MetaStock

MetaStock

Equis International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Thomson Reuters—the world's premier global information company, which provides information tailored for professionals in the financial services, media and corporate markets. Founded in 1982, Equis develops and markets the award-winning MetaStock range of products, which are the premier brand in the charting and technical analysis arena.

The MetaStock product suite targeted toward the individual investor includes both real-time and end of day variants of the software along with data subscriptions, plug-ins and third party products. Equis also provides graphics and technical analysis components to the Thomson Reuters product line, which serves professional traders in the world's largest financial institutions.
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T2W Bot
Views
2,248
First release
Last update
Rating
3.22 star(s) 9 ratings

Latest reviews

Conceived by non-traders

They pump it, they create the hype, they have the machine to plug it or shove it down peoples throats but at the end of the day: ITS PURE CRAP! Crashing all the time, unstable, unreliable in real-time. Should you ever call for support, the staff will blame you for their product crashing, saying that you, or your set-up, your computer, your connection, etc. are the cause. They count on you on being isolated in your corner not being able to exchange with other traders to compare the performance issues your having. They also control the community thus blocking the unfavorable comments. But everyone I know has moved out of Metastock, had the same problems Isnt it strange? Is it their fault too? Or is it that they are not one of Metastock's corporate customer at $2K / month? Bet they have service...
This is just another example of a big machine that provides a poor product, poor support, and just takes a lot of time before it just dies.
To anyone considering this product, dig deeper, do your search, theres better out there and remember: no matter what your being told: CRAP IS CRAP!
4 years later!

MetaStock is terrible at keeping up with changes. Direxion changed the symbols on 6 or their ETFs. The change was first announce on 7 Jun and it took effect with market open on 29Jun. Here it is 3 full trading days later and they still have not recognized the changes and the data for the old symbols is stuck on 28Jun.
Earlier this year some other ETFs such as UPRO and TQQQ had stock splits. It took two trading days for MetaStock to catch.

I use MetaStock basically for its charts having found most of the other stuff useless. Does anybody have anything positive to say about this service before I pull the plug?
10 years on

Yes I have been using Metastock for about 10 years now. I started with version 6, got 7 and didn't see much improvement and so missed 8. Got version 9 which had little extra of any use. It has been treading water for many years now. The clever original team left and it is being overtaken in all departments now. Still using it. It does a reasonable job if not much is required but I am looking around for a better replacement.
Metastock

Sorry, but very unhappy here.

I have asked so many times for help-no-one emails back or returns calls. Ok, then i get told to do this and that and all the data will be up to date.

I follow all the instructions, but hey! Still no pregress.

I honestly think support should be there. It is so very frustrating when u want to download eod but keep being stuck with data that is 2 weeks old! How is that gonna help me to rade/progress!

Nah! wish i could have just got something better with support!
Metastock 9

Sorry,
but I don't agree that Metastock is a "5's with the odd 4" rated program - I think it's been overscored here, (life's nothing without the odd spot of conflict <g>). I'd drop it to 4 on reliability - I don't think it gets equity curves right on occasion, which is probably just a side effect of which price it picks on the day but I do think when you run a mechanical test you need to be absolutely sure of the feedback..
The interface is, in my view, clunky - it could be a heap more user friendly - I think it's a VERY powerful tool, with excellent docs and it's extremely good for allowing users to fiddle with it, but I don't find it all that easy to work with when I want to pull interesting stocks out of (say) the FT100, and sometimes I've found some of the explorations produce quite baffling results... it's powerful, but I'm not convinced it's completely reliable (no software is, I still give it 4 out of 5 which is I think a fairer score than 5/5)> It definitely scores on features, and the open nature of the program that allows all comers to do all sorts of things with it.

Just my 2p - it's still THE program if you want to illustrate a point by pulling a particular chart up and adding various doodads to it,
Dave
most usefull software around

quickest and easiest way to understand and use tech analysis
METASTOCK

I have used Metastock for years now, and having tried many other programmes, have not found any which would convince me to change. Perhaps I have become a bit biased as I have created my trading style based on the indicators and filters within the Metastock programme. These can be as simple or complex as the user might like to make them. For anyone with formula language savvy - no that is not me - there is no end as to what you can do with the programme. However I have found by following the instructions in the manual, I have been able to find and produce filters to suit my trading style.

The Explorer is especially useful, as once you have produced a formula to find particular stocks, you can whip through the LSE, or any other exchange in a matter of seconds to produce possible buys long/short.

There is also an abundance of free formula on the net from Equis itself, Guppy and Paritech in particular, if you wish to experiement.

I can agree with both the previous subscribers to this thread.......it can appear to be be complex, but the manual is comprehensive and I have found the support from both Equis, and the U K supplier of the programme - Q-Data Limited - most helpful.



.
Metastock 8 EOD

MetaStock 8.0 End of Day

Used Indexia, Sharescope and currently use Tachinical Analyst and few others.
With Metastock, I use Metaload (for downloading data from Prestel) and Metatools (for maintenence with data from FT site - now dead!!!)...and it is all automated...I rarely use Downloader...

It has facility to create a chart with built indicators which can be provided with an icon...regardlesss of which security you are on, you can with a click of button provide the indicators you want to see...I have created 22 icons of all listed in the way i wany to do TA.

Moving Averages are easily added...just select the option of how you want to scale it...I use 'merge with scale on left'...but once it is there you can 'iconise' it...

Metastock language is the backbone of the package...it is brilliant and very easy...once mastered, it is like a second nature...if you have ever used Walthlab script language then Metastock is similar...I think it is the most comprehensve language after Tradestation...I may be wrong...

If you use MLdownloader programme then it is possible to download the data from yahoo...for free...and therfore any data avilable you can download and chart it...Another programme avilable on web will convert any data to Metastock format...

I like the programme...it has taken me 18 months to learn all the aspects of that programme...

zambuck
MetaStock 7.2 End of Day

Never used any other 'proper' charting packages so difficult to compare, but I can tell you my (limited) views.

I have several problems.

1. There are multiple programs for doing day to day tasks. I have to use MetaLoad to download and convert my eod data from Prestel. Metatools to find companies and indices and for maintenance. The DownLoader to convert data from Excel to MetaStock format. And then MetaStock itself to look at the charts. Although I have mostly worked it out now it can take ages to do anything new because you don't know which program to use or whether you need to buy a new 'add-on'.

2. If you create a trendline and then compress or enlarge the chart, sometimes, you can't highlight your trendline again. You need to get the chart back to its original size before you can access the trendline.

3. Moving Averages can be a total pain. Sometimes (but only sometimes) if I add a 200 day MA it will change the scaling of my chart so that the MA is on a different scale to the actual chart (not very useful!). I'm sure this must be a 'feature' that I just haven't worked out yet.

4. I can't for the life of me work out the MetaStock language. I don't have a problem with Perl or VB but when it comes to MetaStock I'm flummoxed.

Overall, MetaStock is a very complex program with absolutely tons of indicators, which is why I bought it. I'm sure you can do anything you want with it. It is a program for someone who is into serious systems design and backtesting (if you can work out he language).

However, as I become more experienced as a trader I have realised I don't need 500 indicators or to backtest from the start of time. Give me trendlines, MAs, and RSI and I'm as happy as Larry.

Martin
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