How To Get Started At Trading...(Part 2 - Trading Software)

Post by **Merlin** » Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:02 pm

Alright, by now you should know that there are 4 things you need in order to trade the stock market.

1- A broker (AMP Futures is my broker)
2- A live feed provider (CQG in my case)
3- A trading software (I use Multicharts)
4- A trading system (I designed mine)

In PART 1 of this course, we talked about step 1 and step 2 which are to open your trading account with your broker AMP Futures and getting your live feed credentials from CQG to be able to get live quotes on your trading charts.

Now in PART 2, we will discuss the 3rd one which is how to see those crazy stock charts move LIVE on your computer screen using a Trading Software (Multicharts).

This is the "super cool" part of trading. When you see stock charts move up and down live on your screen at home in your bedroom, it's quite impressive let me tell you that.

The learning curve to understand a trading software is steep but you can start today by downloading a free 30 day trial version of Multicharts and then download all my desktop, workspace, indicator and setup to see exactly what I see on my computer screen.

I will recreate the "DOWNLOAD SECTION" thread where I will post all my indicators, charts, desktop and workspaces for you to download so that will speed up the process quite a bit to catch up with me.

- Desktop (MERLIN.MCD)
- Main Workspace (MERLIN1.WSP)
- My main indicator : !MERLIN-CHANNEL.PLA

Save those 3 files in your PC in a Multicharts folder then open your Multicharts software and reopen the desktop, the workspace and the indicator files by clicking FILE>>>OPEN DESKTOP like so...

Then the workspace... The indicator should come built in the workspace.

File>>Open Workspace.

: !Multicharts-008.jpg (102.49 KiB) Viewed 5436 times

Here's what I see on my Multicharts screen now... As you can see, I modified quite a bit my trading system last night and it looks much better now by putting the focus on the top and bottom zones in red and blue. I will go into more details in the next post.

If you want to learn even more stuff about Multicharts, my broker AMP Futures create a youtube channel where they give online tutorials on Multicharts.

Once you downloaded all my files and the Multicharts software, you should see on your PC what I see on mine. If not then you can set it up to look like mine by customizing your Multicharts. This is how you do it...

First you click VIEW then scroll down to TOOLBARS then click CUSTOMIZE.

If you see nothing on your Merlin1 chart, that's ok, you need to do a few more tweaking like setting up the trading instrument you are trading, in this case the Micro and Mini Russell 2000 Futures contract and their trading symbols (M2K and RTY).

You do that by first getting from AMP and CQG the trading credentials that I talked about in PART 1. These are a username and password for you to trade with and get live feed from CQG.

Once you get your userid and pw you click FILE>>NEW>>QUOTEMANAGER WINDOW...

Next when the quotemanager window opens you click TOOLS>>>DATA SOURCES..

: !Multicharts-010.jpg (71.8 KiB) Viewed 5436 times

Next you select CQG in the list and enter your userid and pw there like so...

The next step is to add your trading symbols (M2K and RTY).

Still in the the quotemanager window, you click INSTRUMENT>>ADD SYMBOL>>FROM DATA SOURCE>>CQG

A window will open where you need to click FUTURES then enter the symbol "M2K" and then click Lookup. Check the include expired contracts checkbox and then click the Add All Button then the ADD button on the right bottom side.

Next repeat the process for the Mini contract symbol RTY.

We're almost done.

Next let's open the Broker File menu (FILE>>>BROKER PROFILES>>>MANAGE BROKER PROFILES). You will also see in the menu the option SYMBOL MAPPING which we will return to later.

This is the window that will open...

Here you click on NEW select CQG in the list then enter your CQG UserID and Password. If it's not set to LIVE then select it then click OK and close the window and return to the File Broker Profiles but this time select Symbol Mapping...

You will then click 8 times on the ADD button, 4 times for the 4 M2K contracts and 4 times for the 4 RTY contracts.

Then you click the 3 dot buttons on each one, select CQG in the menu then enter either M2K or RTY and you should see a list of all the M2K or RTY contracts in the bottom menu.

1 by 1, enter all 4 M2K and 4 RTY contracts that has the number 23 at the end. You should have a H23, M23, U23 and Z23.

For example see the RTYH23 item shown below.

In the end you should have the 4 HMUZ contract for the M2K and the 4 HMUZ contracts for the RTY on the left menu like so.

Once you have done this, congratulations you can now open a Stock Chart in Multicharts and see it move up and down LIVE on your own home PC.

You do that by clicking FILE>>>NEW>>>CHART WINDOW and then in the popup window, select the current contract that we are trading now in my case as I write this, the contract is the M2KH23.

If you went to the Download Section of the trading forum and downloaded my Merlin.mcd desktop file and my Merlin1.wsp workspace file along with my Merlin Channel indicator file, you should see something like this...

As usual, if you have any questions, let me know and I will help you with the setup.