Newbie alert! I need a free charting package + Dow data please.

sallyjc1975

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Hi

Hello this is my first post. Perhaps a short introduction to show where I am coming from and I would be grateful for any advice plus an answer to my charting question please! Apologies in advance for the Chapter & Verse.

After watching the recent BBC programme on Day Trading I wish to see whether I can make some pocket money from trading the financial markets. I can hear the collective groans as I type this but I would like to try all the same! From my research I think the following strategy may suit me:

Trade the Dow during it's afternoon session.
Attempt to grab 10 points a day
Spreadbet broker

I have opened a demo Spreadbetting account and have been comparing their live Dow price against the 1min chart on Livecharts.co.uk which I assume is a live cash price? Can anyone confirm?

Initial observations are that the the SB price moves all over the place, relative to the Livecharts price, and it seems generally to be 2pts away. The SB price really moves around as the Livecharts price reverses direction, no doubt trying to trap customers. Also the SB price anticipates the Livecharts price reversals (1min candles) by a second or so. I assume this is because the SB price watches the futures price? That said, and even though I don't intend to pay for a live futures price, I see my trading model as viable, i.e grabbing 10 points a dayusing Livecharts as my main chart.

I have been trading a demo account and am making money. My rules are pretty basic, entries (long or short) are based on simple S/R, with trend lines/channels drawn from simple pitchforks. I also note pivot points just in case they are near my entry/exit levels. My risk reward is 1:1 and I use a stop loss. The big test is whether I will be profitable when I move to real money. I don't intend to use guaranteed stops as they cost an extra 2pts but I will mitigate my risk by not being in the market for long and not trading during big economic announcements. Since I am not attempting to become a millionaire I think/hope I will have the correct psychology and will (a) switch off the laptop when I hit my 10pt target and (b) stop trading altogether after 2 consecutive losses. Depending on how I do it might be better to reduce my target to 9pts. Anyway that's probably enough for now! I would be grateful for any comments as to whether my strategy is viable.

On to my question. I would like a free charting package with past data so I can check how the strategy works. I see NinjaTrader mentioned a lot so I would like to try this. I am working on the assumption that if Professional traders are using it to actually trade with, it's charting functions will be enough for me. Livecharts is great for giving me a live price but not really suited to easily analysing past data. Will Ninjatrader together with past data allow me to look at 1min and 5min candles on the Dow? Also I would like a program I can install on a PC rather than over the web.

Thanks for any help!

Sally
 
hi sally and welcome.

have a look at metatrader 4

dow (ws30) is on the variant I have, though not so sure if it's on the free download from mt4.

dow is indeed on the free download named _DJI with 1 minute data going back to 12th aug
 
Last edited:
hi sally and welcome.

have a look at metatrader 4

dow (ws30) is on the variant I have, though not so sure if it's on the free download from mt4.

dow is indeed on the free download named _DJI with 1 minute data going back to 12th aug

Hi Lightning McQueen

I just had a look at http://www.metatrader4.com/. Not a huge amount of information on there. But maybe there doesn't need to be and am I just confused.

Are you saying that I just download the program and all the Dow data just comes free with the Chart?
So if I wanted to look at 1min candles on an the second Thursday of March 2012, I can't scroll back and it's all there? Open/close candle and High/Low candle? If so I didn't realise that! I had assumed the chart was just a shell and I needed to find all the historical data from somewhere else!

Regards

Sally
 
Money Talks Sally

Hi

Hello this is my first post. Perhaps a short introduction to show where I am coming from and I would be grateful for any advice plus an answer to my charting question please! Apologies in advance for the Chapter & Verse.

After watching the recent BBC programme on Day Trading I wish to see whether I can make some pocket money from trading the financial markets. I can hear the collective groans as I type this but I would like to try all the same! From my research I think the following strategy may suit me:

Trade the Dow during it's afternoon session.
Attempt to grab 10 points a day
Spreadbet broker

I have opened a demo Spreadbetting account and have been comparing their live Dow price against the 1min chart on Livecharts.co.uk which I assume is a live cash price? Can anyone confirm?

