MetaStock

Hi.

I'm thinking of getting it. Mainly for the ability to scan a database using programmed formulae and maybe identifying charts.

I doubt that it will be any better than my current tools but I fancy having a new toy to play with. What sort of problems are you having?

I have sharescope and omnitrader and I'm pleased with both as they are complementary.
 
I have used Metastock, end of day, for over 3 years now and find it has provided me with all the tools necessary for profitable trading. The tool you are referring to in Metastock for scanning, is the Explorer, and you can scan all the LSE, or against any list you wish to set up, in less than one minute against one of the criteria built into the system or your own formulae, which you can develop with the aid of the tools built in. There is a learning curve, but if you are familiar with Omni then you should have no difficulty, as there is a 538 page manual to assist, together with email support direct from Equis, which I have found very prompt with a response.

There is a version for intra day trading, but would advise getting used to the EOD version first.

I obtained mine from Q-data, who are data providers and give an excellent service both on advice on Metastock and upgrading any data. You can contact them bye email to: [email protected] or tel: 01594 810077/fax 810851

Best wishes and may you trade profitably




[Edited by Uncle on 03-02-2001 at 02:59 PM]
 
thanks for the information and kind words Uncle.

I have a dayjob and don't plan to daytrade so EOD will be fine for me.

I have a custom system in OmniTrader mainly using oscillators with candles, trendlines and ma's for confirmation. It seems to work ok but is still quite time consuming and oc course you have to watch the market to get a good price.

I like idea of using KST (as per Pring). Have you tried this at all?
 
Darth....Will you please explain KST am familiar with Pring but not the abbreviation.

Thanks
 
Sorry for using acronyms!

KST is Pring's "Know Sure Thing" system as per his Market Momentum book. It is an attempt to improve on standard momentum oscillators to include multiple time frames by using a weighted combination with different periods. eg. daily, weekly & monthly.

The concept seems very good to me and I try to use it visually using trix at the moment.

I think there is a metastock add-in available but i suspect that it is not rocket science to programme it for oneself.

I gather that there is a metastock add-in by John Murphy of Technical Analysis of the Futures Markets fame. this one can pick chart patterns.
 
I've been looking more closely at the equis site and found a page with many formulae including those for the reports that appear every week, double tops/bottoms, macd, modified rsi and many, many more (inc. KST too).

I have decided to purchase metastock in the near future and look forward to using it although I'm a little surprised to see so few postings about it.

Has everybody jumped onboard the Omnitrader and AIQ packages?
 
Your so right..........most people on this BB seem to use Omni or AIQ but glad to hear your going to get your teeth into Metastock. Am confident you will find it valuable in your decision making.

Email me if you need help in getting started once you have it.

Best wishes

John
 
metastock resources

I have to say that I am really impressed with metastock.

This package is not for the faint hearted as it requires programming knowledge to get the best out of it but it is really powerful.

I have started to program some of Alan Farley's Swing Trading formulae using very basic techniques that might get refined later and the results are promising.

Needless to say - there is no such thing as the Holy Grail and trading results depend as much upon the user and the computer, but I do recommend people lokking for a system consider metastock to see if it is appropriate.

I have found some resources on the internet:

http://www.equis.com has some custom indicators available and http://www.guppytraders.com/gup159.htm has loads of free formulae to get you up and running and give a taste of what metastock programming is like.
 
Darth.....more formulae there than enough for anyone.........however, as a long standing user of Metastock, it isnt NECESSARY to be able to PROGRAMME as it has so many built in indicators and testers, I have managed most successfully without writing any specific formulae, but now we have an expert with the programme, I look forward to learning more, and therefore improving on the system already developed.

Keep us posted Darth.........email if you dont wish to broadcast any particular gems to the http://www.

Best wishes

John
 
Metastock Video

I have a video which I will loan. Anyone wishing to see it, please email me.

John
 
metastock

After reviewing Omni and Meta, I plumped for Meta, and now wish I'd gone for something simpler, not being a techie professional!

I wanted initially to carry out Bollinger, MACD, and Stochastic searches on the whole market, rather than going thro' things, stock by stock on the UK-Invest charting module. However, I find the "simple" instructions hard to interpret in the manual, and would welcome any comments.

Ian McF
 
Metastock provides standard explorations for both macd and bollinger bands. Have you tried these? As they are "out of the box" you don't need to create any formulae or queries.

