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Hi Bob,
It's been a while since we've exchanged many thoughts, I hope you are
well. What keeps you going back to QP?
Actually I've had both for years, along with multiple RT feeds as
well. I'm sort of a belt and suspenders trader - most everything is backed
up or has an alternative (computers, data feeds, brokerages, broadband and ISPs,
even power with a generator system as I live in the country). IMHO, they
complement each other -- each with different strengths and weaknesses.
I'll try to summarize both.
The Pros:
QP has more fundamental fields exposed to AB in their API -- I particularly
like having float info (I still use a variant of the Rich E's old PTATR for one
exploration). And at least until recently (I mark it more or less with
Janene's departure), the stock data had fewer errors and when it did was
corrected quicker. Originally it ran much faster in AB and as I first
started with it, I had a predisposition for it's scanning
capability. If you use mutuals (I don't for timing or otherwise), they are
included with in a subscription.
TC has intraday updates (I run several boxes while trading) albeit
delayed, so I if I wish, I can then quickly run AB AAs on an entire
database, not the several hundred at a time from eSignal. And they have
their media general groups (like the industry monitors in QP), but listed
within the sector so relative strength comparisons are much easier than building
and maintaining composites.
The Cons:
The QP data base (as I seem to recall you also complaining) is far from
clean -- I update my AB databases from the external ones each weekend and then
clean up inactive tickers -- QP generally has hundreds whereas TC has a
dozen or so. I've spoken often to tech support at QP about this, and the
are always "surprised" by the number (I've sent them lists) and promise to look
into it, but nothing changes and a new disk (with a current database) doesn't
change the bad tickers. [In fact I spoke to them today again.]
And while I don't use mutuals funds, I understand that they often fail to
account for distributions and dividends promptly.
When there is a data problem with TC, they can take weeks to correct
it. The program itself is something of a kludge of you are into writing
your own indicators, and of course you have to deal with the idiosyncrasies of
the Wordens (like, no ADX until just recently because they didn't think it had
merit, still no CCI, ATR, etc.). True, with the most recent versions your
can write your own custom indicators, but ADX is not one of them and ATR is
impossibly long (over 30 steps for an ATR(10) ). And while there is some
additional fundamental info in their database, it isn't available via the
API. Mutual funds are an added subscription cost.
The upshot:
I'm in my 5th year with AB and long ago came to regard both TC and QP as
merely end of day data feeds for AB. If I could find another data vendor
that had the strengths of each, and perhaps not the weaknesses, I'd switch and
probably quit. I run my end of day scans/exploration for watchlists on
these databases (also verify data integrity between the two), but for
trading I'm watching the RT data feeds - eSig, QuoteTracker fed by Prophet
Finance, PCQuote, and brokerage streamers. I had IQ feed for a while but
found it was too dirty and erratic. With the merger of Waterhouse and
Ameritrade, I'll probably close one account and open an IB account (when
Ameritrade got Datek, my account there got big enough and I added
eTrade). With whom are you trading, any thoughts or recommendations?
Best wishes, and good trades.
Peace and Justice --- Patrick
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 7:41 PM
Subject: RE: [amibroker] Re: New, fixed
TC2000/TCNet/TC2005 data plugin
I
didn’t realize that you used TC2000x,
Patrick.
Since
I’ve tried it a few times, but always went back to QPlus, could you spell out
why you picked it, given that you also have a RT
feed?
Regards,
Bob
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