Reflections
After the bumps I encountered with TradeStation, I was delighted to consult with some of my colleagues today about other trading platforms and options for automation. The one that caught my eye today was MultiCharts. One of my frustrations with TradeStation was being able to find information and details on their website about how the platform works. Their “University” only references a small number of videos and didn’t seem to offer any simple text support. MultiCharts gained some immediate brownie points with me because they have a wiki with detailed instructions. They may or may not be complete – I haven’t explored them too much yet – but it’s certainly more than I spotted with TradeStation. Yes, TradeStation offers a help guide from within the platform, but I find it odd that that information is not on their website…
Another item I like about MultiCharts is that it will work with my current IB accounts. I still have some questions about how that will work since I have three accounts linked together at IB. I have downloaded the platform and expect to start my free 30-day trial soon, perhaps tomorrow. When I started using TC2000 earlier this year, I found it very intuitive. I hope MultiCharts will be as intuitive as the website makes it appear.
NinjaTrader was also mentioned as an option. I used the platform briefly several years ago, especially for its replay function. A quick scan through the NinjaTrader website shows it may still be useful for me, but the website seems geared to selling the platform first and foremost. I did discover a seemingly comprehensive help guide, so they might still be a possible contender.
Choosing a platform is much like choosing a broker. There are a multitude of brokers because there are a multitude of individual needs and expectations. As I explore these options over the next few days, I hope to become more precise about what I need from a platform and what are simply my preferences or habits in trading. Learning requires an encounter with the unknown. Only when we step outside our comfort zone do we truly realize what the boundaries look like. Looking at my trading through the lens of these three different platforms will help clarify my vision of trading and should enable me to choose one as the next step forward on my path to trading automation.
Swing Trades
One new position was added today (on both platforms) – a second position in WYNN. Currently holding 9 positions showing a total of +1.92R
Long: AEM, CVX, INTC(2), OKTA, TLT, WYNN(2).
Short: XES.