The macd function has fixed paramters based on those recommended by appel however you could do something with oscp() (price oscillator) if you wish to vary the macd periods.

There are several ways to interpret stochastics but you could try something like:

cross(stoch(14,2),mov(stoch(14,2),3,s))
which locates when a signal line crosses the stochastic or maybe just check for when the stochastic drops below 80.

There is a lot of functionality in metastock and in my opinion the effort required is well worthwhile.

Good luck!

PS: bollinger band hits for this friday are:
BNZL, BPT, GNK, IMT and VEG (based on the techmark and FT350 as input).

IMT looks like a good bet to me.

No financial advice intended.
 
Hi NB ....I am no techi either. Have you tried Explorer for what you are looking for? If you click on that, then on Equis BB's for e.g. you will get a list of possibles long or shorts. The tools are there but obviously there is a learning curve with so many available to you. Am sure Darth, who understands formulae, will help you further if your having difficulty.

Contact me my email, if you wish to know more.

Best wishes

John
 
I received metastock just a couple of weeks ago and I'm still learning about the functionality (non-technical) that is available. I've just set up a layout with 4 different chart each with its own collection of indicators.

You can lock the layout so that they all show the same stock.

Metastock is definitely a package that you grow into rather than one that you grow out of!

Let me know how you get on with the bollinger bands and macd analyses.

Darth.
 
I like the 5 popular indicators search, but cannot see a way of tiling them out - they all appear in a stack - do you know if this is possible?

Ian McF
 
sounds like you need to create a layout...
I have created 5 windows each with a stack of indicators (eg. using some of the delivered templates like volume, momentum etc.) and saved them as a layout (File->edit layout and File->save as, then choose layout).

You can also set the control parameters so that when you select a new security the contents of all the windows change simultaneously. It may be worthwhile having windows with different time periods set too...

you can then tile the windows using the window menu option.

checkout "layouts" in the manual index for detailed instructions and good luck!

How are the bolinger bands?
 
Hi Darth

Lost a bit of momentum recently, with other interests taking up time, and a declining market making it seem a good time to sit on one's hands!

However, I dipped in to ADVFN's BB the other day to see folk chatting about longs and shorts, and T20 trading. Can you suggest where I might get some info on this?

Ian McF
 
Hi, I've jsut seen your message...

for going short you could look at some of the companies that provide spread betting. I have an account with IG Index but there are other companies out there too. See
http://www.e-traderuk.co.uk/spread.html for a list of providers. Some people like to have multiple accounts so that can choose the best price/spread.

Be very, very careful about spread betting. there is more to it than just selling before you buy. A good read is Market Speculating by Andrew Burke. But since most spread betters lose money you should practise on paper before you do it for real and understand the complexities involved compared to trading shares.

At the moment, there is increasing interest in going short as we approach the 3rd leg of the bear market. This correlates with the last leg of the bull market when it was posisble to make money by throwing a dart at a board full of tech shares.

Be wary of this - it is true that going short can return profits in a market that is descending but as the market goes down the risks increas and it is still possible for the market to up by 30% in a short time.

Good luck and DYOR.
There are people out there who are losing there houses due to insufficient research.

PS. Can't comment on T20 as I don't know of a stock broker that provides the service. T3 seems to be the norm now but the in principle buying on a delayed payment can only be good if your judgement is proved correct. You might even be able to sell before the payment is due and make a profilt. Another idea is trading on margin. Again spread betting companies provide this service if you wish but you are leveraging your capital and it is vital that you understand the both the advantages and the disadvantages of this and know about stop losses and targets.
 
Thanks Darth

I have read about Nick Leeson, so I am aware of the risks of open ended commitments! Spread betting and CFDs are something that I will no doubt grow in to one day.

T20 is referred to a lot on the day trader's thread on ADVFN - do eavesdrop, they seem to know what they are doing, and sound impressive.

"3rd leg of a bear market"? - please tell me more. I' aware that things are going down at the mo - I've got some cash, but and leaving it in the bank until things bottom out. If you have an infallible way of detecting the bottom, sharing it would be most charitable.

Thanks again, to you and the other folk on the board, having mainly used Moneyextra for my FTSE info, I had a jaundiced view of BB correspondents, and was wondering if there were any sentients out there.

Regards

Ian McF
 
Top