I am sure that these questions are answered in previous posts, but searching lately became very very difficult. And the questions are pretty easy for those who know. I have many ideas circulating in my head on scalping the equities (I scalp myself - but not automated). I have noticed many many good reliable patterns and beleive I can turn it into an automated thing. I have a limited knowledge of computer languages (but they come fairly easy to me to learn). What do I need to start the process? From the basics (I don't mean a computer) 1) Is there are book or guide I can read? I have some automated trading books but they go into code immediatelly: I need something less advanced. 2) Can I get historical intraday data (like bids/asks)? Is that even possible to backtest? any other suggestions? I am completely lost here. Thanks