The softwareHere are some key features of charting software packages. Use it as a checklist for any package under consideration.
- Which instruments/markets?
- Be clear about which financial instruments and/or markets you
want to study. For example:- Australian stocks, overseas stocks,
options, warrants, currencies, commodities, CFDs.
- Watchlist - Easily create one or more watchlists.
- Chart tools
- It is very useful to be able to add a range of tools to the chart -
eg. text, straight lines, boxes, Fibonacci retracement and extension,
price measure ruler (amount and percentage), compound candle.
- Line studies - For example: line segments, arcs, fans,
Fibonacci tools, Gann tools, Andrews Pitchfork, Count Back Line, Trend
Ruler.
- Technical analysis chart indicators - eg. Moving Average, RSI, MACD, etc. Most charting software packages have most indicators.
- Customised indicators - Is it easy to do this?
- Template - Easily apply your own preferred settings to any chart
- Market Scans
- Easily specify your own selection criteria, and automatically scan
one or more watch lists to find stocks that meet the criteria.
- Sample scans supplied - Some software packages provide many sample scans for you to begin with for ideas.
- Price and volume alerts
- Can you set an alert to advise you when a specific price level is
reached, or a volume level? The alert can be triggered either when the
price (or volume) breaks higher, or when it breaks lower.
- Sloping alert lines? - This type of alert line can be drawn on a chart in place of a trend line, and warn when the trend is broken.
- Trade Planner - Use this in-built tool to quickly and easily calculate an optimum position size and to calculate the amount of risk.
- Back testing - Is a tool available to do back testing?
- Support - Email and phone support in your country?
- Training - Is it readily available?
- User Group
- to meet with other users to learn more about the software from each
other, and to exchange ideas about strategies and the markets.
| | The dataYou
will need access to market data. It is available from a variety of
sources, and in a range of quality (some providers do not back-correct
the data for stock splits, consolidations, etc.).
Here are some clues for different data types:
- End of Day data plan - is the
most common, and gives a data download and update after 7:30pm each
trading day.
- Snapshot plan - Download a
snapshot of the share prices at specific times during the day.
- Dynamic Live data - display
intra-day chart with live data streaming over the web to update the
chart in real time. Possible data intervals include: 1, 2, 5, 14, 30, 60,
120 minute intervals.
Recommendations? There is no recommendation here, as we don't know your own specific circumstances.
 However, let us say that Robert's preferred charting software is BullCharts, with the TradeSim back testing plug in.
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