Have the skills, but lost and all alone.

I will get into this business regardless as I already am. After my father passed away I always have been.

So re-adjust the attitude.

 

Good luck

 

thanks... but back to my problems:
Here is what I was thinking:


http://sdk.mbtrading.com/default.asp
I like that a lot. But will I have level 2 quotes, and charting...

TradeBullet and NinjaTrader both work with MB Trading but how would I develop my systems if I wanted to use Investor/RT???

Also, would I need to create my own charting application or could I implement another charting application's features into my own interface?

So I'd have the broker, and I'd have the ability to send orders with TradeBullet or NinjaTrader, but how I develop my strategies and test them still remains unknown. Also I'd have to set up my own charting system unless I figured out how to use someone else's charts.


Like I said, I have absolutely no experience in network programming so again any help would be useful.

AGAIN... ANY SETUP'S OF YOUR CURRENT TRADING SYSTEMS WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!!

I don't care about your actual startegy, just software that you use, or designed and how it connects to each other and how you get the final product.

If you can take 3 - 5 minutes of your time and explain, it would be very helpful for someone that doesn't have much money and is trying to change his life and do what he loves, I know traders are ruthless, but c'mon.

 

My stuff is written in C#.

I used to get my EOD data by scraping pages from Yahoo/Lycos etc... and storing them into SQL Server

Now I use TC2000 as my EOD data provider. It has an easy to use API and I have instant access to all US stocks.


For my real-time, I use Interactive Brokers (I connect to their API and it feeds my program real time pricing for the stocks that I follow)

So basically, my program uses EOD data to scan for interesting setups when the market is closed.

When the market is open, it follows potential candidates in real-time and warns me (e-mail, pager etc...) when a candidate is approaching the price target.

I do my own orders (not automated) based on the market, sectors etc...

So to review, I use:

* Visual Studio .NET to develop my application.
* TC2000 for my EOD provider (29$/month)
* IB for real time data (10$/month or free if you have more than 30$ commission)
* Sql Server to store data, setups etc..

 

I have also began programming in C#, I like it a lot.

Do you think it would be possible to program an automated system for IB with C#?

Also do you think you could e-mail me JMowery (AT) gmail (DOT)com with some screen shots of your application, I'd like to see how you approached it.

Thanks for the reply, really sheds some light. Wish I had some others post as well.

 

You've been hinting at INTEGRATION between charting, analytical, and order-entry platforms.
Guess what ? IT AIN'T HAPPENING.
I use QCharts for charting/analytics, Lightspeed for order-entry.....THEY DON'T CONNECT.
NEVER WILL.
It's WAR out there in Wallstreet Land right now.....everyone wants to suck you in and get you stuck on THEIR platforms.
The way to approach this is start with your preferred broker and work backwards from there.
IB is great because of their OPEN architecture, they've spawned a pretty huge 3rd party market of charting and order-entry programs.
Other vendors like ETrade's Lightspeed have completely CLOSED architectures....you're only hope of integration is with hokey Windows keystroke automation tools like MacroExpress and the like.
A vendor like Tradestation Securities claims to "DO IT ALL"....but you've got to watch for RELIABILITY and SPEED. If their "service" is subpar, their integration is WORTHLESS. Your great trading system will be rendered profitless as it trades on quotes made several seconds in the past.

You're a smart kid, GET THE PICTURE NOW ?

 

So I should go with IB and use their API and go that route, that is basically what you are saying?

 

Yes that could be incredibly easy. At least writing code to place the trades and get the real-time data is easy. Coming up with a successful strategy will be the hard part. IB won't be providing you with historical data for backtesting your systems though. You'll have to get that somewhere else. If you are backtesting strategies that operate on a longer-term time span (i.e. not day-trading) you can get closing historical stock data for free from finance.yahoo.com in comma delinated text format. Alternatively you could write a program to log IB's intra-day data on instruments you are interested in I guess...

 

I know IB has a demo server. Is it possible for me to program for the API and do all that stuff with the demo server?

I'd like to try all this stuff out before actually getting into switching to another broker.

Just curious.

 

I have a lot of programming skills, but only a little profit, not enough to pay for very expensive tools. Maybe we've similar situations, so you can use some of these ideas.

For intraday data I pay for yahoo's $10/month service, and use a linux server to do my scans. For order execution I have a small C# program that runs off a second WinXP system, hooked up to MBT. For backtesting I use AmiBroker with downloaded free yahoo historical data, again a very cheap way to get started (<$200 one-time fee).

Anyway, good luck with this game!