Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Chart Gallery & Commentaries
The Profit Trap  &  The Channel Breakout System
Data Format Compatibility - TradeStation 2000i Data Link
Quote.com - QCharts Intraday Link
Active Filters replace tedious programming

Q) Do you have any comments and testimonials from other Powerkit clients?
Q) What is the Point & Shoot System Designer?
Q) Can I use Powerkit for Intraday Trading and for Daytrading?
Q) Is Powerkit ranked by Futures Truth?
Q) Can Powerkit trade medium to long term trends?
Q) Is Powerkit profitable across ALL markets?
Q) Is Powerkit heavily optimized?
Q) Can Powerkit be "tweaked" by me to suit my needs?
Q) Which Markets will Powerkit work with?

Quote Data Compatibility & Utilities:

Powerkit can use the following standard data formats:

	MetaStock (CompuTrac)
	CSI
	ASCII (Text)
	TC2000 (Worden)
	Personal Stock Monitor (PSM)
	QCollector (Quote.com & eSignal)
	TradeStation 2000i (TS-5) directly
	TradeStation 4, & TS-6 (TS-Pro) by ASCII export

These data sources give Powerkit access to realtime and delayed intraday charting - some are even free.  Powerkit can be just as profitable for the short-term trader as it is for the more conservative end-of-day trader or long-term investor.

Personal Stock Monitor

Personal Stock Monitor is a great program from DTLink that allows you to get both historical and live data, FREE from the internet.  You can monitor your portfolio and see intraday charts.  You can quickly and easily download years of daily historical data for most issues for free!  You may never pay for data again!  

Powerkit links directly with PSM and uses PSM as a database.  Historical data from PSM can be used in Powerkit and is stored in universal ASCII text format.

PSM has a free 30-day trial.  If you decide to keep using PSM after 30 days, the one-time-only registration fee is only $29.95 from DTLink.

My philosophy about data

Some people already have a data source.  Often it took them some effort to get hooked up to it.  As a result, many people will pass up any further software that doesn't work directly with "their" data—which they now feel stuck with for life.  ;)

Will you pass up the opportunity to boost your trading ability and income, just because you're concerned that data setup will be another hassle?

Most of the time it's not hard at all.  Whatever help you need is available.  Even programming changes can be made to accommodate your special needs.  Put your head on straight!  No lame excuses!  It's amazing how little it takes to stand in the way of some people and block them from success.  Most people are techno-phobic to a ridiculous extreme.  Don't let that be you.

I'll solve any data compatibility problem for anyone who earnestly wants to use Powerkit.  I've made it easy for hundreds of clients to advance to profitable trading.  I'll help you too.  So, put aside any data concerns; they're trivial, and I can't waste time on them until you've started evaluating Trader's Powerkit.

QChart/QFeed from Quote.com, plus eSignal: Trader's Powerkit goes Intraday!

Another option for intraday service that can be used with Powerkit is Quote.com's QChart/QFeed service.  QFeed is a pay service that features realtime streaming quotes, which are many times faster than any of the free services.  The data is also cleaner and more reliable.  There is also access to all market's historical data.  This is truly a professional data solution for Powerkit.

If you use QCharts from Quote.com then you can use QCharts' realtime streaming quotes to send complete daily and realtime data to Powerkit!  Yes - Powerkit can be used effectively with intraday data!

QCollector, a $79 utility, captures and stores all your data from Quote.com/QCharts and makes it available as ASCII data to Powerkit and to many other charting and analysis programs.  QCollector is a terrific addition to QCharts; and it turns Trader's Powerkit into a killer intraday trading system!

QCollector is also about to come out with a version to work with eSignal data as well as with Quote.com and QCharts:

click here for info:
Tradeworks Software
http://www.mechtrading.com

QCollector will download unlimited intraday and end-of-day data from
Quote.com and, coming soon, from eSignal.  Save data in ASCII text or MetaStock format.  Update your data files in real-time. 

TradeStation Data Compatibility:

(Note: You don't need TradeStation to use Powerkit.  Powerkit can access data from TradeStation, but Powerkit is a stand-alone program and is complete unto itself and does not run inside TradeStation.)

Many people have TradeStation and want to use their TradeStation data with Powerkit.  I've added a direct link to the data in TradeStation.  This means that TradeStation users (only TS version 5, or ProSuite 2000i) have zero problems adding Powerkit to your trading arsenal!  As soon as you start Powerkit you will see all your TradeStation issues right before you, ready to chart.  There is NO SETUP or configuration needed - NONE!

