V. 12:14 (619-622): Ensign 5 by John Sweeney
Product Description
Ensign 5
by John Sweeney
Bells and whistles have become the distinguishing marketing factors for trading software since the capabilities of computers have exploded in the last decade. There's been such a proliferation of indicators, trading systems, screening capabilities and interfaces that I fear the actual day-to-day support of a real-time trader gets lost in the shuffle. Nowadays, as much as a third of your screen can be absorbed by menus, buttons and icons steering you toward the program's capabilities.
However, people who are actually trading don't need all that because they've already homed in on what they want to do. They aren't researching, they're executing. They're pulling triggers, not tweaking indicators. They need fast presentation of raw pricing, preferably graphically. They need quick setting and resetting of alerts, indicator values now, time and sales now, news now and maybe a quick way to track trades taken. If they're working options, an expeditious calculation of the greeks helps; position structuring is nifty but usually takes too long and should be in your head anyway. Businesswise, holding overhead to a manageable level is prudent and occasionally essential.
As I talk to folks who are trading off the floor, over and over Ensign 5 pops up as a fast, functional program for trading support.
HISTORY
Ensign IV was reviewed in STOCKS & COMMODITIES in December 1992. The big feature I emphasized then was the data refresh capability. A true lifesaver (and still available), data refresh comes in at night and on the weekends to fix up all the holes in your data. The holes come from a variety of sources when using any realtime datafeed, but they inevitably appear. Starting each morning with clean, recent data is a time-saving Godsend that just about justified Ensign IV's purchase all by itself.
by John Sweeney
Bells and whistles have become the distinguishing marketing factors for trading software since the capabilities of computers have exploded in the last decade. There's been such a proliferation of indicators, trading systems, screening capabilities and interfaces that I fear the actual day-to-day support of a real-time trader gets lost in the shuffle. Nowadays, as much as a third of your screen can be absorbed by menus, buttons and icons steering you toward the program's capabilities.
However, people who are actually trading don't need all that because they've already homed in on what they want to do. They aren't researching, they're executing. They're pulling triggers, not tweaking indicators. They need fast presentation of raw pricing, preferably graphically. They need quick setting and resetting of alerts, indicator values now, time and sales now, news now and maybe a quick way to track trades taken. If they're working options, an expeditious calculation of the greeks helps; position structuring is nifty but usually takes too long and should be in your head anyway. Businesswise, holding overhead to a manageable level is prudent and occasionally essential.
As I talk to folks who are trading off the floor, over and over Ensign 5 pops up as a fast, functional program for trading support.
HISTORY
Ensign IV was reviewed in STOCKS & COMMODITIES in December 1992. The big feature I emphasized then was the data refresh capability. A true lifesaver (and still available), data refresh comes in at night and on the weekends to fix up all the holes in your data. The holes come from a variety of sources when using any realtime datafeed, but they inevitably appear. Starting each morning with clean, recent data is a time-saving Godsend that just about justified Ensign IV's purchase all by itself.
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