Hi all, I have some trade ideas and these trade ideas all need some sort of market scanning, historical data back-testing, plotting, decision making, and execution based on my own models and signals. They need some sort of programming and data analysis. I am looking for the best trading software(commercial or open source) that are fast (with realtime calcualtion/monitoring of a large group of stocks in mind), convenient (facilitate the testing of strategies), and extensible(so I can plug in my own criteria, signal and models). Please give me some pointers on both commercial and open source trading software! Is there a comparative study? More ideally, if I could find a good open source trading platform that is already established, I can contribute my part to make it more functional!
You can start creating a feature matrix what such software should do. It would be interesting to see what other forum members think - the minimum set of features needed for such package.
This is a free open source trading software http://www.marketcetera.com/ There is also this one, but I don't think it is open source, but I believe it is free http://tradelink.googlecode.com I have never used either of them.
You should provide your proficiency level in programing. If all you can do is make formulas in Excel it's very different from being an electrical engineer that can play with C++. This will help people point you the right tools. There is a world of difference between Tradestation/Wealthlab and let's say a proprietary API with Interactive Brokers.
I can do C++ programming by modifying and extending existing works. I can also do Java, C#, etc. However, I don't think it is worth the time to write everything by my own and reinvent the wheels. If TradeStation is good and if it is extensible, and fast, then I should use it, so that I can stay on high level strategies.
What do you mean? Anything that facilitates investigation of trading strategies. Exploration of trading strategies does not limit itself to single instrument, right?
ya mizhael- but sometimes backtesting software only tests one instrument at a time- not a portfolio like you would if you owned a bunch of equities. Amibroker is a low cost entry into systems development and trading. I use it. Its also capable of trading multiple instruments - portfolio backtesting.
Exactly - Tradestation does not yet offer portfolio testing, but the following programs do: - Tradingblox - Tradersstudio - Amibroker - Multicharts There are others - but those are the ones I know best.
Thanks. But how about extensibility of language and the number of existing signals and the speed of running trades?