There are a number of improvements to the software but the two big and important changes that have been made are changes are to the SST Strategy used and the data source. These changes will further enhance performance and reduce the time taken to manage trades as well as keeping things very simple in terms of managing open or "live" trades. The emphasis has been placed on fewer but better quality trades than before.
SST STRATEGY
Previous versions of SwingTrader had many "Stop & Reverse" trades as well as producing a high volume of trades. There were also many occasions when prospective trades showed both long and short on a symbol for the next day. These caused confusion as well as being time consuming to set up and manage.
I have improved the trading strategy to reduce the number of trades but get better quality entries. I have also drastically reduced the number of Stop & Reverse trades as well as the occasions when a long and short showed for the same day on a symbol. The strategy now used in SwingTrader is much closer to the original SST strategy in my book "Short Swing Trading". The overriding criteria for this was a greater emphasis on the profit made per trade rather than total profit for the period. In other words lots of small profits are not as good as fewer larger profits when you take trading costs into account. This is an important and substantial change.
The changes will also mean that your trading will be less time consuming and much more straightforward due to fewer prospective trades and the absence of Stop & Reverse trades.
OPTIMISATION TIME
We have managed to reduce optimisation time and have added a new feature to tell you what symbol is currently being optimised and how far it has progressed. You will see how many iterations (calculations) have been completed out of a total number for the symbol displayed so you will know exactly where you are if optimising a list of symbols.
PROFIT PER TRADE
In the back test results you will see a new result called "Average Profit per Trade". This is the total profit for the period back tested divided by the total number of trades. Please note that this is the average for ALL trades including the losing ones. This is an excellent indication of the "tradability" of a symbol and helps to compare it with others but please remember that it should not be treated as the only important criteria - please refer to the Help Text and Members website for more information on reading back test results.
DATA SOURCE
Another very important change. In the past we have used Yahoo data for all stocks and indices. Although this has been good we have experienced some issues with UK stocks. Data for certain UK symbols was unreliable and there were issues around historic data such as stock re-pricing and other adjustments for dividends etc which need to be made in order to make historic data more reliable. Google data is better quality for UK stocks as far as these things are concerned so we have decided to switch to Google for UK symbol stock data. US stocks and world Indices will stay with Yahoo data.
Yahoo also offers data for certain other exchanges such as Australia (ASX). We have done all this behind the scenes so you need do nothing other than use the appropriate symbols together with the relevant prefix or suffix (see below).
EQUITY CURVE
The dark background has been removed so that ink is not wasted when printing.
SYMBOLS WHICH FAIL TO OPTIMISE
Sometimes data is not available from Google/ Yahoo (perhaps temporarily or because they have ceased trading) for certain symbols and they therefore fail to optimise. If you optimise a whole watch list and a few fail you will now get a list of the symbols that have failed so that you can re-schedule them to try optimisation again later or check their status using "symbol look up".
MESSAGE AFTER OPENING THE PROGRAM
This used to say that your license had expired and SwingTrader is attempting to download another one. Wording has now been changed to be more suitable and accurate.
TYPING INCORRECT SYMBOLS
If you type an incorrect symbol that is not recognised you are now given the option to be navigated to Google for UK stocks or Yahoo for all other symbols rather than being forced to go to symbol look up.
CONTROL PANEL
Following reports that the OHLC prices were not needed and that wider columns would be desirable we have removed OHL prices, retaining a column called "Price" and the "Date" that it applies to. This also allows you to see clearly when the latest data is available in order to Check Symbols for Trades. A word of warning here: Remember that "live" (15 - 20 min delayed) prices will show in the "Price" column and on the charts while the market is trading. During this time the "Price" is actually the latest price and it only becomes the closing price after the market has stopped trading. It is best to wait for at least half an hour after the market has closed before you click "Check Symbols for Trades" to make sure that you are using the final prices for the day. Of course if you want to know the OHL prices they are available on the appropriate chart.
The columns are now wider allowing the stock symbol and name to be read more easily.
SUGGESTED WATCH LIST SYMBOLS
I will maintain a page containing a number (not exhaustive) of UK stocks, US stocks and Indices that I feel should be considered in a watch list. These watch lists will be specific to SwingTrader and are posted on the SwingTrader Members website which is free to all SwingTrader subscribers.
MEMBERS WEBSITE
There is now a link to the right of the "Help" icon that will take you direct to the SwingTrader Members area. |
