You need to write a standalone program from scratch that connects to the Sterling API. Most people I know use VB or C# since the Sterling API is ActiveX based. So basically you are going to need to teach yourself a programming language. There are no shortcuts that I am aware of.
OK thanks. I just installed Visual Basic 6. I have no idea where to start with this, but I guess I'll have to learn. I'm not looking for any shortcuts, I just thought there would be a little more help from Sterling. For what they charge a month, this should be a little bit easier. I could code what I want to do in about 5 minutes using Tradestation.
As I think you're finding out, what you pay and what you get from Sterling have no relation with each other.
any software available to port signals from Tradestation to Sterling? Or any programmers that can be recommended to automate strategies for sterling?
Check out this site I found. I have also thought about that. Not sure what they charge. http://www.centaurisgroup.com/english/products.html I have tried coding stuff in excel and VB, but haven't gotten anything done. It seems something always gets in the way. I tried using some of the application examples from the site to send an order, but there's always some sort of error message I can't figure out.
I've talked to centauris. They are probably out of your price range. It was a solid 4 figures for a very basic automated program. They sound like a good outfit, but probably to advanced (ie expensive) for a basic program like it sounds like you want. And don't forget that it will cost you again every time you want the program modified. Here's my recommendation based on how I first started to code. When I started I hadn't written code in probably 15 years when I had a couple classes in college. I bought a basic "Learn VB.net in 24 hours" type book. I then learned everything in the book. THEN I tried writing trading code. And I started with very basic trading functions and built up from there. I made sure that "I" was still part of the trading loop in case I coded something catastrophic. Depending on how fast you catch on, it will take you a couple weeks of evenings learning to get through the book. I can't emphasize enough that you learn the fundamentals of programming first and don't just start by chopping up existing code samples without knowing what you are doing. A couple weeks of pain upfront will pay dividends for years of coding. Coding is one of my favorite parts of trading. Good luck! PS. You can get VB.net 2008 Express edition from the microsft site for free. It does everything you need. I write fully automated trading programs on it.
Shreddog gives some great advice! I'll add that I too have successfully used the Sterling API, and it is a serious undertaking, even for those who already know how to program. But it is also a very comprehensive API, perhaps more so than any other "trading platform" API. Someone learning to program on this is going to have to learn a lot of things at once -- .Net, VB or C#, and even possibly multithreading, which isn't easy (although multithreading your app is probably optional, depending on what you're doing). So, in my opinion, count on several weeks of hard work to get something like this working smoothly. In essence, you need to have a good reason to use Sterling's API -- e.g., you need Sterling's fine-grained control over orders and order parameters, or your broker only offers Sterling for API trading. I have actually found Sterling's support to be pretty good. They seem to respond quickly to email and there are some people there you can get on the phone who know a lot about the API, although I certainly wouldn't count on them -- or anyone's support staff, for that matter -- to do your coding for you. The only limitation I run up against with Sterling is its speed -- it isn't even "1/10 as quick" (subjective meaning here) as FIX or other socket-type API such as Genesis's. But it's still faster than most other platforms, in my experience.
I been trading on sterling now for a while, Interested to know what type of volume the average API program creates? I would image at least 10 million+ a month? Do traders on an automated program get much better rates then regular traders? Curious to know as I don't have the slightest clue into this area, just a scalper.
Generally, my impression is that rates at the "big volume" shops are a function of monthly volume, irrespective of whether or not you use an API. This may be different at "small volume" firms, e.g. Ameritrade users who used CoolTrade got a discount at one time. I've known of automated traders who trade a few thousand shares a month, and ones who trade billions of shares a month. It totally depends on the strategy, available capital, etc.
Automation doesn't mean you have to trade a lot of volume. It could mean that you are watching lots and lots of stocks and just picking out a few high probablility trades. Having said that, I think automation typically enables you to do 1M+ shrs/month, often quite a bit more than that. In the case of Sterling, the API is there whether you use it or not. So your rate should be defined strictly by volume.