cAlgo limitations?

algoforce
17 Jul 2013, 00:11

Valid Points

Your 3 concerns are worrysome and the community of FX algo developers waiting for answers. 

Igonter
17 Jul 2013, 13:55

There is one more concern.

4. Algos don't have access to the trading history.

Some trading strategies need to know about previous closed positions, in case there were deposits/withdrawals.

If cAlgo is to be implemented with money management systems such as PAMM or LAMM this feature is an absolutely must-have.

adaled
18 Jul 2013, 11:50

Yes, access to historical trades would be really nice to have.  

cAlgo_Development
18 Jul 2013, 14:44

Thank you for your questions. I'll try to reply.

1. There is no way to download more history.

 

You can't do anything without data.

We understand it. Right now we released new version that have access to more data (actually 2+ years). Next step that we plan is to provide much more data or implement an ability to youse your own data in backtesting. This question is a high priority quuestion for us.

2. Algos only have access to data from chart they are on.

 

Why do these platform developers think that an algo is some sort of indicator that you attach to a chart? The fact that they've built a new platform with such limitations is worrying.

This is correct and I completely agree with this. We had historical reasons for this, and now we understand that we wust rework this. Next thing we do in cAlgo is implementing access to data of multiple timeframe and multiple symbols.

3. Algos have to be started manually each time you launch the platform.

 

Useless.

If we understood correctly, you'd like to be able to restart cAlgo and restart all robot instances that were active before restart automatically. This is a valid request that makes cAlgo more useful in automated environments (for example on VPS hosting). We've just started to work in this direction and suggested feature will be deffinetly implemented.

4. Algos don't have access to the trading history.

 

Some trading strategies need to know about previous closed positions, in case there were deposits/withdrawals.

This is a "must have" feature. We haven't implemented it by the following reason: We are now migrating to a new trading domain model that will make cTrader more transparent and flexible for traders. We will provide complete information on order execution process. When this new model is delivered we will give access to all this information tin cAlgo.

Surrealistik
18 Jul 2013, 17:53

Love the sound of those answers.

Another major thing to add would definitely be 'magic number' support, or otherwise some kind of trade metadata that could identify, for example, which EA a trade belongs to, which particular strategy of an EA that trade corresponds with, or even the specific parameters of that trade.

cAlgo_Development
18 Jul 2013, 18:07

Another major thing to add would definitely be 'magic number' support, or otherwise some kind of trade metadata that could identify, for example, which EA a trade belongs to, which particular strategy of an EA that trade corresponds with, or even the specific parameters of that trade.

We already have similar thing. You can specify Label when creating position or order. Later you can identify your positions using this label.

voulgeor
16 Aug 2013, 12:20

RE:

2. Algos only have access to data from chart they are on.

 

Why do these platform developers think that an algo is some sort of indicator that you attach to a chart? The fact that they've built a new platform with such limitations is worrying.

This is correct and I completely agree with this. We had historical reasons for this, and now we understand that we wust rework this. Next thing we do in cAlgo is implementing access to data of multiple timeframe and multiple symbols.

 

hi is there a time frame for those changes ?

our robot has to check data on larger timeframes before trading so is very important .

is there a temporary work around?

we  want to move our customers from a different broker and mt4 to your platform but those limitations are a serious  deal breaker.

I cant believe that someone thought that multimeframe and multicurrency check was not important when designed the platform.

thanks

algoforce
16 Aug 2013, 14:39

RE: RE:

voulgeor said:

there a time frame for those changes ?

our robot has to check data on larger timeframes before trading so is very important .

is there a temporary work around?

we  want to move our customers from a different broker and mt4 to your platform but those limitations are a serious  deal breaker.

I cant believe that someone thought that multimeframe and multicurrency check was not important when designed the platform.

thanks

Scyware.com has api for quick work around .

However Spotware did say

"This is correct and I completely agree with this. We had historical reasons for this, and now we understand that we wust rework this. Next thing we do in cAlgo is implementing access to data of multiple timeframe and multiple symbols."

voulgeor
16 Aug 2013, 15:07

RE: RE: RE:

algoforce said:

voulgeor said:

there a time frame for those changes ?

our robot has to check data on larger timeframes before trading so is very important .

is there a temporary work around?

we  want to move our customers from a different broker and mt4 to your platform but those limitations are a serious  deal breaker.

I cant believe that someone thought that multimeframe and multicurrency check was not important when designed the platform.

thanks

 

Scyware.com has api for quick work around .

 

However Spotware did say

"This is correct and I completely agree with this. We had historical reasons for this, and now we understand that we wust rework this. Next thing we do in cAlgo is implementing access to data of multiple timeframe and multiple symbols."

Yes but when is that next thing?

i need to know so i can make a business decision soon.

i have robots to convert from mt4 test and put them on live trading (on a new platform)

i have customers waiting for that.

the scyware work around doesnt do it for me because of the type of the robots. there is allot of overhead to the system .

i just need the time frame parameter on each indi as is on the mt4.

anyway i just need a time frame of completion if it doesnt exist i have to search for a different platform.

thanks.

cAlgo_Development
16 Aug 2013, 16:15

We are already in progress with this. We plan to release multi-timeframe feature in two-three weeks.

jobenb
07 Oct 2013, 15:25

RE:

cAlgo_Development said:

 

Thank you for your questions. I'll try to reply.

 

1. There is no way to download more history.

 

You can't do anything without data.

We understand it. Right now we released new version that have access to more data (actually 2+ years). Next step that we plan is to provide much more data or implement an ability to youse your own data in backtesting. This question is a high priority quuestion for us.

 

2. Algos only have access to data from chart they are on.

 

Why do these platform developers think that an algo is some sort of indicator that you attach to a chart? The fact that they've built a new platform with such limitations is worrying.

This is correct and I completely agree with this. We had historical reasons for this, and now we understand that we wust rework this. Next thing we do in cAlgo is implementing access to data of multiple timeframe and multiple symbols.

 

3. Algos have to be started manually each time you launch the platform.

 

Useless.

If we understood correctly, you'd like to be able to restart cAlgo and restart all robot instances that were active before restart automatically. This is a valid request that makes cAlgo more useful in automated environments (for example on VPS hosting). We've just started to work in this direction and suggested feature will be deffinetly implemented.

 

4. Algos don't have access to the trading history.

 

Some trading strategies need to know about previous closed positions, in case there were deposits/withdrawals.

This is a "must have" feature. We haven't implemented it by the following reason: We are now migrating to a new trading domain model that will make cTrader more transparent and flexible for traders. We will provide complete information on order execution process. When this new model is delivered we will give access to all this information tin cAlgo.

I agree fully with points raised above. Just we are in October already and no data!

nobulart
21 Oct 2013, 18:29

I'd be happy to see all of these points addressed as well. Being able to export a trade history for external analysis is a crucial missing feature.

Spotware
22 Oct 2013, 13:01

You can export the trade history to excel. Right click on any row in the history tab and then choose "Export to Excel".

Spotware
02 Dec 2013, 14:21

cAlgo now supports backtesting with data from imported files. See more details here: Backtesting with data from CSV file