Automated trading through Excel

Discussion in 'Automated Trading' started by TheStudent, Dec 21, 2004.

  1. A lot of people have discussed the reliability of Excel ActiveX, VB, DDE, etc. Let me say again, if you are making a lot of trades and need lightning fast execution, Excel is probably not for you. But if you trading less frequently, such as a few trades a day, I see no problem with Excel. I've been using it (Excel, with DDE and VB code) without problems for two years.
     
    #51     Dec 27, 2004
  2. Does IB send out DDE data? Does their API tell how to connect to it?

    JohnnyK
     
    #52     Dec 27, 2004
  3. Moz

    Moz

  4. Ok, I think I see what needs to be done to be flawless. Trade Magic is some kind of compiled executable, and it gets the job done. I'm confident that a VB executable will solve the problem. Anyone who can put together an automated program in VBA/Excel has the skilz to make it a compiled executable. Were up to .Net now, but I think a used 6.0 version (ebay) of the Development Environment would work for these purposes.

    For trading purposes (ie. interfacing with IB API), I am not fathoming how any kind of C language (pointers etc.) or java can outperform VB.

    How do you like Trade Magic? How magical is it?

    JohnnyK
     
    #54     Dec 27, 2004
  5. no one who is good or worth anything will code anything for free and I would not accept such a 'gift'...
    If you have money to trade, pay for someone's time and effort. Do not be a slouch and a moocher...
    Having said this...I have had an arrangement with a talented programmer in Hollad via rentacoder to do some excel work in exchange for a system and source code already mine. I still paid a nominal amount. The problem is with free work is that you are quite limited and you can only ask for very simple work. An automated system written from scratch would be far too much of an effort to smooch off someone. If you contact me I can suggest some resources on rentacoder who are very experienced in financial engineering and quite reasonable.
    I have written specs and "managed" projects like that for people before and trust me it is far better and cleaner than asking favors on ET...
     
    #55     Jan 2, 2005
  6. Its interesting that you incorrectly assumed that such an arrangement would be considered a "gift" and that the person needing the coding would be a "moocher". The arrangement that I outlined (that you quoted) would be a mutually beneficial arrangement, the coder would gain access to a (presumably) profitable system and the trader gets the system automated at no cost.

    While I agree that coding an automated system completely from scratch could be quite intensive (or not depending on many factors about the type of system) there are also folks here who already have a framework in-place and coding the changes to implement a specific system may not require much work at all.

    In any case, since both parties would be in agreement going in I dont see how it could be considered "mooching".
     
    #56     Jan 2, 2005
  7. francis1

    francis1 ET Sponsor

    As someone who earns a living coding trading automation software I can only agree with andrasnm.

    Forget about the slouch and smooch part, just read the rest of the post and he's right on target.

    Francis
     
    #57     Jan 2, 2005
  8. As someone who used to earn a living coding C++ and is now working on developing automated trading systems on the side I can only agree with myself.

    While I would like to forget the the negative attitude that was pervasive throughout andrasnm's post its hard to do it since it pretty much is the entire post.

    Since you earn a living coding I understand that what I was suggesting would not interest you but I am quite confident that there are folks that frequent here that would be interested. The costs involved with getting a system professionally coded represent a pretty high hurdle for most folks here, certainly for someone who is considering using Excel as an alternative. Clearly there are pros and cons to each approach but I don't think its a stupid idea at all.
     
    #58     Jan 2, 2005
  9. the negative aspect is assuming that the "system" is worth so much as the coding time and effort of a person who might have a family, hobbies and a life. There are many free systems around and some are far better than some black box systems offered for thousands. In my practice I make a point on emphasizing that the money anyone paid me is for the ongoing support and for my time in testing and value added services. There is a huge BS "cloud" in assuming that a person's time and money is equal with some rules that he might or might not have the testicle to follow anyway.

    PS I just made a $100 for 5 minutes of work to re-code TS 8 to TS2000i
    I however will support the owner for quite some time in case there is some error or more work needed.
     
    #59     Jan 2, 2005
  10. some of the worlds largest investment houses and banks use excel to code develop test and auto trade billions of dollars.

    I installed an autotrade system on a 1.5 billion dollar hedge fund the other day . And guess what they used excel and VB .

    I haven't read the full post but excel is widely used in the professional investment community. Its not the best tool in the world for this sort of thing but hey it works.

    All the traders had access to Bloomberg and Reuters so their DDE links plugged into excel thats why a lot of people still use it .

    Hope this answers your question.
     
    #60     Jan 11, 2005