Initial observations are that the the SB price moves all over the place, relative to the Livecharts price, and it seems generally to be 2pts away. The SB price really moves around as the Livecharts price reverses direction, no doubt trying to trap customers. Also the SB price anticipates the Livecharts price reversals (1min candles) by a second or so. I assume this is because the SB price watches the futures price? That said, and even though I don't intend to pay for a live futures price, I see my trading model as viable, i.e grabbing 10 points a dayusing Livecharts as my main chart.

I have been trading a demo account and am making money. My rules are pretty basic, entries (long or short) are based on simple S/R, with trend lines/channels drawn from simple pitchforks. I also note pivot points just in case they are near my entry/exit levels. My risk reward is 1:1 and I use a stop loss. The big test is whether I will be profitable when I move to real money. I don't intend to use guaranteed stops as they cost an extra 2pts but I will mitigate my risk by not being in the market for long and not trading during big economic announcements. Since I am not attempting to become a millionaire I think/hope I will have the correct psychology and will (a) switch off the laptop when I hit my 10pt target and (b) stop trading altogether after 2 consecutive losses. Depending on how I do it might be better to reduce my target to 9pts. Anyway that's probably enough for now! I would be grateful for any comments as to whether my strategy is viable.

On to my question. I would like a free charting package with past data so I can check how the strategy works. I see NinjaTrader mentioned a lot so I would like to try this. I am working on the assumption that if Professional traders are using it to actually trade with, it's charting functions will be enough for me. Livecharts is great for giving me a live price but not really suited to easily analysing past data. Will Ninjatrader together with past data allow me to look at 1min and 5min candles on the Dow? Also I would like a program I can install on a PC rather than over the web.

Thanks for any help!

Sally

Please view the attached image, it says it all.
Cheap platforms might not be showing you the correct data and even then there may be big holes in the data.But your not thinking about data quality are you.

John
ps\ check out MAXMEM by analogX it will help you with your RAM problems.
Your going to need it.
 

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Going by your first post Sally, you seem a lot more clued up than the woman on the BBC program, I think you will do ok, theres a wealth of information here so stick around.
 
Thanks MACTrend, but I have no idea what your attached image means! I am a total novice!

Thanks Mike. I have had a busy weekend researching. From what I can glean, the only way I can get the data I want, i.e. down to 1min candles, is to subscribe to a live price feed which is something I didn't want to do.

So what I might do instead is to continue trading my rules but on a real money account and see what happens. I know it is going to be difficult to be profitable day in day out. But as long as I'm in the black at the end of the month I will be happy. Afterall I am at the start of a long journey.
 
I get 1 min candles with my s/b broker, thought you did with most. they scare the life out of me, Its like there on crack.
 
mike, thanks for the reply. Yes I also get 1min candles from the SB company. However what I am after is historical 1min candle data from the real DJIA that I can easily zoom in on and analyse. Thanks again.
 
you seem a lot more clued up than the woman on the BBC program.

are you sure? she's still convinced she needs to pay for a feed, yet has been given a feed for free, with at least a couple months of 1 min candles worth of data. but has ignored it :confused:
 
If you mean the data from Livecharts, no I haven't ignored it. It is very useful. But I need a Charting program that I can install on a Laptop. I don't always have access to the Internet, i.e. Livecharts, and I want to test my strategy when I have some spare time. I did put that in my first post, that I wanted a program I could install. Not to worry though, thanks for your comment.
 
Hi T44, thank you so much for posting. This does seem to be the cheapest package around. Signing up today! Thanks again.
 
data

Cheap data might not be the answer your looking for.
Look for some top quality data if you want to test your magic.
Then look for a way to verify its quality.

Attached is the 1 min data from today on the Emini (S&P500) with that indicator applied.

Hows your RAM (processes).

mactrend
 

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