In addition, I've agreed with Omega to gradually make the best of the tools in Powerkit available to use with studies and systems written in TradeStation - this includes the 3D Surface Charts, which Omega has nothing like.  

You can also export data from TradeStation 4, 6, Pro, or SuperCharts, in ASCII format, and use it with Powerkit.  Powerkit also works with intraday data from most sources.

Back to Q&A

New Feature: Active Filters replace programming

You can now use the studies and indicators in conjunction with the Breakout Signals.   The program will calculate the equity results of the combined breakout and indicator signals and filters.  You can compare the results with and without the various filters and know with certainty which work the best.  You can also see how well the filters reduce drawdown.

The new ability to incorporate live studies is called ACTIVE FILTERING.  Included is the ability to filter with TREND indicators, with OSCILLATOR studies, or with both. This gives Powerkit most of the important system building power and flexibility found in MetaStock (tm) or TradeStation (tm) but you don't have to know a stitch of programming to use it.   Included filtering studies so far are: Moving Averages, Wilder's SAR Volatility Trend System, Up-Down Volatility Trend, Stochastics, Commodity Cycle Index, and Rate of Change of a Moving Average. There is also a new filter for taking signals only if they are confirmed by rising volume.

Back to Q&A

Questions and Answers

Q) Is Powerkit ranked by Futures Truth? Does it have a track record?

Trader's Powerkit is not a black box trading system like the commercial ones sold for thousands of dollars and ranked in Future's Truth.  Powerkit is closer in nature to TradeStation™ and CompuTrac™, which are flexible system-building platforms.  The question does not apply because Powerkit is designed to be used in limitless ways.  However, Powerkit does specialize in channel-breakout algorithms, which are the type that have been used by many, if not most, of the most expensive commercial trading systems.

System selling can be a dirty business in which the honest developer is at a disadvantage.  Most track records are based on hypothetical trades or on so-called "real-time trades" which have never really been executed, despite what the vendors try to make you believe.  Even brokerage statements are made up by some vendors in order to convince naive buyers that their system is "the real thing."  If you fall for these deceptions I can't help you.

Powerkit is a technical analysis program with which you create and test your own breakout systems to your own specifications.  It's not a system that promises to be a "no brainer" or promises to make you tons of money with zero effort on your part.  My advice is to leave the "no brainers" for the people with no brains.

Powerkit has over 1100 users, who've had the system since 1989 (as PBS also).  They wouldn't have stuck with it this long if it weren't profitable for them.  Many of these users are institutional and professional traders.  Back to Q&A

Q) Can I use your system for intraday trading?

(also See the Chart Gallery 30-minute NASDAQ and S&P E-Mini)

Yes, the program can use intraday data of any time frame.  If you have TradeStation 5 it will take data directly from the Global Data Server.  TradeStation-Pro data is not yet supported directly, but you can export files in ASCII and use them in Powerkit. Powerkit can read intraday files in ASCII and MetaStock formats. 

Powerkit doesn't update tick-by-tick.  If you're watching 15 minute bars and you want to see the last bar you have to click on the chart once every 15 minutes.  Powerkit is not a market monitor, it's a trading system and target generator.

In the near future I'll be expanding the number of internet data sources for both daily and intraday data.  Many of these are free.

Short term techniques:

About half of my clients are daytraders or short term traders.  There is more random noise in intraday prices.  Therefore it's important to use one or more of the optional filters.  Always look at the next higher time frame from the one you're trading: if you're trading one minute bars, then look at ten minute bars also, and keep in sync with the signals you get there.  

If trading on ten minute bars, then also get signals from the hourlies, and keep in sync with them.  I like to use hourly bars with a 9 period RSI, 13 period stochastic, and a 21 period Wilder's Volatility filter.  The 21 hour Wilder's filter and the 13 hour stochastic, when plotted, reveal the market's normal 3-day cycle and show up many tradable short-term swings.   

Daytrading can also be more profitable when you abide by the daily signals.  If you do take a day trade opposite the direction of the current daily signal, then just make it a scalp with a limited profit target. Don't try to ride it as a trend, because it's likely to reverse itself abruptly and without warning.

The shorter the time frame the more you need to employ additional
filters to weed out lesser trades.

The percentage of random price movement is greatest at short intraday time
frames, so by adding a trend filter (like Wilder's Volatility SAR) and an
overbought/oversold filter (stochastic or rate-of-change), you can improve
your results significantly.

