Stocks & Commodities V. 24:1 (64-67): Product Review: Market Master Xec by David Penn Some software impresses by being so obviously more than the sum of its parts. If I were to segregate the software used by technical analysts into two groups, then I would probably put the integration über alles, execution ‘n’ analysis platforms in this category. Software like this tends to be both worthwhile and memorable because of the way its various and wide-ranging components, plug-ins, add-ons, and modules almost miraculously manage to come together into the singularity of a simple trading decision to buy, sell, or cover. The ultimate example of such a system is probably a black-box trading system — though I have had the pleasure of reviewing a number of software products, from order-entry platforms to automated trading programs, that also fit quite well into this category. On the other hand, what can be said of those software offerings that are so varied in their capacities, so wide-ranging in their ability to be, to a degree, all things to all traders that we never really feel as if we’ve discovered the “whole” to which the many beautiful and effective parts contribute. Or, rather, that otherwise elusive “whole” — in the context of this latter type of software — tends to change with each use of the application. Because the software can do so many things, so can the trader who masters it. I tend to think of this latter group of software applications and platforms as the province of analysts, technical analysts who don’t need (or want) a processed end-result. Instead, these technicians are comfortable with the often laborious practice of applying and reapplying a sometimes staggering number of indicators, oscillators, and other chart-marking tools to price charts — confident that each turn of the analytic page will yield, if not a cumulative buy-sell-cover outcome, then clearly a greater and broader understanding of the asset under question. |
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