!QCL Solutions

Scalable Solutions for Institutional-Level Trading

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The TicketManager system available through the TradeStation Strategy Network is provided with the EquityCurveOptimizer. It is a tool that can both apply and be used to optimize equity-curve trading rules.

For instance, maybe you want a TradeStation strategy to stop trading once it has broken its lowest equity level of the most recent 5 equity points (recorded bar-by-bar, per exit trade, or for each trade). Then you want it to start trading again once its simulated performance has made a new high for the most recent 3 recorded equity points. This can be accomplished with the EquityCurveOptimizer without any special modifications of strategy code (EquityCurveOptimizer is a companion strategy that runs side-by-side with your strategies). EquityCurveOptimizer can be further used with the TradeStation strategy optimizing utility to find ideal equity-curve settings. Perhaps instead of the 5 and 3 settings example above, 10 and 7 would perform better. EquityCurveOptimizer can pinpoint such settings.

A classic automation problem for good systems is to know when to stop trading, since losing periods can be protracted. It may be that a systems stops working for a while, or that it stops working permanently. This can happen when the reasons that once made a strategy work, are overwhelmed by other forces, cease to exist or cease to impact markets as they once did.

Take a look at the video by clicking on the image below, to see how the EquityCurveOptimizer can be used to cease trading in a system that has continued to make equity lows. The demonstration explains how a strategy can be operated in a long-history chart, to disable trading based on equity performance. Then this equity performance history can be extended into a short-history chart that would not have enough history on its own to disabled trading.

So in addition to illustrating equity-curve rules disabling a strategy, we also illustrate a technical feature of EquityCurveOptimizer that allows you to run your strategies with minimal cpu and memory resources, which can be important to power users.

EquityCurveOptimizer EqCrvExtending

EquityCurveOptimizer Equity Curve Extending

EquityCurveOptimizer Equity Curve Extending

Please let us know if you have any questions by contacting us at [email protected].

New with TicketManager ( Version 27 ) is enhanced functionality for the EnforceStratStartDT strategy utility. In addition to having it trigger recalculations as necessary, protecting clients from data reloading events that lead to Strategies not running over the intended data set, there is now:

  • An optional input for clients to specify the first date of the chart/strategy symbol
  • The option to mark the strategy start calculation bar
  • The option to display in screen text, the first chart bar date & time and the strategy start calculation bar date & time

See the following demonstration video:

EnforceStratStartDT new features with TicketManager ( Version 27 )

What is TicketManager:
TicketManager is a Professional Algorithmic Auto-Trading utility, implemented to manage TradeStation Strategies for robust scalable operations with market impact control. TicketManager aggregates and manages all your strategies. (It also allows you to intervene and trade as you please. If for instance TicketManager is pursuing a net strategy position of 1000 IBM shares, and you intervene, buying at market. TicketManager will adjust, terminating the ticket since the target position has been reached.)

Overviews:

Key TicketManager features are:

  • Strategy Automation with
    • Multi-chart aggregation for net trading of multiple strategies, time frames and settings
      • To avoid boxing restrictions
      • To avoid unnecessary trades by targeting the net position of potentially conflicting signals
  • Algorithmic execution for slippage control and possible price improvement
  • Equity-curve trading rules enforcement per chart
  • An Equity-curve trading optimization utility
  • Equity-curve trading rules enforcement of net positions
  • Equity-curve file writing functionality
    • With each bar and/or per trade
    • Comprehensive recording of equity-curve values
    • 3rd-party format recording of equity-curve values
      • With automatic creation of symbol attributes files for easy use as chart source data
  • Strategy start date notification and response features to manage situations where data refresh events may cause the start date of a strategy to change, when the trader may need to avoid this
  • A demonstration strategy that simply trades frequently for illustration
  • Two RSI-based strategies for clients to setup and use as they please
  • TicketManager performance logging, including algo performance. Tools are available for algo performance evaluations, in order to help users refine their algo settings.

EquityMarketsVolume is available on the TradeStation Strategy Network.

The product comes with a default workspace for identifying important, volume-supported market events. It can identify critical support/resistance price levels where market participants become especially active.

