I am presently learning to automate trading. I am doing this through TradeStation. I am happy with their product so far. I have discovered that there are many nuances to automation that do not seem to be covered in the readily available documentation (like the books available via Amazon). Other than through experience, how does a person learn more about trade automation? Norm
At this point, automated trading is still very much a black art, one can only learn by experimenting and sometimes failing. However, there are starting to have courses in computational finance, for instance, Courant Institute (NYU) offers some courses in computational finance. A standard way to learn about automated trading is to be with a firm that runs them, but this is still quite similar to learn from experiences (just not necesarily your own experiences). Which is why people with these experiences are in high demand, I am pretty amazed how many automated trading or high frequency finance jobs there are out there.
It's all learn by doing AFAIK. Interactive Brokers just made things better with an automation accessable practice account. I don't think Tradestation has that. You can use some third party tools to run your strategies from TS to IB. I am the right kind of person for this stuff, if not the most talented. I have always learned way more on my own than in any classroom. I like the classroom experience but if it is not available I just put my Nikes on and "just do it". Electrical Engineering, [home study course], computer programming, cooking, trading, automation, diet/supplementation, weight lifting, sports car driving, engine rebuilding, car detailing, managing really troublesome people, etc. all learned on my own. You could drop me naked into Wall Street in the middle of the night with nothing but a PDA and I would survive!!
Who said I didnt believe in autotrading? I am primarily an automated trader. My point was to keep the discussion on topic and not towards whether autotrading is viable or not.
the topic of the thread is supposedly >how does a person learn more about trade automation? before you automate something you need to know what is it that you want to automate. for example if i wanted to automate my cooking, i would first think about which dishes i want to automate. i doubt there is a book on amazon called "how to automate cooking", but in fact the industry of making food processing equipment is very well developed: most of the food you buy in the supermarket is made by machines and you can get a degree in college specializing in building these machines. Just dont ask for a little black boxie with hole in front and hole in the back : you pour eggs in, omelet comes out --- you through in a pack of Barilla, out comes bolognese. The point is your question is too general, in fact you might just as well ask us "how to make money?" So, before you start buying computer equipment, coding, and subscribing to data feeds , may i suggest you decide what is it precesely you want to do with it. Later, If you ask very precise questions, like "what temperature do i need to heat up the egg in order for the protein to solidify?", i am sure the experts on this board will be happy to help you. K PS What i personally do can and should be eventually automated, but works just fine without automation, thank you. In fact, think of it this way, there is always a bid/ask spread, a computer could help me to get in at the bid and sell at the ask, even if it is not able to make money as a market-making bot. It would just reduce my execution costs. I may add that institutions on Wallstreet by and large automate trading in this sence, they try to *reduce* execution costs, not make money auto-trading.