Wealth Lab vs TradeStation for Back Test

At the Trader’s Expo I watched portions of presentations on two different back test tools: TradeStation and Wealth Lab.   The most striking differences between them were not in functionality but in following.   The TradeStation talk in the exhibition theater area was packed, with people standing to watch.   Wealth Lab was discussed in a private room with very light attendance.

The difference in venue is not the root cause.  The (new) owners of Wealth Lab, Fidelity, restrict access to only customers trading in excess of 130 times per year with Fidelity.  If this limited access is a marketing ploy to get more active traders for Fidelity, I’d hazard a guess that its not working.

Too bad Wealth Lab is kept locked away because it sounds like it has features which are lacking in TradeStation.  Portfolio simulation, for example, is a capability often requested by TradeStation customers which is already available in Wealth Lab.

TradeStation, on the other hand, offers futures and forex which Wealth Lab does not support.  It also appeared as though Wealth Lab required more effort than TradeStation to set up the data for even basic back tests.

 As it stands, I’ve put TradeStation to work for a lot of back tests and didn’t see enough compelling capabilities in Wealth Lab to go through the pain of both switching software and lining up 130 trades per year at Fidelity.

What about you?  Which tools are you using?

November 27th, 2009 Filed under Classes, Outside Products Reviewed

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    • 4 Responses to “Wealth Lab vs TradeStation for Back Test”

    1. Woodshedder | 29/11/09

      I’m using AmiBroker, and loving it. It is very fast and flexible.

      I started with Tradestation, but found it absolutely ridiculous that Tradestation cannot backtest over a portfolio.

      I still use Tradestation for their brokerage and executions (which are good), but AmiBroker does 90% of my backtesting work.

    2. backtester | 30/11/09

      thanks for your comments. i had also heard good things about Amibroker but didn’t notice them at the Traders Expo.

    3. Matthias | 15/09/10

      I don’t know TradeStation, but I do use and like WealthLab. Your points about it are right on. I have no idea, why Fidelity will not offer futures and forex trading – especially for the active traders they try to bring into the Wealth-Lab fold that is a severe restriction.

      The data mgmt in WL takes some getting used to, but I really came to like it. The amount of free (!) data Fidelity make available is pretty amazing.

      I also like the execution speed of the new version. Maybe it’s because I run the 64bit version, but it really is amazingly fast.

    4. Ray Fry | 18/01/11

      What backtesting software can scan many stocks at one time other than Wealth Lab and Strategy Desk?

      Thanks…

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