February 2006 Letters To The Editoror return to February 2006 Contents The editors of S&C invite readers to submit their opinions and information on subjects relating to technical analysis and this magazine. This column is our means of communication with our readers. Is there something you would like to know more (or less) about? Tell us about it. Without a source of new ideas and subjects coming from our readers, this magazine would not exist.
Address your correspondence to: Editor, STOCKS & COMMODITIES, 4757 California Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116-4499, or E-mail to editor@traders.com. All letters become the property of Technical Analysis, Inc. Letter-writers must include their full name and address for verification. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily represent those of the magazine. -Editor
TSI, MACD, AND TRIX
Editor,
Regarding the letter titled "TSI Or MACD" from Brent Lindaman, which appeared in the July 2005 Letters to S&C column, I would like to inform you of another indicator that also behaves like MACD and TSI.
In Martin Pring's book, Martin Pring On Market Momentum, he describes the TRIX indicator on page 244. This indicator gives buy and sell signals that are very similar to those given by the MACD or TSI. A major advantage with TRIX is that its signals produce fewer whipsaws.
I use the default setting for MACD in MetaStock, TSI(25,13), (as indicated by Mark Phillips in the June 2005 issue of S&C) and TRIX(12,9) (as indicated by Martin Pring in his book on page 245).
Siva Kumar AR
Ayyampalayam, India
ARTICLES FOR BEGINNERS?
Editor,
Can you recommend some Working Money authors and articles that are easy to use and understand for beginners?
Lydia
Try looking for articles by John Devcic, Rudy Teseo, David Penn, and Sharon Yamanaka. Their articles are simple and educational.
Working Money is our online publication and can be found at Traders.com and Working-Money.com. We print a couple of Working Money articles in each issue of STOCKS & COMMODITIES to provide some more introductory-level information in each issue.
Subscription information is available at Working-Money.com -- Editor
SIMPLE-RANGE TRADING STRATEGY
Editor,
I'm very happy with STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine and look forward to each issue of my subscription.
In the December 2005 article "A Simple-Range Trading Strategy" by Xavier Maria Raj, there was no email or contact information for the author. I would very much like to contact him. Can you provide his email address?
Walter Strauss
See also the next letter and reply. -- Editor
SIMPLE-RANGE TRADING STRATEGY: CONTACT INFORMATION
Editor,
The article by Xavier Raj (STOCKS & COMMODITIES, December 2005) was eye-opening in its simplicity. I would like to contact Mr. Raj via email to perhaps discuss some finer points. Is there a contact address available?
John Timp, CPA
Readers can contact Xavier Maria Raj at xmraj@yahoo.com. -- Editor
EASYLANGUAGE CODE FOR SIMPLE-RANGE TRADING STRATEGY?
Editor,
I am trying to obtain the TradeStation code for the simple-range trading strategy outlined in the article "A Simple-Range Trading Strategy." Do you have an email address for the author?
Robert Warren
See the previous letter and response for author Xavier Maria Raj's email address, but he may or may not work in TradeStation. You could also try checking the TradeStation Support Center at TradeStation.com for the EasyLanguage code. -- Editor
SIMPLE-RANGE TRADING STRATEGY: TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
Editor,
I am a subscriber to your magazine and have just read the December 2005 issue. In it appeared an article by Xavier Maria Raj called "A Simple-Range Trading Strategy," in which a simple trading strategy was explained with results given.
I looked at the results supplied in the article and thought they were incorrect and too good to be true. After all, I have spent years testing ideas, often similar to this idea. So I then coded this very simple strategy and tested it in a similar manner as was done by Xavier Raj, and as I expected, I got very different results than he did: they were much worse. I got a profit factor of about 1.0, when he was quoting 2.84, for example.
Maybe I am missing something here, but I don't think so, because the idea was very simple and I have double-checked things. If I have done something wrong, I will be the first to apologize.
I would like to know how these results were obtained, and whether any verification of results was done when the article was submitted.
Tom
Xavier Maria Raj replies:
The strategy I tested in my article was for cash data. It's likely that if you test it on futures data, it will underperform. However, the programming is correct.
OPTIONS TRADING
Editor,
I will begin to trade options next month. I would like to know what the top professional traders are using for the following:
1. Options trade alerts
2. Options analysis/trading software.Would you please let me know what the best products are for these uses? I await your reply with interest.
Check out our Readers' Choice Awards in our annual Bonus Issue. The Readers' Choice Awards are based on an annual poll we conduct among our subscribers, asking them to vote for their favorite products and services across some 20 different categories. One of those categories is options trading systems, and another is options analysis software.
The STOCKS & COMMODITIES Bonus Issue is free to paid subscribers. If you would like to receive a copy of our Bonus Issue, contact our Subscription Department about subscribing at Circ@Traders.com or 800-Technical (800 932-4642). -- Editor
COMPUTRAC UPDATE
Editor,
I'm trying to make contact with someone who has been around the technical analysis field since at least the 1980s and who is familiar with the old CompuTrac program that existed then.
I've been running version 4.1, which I bought in November 1993, under DOS, but I have had a disk failure.
Does anyone know if there is any way I can run the CompuTrac program, or any comparable program, under Windows XP?
James Gardner
Publisher Jack Hutson replies:
I purchased a copy of the original CompuTrac system in the late 1970s and announced and distributed the first issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES, The Traders' Magazine, at a CompuTrac seminar I spoke at in 1982 in Toronto, Canada.
CompuTrac, Inc. (which also used to be known as "the Tim and Jim show" for founders Tim Slater and Jim Schmidt), began around July 1977 as the first commercial-grade software for traders. The first CompuTrac system ran on an Apple II. In about 1987, CompuTrac released a Microsoft DOS-based text and graphics system. In 1989, CompuTrac Snap gave the user a mouse-driven interface even before Microsoft Windows was in use.
Then the company was taken over by Telerate, which was later sold to Dow Jones & Company. CompuTrac continued to hold industry trading seminars ("TAG") until the end of the 1990s. In 1999, Ino.com purchased the seminar rights.
The company that now owns the rights to the programs and code for CompuTrac and CompuTrac Snap technical analysis software is:
Stratagem Software International
(504) 885-7353 or (800) 779-7353
Stratagem1@aol.com
www.stratagem1.comStratagem Software still supports CompuTrac and Snap, and they reported several years ago that they modified the CompuTrac program to operate without a hardware key, allowing for multiple installations for those who want to run it on a laptop as well as on their desktop computer. You could verify with them about whether this is still the case.
You also may be interested to know that CompuTrac users can implement the code and strategies given in our Traders' Tips section for Stratagem Software's SmarTrader program, which is CompuTrac's successor. Stratagem Software has not been able to contribute tips recently, but previously published SmarTrader tips can be found at our website, Traders.com. Use the search feature at our site to locate tips, or visit our archives area for past Traders' Tips:
www.traders.com/Documentation/FEEDbk_docs/backissues.html
Back to February 2006 Contents
Originally published in the February 2006 issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine.
All rights reserved. © Copyright 2006, Technical Analysis, Inc.