Gecko Charts: Daily, weekly and monthly futures bar charts showing
retracements, MACD, Fibonnacci, and many technical formation tools to aid
you in your commodity chart analysis and paper trading.
One problem we have ALWAYS had is being on the
same "page". I mean literally on the same page, you know? The problem
stems from our various data sources and providers. Now since I left those
(only good for the outhouse) US Chartco charts, I have always used DTN. I
like DTN.
Their bookkeeping is worse than Shaggy's, but for
clarity of charts, features such as price scroll bar, zoom in, drawing
retracements, indicators, alarms and a vast array of news and weather
maps, it's just hard to beat.
Problem is, DTN will cost ya about 80 bucks a
month and you have to erect that satellite dish somewhere. There is DTN
"on line" but it bites. And I can't suggest to brand new traders that they
commit to a 12 month DTN contract unless I know that they will be
dedicated enough to put out the coin for that length of time.
Now (we) have been through the gamut of data
providers wanting us to try this and try that all in the hopes that (we)
will recommend that service to you. TFC charts, bar charts, global charts,
navigation charts, the whole bit. Never did I find anything that compares
to the accuracy and attention to detail like DTN.
So here we were all these years not being on the
same page as we all had different data providers. Every so often a student
would send me a chart that they were looking at and I would compare that
to my DTN. NO WONDER so many of you are having a hard time figuring this
out!
I would look at their chart and I couldn't even
see what I was describing in the e-mails! Holy monkey dung, batman! No
wonder it's been tough on youse guys.
What we need to do folks is all get on the same
page. We all need to be looking at and seeing the same thing. Now this
problem is COMPOUNDED by Shaggy ragging my backside for putting out too
many paper trading exercises. She figured it out the other day and we are
averaging 90 something papertrades a month. Far too many for you folks to
keep up with or realistically even trade for if and when you go into real
money with a short funded account.
So she says to me...Listen, we need to make this
more realistic. We need to cut back on the quantity of individual
papertrades, and show a chart with each one we cover so the people can see
what's going through your short-circuited little mind.
But then this comes full circle to the thing about
reading the charts and seeing what I am seeing. But, and here comes a big
BUT for ya.. We might have this figured out.
A while back the Pitmaster sent me "Gecko charting
software". He wanted to know what I thought of it. Now being a computer
test crash dummy that I am, it just laid around here because I really
didn't have time to get Shaggy over here to load it and for me to sit down
with the operations manual trying to figure out how it works.
Well today, folks, I did. I sat down with the
operations manual which is as much a short course in learning commodities
as it is a "how to" book on the Gecko software utilities. Let me be humble
about this. This Gecko charting "system" is fantastic. The best I've seen,
the easiest to understand and use of all the trading systems and software
I've ever come in contact with.
I sat down with the "dreaded book" today and one
hour later I was able to make this charting software walk and talk. Let me
tell you some of the things it does:
Everything you need is on the main menu tool bar.
From there it drops down into sub categories and you just click on what
you need. Click on a window and you can choose the charts you want sorted
alphabetically, sorted by groups such as grains, meats, metals, softs or
sorted by exchange like CBOT, CME etc.
Then pick a market, a year, future or past up to
25 years back, daily, weekly or monthly chart and then the thing pops up
for you. Now what's too cool for students is that you can make the price
bars show up one day at a time by single clicking, make it run them ahead
slowly, or fast forward, fill in right to present day, stop at any time or
back up.
What's so cool about this is that you can click
one day at a time, wait until you see a tradable technical formation and
paper trade it. Then click again to see if you were filled, if you made
money or lost. You can do this anywhere in any time period on any chart.
The data window shows the date, hi, low, close
volume and OI for any market you choose, and a quick glance shows you the
"hits" on highs and lows that I'm trying to teach you to track. The price
bar is always active showing these same figures at the bottom of the chart
as you move your cursor around and the day you're on turns the blue price
bars into red so you know where you're at. And yes, you can zoom in on
this sucker to where it makes your dog howl.
You can put in every conceivable indicator from
MACD to candle sticks. What else does it do, what else does it do? Let me
tell ya.. The thing even tells you your risk to reward ratio IN DOLLARS.
Yep. You place the cursor and click where you'd enter the trade and then
place and click where you'd want your stop loss.
This tells you initial risk. Then click on enter
price again and then on where you expect to exit. It shows you, in dollars
your profit potential vs. risk. Then the dang thing tells you, or gives
you an option of what kind of order to place.
There is the trend tool, the multi trend tool,
Gann fan, pitchfork fan, it draws channels, does the 50% retracements and
the Fibonnacci retracement levels. It has a tool that shows 1-2-3
formations, draws wedges, pennant formations and then tells you the
potential dollar amount of the trade. Unbelievable.
Don't stop now Mikey, don't stop now!
Let me tell you something, kids. This software
even figures options for you. Tells you the cost and profits or losses.
I've got to hand it to the Pitmaster and crew, that have put out a fine
product built with the new trader in mind and incorporated a vast amount
of great ideas and a fine working instrument.
And let's not forget about the educational aspects
of this thingy. It teaches you all about indicators and how to use them, a
glossary of terms, what kind of orders to use and when, contract sizes and
trading requirements and the list of cool things is just endless.
Now you'd think this Pitmaster fella was about to
marry my sister or something, right? Nope. He wanted me to evaluate this
material for him without bias, promises or trades. I have done that. It is
nothing less than awesome! From now on the charts that I send you in the
nightly mails will be those kindly provided by Gecko charts. And from
these you'll be able to see what all they can do.
What's the dang thing cost? First of all it's a
monthly subscription thingy. Oh gosh your thinking.. This must be a few
grand I'd need to lay out for this. You kidding? Think small..Very small.
Very, very small.
Now for the bad news. Gecko is not instant or even
ten minute delay. It is updated at the end of the day at around 6 PM
Eastern time. This makes it hard on me because I usually begin the e-mails
at 3:30. Starting at 6 PM would keep me, Shaggy and Peggy working till
past 9 or 10 PM each evening. More so, it does not have any news included
or if it does I haven't found it. But it is still excellent for you folks
and especially new traders.
Bottom line? I like Gecko, I like it a lot. Here
is the direct link to the Gecko Software
free
trial download so you can kick the tires yourself.
