The thread entitled "17 year old beginner" inspired me to post my own "beginner" thread: I'm a 21 year old programmer thats always had an interest in trading. I'm doing ok financially, (pulling in between 50 and 60 a year), but looking for something a little more exciting. Since I am more then a competent programmer, where can I get my feet wet? I'm looking for something that would easily let me learn how to model and/or backtest, as I really like learning by getting my hands dirty. Are there books that talk about this from a programming perspective? Any help and advice is much appreciated. Thanks in advance
Dude, as a coder, you've got to check out QuantStudio (www.smartquant.com). I wish I had started on that platform--I'd be sitting pretty right now rather than having invested so much time and money into other platforms whose limitations cut me off far too early in my trading system development. QuantStudio, being a true .NET framework, won't have such low ceilings. Otherwise, I consider "Professional Stock Trading: System Design and Automation," by Conway and Behle and "Design, Testing and Optimization of Trading Systems," by Pardo MUST READS for coder-trader types. The former is a good way to get started as a Tradestation/EasyLanguage coder (lots of sample source code), and the latter is good for anybody developing and testing automated systems.
It would be better to develop a winning scalping system by hand and program that, rather than the other way around. There are traders out there that hire programmers, because they can't program themselves. Find one. If you try it by yourself, watch them drawdowns. They can put you out of business, almost before you get started.
this is how you get burned. if you want excitement, hit up your local indian casinos. excitement in the market will leave you financially ruined. this is coming from a 20 yearold CS student, swing trader