I'm using Fidelity WLP 5.6 under both XP and Vista Business. All trades are placed through Fidelity ATP; WLP is used only to view real time graphs in four time frames for selected securities. All graphs are set to stream data. No strategies or any other bells and whistles are used in WLP other than technical indicators.

I am having many and various problems. I frequently log WLP out and back in to get the )(*^^!! thing to update RT. If the "stream" button on a given graph appears to be "on", I've learned not to trust the graph unless I first compare the last date and time per the graph to a clock on the wall. WLP will appear to be operating just fine while in fact it is doing absolutely nothing. This morning I hit a new high on the Vista machine - when I clicked on the "stream" button for a graph the entire WLP application closed. Repeatedly. Even after machine restarts.

After reviewing entries on this Forum, I see that I am not alone. The last related entry I found was from April, when Cone indicated that Fidelity streaming was to be updated "in the next release". Next release of what?? And when? By who?

I'm thinking it is the next release of something on the server end that has not been fixed for about three months by Fidelity. I'm also thinking of pulling my accounts from Fidelity and looking for a better service provider. Any insight you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Next release of what??
Wealth-Lab "Pro" ("Developer" for international customers)

By who?
Fidelity develops and enhances the Wealth-Lab client software

And when?
Fidelity controls the release schedule, but they don't pre-announce it. (But if all goes well, before September)

There are many improvements and large enhancements for the next release, a new Fidelity streaming provider that connects to Quotes much faster, and we *think* the bug(s) that caused the occasional streaming chart to stop is fixed. Fingers crossed.

Sounds encouraging. I'll give it another month or two and hope for the best.

Thanks again!!

Hi,

I am new to this site and Wealth-Lab.

I installed the 30 days demo from Fidelity some days ago but I think I would prefer a different provider.

So I would like to consider purchasing/subscribing to WL here but I am a bit confused:

It appears to me that WL was acquired by Fidelity (whenever that was) but still is "somehow" a own company or legal entity selling WL Developer to outside the US customers?

But I do not want to transfer my professional trading rules to a SW where I might end up sitting between to chairs: Just quickly reading thru some postings here I often find a very harsh tone by WL admins whenever they get asked about when, how, and who will implement bug fixes and upgrades or who is resonsible for what (WL here or Fidelity) etc.!

Sometimes it is pointed out that WL (here) has nothing to do with Fidelity and is independend, then admins post they can not say when an upgrade/bug fix is going to be released at it is Fidelity who decides this and WL (here) knows nothing about it.

Anybody with a background in SW knows that most likely there will not be different people coding WL Pro over at Fideltiy and others here coding WL Dev, but somehow this will be the very same people either being outsourced from Fidelity or not.

So I see a conflict that WL (here) pretending to be independent (for its international customers) while in reality the decission when and what to do will always come from Fidelity.

I would like to kindly ask to openly communicate the situation as is (if in a polite manner even more appreciated). Thank you!


Some questions aside:

I read that there is a "major" release coming up. Shall I wait with downloading your trial as it is limited to 30 days? Or will it be possible to DL the new release despite having tried the actual demo? So far my Fildelity trial will only be good for a couple of days.

Will I (still) get the previous version 4 with the new one? My friend has it for years and would provide me with his scripts too, and besides, he says that he will not upgrade to 5 anyway (tested it and told me it by far lacks a lot of things the old is capable of - I cannot comment on that. At least he said he is *** about having paid a one-time fee for a SW and the next realse is on a recurring subscription basis).

May I add that your subscription policy generally is extremly negative for me! For trading alone I have two completly mirrored computers set up, so that in case of a problem I can always switch over to the other one instantenously. And in my home office I have another one which is practically the same, and all three of them get synchronized every day. Plus my trading notebook for the rare occasions I am (trying to go) on vacation!

As I understand, I would need 4(!) licenses for that - this in my situation is ridiculous! With NinjaTrader and TradeStation which I use now (beside some other tools) I only have on "per user" licenses which I can use on an unlimited number of computers! Of course not logged in at the same time.

Come on WL! It is the age of Web 2.0 and clouds and stuff. You ain't Apple or MS, are you? This policy may be THE reason not to go for WL Dev. I am just a single user so paying for 3 or 4 licenses every year over and over again?

Thanks!
Urs

Fidelity purchased Wealth-Lab assets in 2004, and have clearly made a large committment to the continuing development of Wealth-Lab over the past 6 years. In fact, Wealth-Lab 5 was a complete re-write for .NET. Fidelity provides Wealth-Lab Pro to their U.S. Active Trader customers for no charge. (Sure, they charge commissions.) As a non-U.S. resident, you are not eligible for Wealth-Lab Pro.

