Sharky's Trading Diary

New Release: v2.0.9 - Free

sharky — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:41:18 +0000

All existing customers have tested v2.0.9 and report that it works fine. And so it is now available for everyone, and we will begin the transition to the new website.

Remember that once we change websites, any previous version will cease to work.

To make sure nobody was effected by that, v2.0.9 no longer has a version check, nor a subscription check (and also we got existing customers to test it before making the change).

Another reason you might want to use v2.0.9 is because Backtesting and Alerts are now free for all.

This is of course all gearing up for the release of v3.

Here is the full list of changes:

Added in v2.0.9

Removed version check.
Removed subscription check.
Backtesting and Alerts now free.

New website complete

sharky — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:53:05 +0000

Step 1 on the road to v3 is to finish the new website with forums and so on. That is complete. However, when we upload that new website, it's going to break v2.0.8 and any version before that. So before we can upload the website, first we need to make available v2.0.9.

To explain a bit more on why a new website would break the software...

In v2.0.8 and earlier, the first thing that happens when you start the software is a version check. The software asks the website "what's the minimum required version?"

Next comes the subscription check. The software asks the website "is this computer allowed to use backtesting, alerts, and/or auto-trading?"

Just to get all technical on you for a second, let's say the old website speaks English, and the new website speaks Japanese. Here's what happens now:

v2.0.8: What's the minimum required version?
website: Hello sir. Thank you for your enquiry. We are pleased to be able to tell you that the minimum required version number is v2.0.6.

When we upload the new website, here's what's going to happen:

v2.0.8: What's the minimum required version?
website: ごめんごめん。英語話せないんだけど。日本語できる人はいないんでしょうか？

Unfortunately for v2.0.8, there will indeed be no one around who can speak Japanese, so the version check will fail and you won't be able to move past the version check window.

That's where v2.0.9 comes in. So that's our next task.

Incidentally, these calls to the website have been an annoyance to many customers over the years. Mainly because it enforced an internet connection to use the software, even if you just wanted to do some backtesting or something. So in v3 we've changed it.

When you start v3, there is no version check, and there is no subscription check.

Backtesting, alerts, price downloads will all be free.

Auto-trading in demo accounts will be free (where we have the ability to differentiate between demo and live accounts in our code).

It's only when you finally come to auto-trade in your live account where we will charge to use our software. And this is when the subscription check takes place. You need an internet connection to do auto-trading anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem.

You can do a version check yourself, but the results will be more "what versions are available", rather than force you to upgrade to a particular version.

Lastly, you may have noticed that the minimum required version number has been set to 2.0.6. This version was chosen because the majority of customers were still using v2.0.6, instead of the current release of v2.0.8. And that's fine, because v2.0.7 and v2.0.8 added only the ability to download prices from FXCM. If you don't use FXCM then you wouldn't have needed to upgrade. However...

When the new website is published, that will essentially be a forced upgrade to v2.0.9. Just an advanced warning that you'll soon need to set aside some time to upgrade.

The Road To v3

sharky — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:20:27 +0000

1. New Website

We've got a new website in the making, with forums. Also other cool stuff.

But when we make that website live, that's going to break v2. Because v2 currently "calls home" to the thinkingstuff.com website to find the required version number and check your subscription details.

So before we can release the new website, we have to release...

2. New Update To v2

... which doesn't do the call-home-thing.

In this new version, we are also going to make everything except auto-trading free. So backtesting and alerts will be gratis. Because that's the plan for v3 as well.

3. Alpha Release of v3

In the software industry, releases are labelled "alpha", "beta", "release candidate", "stable", in order of quality. (Or in order of alleged quality). So when I say "alpha release", you need to understand that it's going to be a piece of crap :-) It won't do auto-trading, and you shouldn't rely on the backtesting results. It'll be just good enough to preview what v3 can do, hopefully get you excited, and hopefully elicit some helpful feedback and suggestions.

It was customer feedback that made us go back and rewrite TSATM. And although some hard work and long hours, it's definitely been a huge improvement. We hope the feedback continues so v3 becomes an industry leader.

4. Continued Improvement of v3

As per title.

v3 Completed Its First Backtest

sharky — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:17:32 +0000

About 2 years ago I wanted to move house. So I looked at an apartment, and it was nice enough and had fantastic views of the beach. Next door was an empty yard. Just grass. I signed a 6-month lease.

On the very day that I moved in to that apartment, they started building an apartment block in that empty yard :-) I was stuck there for 6 months, and nobody would take over my lease because of the construction next door.

It seemed like it took a really long time just to dig the hole for the foundation and the carpark. But once the foundation was complete, the actual construction of the apartment block went relatively quickly (though I still cursed them every morning).

And that's the segue into the update on v3. I tore everything down and started again. And man, it seemed like it took a really long time to create the foundation. But now that I'm getting into the "fun stuff" (of getting TSATM to actually do backtests and autotrading, etc), it's all just clicking into place.

v3 completed its first backtest yesterday, 24th August. A milestone which probably doesn't mean much to you, but was certainly a big deal for us. Because so many little operations have to work, and work together, in order to spit out a backtest result.