Personally, I gave up day trading when I found that I can make
more money with less work - and less risk - trading based on daily and
weekly data.  Now I still have some time for a life away from the quote
screen.  Back to Q&A

Q) Can Powerkit trade medium to long term trends, which is how I prefer to trade?
Yes, short term data has more inherent noise, or random movement, than longer term data.  Medium and long term data is easier to work with but can still benefit from additional signal filtering.

Breakout systems use volatility to signal trends. Volatility and noise are NOT the same thing. Volatility has direction, noise doesn't. Longer term data has more volatility and less noise. 

Weekly data is the best for long term trading. It gives fewer trades with almost the same equity as more frequent, daily-based trading.

Generally, trades last several weeks with unfiltered daily data, and longer when filters are added. Weekly-based trades can last for an entire market cycle.  Back to Q&A


Q) Is Powerkit profitable across ALL markets and not just a few?

This is a real question someone emailed to me!  Being realistic, NOTHING is profitable across ALL markets.  Your aim should be to trade only those markets that ARE profitable.  

Powerkit makes it easy to locate which markets to trade, and when. There are always opportunities, you just have to keep on top of them.  The quick scanning capabilities in Powerkit make it no chore at all to do that, it's even fun.  Back to Q&A


Q) Is Powerkit heavily optimized?

Powerkit is optimized as little or as much as you choose to make it. The manual discusses all the pitfalls of optimization, curve fitting, degrees of freedom etc., and also the inevitability of looking at the past to some degree in all trading. Remember "Those who ignore the past are doomed to re-live it".

Optimization is like a loaded gun. You can use it to shoot yourself in the foot, or you can use it to defend your life. You just have to know how to use it, and when.   The manual shows how to use Powerkit without over-optimizing or curve fitting.  Back to Q&A

Q) Does Powerkit include portfolio management - e.g. open position tracking?

Powerkit is not a portfolio manager, but you can see daily equity, cumulative profit, drawdown, and best-worst trade equity, all either visually or in text format. You can also add the equity lines from a number of issues together to get a total portfolio equity. This allows you to measure the improvement in your bottom line when you institute diversification into your trading.  Back to Q&A

Q) Does Powerkit generate daily stops and trading signals?

Absolutely.  Back to Q&A

Q) Is Powerkit MetaStock and/or ASCII data compatible for EOD data, and can it directly utilize either?

Powerkit currently reads MetaStock and CompuTrac type data, plus six other major formats. ASCII and CSI are included.  Back to Q&A


Q) Can Powerkit be "tweaked" by me to suit my own ideas and methods?

Powerkit is my personal software, designed to do all the things I find necessary and valuable. This includes the ability to flexibly test and develop new ideas.

You can test and develop extensively and adapt to different markets and time frames.   There are currently 3 breakout systems included, plus several new volatility-related indicators.  If you want to test systems other than the built-in breakout systems, there is the Point & Shoot System Designer.

With the Point & Shoot System Designer module you can plot any combination of studies, systems, or chart patterns, and then visually scan for signals which are triggered.  You can simply click on those spots where there are signals (crossovers, level penetrations, chart pattern completions) and the Point & Shoot function will let you place either an up or down arrow right on the screen where you clicked.  Then, you simply press a button and all the equity lines for the system you have built will be calculated and displayed.  You can see the results of even the most complex systems just by Pointing & Clicking (shooting).  This is the fastest "down and dirty" system tester ever devised.  It requires absolutely no programming or calculations--just "Point & Shoot".  Back to Q&A


Q) Which Markets will Powerkit work with?

Volatility breakout systems like Powerkit were originally used in the financial futures markets such as the S&P, bonds, and currencies.  Larry Williams, who did much of the early trading, also used a similar system on silver and other "hard" commodities.  I've used Powerkit for many years with stocks and mutual funds, as well as with the S&P and other futures contracts.  

Several thousand Powerkit users are now trading every market you can think of -- including all familiar U.S. and world markets.

The systems in Powerkit work with all markets simply because price breakouts happen in all markets.  I stress that the key isn't only choosing a good market -- it's also being patient.  Trade only when conditions in that market make it easy to be correct.  A quick scan on a variety of markets is the best way to reveal which ones can be traded effectively right now.  

Good traders don't get married to just one market.  Watch several, and use Powerkit's Equity Lines to show you which ones are becoming good candidates to switch into.

Back to Q&A

Profit Trap Tutorial
Articles, Reviews, Testimonials
Feedback & Questions
Powerkit User's Forum

Free System Manual and Formulas
Ordering Powerkit
CFTC statement
Send me email:  SRN1@OptOnLine.net
Back to Top
Back to home page