EdgeWare FastBreak Pro Version 6.5 - Manual (Page 10)

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Changes in Version 5
The following list of changes covers upgrades from Version 4 to Version 5. Some users
may be upgrading from very old versions, and a section follows to cover upgrades from
Version 3. You may ask how Version 5 of FastBreak Pro is different from previous
versions and if you should reread the manual.
The answer is that the changes are
extensive and we suggest you read the entire manual to understand the enhancements.
The examples are for the most part unchanged, and you can skip these sections if you are
a veteran FastBreak Pro user.
Changes between Version 4 and Version 5
Version 5 of FastBreak Pro dramatically improved the optimization time when using
FNU data files. FNU files are in a simple data format that FastTrack uses allowing a user
to create data that isn’t in the FastTrack data base. Users create FNU files for a wide
range of reasons. For example, users who want to create trading systems using synthetic
versions of high beta index funds. These funds haven’t existed for a long period of time
so systems can’t be tested over a long period of market history; however, it is quite easy
to create synthetic versions of these funds that extend over a long period and the data can
be stored in the FNU format. See FastTrack Help for more information on the FNU
format. FNU data can’t be read as quickly as data in the FastTrack database. The
FastBreak Pro optimizer would read the trading family data each time a strategy was
evaluated. When FNU data was used this would slow the optimization process by a
substantial amount.
Version 5 of FastBreak Pro was modified to read the data only once at the start of the
optimization process. This modification allows the optimizer to run approximately four
times faster. There will only be a small, perhaps 10%, improvement in optimization time
when using only data from the FastTrack database. There is no effect on the execution
time of a single strategy. If a FastBreak Pro user selects the Optimize Family option the
new version will not optimizer any faster than the old version. This is because when the
Optimize Family option is used custom families are created for each strategy evaluated;
therefore the family data is read for each strategy so the data is read over and over again
just like previous versions of FastBreak Pro.
 Capability to build market timing systems and signal files.
o We believe this is the most exciting new functionality. The optimizer and out-
of-sample testing capability in FastBreak Pro make building market timing
signals a snap.
o This functionality was developed, in large part, to better trade individual
stocks. Over the years we have found that FastBreak stock trading systems
have the potential for fantastic returns, but we have also found that controlling
drawdown is a challenge in bear markets. We have found that even in severe
bear markets there will be stocks that rally strongly, however, these rallies