Traders' Roundtable

How do you feel about this?
Could this be one or one functionality has to be more distinct?
If you have a back-testing system why could it not give you signals on current (end-of-day) data?
I know that a backtesting system also crunches the results and gives statistical reporting/graphs on results. Is there any OTHER difference I am missing?

A great Software for Trading System development has to be able to do both. This ensures you are really trading what you have backtested. But is there really a commercial software which can do this? (capable of using a portfolio of systems/markets and Position/Money-Management)

i coded up a trading platform for myself that does both.. to cover both scenerios I just abstracted out the source of the data feed, and coded up a simulated-order-execution system ("normal" back testing logic - slippage, etc). Basicly I just swap the datafeed to my indicators between either a live feed or database, and route order(s) (not manualy) either to my direct-access broker's computer or to my "simulated execution" code.. In the end, the coding effort was worth it - I was able to set it up to send alerts to my phone/email, etc (I run everything on remote server). One of the items on my to-do list is to code up a user interface for my Samsung palm phone
Since i don't trade full time anymore I wanted to be able stay on top of everything while at work