Trading’s Best Kept Secret

I’m a full-time options trader looking to diversify more of my portfolio to futures and equities.  System development and backtesting fits in here.

Last night, I posted the following on the Yahoo! AmiBroker (AB) User’s List:

“I’ve had AB for several months now but have struggled immensely with learning to code. I’m not a programmer. I found Bandy’s Introduction to AB to be hardly introductory. I believe the AB web site and documentation to be complete but hard for me to understand.

Is there anyone else like me out there?  What I’d like to do is form a small group of AB beginners looking to learn AB Formula Language (AFL) and improve their usage of the software. Our communication could take the form of a mailing list or on-line meetings. We could tackle some simple explorations or AFL code, share ideas, and generally help each other learn while demanding some accountability to be in the group.

If you’re interested then feel free to respond with your e-mail address or e-mail me directly.”

AB is like an indie version of more commercial software like Telechart 2000, eSignal, or Metastock.  For a one-time fee of $199, the consensus is that AB offers more functionality than any other product.  It is not widely promoted like the other products and it seems to have a small but loyal user base.  Few third parties have jumped in to provide education or support, which means you either enter the jungle and hack through the learning curve on your own or you pay a recurring monthly fee for something else.

If you are an AB user and can identify with my sentiment above then please contact me.  The intent here is not necessarily to form a group like that described in http://www.optionfanatic.com/2012/02/25/seeking-the-mastermind/ .  The goal here is strictly to better learn the software and to get more extensive use out of it.