|
System
Testing
Before you start customizing a profile, we need
to make sure you understand what a profile is.
A profile is a list of symbols, systems
and settings. In OmniTrader, we have profiles
such as Oscar, Breakout, Diverge, etc. Each of
these profiles have different systems and settings,
and you would probably see different test results
on the same symbol if you were to run the analysis
on it in each of these profiles. For more information
on the special profiles in OmniTrader, please
refer to section 4.2 of your Guidebook.
Helpful
Hint: Be sure
to create a new profile before making any changes!
When you make a change in OmniTrader, that change
is automatically saved in that profile. This
is why we always suggest that you create a new
profile before making any changes. Creating
a new profile is covered in section 3.3 of your
Guidebook.
After
you create a new profile in OmniTrader, you can
Import all of the symbols, systems and
settings from an existing profile. This can be
done by:
- Clicking
on File and selecting Import
- You
will then see a list of your profiles in OmniTrader.
Simply highlight the profile you wish to import,
and select what you want to import (the symbols,
systems and/or settings).
- Now,
when you click on the Import button, your new
profile will import the desired options to your
new profile.
.
The Import Window in OmniTrader
Now
that we have a profile that we can "play"
with, lets look at how to customize it.
The
System Testing Window
OmniTrader uses various Trading Systems
to generate its signals as discussed in last weeks
OmniTrader Tip. In the System Testing area of
your profile, you can change which systems are
being used and the filters applied to the selection
process of systems.
To
access the System Testing window, click
on View and select System Testing.
The
System Testing window in OmniTrader - Test
Parameters tab
Test
Parameters: These are the general test settings
for the systems in your profile. Some of these
selections are self explanatory, but lets clarify
of few of the feature boxes in this tab:
Test
Period: This box will control your profiles
test periods. The default settings are shown above.
You can shorten or lengthen any of these periods.
We will discuss the use of Forward Testing in
a few weeks. The "Update the backtest every
_ trading days" tells you how long it will
be before a symbol is retested in this profile.
Remember, when a symbol retests in OT, it is likely
that the signal will change. Refer to last weeks
OT Tip for more on this topic.
Special:
"Don't test symbols with open positions"
will keep your profile from retesting a symbol
that currently has an open position in OT's Portfolio.
This is a good feature to activate if you want
to follow the original signal on a trade candidate
until OT exits the trade on the vote line. "Limit
Data to forward and backtest periods" is
recommended if you are using Worden Brothers (TC2000)
data as it will drastically increase the speed
of your testing and charting.
Profit
Calculation: This one can be a little confusing.
People tend to think "Well, it costs me $8
to enter a trade, and $8 to exit a trade, so I'll
enter those values here". Then they run their
to do list, and they don't get any signals at
all! What happened? Notice that the fees in this
box can be expressed as a % or $ per share, not
trade. If you are paying $8 per share when you
trade, OmniTrader is correctly saying that NO
trade is profitable.
RECOMMENDATION: Leave these values at 0. Remember,
these settings control the system testing, and
our research has indicated that systems perform
better when no profit calculation is used.
Delay
Trades By One Day: The systems in OT enter
and exit trades on the close of a bar. This setting
will tell the systems to enter and exit on the
open of the next bar.
RECOMMENDATION: Our tests show that systems perform
better when this feature is NOT selected.
The
Test Filters tab in OmniTrader
Test
Filters: Once the systems have been tested
for a symbol, OmniTrader will filter the systems
to find the most accurate ones. Most of these
settings speak for themselves, but we want to
point out the Further Limit Number of Systems
Based On box. OmniTrader will select the top six
systems for each symbol based on its performance
in the backtest. This is why when you pull up
the vote line, you will only see a maximum of
6 Daily and six Weekly systems. If you see less,
then not enough systems passed the other filters
to be considered for the vote.
The Trading Systems tab in OmniTrader
Trading
Systems: The Trading Systems area tells OmniTrader
which systems to use in your profile. As you can
see, the default selection is for OmniTrader to
test and optimize all of the systems. This window
allows you to Duplicate, Delete and change the
Parameters of any system in your profile.
RECOMMENDATION: If you wish to change parameters
of a system, first duplicate it so that your profile
retains the original parameters of the system
in case you wish to revert back.
The
Force column allows you to force a system
to be considered for the vote line. For example,
let's say that you like the signals generated
by the MAC-M system. If you select this system
to be forced, it will be considered for the signal
generation of each symbol in your profile.
This
concludes the first part of our lesson on profile
customization. Best of luck with your trading
and send any feedback to jdrake@nirvsys.com.
Regards,
Jeff Drake
Director of Education
Nirvana Systems
|