If you want to create your own workspaces with EquityMarketsVolume, see the video below. The video explains how to prepare a chart for quick insertion of the EquityMarketsVolume analysis technique.

Creating a chart with EquityMarketsVolume

Please let us know if you have any questions by contacting us at [email protected].

The PositionsEquity product available on the TradeStation Strategy Network has been further enhanced for speed and performance. Look for the release of PositionsEquity ( Version 3 ). It is an invaluable tool for understanding the dynamics of your portfolio and each position within. How has your portfolio value changed historically and how is it changing now. What positions deserve your attention? Are any positions “breaking ranks”? We study the dynamics of the assets we trade, why not equally study the dynamic of your individual and composite positions?

PositionsEquity settings allow you to view your various positions in multiple ways. One of my favorites is to zero equity plots to the real time start bar, with back-adjusted historical values. I like to see how my portfolio changed in the past, but don’t care as much about past absolute values. What I care about is how it is changing now, when I can do something about it. Here is an image of a portfolio with values zeroed to the first real time bar:

Here it is a few minutes later:

I can easily see what is changing in the portfolio. I see exactly when it changed, how it changed and how it is changing now. So I can act.

And when I want to see absolute portfolio equity, I can view it as follows:

PositionsEquity is a cost-effective and powerful tool. It is available for trial, and we are here to help. Let us know if you have any questions, by contacting us at [email protected].

TicketManager is provided with the capability to maintain a log of its operations, such as the performance of algorithmically managed trades. With TicketManager ( Version 26 ) and above, additional algorithmic performance data is recorded to track the performance of “count-down” aggressiveness settings. As an example, perhaps you have the controlling StrategiesMonitor for a symbol and account, setup to start each trade with a target spread cross of 0% that moves toward 100% over a 30 second period. To determine how well the “count-down” process is working, you want to know how often trades are being filled before fully crossing the bid-ask spread.

Take a look at the following video to see how the TicketManager Algo Evaluator application quickly reveals algorithmic trading performance, providing insight for you to fine tune your TicketManager trade settings.

TicketManager Algo Evaluator
TMalgoEval_DemoVideo_7-19-2012 12-11-03 AM

With TicketManager ( Version 25 ) we have released new features for you to better view the equity curve of each chart’s strategies. And with the EquityCurveOptimizer tool of TicketManager, you can now save details of the equity curve to a file. The details can be that of bar-by-bar equity values, trade-by-trade strategy filled events data, or both. The following video demonstrates how you may easily view and record details of your strategies’ equity curves.

TicketManager Equity Curve Demonstration

EquityCurveDemo.tsw for TradeStation 9.1 Update 7 (Version: 9.33.00.11878)

Here is an additional video showing how you can use TicketManager ( Version 26 ) to create equity curve records as 3rd-party data for TradeStation charts:
TicketManager Equity Curve 3rd-Party Data Demonstration

This quick video is to help you restore sorting in the demonstration workspace of TicketManager, as sorting is lost when workspaces are distributed through the Strategy Network.

TicketManager Sorting

We have been looking forward to sharing systems developed by TicketManager clients. So we are excited to illustrate in the video below how a system of an experienced and successful Portfolio Manager is implemented with TicketManager.

TF_Strategy Multi-Symbol & Timeframe System with TicketManager

Here is an additional related video (a TicketManager overview), recorded during a live equity market session:
TicketManager (Version 27) overview in TradeStation 9.1 Update 10, using a Client’s Demonstration TF_Strategy1 system

Let us know if you have any questions.

Now !QCL.MyIndex, in addition to closing values can show open, high and low values or your custom indices, calculated from your input symbol list and formula. Bar representation is the new default as seen here:

Make your own indices or recreate ones like the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Since the DJIA changes over time, perhaps you want to see what it looks like now based on it’s form 5 years ago. The opportunities are endless.

Provided with !QCL.MyIndex is an Excel tool for making your list inputs, as with the symbol list. And if you need any help, let us know. We are happy to help.

Finally, we know you may want to analyze your custom indices outside of TradeStation, or you may want to share your indices. So we’ve made saving your custom indices as data files easy, directly from !QCL.MyIndex.