Q. Why use automated trading software?
So many reasons to use automated trading software (otherwise known as a "trading-bot"):
- It removes the emotional side to trading. Book after book has told you and me that emotions (namely fear and greed) are the biggest hurdle for traders, and the reason why most traders fail. Trading-bots don't become over-confident after a big win. And they can still pull the trigger after a big loss.
- It adds 100% discipline. Book after book has told you and me that lack of discipline is the other reason why most traders fail.
- Passive Income Generator. Kick it off and go do something else. Even work.
- Take care of your family. Okay, you know how to trade. You're quite good at it. But if something happened to you, you'd want to ensure your family is still being looked after, right? Set up your trading-bot using your specialised knowledge, then demonstrate how to use the On/Off switch.
- Everything is automatic. It downloads prices for future backtests, it calculates entries, stops, exits, the amount of money to risk, whether or not this trade should be taken in light of the past X trades, it stores the details of trades, the amount won/lost, and more, and continues to do all of this while you're sleeping, at the beach, or in a different country.
- It removes the boring administrative side of trading - the recording of trades for your own purposes and for tax purposes. Now everything's stored for you, and all you have to do is use the Search and Print buttons.
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Q. Why use *this* automated trading software?
The big, big difference between Thinking Stuff and the other automated-trading software is that they all require you learn some kind of programming language to create your trading systems. The better known ones are TradeStation's EasyLanguage, WealthLab's WealthScript, MQL4, and MetaStock. And there are many others. They are all very powerful, are full of features, but they all require you to learn their syntax. (You can read a traders.com "Traders' Tips" page which has examples).
For example, something like this (taken from that traders.com page):
Strategy: _BBZ EndOfBar
[IntrabarOrderGeneration = false]
inputs:
BollingerPrice( Close ),
Length( 20 ),
NumDevsUp( 1 ),
NumDevsDn( 1 ) ;
variables:
UpperBand( 0 ),
LowerBand( 0 ) ;
UpperBand = BollingerBand(BollingerPrice, Length, NumDevsUp);
LowerBand = BollingerBand(BollingerPrice, Length, -NumDevsDn);
if CurrentBar > 1 then
begin
if Close crosses over UpperBand then
Buy ( "BBandLE" ) next bar market ;
if Close crosses under UpperBand then
Sell ( "BBandLX" ) next bar at market ;
if Close crosses under LowerBand then
Sell short ( "BBandSE" ) next bar at market ;
if Close crosses over LowerBand then
Buy to cover ( "BBandSX" ) next bar market ;
end ;
If something goes wrong, is it the trading system, or is there a bug in your code? Also experimentation is clunky, because to add a new rule you need to add another chunk of code. Didn't work? Ok, delete that chunk of code. Add a different chunk of code. With each changing of the code comes potential for new bugs.
With Thinking Stuff it's all mouse clicks. You want to add a new rule, you click the Add button. (Click on the image to see it in full-size).
Then you select your rule from a pull-down menu.
If you want to later delete that rule, you select it and click Delete.
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Q. Will automated trading make me rich?
Not necessarily. Automated trading is good in that it does stuff automatically.
Automated trading is not so good in that it can only do automatically, what you tell it to do. A flawed trading system, automated, is still flawed.
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Q. What's the trading system that this software uses?
Actually, this software doesn't have any pre-set trading systems. You create your own, and test it out, and then set it to be traded automatically.
The beauty of this software is that you can create your trading systems simply with mouse clicks. You don't have to learn any programming language. There is no coding.
We do give some pointers though, on the Educational Examples and Real-life Examples pages.
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Q. I don't know of any good trading systems, so what's the point of buying this software?
That is the point of buying this software. Thinking Stuff allows you to backtest trading systems. So, if you have an idea, or perhaps you bought a trading system from a different website, you can easily see what the results would have been.
Further, experimenting with different ideas, adding a new rule and seeing the effect, removing a rule and seeing the effect, changing the parameters of your existing rules, etc, is very, very simple.
In short, you can use this software to help you come up with your trading system.
