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might have to get myself that 21 lessons one. i can pretty much read the code now. the next step is to learn how to program it.

howd u learn c ?
 
I have been writing computer programs and algorithms since I was 10. I never got into the graphics side of things, but always maintained an interest in computing through my working career. I quit working and went to Uni and received formal recognition of my skills (and learned a few new ones too).

I learned most from having a project in my mind. You start working on it, and each time you come across a hurdle you go out and find the knowledge required to get over the hurdle or solve the problem. You could, for example, start learning a language by writing (over time) the automated trading system interfacing MS with IB TWS through their API. You might not know how to go about it right away, but over time, with some dedication, study and google, you should end up with a working product. Programming is harder to learn if you don't have an objective in mind.


wabbit :D
 
wabbit said:
I learned most from having a project in my mind. You start working on it, and each time you come across a hurdle you go out and find the knowledge required to get over the hurdle or solve the problem. You could, for example, start learning a language by writing (over time) the automated trading system interfacing MS with IB TWS through their API. You might not know how to go about it right away, but over time, with some dedication, study and google, you should end up with a working product. Programming is harder to learn if you don't have an objective in mind.
Click to expand...

This whole paragraph sums up what I'm trying to do at the moment. 100% agree with being objective guided. I figure out what I want to do and then look around in Excel help and google until I find the answers. So I may as well take the next step and learn to do stuff in code rather than limiting myself to excel scripts.

Thanks for the book recommendations.
 
wabbit said:
I have done my time working... now I just study and trade. We take at least three months off each year to travel; this year we have several shorter trips planned, but we still envisage travelling for at least three or four months. Of course, if we get contracts then we might have to curtail our holidays somewhat, but then again we don't accept every contract that comes our way. Fortunately, we can pick and choose what suits us best each time.

As for trading fx: Last year I was working with IBFX, but I have today opened an account with GO Markets in Melbourne. I have several expert advisors that work with varying degrees of success. I believe the key to surviving in the fx market (and indeed any market) is good risk management and trade management. If you have these things squared away, you could trade by throwing darts at the chart and still make money; I believe specific entries and exits are secondary to the management skills.

A bit of luck also helps. (I recently read Nassim Nicholas Taleb:- Fooled by Randomness, The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets. I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone.) I have my lucky EA, that if you are VERY aware that it is possible for the entire account to be wiped out in a single session, you can make a few dollars relatively easily (or lose the lot!)

I hope the new broker works as well for me as the old? I will be starting from scratch again, with a small test account. If the broker performs as expected, I shall increase the account; but only time will tell.


Thanks for the infor :D

Now, what is with changing from IBFX ??? I have read so many bad comments about it... the reason I am tyring their demo is because my brother overseas is demoing an EA and thought i might want to do the same ... :d two is better than one hehehe

Oanda demo, I found something funny. Their trade information changes in one of the column. Normally it shows like 50 bucks now it shows 0.0050 or something like that ?? what is that ???

I am up 290 in profit hehehe :d not much but i am still observing system to work on ....
Click to expand...
 
AbundantIncome said:
Now, what is with changing from IBFX ??? I have read so many bad comments about it... the reason I am tyring their demo is because my brother overseas is demoing an EA and thought i might want to do the same ... :d two is better than one hehehe
Click to expand...

i dont know about others, but i never have had a problem with IBFX. always paid, never had any major problems with slippage or stop hunting.

only reason i changed was because gomarkets were australian. i am running my EAs on both system simultaneously to spot any differences, if none ill shift all my Ea funds across.

IBFX arent the best broker, but i did my research and couldnt find any better MT4 retail broker.
 
wabbit said:
Not that you wont learn from the "Dummies" series, but I think the "Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours" from SAMS publishing (http://vig.pearsoned.com/store/product/1,1207,store-15080_id-4230_isbn-0672329417,00.html) or the Wrox Press books (http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTi...nning-Visual-C-2008.productCd-0470225904.html) are the better ones to learn from, and they also provide a handy reference for later.

wabbit :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for those links wabbit.
But do you think its better to go for those books or the ones that are more trading specific?
Eg.
http://www.amazon.com/Financial-Tra...r_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233930460&sr=8-10

http://www.amazon.com/Modeling-Maxi...=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233930460&sr=8-6
 
For somebody wanting to learn to program, I'd recommend the "Learn" books. The system design books (I imagine) are for those who already know something about programming (I don't have these books myself, and am not going to fork hundreds of dollars to find out! The "modelling" book appears to be focussing more on methods of modelling than programming anyway.)

wabbit :D
 
Stormin_Norman said:
i dont know about others, but i never have had a problem with IBFX. always paid, never had any major problems with slippage or stop hunting.

only reason i changed was because gomarkets were australian. i am running my EAs on both system simultaneously to spot any differences, if none ill shift all my Ea funds across.

IBFX arent the best broker, but i did my research and couldnt find any better MT4 retail broker.
Click to expand...

Same here. No problems with IBFX, but I just like to have my money a little closer to home, and getting phone support from GO is easier than phoning the USA. The folks at IBFX were always helpful and quite knowledgeable, their services were (nearly) always top-quality (no-one scores 100%). Although most of my trading was with pending orders, I never had re-quotes when I was using immediate orders; my stops were always executed fairly and within expectation of the market events at the time.

My demos have been running well on GO servers for months, so (as I have previously posted) its time to run a real-funds test. I hope GO will perform at least as well as IBFX.

The only reason there is so much negative sentiment posted about IBFX is because they have a large customer base; as there are so many people, some will be less than satisfied with the services they receive (and some (most?) try to blame their losses on someone else rather than accept their own greed/stupidity) and it is these people whom you see post on the internet. It's rare to ever see people post out-of-the-blue about an excellent service, but it seems to be human nature that when someone is pi55ed off by something, we hear about it immediately. As I said, I never had a problem with them.

I will let you how things go with GO (good or bad).


wabbit :D
 

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