Balancetrader

Introduction

MarketDelta is a premium grade software package. When you speak to people who are currently using it, as well as those who have used it in the past, you get a very mixed group of responses. Some will say that they cannot live without it and others will say that it served no purpose for them. This is probably the case for any charting package. MarketDelta, however, is not just a regular charting package, and that’s what makes the debate so interesting. The software is so unique, that it could very well be that those who tried to use it probably didn’t know where to start. It can be rather intimidating. However, I think the package is very worthwhile and presents the user with a wealth of information that no other software package out there can offer. This, in itself, makes it valuable, if you know what to do with it.

Installation

Getting MarketDelta up and running is a little slower than most charting packages. Instead of having a workable piece of software to download for your trial, you have to fill out a form and MD staff will email you a trial license that will last for 15 days. Not too worry. MarketDelta staff is very prompt so you shouldn’t wait more than a half day to get your license. They will get back to you with a downloadable installation file specifically designed for whatever data feed you are going to be using to power the quote engine. This is drastically different than most software packages, which basically allow you to choose your feed from within the application. It sounds like an extra hoop to jump through, but it actually is not that big of a problem. Once you receive your trial information and your installation file, it’s smooth sailing. Just install the software and follow the setup prompts. Copy your information from the email and away you go.

Data Feeds

MarketDelta supports numerous data feeds: DTN IQFeed, Infinity, eSignal, CQG and Interactive Brokers. All feeds will power the software, however not all of them are created equal. In my personal opinion, the worst choice award goes to Interactive Brokers. If you know anything about IB, you know they package their quotes to the end-user in a “snapshot” fashion, which makes their volume data quite unreliable. MarketDelta is a piece of software that DEPENDS highly on volume data. So, if a feed is spitting out inaccurate volume data, it’s probably not so great to use. I’m not saying you cannot get by with using IB to feed MarketDelta. I’m just saying that I think it is the worst choice. So what’s the best choice? I think the best choice is using an Infinity brokerage account. Why? Because a brokerage account is essentially free so we don’t have to worry about exchange fees or real-time data fees. It’s all included in our commission rates so why not leverage those commissions to pay for our quotes? We have to pay them anyway right? No sense paying extra for a data feed. Most software is moving towards this trend because of this reason. MarketDelta has realized this and has recently added support for InfinityAT (which was reviewed in a previous blog post). The addition of Infinity support for MarketDelta severely reduces the potential cost of using this software and makes it much more accessible for everyone. Not only that, but with version 2 InfinityAT delivering unfiltered data, one could argue that the volume data delivered by InfinityAT is going to be more accurate than competitors who filter the data in some way.

Charting

The one thing you are going to say immediately is that the charts are just pretty. I know it sounds silly, but they just look really nice. We stare at these things all day long, so it sure doesn’t hurt to have something pleasing to the eyes. You can do everything you would expect from a standard bar or candle chart. You can add a slew of available indicators if you are a technical kind of person. I’m not so into that, so let’s look at what I think are the software’s main features: Market Profile and Volume Footprint.

The software provides a CBOT licensed Market Profile chart which is quite flexible and robust. You have all the regular features you normally require in a Market Profile chart, especially the ability to split and merge the profile in any location you see fit. This is quite important to me given how I profile the market (review my levels tutorial for more on this). One fantastic feature is that the MarketDelta profile has the ability to save all these splits and merges. So, when you load the software up again at a later time, all the profile work you did will be saved. As simple as this may sound, a lot of packages do not include this feature, including the Fin-Alg profile add-on for Ninjatrader. All things considered, this implementation of the Market Profile is one of the best I have ever used, and I’ve used a lot. If you are currently paying for eSignal or CQG, you would be making a huge mistake in not switching to MarketDelta. It is just as good of an implementation for a cheaper price. You will get all the same goodies you are used to when it comes to the Market Profile, but you will also have the luxury of MarketDelta’s patented footprint charts, which is what MarketDelta is really all about.

