I will automate it for you for free. First you have to clearly define you strategy so it can be automated . If it's profitable after 6 months I will pay you $x; if it's unprofitable you pay me $x . Source code, escrow, ... can all be worked out later.
Any viable coded retail system will require inputs and catalysts. Your programmer can't steal the grey matter between your ears.
I'd suggest to try Ninjatrader, it's programmable in C#, and its version non-live trading is free, so you can contrast your Algo. If you have some basic programming experience it'll take no much time to learn it well. Besides it has a great assistance forum to ask doubts and solve problems. I'm gonna suggest a few tips for your backtesting: - Try to work with the same data of your actually broker, don't buy any other data, you may finish with unreliable results and nasty surprises in your real account - Consider the slippage while you trade, depending on your trading frequency - Don't use leverage for a good level of performance rate - Once you've backtested, try first a live simulation and watch reality performance - Watch for real technical errors while live trading, such as: disconnections, overfilled...etc Regarding to protect yourself: - Don't tell your idea to anyone - Don't upload your algo in any free web sites that promises you a brilliant future - Set a good firewall, close all non-used ports, close services as FTP...etc - Don't open any link embedded into a mail - Use a good antivirus, I'd suggest Avira free version Good luck
I'm in the system development business (I'm not fishing for a job here though). I only must smile about that permanent fear by beginners that programmers or other people "steal their system". Systems are a dime a dozen. I have my hard disk full of systems. If a programmer wanted to steal, he could of course, since no NDA or contract can 100% prevent this. But a professional programmer is coding for money and not for the hope to find a profitable system that he can trade himself. If he trades, he's using his own systems. Maybe some ideas from his past programming jobs go into them, but I have never heard of a case that a programmer has "stolen" a system from a client. If your system is simple, learn programming and do it yourself. If it is complex, you really need a programmer, but if you did it manually so far it can hardly have been this complicated.
The following is my opinion and for educational purposes only: TradeStation's EasyLanguage is pretty good. It also has objects which makes it more versatile. You may be able to program it yourself. There are plenty of people who know how to program EasyLanguage. If anyone is interested in looking at EasyLanguage, reply to this and I'll post all the help file links. There are about 9 different sections. The only thing I don't like about TradeStation is they may force you to have different accounts for equities, futures, and FOREX. Best you call them for details.
The following is my opinion and for educational purposes only: If a system is any good, and there are thousands of systems, I agree not to upload it. I also agree about not having FTP or Torrent programs open on a trading PC. However, I would not use a free antivirus. For a trading PC, get good antivirus/firewall software such as Norton Internet Security. I use Windows 7-64 so I don't have to use their latest edition. I prefer NIS v21.7. It has the black background. I don't like Symantec's newest simplified Norton Security software at all. BTW, if you install v21.7 and want to keep it, you must shut off "Automatic Download of New Version" in Settings > Computer > Updates. Otherwise Symantec will update your software to their newest edition. If you have Windows 10, you will probably not be able to use v21.7. v21.7 is dated 2014.
Right.Many developers i worked with in the past have implemented many of my ideas in their products,partly.For the fun of it,i took all the trials of that products to only see it was a bunch of nonsense. All in all,op doesn`t have to disclose all the parts of the system to a developer.Just ask a developer to code the framework for you,and then put all the parts necessary,one after another.
You are so right & that is what I am afraid of. With absolutely no knowledge of programming, I was thinking about getting it done on one of those platforms and that was also my question as to which platform would be best. I am using 12 monitors for one future like emini ES with different time frame on each monitor & that way I am able to find a trade on one or more monitors. I could use as many as 24 OR 48 monitors for just one instrument which would generate sometimes many trades at different entry points & exit points & I can choosy to find the best setups too. Now I have tested this on many major futures in different sectors & also on options having a volume of 100K to 1 million contracts for just one strike price. So opportunities are endless. I tried it on ETFs & Stocks too but I could not find the reliable tick data for them & system doesn't work well with overnight gaps. 24 Hr markets are best. So any idea as to which platform should be used OR another way of doing it ? Thanks
You have to ask yourself if you're trading something as liquid as ES and it works on many different futures, what impact will it have on you if someone "steals" it? Especially if that person is someone making $5 an hour in India (which you know because that's what you're paying them!) It would be a pretty fantastical leap to imagine that guy either implementing your strategy with his own meager savings to the point that he arbitrages away your "edge" in each of those super liquid contracts, or that he could attract a hedge fund of sufficient size to arbitrage away your edge based on the super secret strategy he "stole" from you. In short, you're probably flattering yourself with the value of your strategy, but if you're good enough to come up with one you're good enough to come up with more if that one is "stolen". Pay someone to implement your strategy, see if it works, and once you've proven that you indeed can come up with valuable strategies you can use some of the money you earned on the first one to protect your subsequent ideas.
I have back tested it manually by looking at the signals given in different market conditions, bull, bear & sideways and different instruments. But as sig said the real test comes when system picks up all the signals over a long period of time. Besides that tweaking becomes real easy if it is mechanical & would allow me to test many more instruments. Could you elaborate as to sharing the system with the programmer ? How will I know that it will be limited to only him trading the system & like sig said not attracting a huge hedge fund that he could share it with ?