Get excited! :-)

New Release: v2.0.8 - FXCM Historical Prices II

sharky — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:00:58 +0000

FXCM either stopped offering USDSGD prices, or only offer it to accounts in certain denominations (e.g. USD). 'Coz trying to subscribe to that currency now fails, and that in turn prevents anybody from downloading price history from FXCM.

Anyway, fixed now. Go grab v2.0.8, and go watch the video tutorial on downloading historical price data from FXCM. Also:

Opening an FXCM account
Extra Steps For FXCM Users Only (for installation help)
the FXCM sections on the Troubleshooting page

This is the first release to be done using Visual Studio 2008. So, in case any problems arise, I've left v2.0.7 available for download.

Anyhoo, here is the full list of changes:

Fixed in v2.0.8

No longer cancels login to FXCM accounts if a subscription to a particular currency fails upon login.

Version 3.0.0

sharky — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:46:00 +0000

A quick summary before I get into the explanation: TS v3.0.0 will be a complete re-write. We threw just about everything out and started again. If you have any suggestions for new features; if there's anything in the current version of TS that's annoys you, that hampers your efforts, that prevented you from installing it or understanding how it works; please tell us. Either through the Contact Us page, or via the comments below.

If you, personally, wanted automated trading software designed just for you, what features would be in it?

We've completely re-designed TS. Nothing has been spared. If you have any suggestions, anything at all, now is the time to come forward.

To the explanation...

About 4 to 4.5 years ago, in my room near Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan, I started making some software to help me out with my currency trading. It was just for backtesting at first, but things progressed, knowledge expanded, plans became grander.

Now I have a company with a few staff based around that software, and our goal here at Thinking Stuff Pty Ltd, printed and stuck up on the wall, is to bring automated trading to the masses. Regardless of how good you are with computers, we think you should have all the advantages that automated trading provides at your fingertips.

Just about every manual on how to create a successful business says to find a niche. Ours' is the niche of people who want to get into automated trading but don't have the computer skills. And even if you have computer skills, it doesn't necessarily mean you want to learn computer programming. And even if you know computer programming, I'm guessing you mostly prefer to just click buttons than write code. I know I certainly enjoy downloading something and using it a few second later. So really, our niche are people who want to get into automated trading quickly and easily. (TradeStation, MQL, etc, will always have their niches, and we don't pretend we are direct competitors of theirs' other than a small subset of potential customers).

Over the years though, we've run into speed bumps. People would ask "can it do this?", and we'd have to say "no, in trying to make TS as simple as possible to use, we had to make some design decisions that cut off certain types of trading".

And there was the legacy code. "Legacy code" means old code, that's been around forever, that nobody wants to touch because it looks really scary and would probably break everything.

Actually my buddy came around the other week and asked why some things were like there were, and I had to reply a few times "historical reasons".

From comments and emails we get, and me saying to my buddy "historical reasons" more than a few times, it was clear that things had to change. People both want to be able to do more complicated trading systems, and they want the software to be easier to use.

The legacy code was holding us back. PostgreSQL was holding us back. The version check and subscription system were holding us back. The lack of supported brokers was holding us back. The lack of custom indicators was holding us back. This website and the lack of forums were holding us back.

So I thought to myself "Sharky, if you were going to design this from scratch, how would you do it?" And because I now have 4.5 years experience in writing this kind of software, along with 4.5 years' worth of comments and emails from customers, I made a lot of different decisions to 4.5 years ago. A lot of problems solved. A lot of niggly little things solved. A lot of big annoying things solved. And some prettier code too :-)

The drawback to all this of course, is that the monthly release had to be abandoned for a couple of months. And the next release, being a complete re-write, will need very thorough testing from us *and you* before it's ready for use. But let me guarantee to you, that this is entirely worth the trouble, and the few steps back will be followed by about 100 steps forward.

So as I said in the opening, if you have anything you want changed; anything you think needs to be changed; any reason at all that prevented you from signing up (and by the way - there probably won't be a subscription fee from v3 onwards), now is the time to come forward. Don't assume anything. The more people request a feature, the more likely it is to get done. Thanks.

New Video Tutorial

sharky — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:31:00 +0000

Backtesting using FXCM historical price data demonstrates these things:

where to go to set up a demo FXCM account
how to enter that account's details into TS
how to download the historical price data from FXCM
how to create a simple trading system
how to backtest that trading system over the historical price data
viewing the backtesting results

Steps 4 to 6 should make this video useful viewing even if you aren't going to use FXCM.

New Release: v2.0.7 - FXCM Historical Prices

sharky — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Getting back to FXCM, I have updated the FXCM API and incorporated some of their new features into TS. The most exciting feature is the ability to download FXCM historical prices with a few clicks (i.e. no downloading files and then importing them into TS).

I'll have a video tutorial up soon, but I'm sure you'll figure it out :-) On the Command Centre > FXCM > Price Downloads > Historical.

