case of loss or damage.

Would having two different 150 market portfolios breach the "sole purpose of backing up" part of the agreement? If so, I wonder whether the purchase of a second Gold license (in the name of a partner if necessary) would be the solution.

sluggo · Post by **sluggo** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:22 pm

It would be a terrible shame if you accidentally installed a different portfile.adm portfolio file on your backup computer, than the portfole.adm you installed on your main computer.

If you were to make this mistake, your backup would not be identical to your main; each would have a different collection of 150 markets (300 total), and I'm sure that's not what you want or intend.

Chris67 · Post by **Chris67** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:11 am

does anyone know off the top of their heads how much it costs for the full monty corporate packagae at CSI Data ? i.e. several licenses / all markets
if nobody knows I'll call and post the answer here myself thanks

leslie · Post by **leslie** » Thu May 05, 2011 10:04 am

Chris,

The corporate license is very pricey.
At one time, you could download ALL markets for same price and ALL history. I am grandfathered in for ALL history and pay for a lot of market but do not approach 150.

Take Sluggo's advice.
We're all human... you can make your mistakes as per instructions

L