

Open Source Stock Technical Analysis - EzGraphs
http://www.r-chart.com/2010/06/stock-analysis-using-r.html

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d_c
Interesting, has anyone experience using the package?

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_debug_
Yes, it works quite well. Jeff Ryan is the man. www.quantmod.com. Using his
other package, IBrokers, or by embedding the REngine in a Java or .NET thread
and using Interactive Brokers' APIs, it is quite feasible to start using R for
mid-frequency automated trading : market data (direction:in) and order
management (direction:out) are done in Java/.NET via the broker's APIs, and
you marshal the market data off to R on it's thread and run it's analytics and
spit out a trading decision.

The problem is that most Technical Analysis is somewhere in between voodoo and
immature quantitative analysis. Thus, the real practical use of the package
(for me) is in visualizing non-TA stuff.

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rjett
"The problem is that most Technical Analysis is somewhere in between voodoo
and immature quantitative analysis."

If you accept that past prices have no bearing on future prices, would you
care to explain the difference between technical analysis and quantitative
analysis? My own opinion is that QA is a subset of TA that places emphasis on
statistical analysis rather than trying to see chart patterns (the voodoo you
refer to). Still, aren't both things, regardless of the sophistication of the
approach, striving to predict future prices from historical prices?

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hogu
in quantitative analysis, you try to figure out how to make decisions that are
statistically likely to be profitable.

generally, those that practice technical analysis, look at charts and apply
rules, however you don't have any statistical evidence that your ideas will be
profitable.

one could properly backtest technical analysis based strategies, and if one
did so properly, while controlling for overfitting, it would be as valid as
most quantitative analysis.

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rjett
That was sort of my point. If you're backtesting, then you are assuming that
past prices do in fact have some sort of bearing on future prices. Besides,
aren't there all sorts of problems with backtesting, one of which is
survivor's bias?

