Is there any interest for folks to join a group where we hold each others feet to the fire with regard to backtesting and productionising algo. systems? I'm currently putting together a system in Python with IB as broker. Ping me if you are interested - perhaps a private thread or Google Hangout group for meetings.
What skills do you have to bring to the table? I am well versed programmer and RE, but I do not have trading experience or strategy.
RE? i'm coming from the technical side as well. the group has a mix of skills, pm me if you are interested
Did this group ever get going, and if so, is there any emini daytraders there that are good programmers. I am looking at an old VB6 software programme that was very good for doing fast trades on ES and NQ, but the owner stopped updating it in 2007 - it linked to tws and esignal via the then API's. If any good programmer is interested in developing a similiar interface that links to the current TWS or IB Gateway, then please contact me - the deal is, programmer does the work for GUI and code, I do the layout and requirements, and when working I will show the programmer how to trade using the interface and TWS charts. It will not be that complicated, as there will be no charts or technical indicators of any kind - it will just be pure order entry management for scaling in and out of positions, for individual ES and NQ, and pair trading ES & NQ. No fancy algo stuff to automate - a purely manual interface to assist with fast executions when daytrading the eminis. I can do the GUI layout and flowcharts with Visio, so there will be no issues understanding the spec. Let me know if anyone is interested - serious people only, no time wasters please. Thx. J_S
I integrated TWS/IBGateway with python and started on IQFeed integration which is esignal or similar. http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...0-to-algorithmic-trading.298125/#post-4251155 My problem was I did not have any good algorithm to trade using. So the system would not be profitable. It would win mini scalps for like 7-9 points consistently. But then when the market went down it would lose 30+ points. I think the problem was the lack of tick by tick data (as I was using IB data, IQFeed integration was not done yet), I could not immediately detect sharp dumps, and had to wait for the next bar to determine which direction the future was moving. RE means Reverse Engineering. So this is required to correctly integrate with things like IQFeed and TWS.
Thx, but I am not interested in automated trading - my take is you are at nothing trying to compete with the guys who spend millions of $$$ on developing scalping algos. One thing about software, as you know, and that is - garbage in = garbage out. The key to making money is to know why you made it, and why you lost it - that way you can do it again and stop doing it again - if the approach is not consistent then it is a waste of time, no matter what timeframe you trade. J_S
To just add extra functionality on top of a brokerage like TWS and a feed like esignal is definetly down the same alley, the same code (api integration, indicators, time series, etc). The only difference is youl add some code to trade automatically. In your case instead of adding the auto-trading code (which youl need anyways to properly scale into/out of positions), unless you wanna be at your desk clicking a button each time. You would just add more GUI components, basically creating something like tradingview.com but more customized. Infact using their charts and indicators would be a good timesaving idea. Another thing about software, is that you need to know how to code to know what you can expect the result to be.