Best offline, daytrading simulator???

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brooksrimes

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What is the best simulator to practice trading at night or on weekends using stored data files?

It must offer a graphical/mouse order interface.

It must store a trade log and print/export reports showing profit and loss.

It must be able to start, stop and reverse the replayed data.

It must be able to read ASCII quote files (or some popular format).

The data must be simultaneously viewable in a charting program.

============================================

The requirements above seem reasonable (to me), but none of the products I've studied can do all of them. Notes below, to the best of my knowledge:

Autotrader - does not have a graphical interface

Ninja Trader - offers just a few data files in proprietary Patsystems format requiring Patsystems charting for viewing. No start and stop buttons.

Zeroline Trader - does not have replay features.

Buttontrader - plays files in a proprietary format which does not interface with any charting software.

Bracket Trader - plays back files from Sierra Chart and eSignal. Does not have a reverse feature. Stop button can be slow to respond.

Would appreciate hearing of any product that can do it all!
 
Try a google search on neoticker. I think you can rent it for about $50/ month, and I think it gives you tick by tick simulation..

Remember this is hearsay - I've never used the product.
JO
 
try www.tradergames.com play with real money when you learn, start with 20 quid 2hr game. Play with real money is best.dont paper trade. when one paper trades he or she goes off to make a nice cup of tea and a sandwich.then comes back to the screen to see how he or she have done,

Try having a cup of tea and sandwhich when you got 20 or 30 pound a point running on the Dow. I asure you,"You wont feel like eating"


sun
 
try ensignsoftware
features:
Price $39.95 per month
Support and training in chat room
Chat room built in with image viewer
Frequent upgrades available from Internet
Windows 98®, 2000, ME, NT4.0, XP
Internet Explorer 6.0 or later version
Pentium®, 300 MHz, 64 Meg minimum
Free Trading Tips newsletter
PlayBack simulates real-time feed
Simulation Broker for paper trading
E-mail chart images to a list of recipient
http://www.ensignsoftware.com/help/products.htm
 
go ahead, guys...

since i am currently collecting user requirements for a trading training platform using historical data, i would be pleased to read more requirements in this forum.

i try to combine my trading affinity with my programming knowledge with the one of a friend of mine in this project.

i do not know, whether the project will be a success at all (in the sense of a finished - best case: commercial - software product as a result).

however i will give anyone who states his requirements here (before 1st of september) a 100% free version of the outcome - if any. this would not be any "limited trial offer"-stuff, but a 100% free full version of the thing on no cost (neither one time nor recurring - except possibly some external data vendor you might need...)

please do also not hesitate to post things like "i want xy as offered in product zz" or "like the screen in xy, but additionally...".
i know a lot of products out on the market - and just like some of you, i am not fully satisfied with any of these. but i found some nice features myself, i will try to implement in my software.

thanks a lot!
 
birgmanngeorg - for me the best thing would be the ability to take historical data in ASCII OHLC .csv format and play it back on a simple charting program at a speed definable by the user (realtime, 2x speed, 3x speed etc.). And the ability to simulate placing orders, with variable lot sizes, simulated fill speeds (2-3 seconds) and simulated slippage depending on speed of price movement.
 
Thanks to all who posted.

I have found Ensign software (charting) and Bracket Trader to be a very effective combination for simulating - and cost effective.

Brooks
 
realistic simulation of depth of the fifo queu is a must - ie: if you place a limit on the edge of the bid/ask, the simulator should count the number of contracts on offer at the time you place your order, and keep track of how many contracts trade at that price - if the offer size reduces without trading, and then increases, the reduction should be subtracted from the "queu" ahead of your waiting order.

I've played with plenty of sims and most, including refco pro, give very unrealistic fills - seemingly only waiting for a few ticks before reporting a fill.

Probably the most realistic fills sim i've putzed around with is the X Trader simulator from Velocity - seems to do something similar as I've described above.

For other data playback features etc, check out NeoTicker.
 
Ensign actually replays from detailed tic files even if testing on 5 minute bars. This is for realtime historical data. It also works, of course, with current data.

Bracket Trader has "Simulation Fill Delay" feature with setting of no delay, 1 hit, 2 hits , 3 hits.

I use Interactivebrokers and the Ensign/BT combination is very effective for me. Ensign is $40 USD/month (no contract required) and BT is $100 USD one time cost.

Brooks
 
You could also substitute SierraChart into Brooks' prescription for a considerably lower monthly cost but without some of the cute fib tools and ab pitchforks (about $9 per month -- and u dont have to pay for BT (with either package) if you don't want to (correct me if im wrong brooks).
 
A mostly free option is: Autotrader fed with tick data -> bracket trader & your charting software (which may not be free) via Autotrader's simulated TWS. Autotrader can take a variety of tick data formats. I have used this with ensign/cbot/globex provided data and amibroker as my charting platform. Unfortunately there's something wrong with the way autotrader reads or sends out ensign ticks, and generally the tick playback in autotrader is not as robust or feature rich as I'd like. I've asked Amibroker's author for tick playback and he says it'll come eventually, so in the meantime I've been rolling my own.. I would never pay monthly for a charting app, but thats just my personal opinion.

The best option is probably Esignal's tick playback (if you have an account or someone can give you tick playback files), which can feed Bracket Trader for trade execution and record keeping.
 
Another free option

You can use Fibotrader but you need to download text files with historical data from somewhere. Those can be imported into Fibotrader easily (it will recognise the format and adjust itself) and played back with a desired speed/indicators etc.
By the way very convenient program with a lot of functionality! It is not a trading simulator at all, but does have a nice playback. Although the playback means adding one bar after another. Each bar can be created out ticks, but it cannot simulate receival of each tick. Perhaps, it would satisfy most of your paper-trading needs.
 
[QUOTE = "brooksrimes, post: 201638, miembro: 39034"]
Gracias a todos los que publicaron.

He descubierto que el software Ensign (gráficos) y Bracket Trader son una combinación muy efectiva para simular, y rentable.

Arroyos
[/CITAR]
[QUOTE = "brooksrimes, post: 201638, miembro: 39034"]
Gracias a todos los que publicaron.

He descubierto que el software Ensign (gráficos) y Bracket Trader son una combinación muy efectiva para simular, y rentable.

Arroyos
[/CITAR]

Hello, I am new to this whole topic, it is really good to know about this simulator, this information will help me a lot, thanks!
 
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