I have Metastock 6.52 running all day and use that for my Technical Analysis. I like using Metastock instead of the web for a couple of reasons:
1. Because the stocks are already on my hard drive bring up charts and indicators is very fast. You can zoom in and out from 5 year charts to 1 weeks charts in msecs.
2. I try to follow most of the major player in the market daily using Metastock. I will draw support/resistant lines, channels, fib. lines, wedges/triangles, etc., etc., on the chart. The next time I bring up the chart all my indicators are already on the chart which makes life very easy in a fast market.
3. I have several templates that I can apply to the stock at a click of a button. For example, with a click of a button it will show me 3 MACD of different lengths, SAR, CCI, and DAHL all in separate windows. Another click gives me StochRSI(8,5), StochRSI(14), ROC, momentum. Or say there is a certain Candlestick pattern forming that day. I can get Metastock to label every other time that pattern formed in the past 5 years and see what happened the next day.
4. On really slow days I will backtest a stock to see what profit it would have made me in the past if I was buying on the indicators showing that day. Unlike programs on the web, with Metastock you can program your buy/sells based on complex relationships and use stops losses and margins.
I presently don't have intraday charts with Metastock. I am waiting for the next version of the programs to come out before I upgrade. For day charts I will use CSW and look at the long term chart on Metastock at the same time (helps to have 3 monitors for this).
I have never understood how people trade without doing TA on the long/medium term charts. I would not touch a stock (even one with momentum) without first doing a quick evaluation of the long/medium term charts. I have found a combination of long/medium term TA, news/fundamentals, and short term hype/momentum to be the best combination for me. It takes a little longer and you trade less but I find when I do a trade I am normally profitable. Anyone following my post will probably already know my tract record (please don't rub my nose in LWN). Of course this type of trading is not for everyone and some people like to throw caution to the wind and jump on the next moving train...to each his own, to risky for my blood.
Best Regards
KEITH |
