Great for longer term traders
Updata Professional
What is it?
Updata Professional is a standalone technical analysis package. You either provide your own data or connect to Bloomberg or Thomson Reuters through the relevant API
The good bits:
Amongst the features I found particularly useful were;
Each instance of Updata allows you to run 10 "virtual screens" - so, if screenspace is limited, you can have Updata on one screen but set up 10 different "pages" you can scroll through. You can detach individual windows if you wish.
The Coding language is very easy indeed, I had custom studies and custom tickers up and running in no time. Last I heard, there was a tradestaion->updata and updata->C# (and vice versa) capability on the cards.
Custom studies: partularly useful is the ability to write custom studies based on other ticker symbols; for example, one of my "standard" indicators is a beta-adjusted performance indicator. with other packages, I have had to write four instances of the same study for Equities, Rates, FX and Commodities indeces as the benchmark. with Updata, I simply have to choose the index ticker, the symbol ticker, and the lookback period.
Custom tickers: Using the same language as custom studies, it is possible to write code that simply displays numbers or test in a quotescreen. You can then set alerts on these custom studies, over a whole watchlist if you choose.
Signal searching: Having written your custom studies, and custom tickers, you can then incorporate these into a signal search. You can apply this process over any watchlist you have created (say, all FTSE stocks), and the search produces a watchlist - with linked charts - of each symbol in your watchlist that satisfies the search criteria.
Backtesting is a capability but I can't say I have much experience of it. There are also things like a regression package, but again I don;t use it much.
User support is very quick. A nice feature is that the system keeps a log of everything you have done in the session, and the software can email this directly to teh support desk. The documentation is very comprehensive but takes some navigating.
Apparently they have the best Point and Figure charts in the business but there aren't my bag.
FWIW they also can chart spreads in a yield-curve fashion, but only of you subscribe to the right data vendor. It's mostly tailored for energy traders (doesn't work on financial futures).
You can have alert triggers SMS'd to you (as well as email) if you don't
have a blackberry. Great if you are lolling in the garden... Also, you
can set trendline alerts, not just price alerts. Or alerts on any
combination of tickers and studies you like. I have only come across
the trendline alert feature in CQG IC, which is between 3 and 5 times
the price of updata.
The Bad bits:
Quotes can freeze sometimes, which involves restarting the application. Can be a real pain in the arse.
Chart types are limited - no range bars, volume bars etc.
Review:
For real-time trading from charts, I wouldn't rely on Updata as my primary package. But for a reasonable price (around 60 quid p/m last time I checked) with external data, the TraderPro package offers an abundance of tools to examine market developments on a longer term basis.
