I am thinking of using Tradestation but I canât help wondering how safe my systems would be with them. The fact is that Tradestation is also a brokerage and thus knows exactly if your strategies make money. Being the administrator of the system there is nothing that prevents them (or some disgruntled employee) from downloading all of your strategies for a closer inspection if they like. Tradestation platform is an awesome tool but do you just trust it blindly with all your research? Let's hear some opinions/views on this.
I do not trust any server based software that has strategies (being this TradeStation, eSignal, WealthLab etc. and not targeting any vendor in particular, just giving generic examples of vendors) and which software has to "communicate" on a regular basis with the vendor's server in order to keep working. (eg software that is leased on monthly basis) In other words it is the technology structure that I have a security issue with (Microsoft is now going that direction too) This is why I have been investigating Amibroker. Still a happy user of TradeStation 2000i (I believe it still available outside the US) Have safely put away my Win2000 disks and have an OEM version for XP (which won't work on another vendors machine). No real need to upgrade the OS if behind a hardware firewall. Sherlock
The codes is seating in your hard drive, and not on any server. They can't login to your PC. Again, i'm not 100% sure
TS can easily incorporate code in the program that gives instructions to send indicators and workspaces to them. They don't need to login on your PC. You have to make a connection with them to get data and at that moment they are in your PC. How can you check what goes out and what comes in?
You didn't mentioned HOW they can incorporate such code ? If they ever do it, someone should find out and the company had gone bankrupt today. At least their compatitor would try to find out this, and let the public know, and they get sued for a $billion
Not to burst your bubbles, but there have to be hundreds if not thousands of quants out looking for systems, optimizing systems , creating new systems with probably unimaginable computing power to mere mortals like us. If you think you have a secret formula, you're kidding yourself.
No, I have a few IBM machines that came preloaded with XP (OEM) so they are not transferable to other hardware. But they do not need activation. Thus as long as the motherboard works I can keep going.... Sherlock
Everyone knows that it can be done and then comes one person, who does not know that it cannot be done, and that person is the one who does it. You are limiting yourself by going into the mindset of "there is nothing new under the sun". As Sherlock Holmes said to Dr. Watson: Dr Watson, how often have you come to my house? A: "Hundreds of times" "and have you noticed the steps between the hall and my study" A: "yes" "how many steps are there" A: "I do not know, I never counted them" " You see yet you do not observe Dr Watson" Moral: yes there may be something similar out there but it may not be used in the optimum way. It is not the formula, it is how it is being used. Sherlock
Your strategies are held on your local PC. TS doesn't have access to them. They can, or course, take the buy/sell orders you send to them and try and work out what your strategy is but that's the same for any broker. If anyone thinks TS has some secret software that is copying their hard disk then they're just a paranoid nutcase.