New Releases

This is a quick release but worth the upgrade. The main purpose of this release is to try and help a customer with a particular problem - file load isn't working for them so now there is a much more descriptive error message which should help pinpoint the problem.

Also Custom Indicators and Synthetic Pair Calculations now get copied properly. And there are a few more settings available to you in the Options window.

Here is the full list of changes:

Added in v3.0.2

• Related to 557 - loading Gain Capital text files doesn't work - the error message is now much more descriptive.
• Copy windows for Custom Indicators and Synthetic Pair Calculations.
• When charting indicators from a backtest result was always just charting the Bid price. Now you can choose whether you want to use the Bid or Ask.
• New settings in Options window:
  • truncate long descriptions, and if yes then how many characters to show
  • show warning message when charting indicators from a backtest result will result in a lot of chart icons, and if yes then how many chart icons triggers the warning
  • for calculating indicators, how many bars to add on to the minimum mathematically required
  • how many decimal places to round peak/trough calculations to

Fixed in v3.0.2

• 563 - importing/copying doesn't update internal IDs
• Other miscellaneous bug fixes.

So ummm... v3 is out :-)

10 months in the making, v3 is a complete rewrite of v2. For all intensive purposes they are completely different applications.

To put it succinctly, v3 is automated trading software done right. We took all our experience from making v1 and v2, added that to most of the customer suggestions over 3 or 4 years, and also got rid of all the weird / nasty / annoying bits.

This is just an alpha release though, so don't expect a finished product. Having said that, it should be completely usable. And if you get in on the ground floor, you can have a say in the direction the software goes from here.

Of course, there is bound to be that 1 bug which will take about 30 seconds to fix but which prevents everyone from using it... Just the nature of making software. In that case we'll have a fix out almost immediately.

New releases are always available on the downloads page.

Note:

• There is no upgrade path from v2 to v3. They are too different to have made that worthwhile. However, you can export your price history to text files using v2, and import those text files using v3. Users, accounts, trading systems, etc, all need to be re-entered manually.
• Use the forum for help. If you send us an email for technical support, our answer helps only you. Ask it in the forum and our answer helps everyone. Therefore, starting right now, all technical support questions via email will be answered with a canned response of "please use the forum".

Added in v3.0.0

• Not going to list it all because seriously everything changed.

All existing customers have tested v2.0.9 and report that it works fine. And so it is now available for everyone, and we will begin the transition to the new website.

Remember that once we change websites, any previous version will cease to work.

To make sure nobody was effected by that, v2.0.9 no longer has a version check, nor a subscription check (and also we got existing customers to test it before making the change).

Another reason you might want to use v2.0.9 is because Backtesting and Alerts are now free for all.

This is of course all gearing up for the release of v3.

Here is the full list of changes:

Added in v2.0.9

• Removed version check.
• Removed subscription check.
• Backtesting and Alerts now free.

A quick summary before I get into the explanation: TS v3.0.0 will be a complete re-write. We threw just about everything out and started again. If you have any suggestions for new features; if there's anything in the current version of TS that's annoys you, that hampers your efforts, that prevented you from installing it or understanding how it works; please tell us. Either through the Contact Us page, or via the comments below.

If you, personally, wanted automated trading software designed just for you, what features would be in it?

We've completely re-designed TS. Nothing has been spared. If you have any suggestions, anything at all, now is the time to come forward.

To the explanation...

About 4 to 4.5 years ago, in my room near Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan, I started making some software to help me out with my currency trading. It was just for backtesting at first, but things progressed, knowledge expanded, plans became grander.

Now I have a company with a few staff based around that software, and our goal here at Thinking Stuff Pty Ltd, printed and stuck up on the wall, is to bring automated trading to the masses. Regardless of how good you are with computers, we think you should have all the advantages that automated trading provides at your fingertips.

Just about every manual on how to create a successful business says to find a niche. Ours' is the niche of people who want to get into automated trading but don't have the computer skills. And even if you have computer skills, it doesn't necessarily mean you want to learn computer programming. And even if you know computer programming, I'm guessing you mostly prefer to just click buttons than write code. I know I certainly enjoy downloading something and using it a few second later. So really, our niche are people who want to get into automated trading quickly and easily. (TradeStation, MQL, etc, will always have their niches, and we don't pretend we are direct competitors of theirs' other than a small subset of potential customers).

Over the years though, we've run into speed bumps. People would ask "can it do this?", and we'd have to say "no, in trying to make TS as simple as possible to use, we had to make some design decisions that cut off certain types of trading".

And there was the legacy code. "Legacy code" means old code, that's been around forever, that nobody wants to touch because it looks really scary and would probably break everything.

Actually my buddy came around the other week and asked why some things were like there were, and I had to reply a few times "historical reasons".

From comments and emails we get, and me saying to my buddy "historical reasons" more than a few times, it was clear that things had to change. People both want to be able to do more complicated trading systems, and they want the software to be easier to use.

The legacy code was holding us back. PostgreSQL was holding us back. The version check and subscription system were holding us back. The lack of supported brokers was holding us back. The lack of custom indicators was holding us back. This website and the lack of forums were holding us back.

So I thought to myself "Sharky, if you were going to design this from scratch, how would you do it?" And because I now have 4.5 years experience in writing this kind of software, along with 4.5 years' worth of comments and emails from customers, I made a lot of different decisions to 4.5 years ago. A lot of problems solved. A lot of niggly little things solved. A lot of big annoying things solved. And some prettier code too :-)

The drawback to all this of course, is that the monthly release had to be abandoned for a couple of months. And the next release, being a complete re-write, will need very thorough testing from us *and you* before it's ready for use. But let me guarantee to you, that this is entirely worth the trouble, and the few steps back will be followed by about 100 steps forward.

So as I said in the opening, if you have anything you want changed; anything you think needs to be changed; any reason at all that prevented you from signing up (and by the way - there probably won't be a subscription fee from v3 onwards), now is the time to come forward. Don't assume anything. The more people request a feature, the more likely it is to get done. Thanks.

Most windows in TS allow only one 'instance' of them to be open at any time. Back in v2.0.0 I made it so you could have multiple Chart windows open at once, but that was it. Now that has been expanded to include the Trading Systems, Alerts, and Backtest Results windows. This makes it easier to compare - edit two or three, and line them up side-by-side.

Here is the full list of changes:

Added in v2.0.6

• Allow multiple instances for Backtest Results window, Trading Systems windows, and Alerts windows.
• Help file updated to match v2.0.5 (changes to Backtest Results window made in this release are not reflected in the help file yet).

Fixed in v2.0.6

• Auto-login causes an error on upgrade, if you click the "Login" button instead of waiting for the auto-login to happen. What happens then is, the "do you want to upgrade" message appears twice. Clicking "Yes" on both results in the first time through working fine, but an error the second time.