MS123 runs this site, the Wiki site, provides support for Wealth-Lab products, produces Add-on products and data adapters, ..., and repackages Wealth-Lab Developer for international sale and distribution. "Developer" doesn't get components specific to Fidelity, like data feeds and trading via the Fidelity broker, but does have access to most, if not all, add-on products and extensions.

The future and development of the Wealth-Lab client app is driven by Fidelity business objectives, which is influenced by their customer base. Indirectly, that includes Developer customers.

The Version 5 offer that includes Version 4 can expire at any time without notice. Nonetheless, I would discourage the use of Version 4 when Version 5 is truly a generation better. Comparing Wealth-Lab Developer V4 vs V5 (.NET)

QUOTE:
May I add that your subscription policy generally is extremly negative for me!

There are discounts for multiple licenses as described on the Price & License Information page. Nonetheless, I recognize that our current business model will likely be an impass to you becoming a customer.

Out of curiosity, why are you considering Wealth-Lab if you're already using Tradestation?

QUOTE:
For trading alone I have two completly mirrored computers set up, so that in case of a problem I can always switch over to the other one instantenously.

If you don't work with them simultaneously, then no need to purchase an additional license for this PC and pay maintenance fee (starting from the 2nd year). In case of a serious hardware/software problem, you can just transfer the license to the backup PC by authenticating with your existing key and continue your work. The same principle may apply to the 2nd pair of computers (YMMV).

That's a good point. You can install WLD5 on backup computers and at the moment you need it, you simply authenticate with your credentials. This, however, can only be done once (maybe twice?) in a given period, so generally you shouldn't transfer a license unless you really mean to continue using it on another machine.

Anyway, these posts have really gone far away from the original subject of "Fidelity RT (real time)", so if you have further questions, please start a new thread or contact Support (upper menu). I'm still interested to know the reason(s) why a TS customer is considering Wealth-Lab. tia.

Interesting information, thank you (btw, I intended to open a new post anyway, but obviously I accidentally clicked reply from within that posting)!

QUOTE:
I'm still interested to know the reason(s) why a TS customer is considering Wealth-Lab

My live trading is all setup using my own software for the APIs of certain brokerages. TS is soon to be no longer one of my brokers (this is a comission and other issue, not necessarily a TS issue which is quite good for simple issues: easy to learn, to "read", to code, stable).

WL to me is not a trading SW, it is a back-testing tool (sorry, just my impression). And here, mainly the portfolio tests are what makes it cool (at least I would hope so). Unfortunatelly the new WL5 is C# and not VB.NET (to me there is no good reason at all to have a tool for traders using a language with a million {} when VB is way esaier to read for the occasional forced-to-code-something trader).

But what the heck, NinjTrader is too: And I just use it for some intraday plays (more for fun than business). Will soon be replaced by own (VB.NET) code. Mainly because NT is an unprofessional company with a buggy SW and arrogant management. But still I own a license (one time life-time, I think it was around $1000) and can use it on each and every computer with a simple login - why did you not make it that way (would solve my licensing problem)?

And if I am not wrong, one could just download NinaTrader for free for backtesting? This compared to WL (for me as a back testing tool) and paying annual + multiple license fees. This is not meant as any offense. You can do whatever you want and charge for it whatever you like. I am just trying to communicate my conencerns when comparing it to other available tools during my evaluation whether or not to go for it.


Anyway, your information about Fidelity/Wealth-Lab is very much appreciated!


Ah, I forgot: Going thru you forum entries here is quite impressive - mainly this (=the community) is one of WL strengths too.

QUOTE:
Unfortunatelly the new WL5 is C# and not VB.NET (to me there is no good reason at all to have a tool for traders using a language with a million {} when VB is way esaier to read for the occasional forced-to-code-something trader).

A million of VB.NET-style begin/end blocks with its excessive verbosity is no good. Believe me, the transition to C# from Object Pascal (used by WL4) is easier than to VB.NET and well-thought (btw, Delphi & C# have the same "father").

Nonetheless, with WL5 you can code in any language, be it VB.NET or Delphi.NET, if you use SharpDevelop or Visual Studio Express and develop your strategy as a pluggable "strategy library". Even though WL5's Strategy Editor currently supports only C# 2.0, there's no such limitation for compiled strategy libraries (can use .NET 3.5).