Trading Strategies book
The book is a free download. (Click the link to read from the web or right click and save it.)

It IS copyrighted and is NOT for redistribution in any form. If you know of others who wish to have a copy, please refer them to this web site.

You may need the Adobe Acrobat reader.

TradeSim may also be downloaded for a four day trial. I suggest you read the book first and install TradeSim when you are ready for the trial period to begin. If you then purchase TradeSim, an activation key will be issued that enables the program to continue to be used on your computer.

TradeSim has been tested on Windows 98 release2, Windows NT3, Windows 2000 professional and Windows XP home. It will not run on Windows 95.

TradeSim software release 3.01 -- 22 October 2002 - This is the most recent release.

This release adds

• Convenience buttons for selecting return and risk files.
• File paths are abbreviated to fit in text boxes.
• Fixes a bug concerning the proper display of units in some charts.
• Fixes a bug that causes the program to abruptly end during the trial period.

Buy TradeSim

Download TradeSim301.msi (right click and choose 'Save Target As') then run it to install TradeSim.

If the installer asks if you want to repair or remove TradeSim, choose remove, then run the install file once more to complete the install.

Make sure the date on your computer clock is correct. Installing the program with the date set wrong can cause unpredictable results later.

This will also put an examples folder in the Application folder since The format of returns files has changed slightly and risk files have been added. The default location is C:\Program Files\TradeSim\Examples, but they will be in the folder the program was installed in. Move this folder to a more convenient place if you wish. There are 2 sub-folders, Returns and Risk.

The files in the returns folder have the profit and loss values that were used previously. The format of these files has changed. The first line of the file must contain 'Return Data' in order to distinguish these files from other types of files.

The files in the Risk folder have custom risk curves. The first line of these files is a description and the second must contain 'Equity Risk' in order to distinguish them from other types of files.

You may have a problem with the program asking repeatedly for a risk file. After this notice the file selection window should appear. Select one of the risk files. If there are still problems, please send me an email.

If running TradeSim fails to install, it is likely because the Windows installer is not up to date on your machine. A recent version can be found at Microsoft's web site. Search for 'windows installer' and download and run the re-distributable file for your system. For your convenience the files are also here (2002.04.20). For Windows 95,98 & Me or for Windows NT4, 2000. Just download the file and run it, then run the TradeSim.msi again. If there is any problem, Please send mail.

Getting an activation key

When run the first time, the program will bring up this window:

After you have bought TradeSim, click 'Request Activation Key' to create the text of an e-mail on the clipboard. Paste that message into a new e-mail and send it to the address indicated. The activation key will be returned by e-mail.

When you receive the activation key, paste it into the Activation Key box and click Activate Program.

Previous software release 2.1.1 28 May 2002

This release adds

• User definable risk for both the marble game and TradeSim.
• A user risk file creation tool.
• Win Runs and Loss runs charts.
• User Risk table and chart.
• Drawdown in either percent or absolute units.
• The user interface is changed.

Update History - Version 1.1.1 - 2002.03.20

• Fixes a bug in which overflow is treated as a more serious problem. This bug only occurs for languages other than English.
• Fixes a problem of failing to find files if the current file path is not valid.
• Fixes problem with manually editing the input path.

Overflows are not considered serious and the program continues after issuing a notice. since it only happens for unreasonably large values of equity - numbers with more than 300 digits to the left of the decimal point.

More serious problems create email on the clipboard requesting a bug fix.

Note: Overflows - numbers too large or small to be properly stored - are generally caused by unrealistic program inputs. For instance MarbleGame settings of 1,000 Trades, 50% risk, 99% Probability and 10 W/L Ratio will cause an overflow but the equity results are beyond any reasonable value.

Thank You,
Larry Sanders

Page updated 2003.02.08