Footprint charts are the bread and butter, standout chart that MarketDelta is known for. A footprint is a chart that organizes volume data in various ways, all configurable to the user. It essentially reads an electronic market and orders the data in a way that helps you to “see inside the chart,” according to MarketDelta. You can configure a footprint chart in so many ways that it is impossible for me to explain them all here. The MD web site has tons of available information on the site for free in both video and text formats. The most common chart, called the delta, is what most people are familiar with. The delta chart basically shows you a breakdown of how volume traded in any given period. It will tell you if more volume traded on the bid or offer for each price in that bar. Is this useful? Well, if you knew more contracts were trading on the offer, the market is most likely exhibiting strength, and vice-versa for weakness. Now, how you read this data is quite an art form as many look at it differently. Going through strategies using such data is beyond the scope of this review, but you are probably getting some ideas in your head already. It’s a very unique charting method and if it sounds intriguing to you, then check out the MD web site videos where many different ideas are detailed.

Support

MarketDelta support is absolutely fantastic. I have never sent an email that wasn’t answered quickly. And if you feel that talking to someone via telephone is preferable, you will not have to worry. MartketDelta is not like eSignal. MD is a “by traders for traders” type of software package. It is not some huge conglomerate that passes you on to a support rep that has no clue how to use the software. You can rest assured that your problem will be fixed. If not, support will look into it and get back to you in a timely fashion, which is a lot compared to most companies. I think we’ve all been through a little of that before. I have too, but not with MarketDelta.

Problems

No software is without its problems, and MarketDelta is no different. I would categorize a few things as more annoyances than pure problems. For instance, when you open up the software again, you will have to manually tell the package to back fill your charts. This is different than most software packages that automatically do it for you upon entering your workspace again. This was somewhat annoying to me upon first using the software but now is just a 10 second formality with the use of a custom quote page.

Another annoyance is using the software with multiple monitors. The platform maintains a main window, in which the charts are located. You can select a chart to be a “floating window” and it will then detach from the main application window so you can put it anywhere you want. This is great. However, there always seem to be an issue with maximizing the window to full screen for me. I have yet to figure out how the size and location of the main dock window and the floating children relate to each other in this regard. To be completely honest, I gave up caring after about two days. I didn’t think it was important enough to expend my energy. I like how Ninjatrader handles this issue the best, but like I said before, it isn’t enough of a deterrent to shy me away from using the software.

I have heard of a few users who had problems with the database of the application going corrupt on them. In fact, the people that have had these problems swear it is a chronic problem that ripped them away from using the software. I, however, have used this software now every day for roughly five months and have experienced absolutely no problems in this regard. Whether the situation for the other users was just being unlucky or whether this is a problem that has been addressed by MarketDelta before I started to use it regularly is not known. Computers are computers so goofy things can happen. That goes for any software of any kind.

Conclusion

On the whole, MarketDelta is a great piece of software. It is, however, very specialized. If you are not interested in using a profile or getting intricate volume data via the footprint chart, you do not need to spend the money for this software. I would recommend not even looking at the software until you find you are more of an intermediate trader. If you are still looking to find your niche in trading, I would recommend keeping it simple until you become more advanced. MarketDelta can be very intimating to work with, especially if you have no real idea of how to use the specialized data it spits out. You can find yourself trying to use it and realize you are completely lost in the process. You then decide you do not like it and never go back to look at it again when you have a better understanding of volume and the markets in general. In my opinion, you go to MarketDelta when you are at a place in your trading career where you have found what you like as far as a methodology and are confident in that methodology. Looking at the MarketDelta package and the volume footprint to fine-tune that methodology makes a lot more sense. I think if you try to make MarketDelta your primary source of information with which to trade, you could find yourself struggling to progress. MarketDelta, in my opinion, should be used to work on getting more precise executions based on order flow and volume data, but not to come up with trading signals with this data alone. This is my opinion, however, so others may feel differently. The bottom line is that the data is very specialized and unique. The people who use the software swear by it, which has to say something. I think it is definitely worth a good look, assuming you are ready to do so. I have been using it for five months and I haven’t even seen 10% of what the software can do, there’s that much to it.

Continue Reading

Introduction

Ninjatrader was once a charting application that was very difficult to take seriously. It had many problems which made it almost impossible to work with. Now, however, this is no longer the case. Ninjatrader is quickly becoming one of the premier charting and execution platforms in the trading industry, and with the arrival of the Zen-Fire trading and data engine, it is sure to remain that way for quite some time. The following is my personal review of Ninjatrader. I hope to cover all the things that I like and dislike about the software, in order for everyone to get a better idea if this solution makes sense for them.

