Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: OmniTrader 2008
Ian Waugh charts the markets with the latest OmniTrader
| Product | OmniTrader 2008 |
|---|---|
| Company | Nirvana Software |
| Web | www.omnitrader.com |
| Price | $495-1995 / £225-975 |
| We like | Powerful, easy to use, feature-packed |
| We don't like | Limited customisation in lower-end programs |
| Rating | 8/10 |
| Requirements | Windows 2000/XP/Vista |
As more and more individuals are trying their hand at trading stocks, futures and forex, the production of trading software itself had become big business. And OmniTrader is one of the Big Boys, having been around since 1994. Its latest incarnation in 2008 boasts many new features.
But before we get to those, a few words about its modus operandi.
Like all trading software, OmniTrader displays charts of financial instruments in a variety of formats such as bar charts, candlesticks and so on. Most investors who use trading software use technical analysis which, essentially, draws indicators on the chart to help analyse - and, hopefully, predict - price movement.
A consensus of opinion
There are hundreds of indicators which measure a range of factors such as trend, rate of price change, and average prices, and display them as lines, graphs and oscillators on the chart. The problem is, no indicator is sufficiently accurate on its own to base a decision on.
OmniTrader lets you 'stack up' indicators to create a consensus of opinion so you know when a signal is given that it's taken several factors into account. Signals can be generated based on a range of strategies. OmniTrader comes with three main ones - breakout, reversal and trending, and there are different strategies for stocks, futures and forex.
One major improvement is that now, when a signal is given, it never changes. In earlier versions, signals would sometimes disappear as the chart advanced.
In addition, charts draw much faster now. Some calculations are done in the background to enable a chart to display, typically, in under one second whereas before it could take over ten.
2008 includes new strategies, too, and signals based on market reversals claim to give increased accuracy.
Trend lines can be drawn automatically along with chart patterns.
In addition to functional improvements, a whole raft of video tutorials has been included which step you through the major features of the program. If you don't like reading manuals, you'll love this.
Prospecting
A quick glance at the blub and you may think that OmniTrader's buy and sell signals can be followed automatically to slowly - or rapidly! - make your fortune. Well, you could try and the signals undoubtedly work better on some markets and instruments than others. However, as the program does point out, OmniTrader is a prospecting tool and the signals should be regarded more as a heads up that a stock may be about to move in a certain direction rather than a cast iron signal. You probably ought to apply other criteria to the situation before making a buy or sell decision. If trading could be totally automatic then everyone would be making money!
Having said that, the Professional Edition (which we are not looking at here) does include OmniPilot Automation software to execute trades automatically although we'd be very cautious about running such an automatic strategy without extreme testing.
Essentially, OmniTrader is very easy to use but, as with all aspects of trading, practice makes perfect and there are a couple of features to help.
The first is Game Mode in which OmniTrader selects a security without telling you what it is, applies indicators to it and you have to trade it using on-screen buy, sell and stop controls. The second feature is Lab Mode which is similar but here you can trade a full basket of securities. If you can master these then you might want to risk your money in the market!
With the software you get a free three month subscription to OmniData price history and OmniScan which scans the data to find good candidates for trading, so you can test the program on good data while learning to use it. It is certainly a massive time saver when considering the thousands of US stocks.
Conclusion
There are several versions of OmniTrader 2008 ranging from $495 for the Stock-only, end-of-day version to $1995 for the Professional Edition which supports real-time data for Stocks and Futures and enables you to write your own indicators and systems.
OmniTrader 2008 improves upon an already excellent program in many ways and existing users will certainly want to upgrade. If you're new to trading it provides an excellent introduction to technical analysis in a near-automatic fashion and there's still the opportunity to modify and tweak the settings.
The program comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee (less shipping and handling) and if you want to learn more you can get an interactive CD-ROM.
