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1) Why don't you post about it or talk about it? Whatever reason you have is likely similar to other users. There are people on the forum that use eSignal (a quick search showed a few hundred), but if none of those users ever talk about it or share charts etc, then you wouldn't know it.
2) Does eSignal support custom indicators and studies? If so, does it make it easy to share them (import/export) between users? If yes, then people should be sharing more and that would help facilitate a discussion. But if no, then that is another reason that there is less activity. (I do not know the answer).
3) I think the majority of people on the forum are more advanced traders that prefer niche products like NinjaTrader, MultiCharts, MarketDelta, Sierra Chart, etc over more mainstream products like eSignal or E-Trade or Scottrade, etc etc. So the forum focuses more on these niche products. That doesn't mean that the mainstream products are not any good.
I'm open to suggestions on how to get more eSignal users to participate on the forum.
1. I own a lifetime license of NinjaTrader
2. I own a lifetime license of Multicharts
3. I own a lifetime license of Amibroker (latest)
4. I trade the e-Mini ES
5. I trade stocks (selected basket of 50 stocks max), swing trade, following sector strength
6. I have a programming background, I'm comfortable programming in C#, EasyLanguage, VBS/Excel, EFS, AFL...
7. I like to backtest ideas
Point # 1, responding to previous comments on this thread about data feeds being expensive and all
I am always puzzled by how much time traders spend talking about how much data feed costs and how they want to save $50 to $60 dollars per month when most traders will lose $120 in any single trade in about 5-minutes ... they are not bothered by that but they are about paying $120 for a month...
As everyone here knows if you risk 2 points on the e-Mini ES and use a 2 pts stop that's about 2x$50=$100 risk, if you trade 2 contracts that's $200 risk per trade, which usually lasts 5-30 mins ...
Also, institutions use the BEST tools they can get, they are not too worried about $120-$200 bucks per month, not having the proper tools is going on a fight with knife when everyone has a gun ... not fun...
My point is, if you are worried about $200 bucks per month you probably shouldn't be trading because you will never make a living trading, you just don't have the capital ... hard but true... unfortunately I can't afford but if I could I would have CQG and perhaps Bloomberg ...
Now, back to the point on Esignal ... I don't think eSignal is perfect at all, I don't believe any platform is perfect or complete, they all have different purposes:
1. Ninja + Zen == excellent for future traders (1-3 instruments max), Zen Fire is fast, if you couple with IB you are are bound to wait for back fills and is just annoying, not worth it ... I enjoy NT charts as well as the programming language ... I think their UI is a huge mess, it doesn't follow any standards ... I hate having to restore all windows as well as rearrange them when I switch from a large to small monitor... I think they will get there, they have an excellent architect ... I enjoy their support, it's fast... lastly, their business model is excellent and they will be around for a long time. It's IMPOSSIBLE to trade stocks using Ninjatrader ... annoying at best, their instrument manager needs a lot of attention.
2. Multicharts == I like their charts with the exception of the fact that I cannot really paint OHLC bars, meaning they paint in green first and they obey the SetPlotcolor... in real time you can see the bars painting on their default setup and then being colored afterwards .. really a minor thing. I very much enjoy their backtesting capabilities as well as the ability to use multiple data sources. And here comes the fire, I'm usually very ethical and it bothers me the way Multicharts started, it almost seems their charting/rendering engine was stolen from Tradestation... someone that worked at TS perhaps? This is very different from Ninja for example that started everything from scratch and then faced the music.
3. Amibroker - Best backtesting software out there, fastest, easy to quickly backtest your ideas ... I don't enjoy trading (realtime) using AB, the charts are not as crispy as Ninja, MC or eSignal... overall excellent software.
As for eSignal, what do I like about - note: I will be referring specifically about eSignal 11, and, I don't have any association with eSignal nor I am recommending it:
1. The new framework is based on QNX which is excellent in my opinion, fast and light, you can run NT and esignal side-by-side and you will know what I'm talking about
2. Similar to Apple and their attachment to their own hardware, eSignal makes the most of their data feed, they don't have to deal with multiple APIs, translations, conversions, storage, etc, as a result the data feed is fast
3. New Docked windows mode is fantastic, charts will stay grouped and if you switch from a large monitor to a laptop they will adjust properly
4. Pages can be saved similar to workspaces in TS or MC, excellent ...
5. Charts are fast, crispy, new rendering engine is excellent -- probably from QNX
6. Very easy to create composite symbols
7. If you trade exchanges other than US the total exchange costs will be cheaper than IQFeed... one good example is the TSX (Toronto), eSignal $10, IQFeed $34
9. Trade from the charts works and is very flexible
10. Formulas (EFS) are contained within one simple text file .. simple to manage using file folders instead of a database (MC, Ninja)... similar to Amibroker ... EFS code can be much longer than MC or Amibroker, similar to NT
11. Hotlists are very handy....
12. You can signed up for multiple addons such as Scanners, Mobile charts and many other things ...
I had eSignal for 2 years, and I hated it. ver 7.x-10.2.
In that time you couldn't trade from it in any way not auto nor discretionary. You couldn't connect to any broker.
I'm an auto trader, so I wrote strategies and was able to test them, but not trade them.
The worst was that you paid 120$+ each month, but you didn't own the data. There was no storage on the computer, only in memory. So you open a chart or run backtest and eSignal loads the data for it. You close the chart and reopen it and it needs to reload again. The max was 4.5-5 month of data. So you test the strategy for a period of 5 month and in a month time you can't rerun it for the same period. Its crazy. So even after using it for 10 years you can get only last 4.5-5 month of data.
It is important to note that there are two things being discussed here.
eSignal as a data feed, usually plugged into another platform like NinjaTrader for example.
eSignal as a charting application.
I believe this thread is primarily about eSignal as a charting application, and not as a third party data feed to use with a different charting application.
Baruchs, while I respect your opinion I think you are comparing a software release from 5-6 years ago with current softwares, probably not a fair comparison. Regarding owing the data, I store as much data as I want by feeding eSignla to softwares such as Amibroker, MC or NinjaTrader, if there's one feed that is common across any software you will see out there is eSignal. As far as long intraday history, I think you get 120 days out of the box and if you pay $10 you get 10 years ... as far as backtesting, as per my previous post backtesting it's not eSignal's forte (IMHO), I think you will better served by AB or MC... even Tradestation. As for auto trading, I have developed multiple EFSs that auto trade, works without a glitch ... you may want to try