Downloading & Installation

Acquiring NT is a fairly easy process. Because NT is free (no, I’m not kidding), getting it up and running is nothing more than a five minute process. You can just go to the Ninjatrader website directly or one of its broker affiliates, such as AMP Futures, fill out a short form and get your free license key sent to you via email while being directed to download the installer application. The process is completely instantaneous and automated requiring no personal interaction in any way.

The installer will download the newest build of the software and immediately install it when the download is finished. The process is very quick if you have a broadband connection and should not take longer than a few minutes (the download is roughly 20 megabytes). After the installation is finished, load up the software. You will be prompted to enter a license key, which you will retrieve from your inbox. The key given to you is the free license key and it will never expire. You can use this key indefinitely as NT is completely free if you are only using the charting application. I don’t think I need to tell you how fantastic this can be for us traders as we are used to seeing software fees up in the multiple hundreds of dollars.

Data Feeds & Brokers

Ninjatrader supports most of the popular data feeds such as eSignal and DTN IQ Feed. However, I do not think you will experience the best possible NT experience without using a Zen-Fire feed given to you by a participating broker. Zen-Fire is a data feed created specifically to be used with Ninjatrader. It is unbelievably fast in all facets of operability. It handles order routing, fill notification, historical back fills (intra day data only however) and real-time data with insane speed; one of the fastest I’ve ever seen. The greatest benefit to using a Zen-Fire broker is that all costs normally incurred when using a third party data service such as IQFeed are gone. Your data and exchange fees are all inclusive with your commission rate, so you can essentially look at your Zen-Fire feed like a completely free data feed, which you receive with your broker account. Gone are the days of paying hundreds of extra dollars for exchange and data fees! The only issue would be if you need to get historical data such as daily and monthly bars, as Zen-Fire only offers tick and minute data for the life of a futures contract. For most day traders, however, this is more than enough, as even a simple daily chart can be created with a modified intra-day chart.

Charting

The bar and candle charts provided by Ninjatrader have really come a long way from the first few versions of Ninjatrader. The charts are everything you would expect from a standard charting application. It comes with a bunch of technical indicators built-in and the ability to use Ninjascript to program custom indicators. Ninjascript, by the way, is basically a C# programming environment that the platform provides to people who want to program their own indicators and automated trading systems. The use of C# is very flexible, however it’s nowhere near as easy to create a quick indicator in the manner it would be if one were using Tradestation’s EasyLanguage. So, if you’re used to EL to get your indicators done, using Ninjascript is going to present a bit of a learning curve. I’m not really an indicator guy, so this poses no problem for me, which leads us to the profiling capabilities, which is what Balancetrader is all about.

Profiling

Unfortunately, price and volume profiling by way of TPO charts is not natively supported in Ninjatrader, however it is easily supported with a third party add-on from Financial Algorithms (Fin-Alg for short). Fin-Alg makes a TPO Chart application that is available for a one-time fee of $249 (members of Balancetrader can receive a $15 discount through a link in the resources section of the members area). This may seem like a hefty price at first glance, but in actuality it is extremely cheap. Most software providing profile support is going to cost a monthly fee, which will start to add up over time. For example, if you paid $50 per month to use the profile feature of eSignal or Sierra Charts, you would have your $250 paid after 5 months of using Fin-Alg, essentially receiving the rest of your usage free. If you’re using profiles for years like myself, this presents a HUGE value. In fact, there is no value like it anywhere else that I have seen. Fin-Alg’s software is fully functional and is comparable, if not better, than most pay-per-month solutions. A seven day trial is available on Fin-Alg’s site so give it a try and see if you feel the same way as I do.

Zen-Fire

As mentioned previously, executing trades via Zen-Fire and Ninjatrader is a very nice experience. Orders are sent directly to the exchange quickly as data is flying at blazing speeds to your computer. Zen-Fire shoots data to the application in an unfiltered format which basically means that no ticks or data are lost. This is unlike most data vendors who filter their data in order to keep the system from getting clogged up due to bandwidth issues. Zen-Fire has solved this problem and gives you everything the exchange spits out in real time. It is a top of the line data feed and execution platform which rarely ever goes down or even hiccups for that matter. That said, there will always be times where ANY data feed or execution platform can have a problem. Computers are computers, so don’t go looking to kill me if Zen-Fire drops or freezes once in a blue moon. I’m not saying it never happens, but I would testify under oath that in my experience, it will happen much less often than most other solutions.

