I personally do not think so. I started out using a spreadsheet that got real-time quotes and changed colors to alert me as to when to get in and out of a position. That's when I got the idea that I needed to develop a program to make the trades for me. Excel is an excellent starting place, but I wanted something much more user friendly and I wanted to be able to adjust the algorithms in the UI, not in code. I also wanted the ability to back-test and mine the back-tested results to determine if daily patterns could improve a systems performance. I will add, that it's still much quicker just to get the program to make the executions. This way, you don't have to stare at the screen.
Agreed. But I'd also say that while paying retail commissions, trading faster than manual doesn't necessarily help.
Totally agree! It has never been a good idea to trade paying retail commissions. I have been asked many times if my platform is capable of graybox trading, allowing a trader to take a trade on discretion. While there is a simulated version that could act as a graybox, It was not designed this way on purpose. In my back-testing application, I always calculate what would be a typical entry for a discretionary trader = The high of the minute of my entry. This alone can take a successful system and turn it into a mediocre or losing system. While this is quite unfair in it's calculation and assessment, due to the fact that the other components of the trade are not adjusted, only the entry. It gives me a good idea of what excessive slippage can do to any system.