In the user manual you'll find:

Opening an FXCM account
Extra Steps For FXCM Users Only (for installation help)
the FXCM sections on the Troubleshooting page

Here is the full list of changes:

Added in v2.0.7

New version of the FXCM API. Historical price downloads.
Upgraded to a new version of npgsql (the thing which lets TS connect to PostgreSQL).

Fixed in v2.0.7

For non-subscribed users, dummy price data should be used so they can get a feel of what it would be like if they did subscribe. But an error prevented them from seeing the dummy results. Now fixed.

New Release: v2.0.6 - Multiple Windows

sharky — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Most windows in TS allow only one 'instance' of them to be open at any time. Back in v2.0.0 I made it so you could have multiple Chart windows open at once, but that was it. Now that has been expanded to include the Trading Systems, Alerts, and Backtest Results windows. This makes it easier to compare - edit two or three, and line them up side-by-side.

Here is the full list of changes:

Added in v2.0.6

Allow multiple instances for Backtest Results window, Trading Systems windows, and Alerts windows.
Help file updated to match v2.0.5 (changes to Backtest Results window made in this release are not reflected in the help file yet).

Fixed in v2.0.6

Auto-login causes an error on upgrade, if you click the "Login" button instead of waiting for the auto-login to happen. What happens then is, the "do you want to upgrade" message appears twice. Clicking "Yes" on both results in the first time through working fine, but an error the second time.

New Release: v2.0.5 - No Longer Just USD

sharky — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:30:00 +0000

TS used to have the limitation of only working in trading accounts denominated in USD. There were some workarounds to get it working for other currencies, but now you don't have to bother with workarounds because TS does it properly by itself.

Fixed a few other things as well, and one in particular means you have some work to do yourself after upgrading. While TS was working only with Gain Capital and Oanda, it was easy to know how many units could be purchased - Oanda allows any number of units, while Gain Capital makes you buy them in multiples of 10K.

However, now that we're moving towards FXCM as well, FXCM have 3 different kinds of accounts, and you can buy different numbers of units in each one - multiples of 1K in their micro accounts; multiples of 10K in their mini accounts; and multiples of 100K in the 'real' accounts. So it's not possible anymore to just go by the company name. And so, each account has a new field where you tell TS how many units it can buy in that account - multiples of 1, 1K, 10K, or 100K. After upgrading, please check each of your accounts and make sure the setting is correct.

Similarly, backtesting has the same new feature. So please also check each backtesting configuration entry and make sure the setting is correct.

Here is the full list of changes:

Added in v2.0.5

Remove limitation of TS only working in trading accounts denominated in USD.
New setting on backtesting configurations and accounts - allow purchases in multiples of 1, 1K, 10K, 100K.
Double-clicking on the Chart window now makes it fill the available area on the screen. (There's also the "Actions..." > "Make maximum size" menu item, which does the same thing).
When I start TS V_2, on the trading system 'other' tab, the last gasp filter does not remember the setting, I have to re select my choice every time.
Number fields now have little up-down spinners (click the up button to increase the value, the down button to decrease it).
I don't want TS to _create_ any messages, because with 1 min Systems it creates a lot. Like Activity Logging I want to turn it off.
Oanda now allows trading in these currencies: AUD/CAD, EUR/NZD, GBP/CAD, NZD/CAD, NZD/JPY, USD/CZK, USD/HUF, USD/SEK.
Is there a way to set the stop loss at the Minimum close of last x intervals for Long trades, vice versa for Short trades, Maximum close of last x intervals?
Row Count menu item on Data Manager is now called "Table information", and shows row count, earliest date of price data, and latest date of price data in that table.
Backtesting, when no USD in the currency pair being tested, and the trading system's money management says to use % of balance or VFP, then TS always 'buys' 1 contract. It was originally done this way because all calculations were converted back to USD, and if there is no USD in the currency pair, then % of balance cannot be calculated in USD. However, with TS not exclusive to USD accounts anymore, this restriction has also been removed.
Update web addresses to reflect new website structure.

Fixed in v2.0.5

I discovered that I only need to click 'OK' once... and then wait... or go and make a coffee... to 'add' the m/a ... (of period 2880 over 50K bars) but when performing this operation there is no egg-timer telling me that the software is thinking... If I get impatient and click more than once I get an exception error and have to close the program.
Some of the indicators cannot be added to the chart... coz when I try to add the indicator, I get a message box which says... 'could not find config type' ... see attached screen capture attachment. It seems that indicators with TS after the name are loadable but ones...without TS.... are not...
Data Manager, File Loader, and Price History windows need to disable Close button when doing their respective functions.
FXCM account numbers are too big for the account number field.
"Unexpected error" when click "Prices" link in toolbar (or probably any web link).
When an account was being used by an active trading system, and try to edit that account, a message would appear saying that the account cannot be edited, but it would appear to edit it anyway.
When close Command Centre abruptly without switching off auto-trading/alerting, then open Command Centre again and download prices, auto-trading/alerting starts again even though the window shows them as being switched off.
User Wizard doesn't ask for a server type (i.e. demo/live) when FXCM is selected for the company.
Directional Movement System is not being calculated correctly.