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Q. I read somewhere that automated trading is a fad. That it won't last long. That brokers will lose too much money if these so-called "trading-bots" are winning all the time.
More and more brokers are offering automated-trading. The thing about automated trading is that it is, quite simply, automated. A poor trading system will lose money whether it's automated or not. It is not necessarily better or worse for a broker than a person making those same trades.
Anyway, brokers make their money from the spread and/or commission. That means an increase in the number of trades through them will increase their profit. Trading-bots are able to trade 24 hours a day. I'm sure they'd prefer you to make money so that you remain a customer.
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Q. I haven't heard good things about black-box software, so...
It's lucky then, that this is not black-box software.
Black-box software is software you've bought that tells you when to buy and sell, and you have no idea of why you are buying or selling.
White-box software is software you've bought that tells you when to buy and sell, you know how the software has reached that conclusion, but it is someone else's trading system and it doesn't change.
In Thinking Stuff, you set up the rules, you experiment and backtest with historical data, and then then you can (if you want) get the software to trade your rules for you.
What's more, if and when the market changes personality, you can actually change your settings to match.
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Q. I know how to code, and I can make a trading-bot myself for "free". Why pay for something that I can make myself?
It's a fair enough question. I made my own. And it took about 18 months of my free time. I didn't have a job during that time either, and quite often I would work from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep.
So, let's say your current salary is $50,000, and let's say it only takes you 6 months to completely finish your trading-bot that has all the features of Thinking Stuff. Total cost to you would work out at $25,000, plus the loss of your free time for 6 months.
Alternatively, you could put a dollar figure on your free time, like $10 per hour. Especially if you're already working full-time, most people would surely value their free time at more than $10 per hour. I mean, there's a reason you don't work at McDonalds during your free time, right? But let's go with that. In this case, you have about 30 hours to finish your trading-bot. After 30 hours, it makes more economical sense to have subscribed to Thinking Stuff.
When you put it like that, a trading-bot you make yourself is not exactly "free", and a couple of hundred dollars seems to be the better option. I see that... now :-) It's not too late for you. I mean, we haven't even talked about the time spent coding that could be better spent experimenting with trading ideas.
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Q. I was going to hire someone to make my trading-bot for me, so I could get exactly the features that I want. Why choose Thinking Stuff instead?
From the answer above I mentioned that if you place a dollar figure on your free time of $10 per hour, you have only 30 hours or so to make your own. Here's the thing about programmers - they tend to want a lot more than $10 per hour.
The first option you have, is to compromise slightly on how you want your automated trading software to be. It's a trade-off between cost and customisation. And I have to say, if you can't make money with the rules already in TS, there must be something wrong.
Within reason though, we can generally put in new small-ish features upon request. But we're not going to contemplate features which completely redesign how everything fits together. I guess the rule to follow is, if it's a small-ish change, we'll do that for no extra cost above the normal subscription rates. If the change is really big, and we agree to do it, you will have to pay more. But because the general framework is already built and proven, that should make our cost come in a lot lower than someone starting from scratch.
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Q. I've had a bit of a look at your software, and your charts are okay, but nothing fantastic.
Yes, this software has charts, but it is not charting software. There are many programs which have far, far better charting capabilities. In no way do we pretend to be competing with specialty charting software.
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Q. I've had a bit of a look at your software, and your interface is okay, but nothing fantastic.
Yes, we didn't pay a graphic design company to design the interface. It is fairly simplistic, and we hope this adds to its ease-of-use.
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Q. Do I have to pay for support?
Email support is free.
The way the Trial Version is set up allows you to get absolutely everything set up. And then, when you're ready, you subscribe to the parts of the software that you want - backtesting, and/or auto-trading, and/or alerts.
So, it's very likely that you'll be getting yourself set up before you've paid any money. It's in our best interests to help you get set up.
Further, we want you to be so satisfied using this software that you'll recommend it to other people. It's not like them using the software is going to affect your profits at all. So, again, it's in our best interests to help you with any troubles you may encounter.
