Commodity Explorer
15601 N. Dallas Parkway, Suite 200
Addison, TX 75001
(866) 260-4900
trader@commodityexplorer.com
www.commodityexplorer.com
Overall Rating: **
level: Beginner to advanced.
Price: $99 monthly with delayed data, $196.40 monthly with live exchange feed, or $2,995 for a lifetime license. Additional price options also available.
Recommended System: Windows 2000/XP (Not Mac Compatible), Ram: Minimum 128 MB, recommended 512 MB; Processor: Minimum 1 GHZ Pentium III, recommended 2.4 GHZ Pentium III; Available HD space: 100 MB; Internet Connection: DSL; Cable modem and T1 (data feed required either with WizeTrade, eSignal or integrated broker (Lind-Waldock or Man Financial)).
Commodity Explorer is a trading platform designed to improve your trading decisions by identifying trends and entry and exit points. It is not a trading system with buy and sell signals. The product has a very unique presentation and utilizes “up” and “down” green and red arrows to indicate buying and selling pressure. Trying to compare Commodity Explorer with other products is difficult. Its main indicator is used to help identify assets that are trending. The software also provides structure and help in risk management through position sizing, stop loss placement and tracking profitability by producing an integrated profit and loss.
OVERVIEW: ***
After logging onto the system the trader is presented with six tabs that provide diverse functionality: Overview, Journal, Trade Manager, Parameters, Calculator and Quick Quote. The Overview Screen is designed to give the trader a quick overview of how the markets are doing within multiple time frames. At a glance, the trader can get a general view of the markets. The overview screen is customizable so traders can track specific markets. From the overview screen, the trader can drill down to a specific asset and time frame, quickly showing the strength of the trend across multiple markets and time frames. This can help the trader focus on those markets exhibiting the strongest trends.
To help gauge trend strength, traders are taught to use a single trend indicator along with volume to make discretionary buy and sell signals. No other indicators are provided with the software and no other indicators can be displayed on any chart.
The trader is instructed to make discretionary trading buy and sell signals based on such things as the crossing of a bullish and bearish trend signal along with monitoring the slope of the indicator. Training classes are taught on ways to gauge the strength of trend. Time frames can be customized based on trading style in the Parameters tab. The software does not have the ability to display charts in a standard format that most traders are accustomed to using, but it offer the ability to paper trade your buy and sell signals and manage your risk.
The product does not have a full set of features. The primary means of determining your entry and exit points is based on the single trend indicator. There is no facility to back test. In addition, there is an inability to set up alerts.
Installation: **
The software ships on a single CD with very sparse documentation. However, all documentation is located on the Vendor Web site. WizeTrade is the daily TV show that the user is instructed to watch to help in learning the software and monitoring how the current trading day is unfolding (www.wizetradetv.com). On the Vendor Web site is on-demand training for their software, along with documentation for their software.
I had difficulty learning how to use the product and feeling comfortable with its interface. Lacking price charts and standard indicators, the user is instructed to rely on the single Trend Indicator with limited charting to help make decisions.
The lack of written documentation made using the product a bit frustrating, but the company provides extensive help by way of their support team, who can answer all questions.
Additional features: ***
There are more features built into this software to help the user with a structure to improve his trading decisions. The Journal tab gives the user the ability to instantly create a journal entry that includes entry and exit price information along with other pertinent information to help track the trader’s positions.
The Trade Manager screen is integrated to display open positions, trade detail and account information from your brokerage accounts (Lind-Waldock or Man Financial).
The QuickQuote screen provides the trader with an easy-to-read table of assets that the trader wants to monitor. Information such as open, high, low and close is included. Another handy screen displays contract information such as contract size, value and point value. This enables the user to become familiar with contract specifications of specific commodities.
Technical support is provided in various formats. The user can call into the support hot line, go to the Web and do a “live chat,” e-mail or submit a problem ticket. The main source of information is centered around the vendor’s home page. From there, a customer logs in and can watch WizeTrade TV, obtain free training and tutorials provided on the vendor Web site.
SUMMARY
Commodities Explorer is a narrowly focused product to specifically help the trader determine the strength of a trend and help pinpoint high probability entries and exits. Training is provided from a variety of sources and limitations include the inability to setup alerts, backtest trade entries and exits and display standard price charts.
Because the software focuses on spotting trends and does not provide the specific rules to explain it’s strength of trend indicator, traders are instructed to make use of the variety of training to make best use of the software.
Lawrence M. Seldin, CMC, CPC, has been involved with trading futures, options and currencies since 2002. He trades long term and short term for his own trading accounts. He can be reached at larry@seldin.net or www.seldin.net.
