Feb

3

TradeStation: Simulated Trading is (almost) here

By Teresa | Filed Under Trading Ideas | Start a Discussion 

People write to me all the time to ask why my stops are only available for TradeStation 8.x and eSignal Advanced Charting.

I always reply by saying that I made these tools NOT as a vendor, but for my own use. I personally use TradeStation 8.x and eSignal Advanced Charting because they are the best in the business. End of story.

TradeStation 8.x is practically free. They even throw in RadarScreen. For North American traders, it’s a no-brainer. Why pay to use an inferior product when the best is FREE?

In the past, I have been approached by “trading simulation” software companies to port my trading system to them. Their pitch centered around an argument that backtesting is not the same as simulated trading. Perhaps there are merits to their idea, but I declined all offers. It was just as well: one high-profile company was out of business a few months later.

Why invest your valuable time and effort dealing with a small company that could go belly up at anytime? They might have a nice website, but so what? They’re not licensed or regulated either. If something happens, you’re on your own. No thanks.

And now, TradeStation has removed the last objection. Simulated trading is on the way:

TradeStation has fantastic news…We have made special arrangements for a “sneak preview” of TradeStation 8.3 Test Build 1579 for all licensed add-on developers and EasyLanguage Specialists.

What’s so exciting about this TradeStation release is the introduction of an all new production quality Simulated Trading environment. Unlike the previous simulated trading environment that was primarily used for internal testing, this new Simulated Trading environment will be available to all customers. When logging onto TradeStation you will now automatically have access to Simulated Trading, or if you have a TradeStation brokerage account, then you will be prompted to connect to either Simulated Trading or Live Trading. Simulated Trading will provide all TradeStation customers with the ability to:

  • Gain experience in placing orders through the various order entry tools in the platform, such as Strategy Automation, Matrix, Hot keys, etc.
  • Learn to trade new markets using the different Simulator Accounts provided such as Equities, Options, Futures and Forex.
  • Get cozy placing different types of orders such as OSO, Conditional Orders, etc.
  • Explore TradeStation and learn to use new features as they are released, such as the new Reverse Position included in this version

In addition to the Simulated Trading environment, this build also includes some additional highly requested features, such as, Good ‘Til Cancel (GTC) & Good ‘Til Date (GTD) durations for futures and the ability to reverse an equity, futures or forex position (u-turn) with a single click in the Matrix, Market Depth and elsewhere. In addition to these great features, TradeStation has continued to make non-EasyLanguage optimizations to the platform that is expected to improve the overall performance and CPU utilization. Also, additional significant optimizations are expected to be included in subsequent releases as TradeStation strives to improve the overall performance of the TradeStation platform.

TS 8.3 Build 1554 is only available to people like me that are licensed add-on developers and EasyLanguage Specialists right now, but you can be sure that the rollout to clients will not take long.

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