Version 6 is the same simulation engine lineage you know, with a new workspace interface built alongside the classic one, a much larger indicator and system library, built-in walk forward, integrated data downloading, and an optional AI assistant. Your Version 5 suites, systems, and blox load in Version 6 without conversion. The classic interface still ships and still works the way you remember — nothing about Version 6 requires you to leave it.
The Workspace — a new interface, beside the old one
Version 6 opens into a single-window workspace: a navigation rail on the left (Control, Suites, Systems, Blox, Portfolios, Results, Tools, Log), the application band across the top with the File / Edit / Help menus, and resizable panes underneath. Pages keep their state when you navigate away and back; the Log docks along the bottom like the classic log window, generalized to every pane.
- Classic is one click away. The band carries a CLASSIC / NEW switch. The choice takes effect at the next start — the two interfaces share the same engine, files, and preferences.
- Light, dark, or follow Windows. The band has a light/dark switch; Edit → Appearance adds “Follow Windows”. Reports and charts follow the theme.
- Per-installation layouts. Window placement, pane sizes, and column widths are stored per installation, not per license — ten installs sharing one license no longer fight over each other’s layout.
- Keyboard reach. The classic accelerators carried over: F2 Portfolios, F3 Systems, F4 Blox, F5 Run, F7 Orders, plus Ctrl+L for the Log pane and F1 for context help.
- Tabs are doors. On the Control page, double-click a system tab to open that system in the System Editor, or a block tab to open that block in the Blox Editor.
Editors, rebuilt as pages
Every major editor exists as a workspace page. Edits commit as you go — the classic Save-button model is gone in the workspace; what you type is written when you leave the field.
- Control — the suite’s parameters, stepping, and the Run button, which reflects what the suite is set to do (Test, Order Generation, Walk Forward, Broker Direct).
- Suites — create, rename, lock, and choose systems in one place.
- Systems — the system’s blocks with add / remove / replace, and a filterable library of every system on disk. Double-click a block row to open it in the Blox Editor.
- Blox Editor — the library in a left column, the selected block as one structured view: scripts, parameters, variables, and indicators together. Code gets live syntax checking as you type, and completion for objects, their members, and the global functions. Library management is built in: new / rename / copy / delete blocks, add / remove / reorder scripts, and copy/paste of scripts and declarations between blocks. Renaming a block updates every system that references it. A Calculated indicator’s expression is now validated when it is saved, not discovered broken at run time.
- Dictionaries — futures, stock, and forex dictionaries plus the reference tables (exchanges, currencies, rates) as editable grids under Tools.
- Get Market Data — one screen for every data vendor (see Data below).
- Capital Adds & Draws, Portfolios, Preferences — all ported, with the preferences organized into sections and API keys in one place.
- Results and Trade Chart — results reports restyled for Version 6 and theme-aware; the trade chart is a page tab tied to the run you are looking at.
Walk Forward, built in
Walk forward is now a suite run type with a starting anchor. Out-of-sample windows run as one continuous segmented test — the account does not reset between windows, so the stitched out-of-sample equity curve reads as one test rather than a series of restarts.
Suite time periods in real units
Suite time lengths that were “days” in Version 5 can now be Days, Months, or Years, with month arithmetic anchored properly (a month from January 31 lands on the right date). Old suites migrate automatically; see the compatibility notes below before opening a migrated suite back in Version 5.
Indicators: 170 types, 293 series
The indicator catalog grew from the classic set to 170 indicator types producing 293 series. Indicators with multiple outputs (bands, signals, oscillator lines) are one indicator with named series rather than sibling declarations. The former add-on pack indicators are now built in — no separate pack to install. Eleven of the indicator types are new to Version 6 and have no Version 5 equivalent.
Scripting: the checker tells you more, sooner
- Around ninety Blox Basic routines that previously accepted any argument list now validate argument counts at parse time, with the routine’s signature in the error message. Scripts that passed the wrong number of arguments used to fail (or quietly misbehave) mid-run; they now fail when the script is checked, and the message says what the routine takes.
- An unknown property or function error now lists all of the object’s valid members, not just the ones sharing your typo’s first letters.
- Run and script errors are timestamped and kept for the session, so an error you saw on screen can be looked up afterwards instead of retyped.
Data
- One Get Market Data screen covers the integrated vendors: EODHD, Massive, and Databento downloads with API keys entered once under Preferences → Data Sources, plus Interactive Brokers historical data with a market picker. CSI Unfair Advantage remains supported as in Version 5.
- Courtesy data ships with the install — futures, stocks, forex, and dictionaries — so a new install can run a test before any data subscription is configured.
Broker Direct
The Broker Direct engine was rebuilt around a proper session state machine (the polling thread is gone), with clearer connection state, restart handling for TWS’s daily restart, and status surfaced on the Control page. The IB integration was moved to the current-generation TWS API — use a current TWS or IB Gateway (10.x line). The auxiliary status window can also be viewed remotely: your installation gets a page on tradingblox.com, protected by your cloud encryption code, reachable from Tools → Utilities.
The Claude assistant (optional)
Version 6 can embed the Claude AI assistant as a Tools tab in the workspace. It is off unless your license includes it, and it runs on your own Anthropic API key (Preferences → Data Sources; the model field shows the default — we recommend Claude Opus 5 or better for best results).
What it does: reads your blocks and systems, explains them, and makes changes you ask for — new parameters, indicators, script logic, combined blocks, new systems. It can open the result in the Blox Editor, run the loaded suite, and read back any errors the run produced.
What keeps it safe: it never writes raw files. Every change goes through structured operations, is syntax-checked by the real Blox Basic parser before anything lands, and every file it touches is backed up first to the Backups folder. If a change does not parse, it is refused — nothing broken reaches your disk.
Licensing and editions
- Subscriptions are supported alongside perpetual licenses; a subscription simply carries its edition.
- Editions are Basic, Professional, Builder I, and Builder II. As in Version 5, the Blox and System editors are the Builder editions’ features; everything else in the workspace is available everywhere.
The shipped library
Version 6 installs with 214 ready-to-run systems and 248 blocks, against the 17 systems Version 5 shipped — the indicator catalog expansion turned into a full library of single-indicator systems you can test, step, and read as working examples.
Help
The CHM help files are gone. F1 and the Help menu open the current online documentation for the screen you are on, and indicator documentation links resolve per indicator.
Upgrading from Version 5 — what to know
What carries over. Suites, systems, blox, dictionaries, portfolios, and preferences all load in Version 6 as they are. The upgrade has been verified in both interfaces.
One-way doors. Take a copy of your Version 5 folders if you intend to move back and forth:
- A suite saved by Version 6 using Months or Years time units downgrades imperfectly in Version 5, which only understands days.
- Blocks that use the eleven Version 6-only indicator types will not load in Version 5.
- A block whose selector parameter entries were decoupled in the Version 6 editor is not portable back to Version 5.
Stricter checking. Because argument counts are now validated at parse time, a script that has always passed the wrong number of arguments to a routine will be flagged the first time Version 6 checks it. The error names the routine’s actual signature; the fix is usually removing or adding one argument. These scripts were not working correctly in Version 5 — they were failing quietly.
First start. The first launch after installing is slower than normal while Windows scans the much larger shipped library; subsequent starts are normal.
Requirements. The workspace interface uses Microsoft Edge WebView2, which is part of current Windows 10 and 11 installations. The classic interface has no new requirements.