# Automated trading



## korrupt_1 (17 April 2008)

I've been toying with the idea of somehow automating trades based on some rules and having the trade execute automatically on triggers of those technical indicators.

We've all ran backtest on our "strategy" and most of the time they yielded good results, otherwise why would we be trading? So rather than sitting infront of the computer all day waiting for the good entry/exit, is there a way to do it from a simple computer program that is linked to a broker?

Firstly, is this possible? If so, what brokers allows this?

Secondly, what level of programming skill is required to do this?

The benefits of this allows you to trade 24 hour markets. It takes away human emotions - especially taking a loss when it hits a SL or closing a winning trade without letting it run it's course. Set and forget and watch your balance sheet increase...


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## Whiskers (17 April 2008)

Wasn't something like this largely responsible for the 87 bubble... then bust!?

Sales were being triggered everywhere, automatically, and before we knew it the market had gone into free fall.


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## mayk (17 April 2008)

I am thinking along the same lines. In USA IEEE organised a competition among college undergrads to program a system and set it run. Each contestent was given around $100,000 of paper  money. 

I think the winner after a quater ( or a month) had $600,000 in his paper account.

But the funny part is the winner was awarded 100,000 cash prize , but he never placed that money on his winning system 

I am thinking of implementing a system like that after finishing uni. Let see how it goes...


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## Trembling Hand (17 April 2008)

They are as common as bum .....

But why don't you just give your money to these dudes


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## korrupt_1 (17 April 2008)

LOL... never thought of reading the banner adds.... 

Edit: I just followed that www.doublingstock.com link... and it just reminded me how much I hate these 'get rich quick' systems. It also reminds me why I never click banner adds...  Reading Doublingstock was a fun read... but I'm an skeptic and never trusts anything that sounds soo good to be true...


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## Temjin (17 April 2008)

Retail automated trading has only become more popular over the past several years. 



			
				korrupt_1 said:
			
		

> Firstly, is this possible? If so, what brokers allows this?




There has been a growing number of brokers (both market dealers and ECNs) that allows retail softwares to integrate with their servers for automated trading. Not to mention a growing number of retail softwares that support automated trading as well. 

Brokers like Interactive Brokers allow professional traders to code their own API using practically any platforms for automated trading. (only if u are a nerd in IT hehe) 



			
				korrupt_1 said:
			
		

> Secondly, what level of programming skill is required to do this?




For someone without programming skill, it's quite a steep learning curve. 

For those in the IT industry, total piece of cake.  The concept itself isn't too difficult. 

This is also one of the biggest hurdle I need to go through. 



			
				korrupt_1 said:
			
		

> The benefits of this allows you to trade 24 hour markets. It takes away human emotions - especially taking a loss when it hits a SL or closing a winning trade without letting it run it's course. Set and forget and watch your balance sheet increase...




This is exactly the reason why I am (or we are..) in the process of developing a fully automated trading system. It's important to note that it doesn't "completely" take away the human emotion involved in trading. It will, however, avoid the problem with entry and exiting that I BELIEVED  are responsible for most of the losses experienced by most traders.

The emotions involved in whether to continue to trade the program when it is in significant drawdown or other psychological biases that may negative affect in the development and testing of the system will still be there. 

Another reason for automated trading is the ability to eliminate the limit of one's ability to increase his/her trading opportunities. (i.e. the beauty of 24 hours trading without any continue physical intervention)


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## Temjin (17 April 2008)

Trembling Hand said:


> They are as common as bum .....
> 
> But why don't you just give your money to these dudes




heh, the problems with them is that all those advertised programs are curved fitted to produce the best results over a set of historic data. Then they post the charts to convince someone that the program will continue to perform as it is in the future indefinitely. 

If someone has designed a positive expectancy trading system, and that he/she is able to code it for full automation, why would he/she sell it anyway? 

And yes, no positive expectancy trading systems last forever anyway...this is where discretionary trading wins the day because our brains are flexible enough to adapt to changing markets, whereby, computer programs can't, at least not yet.


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## Nick Radge (17 April 2008)

www.tradestationsecurities.com


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## grantk (17 April 2008)

There are applications around that let you automate filling in website forms.  These can be used if your broker doesn't publish APIs for automated trading, however you will still need some IT skills to set this up.


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## ithatheekret (18 April 2008)

Has anyone thought of adapting apps such as Sniper etc., to their own app . and running it through an AES system that is compatible ?

Say using the curves as a basis of the functions with variants ?


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## MRC & Co (18 April 2008)

Nick Radge said:


> www.tradestationsecurities.com




That's the one!  

Looks the best of the lot to me!  You get what you pay for afterall!


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## MRC & Co (18 April 2008)

Temjin said:


> And yes, no positive expectancy trading systems last forever anyway...this is where discretionary trading wins the day because our brains are flexible enough to adapt to changing markets, whereby, computer programs can't, at least not yet.




This is the thing, most successful "discretionary trading" follows tight rules in regards to set-up and trade plan.  

Automated or mechanical systems have to be updated and adjusted themselves over time for success, the same as discretionary systems.

Main difference I see, is most discretionary traders forward test ideas or manually view historical data, whereas mechanical systems beleivers actually test the data.  

For this reason, I do not see much difference between a disciplined discretionary trader and a mechanical trader.  Both follow strict guidelines in regards to the trades they take.  Mechanical systems traders update their systems using "discretion", with quantified data.  

I do however, beleive discretionary trading helps gain experience as they generally watch the markets much more closely and this can lead to intuition.  This can help with increasing long-term success for some.  Again, this requires more discipline in regards to emotion, which is its pitfall.

Just my view.  Ultimately, people will gravitate to what suits their personality (both in terms of skills and views).  

Mechanical traders appear more "confident" in general, as their methods are "prooven".  

A lot of generalisations there, but thats my take.


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## Kauri (18 April 2008)

..Have just got half way _threw_ (a lotta _throwing_ been going on here!!) an auto trading setup on MT4 and giving it a trial...  (yep.. held off with the trade and allowed it to enter at the top.. to test out the SL system..     )

Cheers
.............Kauri


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## Kauri (18 April 2008)

Kauri said:


> ..Have just got half way _threw_ (a lotta _throwing_ been going on here!!) an auto trading setup on MT4 and giving it a trial... (yep.. held off with the trade and allowed it to enter at the top.. to test out the SL system..   )
> 
> Cheers
> .............Kauri





 Back to the drawing board... the entry et al seems OK but a profit stop has shut her down at 10307...  

Cheers
...........Kauri


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## Dependablesight (1 June 2013)

I've got a dependable automated martingle EA after getting to know how to set or tune the software. Its in 2 months on livevacc on 1 k.


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