One of cheapest set ups: Some cloud virtual pc (about $25-$35 per month) along with Ninja Trader as software. Does not get much cheaper than that.
@rmorse is talking about professional low latency trading. By definition, people are interested in low latency trading because they're targeting winner-take-all trading opportunities. Recommending someone (even though he isn't trying to as his posts indicate) who is attempting to go for these trades attack them with ninjatrader and multicharts is just not really relevant. It's like saying you can compete in a drag race with a porsche in a Hummer. They're both vehicles, however if ones objective is to win a race, the Hummer becomes irrelevant. That being said, people who have the technical aptitude to compete in this space won't be coming to get started on EliteTrader, so I don't want to appear as if I'm blaming anyone who has replied. You're just providing the best answers feasible to most participants on this site. "Colocation" as it's called here may provide some advantage in terms of connectivity and uptime, but that's totally contingent on the software and particular host used.
An algorithm does not have to be high frequency or intraday at all. It is also distinct from automated trading. An algorithm can be written down on a piece of papper and traded manually or be semi-automated where some parts are automated and other manually handled. An algorithmic trading system may be swing trading with multi-day holding periods or position/trend trading with multi-week holding periods.
To be clear, I was recommending he AVOID a co-location set up if possible and keep his costs down. aucociscokid asked about possible pitfalls in building a track record with his own funds. The high cost of a co-location and MD would be one pitfall.
I would not trust a cloud-based service...no way. It's gotta be a remote server that I can RDP into via wired connection to an IP address. Now the server can be real or virtualized....and that makes a big difference in price. Also, it can be dedicated or shared. For me, the best set-up: shared, real server. That is the set-up used by the now famous spoofer and trader : Navinder Sarao.
Of course. Why spend 120K/year if you can avoid it? My reply was for the edification of those recommending other 'collocation' options. I'll bow out now though since the OP is clearly not interested in this sort of stuff and I don't want to detract from his discussion.
Can you please elaborate. We are using cloud based solution for about 2 years now, and have no issues with it. We not running HFT shop, so why would you think cloud server is bad?
I've just too many performance issues with cloud services like SalesForce and the other verticle market cloud apps like Ultipro. If you are trading once or twice per day, I'm sure it's fine. I'll be doing 200+ trades per day.....and I feel much more secure with "wire" from my workstation to the remote server and then wire from the remote server to the exchange server.