mayday friday, page-90

Paul

Here is my story, its sad but true, its about some software that I once knew, it took my dough then ran......, lol.

Sorry, I got carried away in song mode (Runaround Sue), but it is a sad and epic story.

I started using an end of day version of TradeStation maybe 20 years ago. It was the best software at the time and everything I looked at later could never compete IMO.

That version is no longer supported and their marketing is now different.

Originally you bought the software.

Now their emphasis is as a broker, so if you use their brokerage in the US then the software is free if you do the required monthly trades or have sufficient funds in your account. For some reason they don't handle Aussie markets.

You can not buy the software but you can lease it for US$250 a month but then need a 3rd party app like OwnData (US$100 a month or US$1000 purchase) to work with any broker anywhere and any data feed.

I went through the latter steps and tried to use PatSystems feed and trade with MFG (my main futures broker).

Yes, I got TS running with my ASCII historical files which was good and I still think TS is great.

When I tried to get live data going, MFG didn't have a clue and it took 2 weeks of emails with them and OwnData and PatSystems before things seemed about to work.

Then TS started freezing up requiring reboots.

Then TS wouldn't let me log on because they said there was a problem with my payment and I could see they hadn't debited my credit card. I think they didn't ask for my 3 digit code on the back and so it wasn't OK'd.

Then I learnt PatSystems didn't provide historical data so all you would get is data from whenever you started which meant intraday indicators would have no display for quite some bars etc.

With all that I told TS to forget it, the same to Owndata and MFG.

Now a week later TS has managed to get my payment through and said that is all fixed and the freezes should no longer be a problem.

However I have already deleted all software, cancelled everything, paid about $600 all up for nothing and back where I started.

Yes, I still think TS is great software and they win the award every year for best trading platform (in the US I presume)and always won best software forever.

It may not be best here and the reason I tried the new TS is that I have many indicators and systems written in EasyLanguage which is TS code, and my old TS has problems running on new computers and the machine I have it on is fading.

Wipe the tears away. Yes, I cried through it all. I do blame Murphy!