I’ve never used Multicharts before, but it has come recommended, so I wanted to try it out. However, I noticed there are two versions, and I’m not really sure which I should choose. To be honest, on the website they look mostly the same to me. Is there any reason to pick one over the other, or does it not matter much?
Hello tttrader1,
While Multicharts and Multicharts .NET are very similar, there are a few key differences that might aid in your decision between them.
The biggest difference between the two is the underlying programming language used for developing studies, automated strategies, and such. The regular Multicharts uses an easy-language friendly code that means those who are coming from a non-programming background, or prior TradeStation users can get familiar and code within Multicharts fairly easily. It is generally considered more ‘human-friendly’, but still very powerful.
Multicharts .NET however, uses the standardized C# with the Microsoft .NET library that is used for many applications for various uses. There is a steeper learning curve with C#/.NET, so this is probably easier for seasoned developers to pick up. It also provides a lot of flexibility since it is a standardized programming language.
The other main difference would be that the regular Multicharts only has a 30 day free trial, and Multicharts .NET has a free version that can be used indefinitely. The free version of Multicharts .NET, however, is limited to only two trading symbols. This means that you could only receive quotes, trade, and view charts for two symbols with it.
Thanks for the description! That really helps! I don’t program much, so it sounds like Multicharts without .NET might be easier for me to grasp if I got into it, but I’m not sure if that’s where I’ll go with my trading at this point or not.
Are most of the other features the same, as in do they work the same way, or would one be more easy to use in general then the other outside of the programming aspect?
Anytime!
Yes, the other features work essentially the same way, so you should have no problem getting up to speed. It also makes it easier to switch between the two platforms if at anytime you wanted to change to the other.
I have used both, and I’ve been developing software for almost 2 decades.
If you don’t have much experience programming, I would recommend you start with EasyLanguage. Often you can do in 2-3 lines of EasyLanguage what would take 20-30 lines in C#. Plus, as an inexperienced developer, I think you would find yourself struggling with the limited documentation offered by MC.NET.
Of course, there are things you can do in C# that you can’t do in EasyLanguage. But don’t let that mislead you. Most of the time you only will need to do the kinds of things EasyLanguage has been designed for.
If you want to have the best of both, one suggestion is to buy the EasyLanguage version and also download the MultiCharts.NET SE (starter edition) version for free: MultiCharts .NET Starter Edition
It limits you to 2 symbols, but otherwise it’s fully functional. You can use that to teach yourself C# (along with other tutorials and classes, most likely) and you can use the EasyLanguage version to actually build indicators/strategies and trade them.