Trade Execution

Ninjatrader offers all of the typical things you would expect in an execution system.

The free version used with a Zen-Fire broker gives you the ability to enter orders with a typical order entry window or Depth Of Market (DOM) screen that most of us day traders like to use. The only thing it cannot do using the free version, however, is allow you to use the advanced trade management (ATM) features. These are basically the features that let the computer put your targets and stops in for you automatically, or automatically manage a trailing stop. This is not a big deal for me because I prefer to do those things manually any way. However, if you want the ability to do ATM, the pay version of NT is so much cheaper than most other solutions that you’ll probably be happy to pay it ($60 per month as of this writing). I mean, even at that price, you are going to be very lucky to find an alternative for that price.

Simulator

NT includes a top notch simulator in the free version. Most software simulators do not provide a real experience for someone looking to paper trade before they go live, but NT’s simulator is about as real as any I have ever seen. Most simulators give very easy, unrealistic fills that will make the transition from sim to live be a very difficult one. From what I have seen, Ninjatrader will make you work very hard to get your fill using a limit order. In fact, there have been times where I was using the simulator and knew that I would have received a fill in the real market but did not with the simulator. This is actually a good thing because your expectations will remain very realistic as you transition from a simulated environment to a live one. The simulator works in perfect harmony with the replay feature as well, which we’ll talk about next.

Replay

One key feature of Ninjatrader that I am particularly fond of is the replay feature. Basically, NT can play back any day of data in real time. This is a great advantage to someone who is working on becoming a day trader but might, for example, still be working a day job. Just load up Ninjatrader before the open and it will “record” the data for the day, making it available for playback at any time in the future. This is great for Joe and Jane DayTrader who want to come home from work, have dinner, and practice their day trading while they are still learning and not ready to quit their day jobs. The only pitfall to the playback feature is that the software has to be loaded and “recording” in order to play back data, compared to Sierra, for example, which plays data back even if it was imported via normal back fill. This is a very small problem in my opinion as it really is rather easy to have the software loaded in order to record. There are some issues, however, if the software or the computer crashes for some strange reason. It doesn’t happen often but like I said earlier, computers are computers and stupid things happen from time to time. Honestly, I would not worry too much about it as it is rarely an issue.

Support

No software is without problems, and Ninjatrader is no different. There are still little bugs floating around which can create minor annoyances from time to time. Now, I am not talking about huge game-breakers here. A chart may get bugged once in a while which will require you to create it again or reload the software to fix it. Problems are really far and few between and they are slowly disappearing with each new version that is released. If you do encounter a problem, the support given on the support forums is usually very quick. I have posted on the forums and received replies as quickly as 10 minutes. I think the longest I’ve ever waited for a response was an hour, which I feel is pretty good. Ninjatrader, however, does not provide telephone support, which can become a severe problem, especially if you are having a very strange problem that may be rather uncommon. Fixing an awkward problem in Ninjatrader has been known to make a few people decide NT isn’t worth the trouble. Don’t let this sway you, however, because the number of times I have seen this happen, compared to the number of satisfied users, is very, very small.

Conclusion

Ninjatrader is a first-class application that continues to get better over time. The functionality has all the goodies that you would expect from most charting applications. The addition of the Zen-Fire feed has quickly ramped Ninjatrader passed most of its competition. It is really something you need to sign up for a demo to fully understand what I am talking about (Zen-Fire brokers provide a free, real-time demo for 30 days with real market data). The playback feature is top notch for someone who wants to use that in their study arsenal, in fact it’s one of the best, if not THE best I’ve seen due to the ability to have the playback be performed on the profile chart as well as regular bar and candle charts). Execution will feel familiar with most other platforms you have used, however you might miss the ATM features which are not available in the free version of Ninjatrader. You may run into a snag here or there in the form of a minor bug, but overall those should be quite miniscule. If you are looking for a very cheap platform that provides all the basic things you need to get your trading business done, Ninjatrader will get you there with no problems. I highly recommend everyone go to a participating Zen-Fire broker such as AMP Futures, and try the free version of Ninjatrader with the Zen-Fire data and execution feed. The software is free forever and the Zen-Fire demo will last a very long 30 days. It won’t take much use of both before you see the value in this product. I don’t recommend things that I do not use and believe in myself. This product is the real deal and I think everyone should give it a try.

Continue Reading