EFS Usage?

[shaeffer]

Maybe you know, or would need to make an educated guess, but of all eSignal users, as a percentage, how many would:

1. use no EFS's at all
2. would use some EFS's as downloaded from your web pages
3. as 2, but with minor tweaks
4. could create their own EFS's, either from scratch or by making major changes to an existing EFS.

My pure guess would be:
1. 90%
2. 10%
3. 5%
4. 2%

I am only recently in group 3, and perceive (rightly or wrongly) a major effort to get to group 4. I ask because I'm curious if I am under-utilizing eSignal. I'd appreciate your best guess response (or maybe the recent survey had that question?).

Regards
shaeffer

[dloomis]

Good idea, see this poll

http://forum.esignalcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=64

[dloomis]

What do you think of the results 0, 2, 1, 8?

[shaeffer]

Originally posted by dloomis
What do you think of the results 0, 2, 1, 8?

Hi David,
I'm thinking so far its more a measure of the EFS skill level of those visiting this part of the eSignal BB. After one day, its almost what you'd expect, don't you think?

I'm still hoping to get a reply from one of the eSignal folks.

Regards
shaeffer

[JayF]

There is certainly a large learning curve to move from making minor tweaks to writing your own EFS files. We hope to really dramatically reduce this by the introduction of EFS2. The changes will be dramatic; here's one example. No longer will you have to define a study object in order to reference a study's data. Instead you'd only need to type in the study's keyword.

vMyVariable = MA(20);

... and that's just really a tiny example. EFS2 should be out in either 7.9 or 8.0, so sometime in 2005.

[shaeffer]

Originally posted by JayF
.......... define a study object in order to reference a study's data........

vMyVariable = MA(20);

Hi Jay,
???? I don't even know what that means. But it sounds like a big step towards making EFS's easier to set up by the average Joe. Seeing the above however makes me think of StockFetcher.com, where I would just type in "MA(20)" - very simple. For example, I could quickly catch on to:

If Last = MA(20)
change background color to Blue
show in alert window
play beep

Not to dampen efforts towards EFS2, but if it is going to be widely used its got to be simple. I am (well, was) a Mechanical Engineer for 24 years - I could learn efs's if I had the time, but not many do, I think. Its got to be simple.

Regards
shaeffer

[arieal]

Hi
I am a programmer willing to learn the EFS.
- there is any good book recommended for JavaScript 1.5 or for EFS? I know about the extensive documentation online in eSignalCentral.
- can I run my efs studies 'live' connected to InteractiveBrokers and in Automatic mode?
- if so, what is the interface between eSignal and IB?
Many thanks
Arie

[eSignal_JasonK]

Hello Arie,

And welcome. I recommend JavaScript The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan 4th edition published by O'Reilly. It has a very good section on Core JavaScript 1.5.

We do have broker integration for IB. To send trades from EFS to IB review the IBEFS.doc in \eSignal\Docs.

[arieal]

performance report on tick charts

Jason,
Many thanks for your prompt reply.
- Can I run my studies offline to test performance for a certain day like in TradeStation 2000, the Strategy Performance Report?
- The buy/sell signals to IB are sent at open/close/mid Tick Bar, i.e. in realtime?
Thanks, Arie

[eSignal_JasonK]

Hello Arie,

Yes you can use the Strategy Analyzer in offline mode using the Tick Replay feature. You first need to download the tick data into a replay file (epf). Then start up eSignal in offline mode, select an Advanced Chart and replay the tick file to its completion. This loads up data in the chart that you can then run the Strategy Analyzer on. However, this method would only allow you to test intra-day intervals.

The timing of the buy and sell signals would be determined by you or your code if you're programming specific conditions into an EFS formula.