But, because of our very small size, guaranteeing support 24/7 is not feasible. We will try our best to respond within 24 hours of receiving your query.
Please use the Contact Us page.
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Q. What does this software do, exactly?
The Features & Screenshots page has a more detailed explanation.
To summarise, this software lets you create trading systems, it lets you backtest those systems, it lets you experiment quickly and easily, and, when you're ready, it lets you set those systems to trade automatically.
It also provides price and indicator-based alerts, and trading alerts.
You can do all of those things with clicks of a mouse. There is no TradeStation's EasyLanguage to learn. No WealthLab's WealthScript. No MQL4. It's all done with the mouse.
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Q. What does it cost?
Prices are on the Purchase page.
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Q. What can I do with it for free?
Downloading real-time currency data is free.
To be precise, a combination of a Gain Capital demo account and Thinking Stuff will allow you to download real-time tick data for free. Setting up your Gain Capital demo account is free (well, maybe some faxes to send off), and the Data Download part of Thinking Stuff is not crippled in any way.
Viewing charts of real-time price data is nothing exceptional - all brokers offer free charts. But with Thinking Stuff you can get the actual data to your computer for free, and then you have complete access to the database in which the data is stored.
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Q. Where do I download it from?
The Download page (oddly enough).
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Q. What are the installation requirements?
The installation requirements can be found on the Download page.
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Q. Does it trade shares? Futures? Currency?
Right now it trades currency only. In the future it may also trade shares and/or futures, but not now.
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Q. What brokers does it interact with?
It works right now with Gain Capital's demo accounts. It does not work with Gain Capital live accounts.
It also works with Oanda (all account types).
More brokers are planned in the future, such as EFX Group, MB Trading, and Interactive Brokers. But right now Gain Capital and Oanda provide everything that is required - Gain Capital is free and helps you get started, and Oanda is not free but a very stable platform for when you have a profitable trading system and want to go live.
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Q. Why does it work with Gain Capital demo accounts, but not Gain Capital live accounts?
Setting up a Gain Capital demo account is free, as is using their API (which is the thing needed to allow downloading of the real-time currency prices, and automated trading). So it's a cheap and easy way to get started.
However, trading in their Live accounts using the API is too risky. My "Gain Capital Quirks" article explains why.
You can read another article of mine, "The Path", which explains the recommended approach from getting started automated trading, to going live with it.
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Q. How do I set up trading systems?
The Thinking Stuff User Manual goes into a lot of detail. It's available at the bottom of the Download page.
These pages will also give you some idea of how it works:
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Q. What trading rules are available to choose from?
The "Available Trading Rules" page lists them. If you want different rules, all you have to do is get in contact with us.
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Q. What kind of help pages are available?
Click here to go to the Resources index.
There are also various Theory articles, which intertwine with why I made the software the way it is. Click here for that index.
And there are various pages to do with trading systems. Click here for that index.
There is the Thinking Stuff Help File, available at the bottom of the Download page. It's available as a separate download so you can read through it without having to install anything.
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Q. Can I access the data it downloads, or is that in some kind of proprietary format?
You have complete and full access to the Thinking Stuff database. It is not in a proprietary format. Click here for more information.
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Q. Can I store the data anywhere I like on my hard-drive, or even a different hard-drive?
Yes. It's all explained in the Thinking Stuff Help File, available at the bottom of the Download page.
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Q. Why did you put thousands of dollars worth of education on your site for free?
Because you get back what you give out.
Also explaining it to others helps me to understand it better.
Also people send me comments, which helps to improve my theories and understanding.
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Q. What’s planned for the future?
You can read through the Road Map to see where the software is heading.
Or, you can read through The Path to see where I'm heading.
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Q. Can I see a summary of your trading performance?
Ah. Ok. You may not have understood what this software does. You put in your own trading rules. That is, you tell TS how to trade, and it does the trading. That is, TS does whatever *you* tell it to do.
Therefore my trading performance (good or bad), will have no similarity whatsoever to your trading performance (good or bad).
If you don't have a trading system worked out already, you can use the backtesting feature to help you with this.
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