I agree, off the shelf software doesn't fit any better than off the shelf trading systems. An interesting thought looking at this thread and the number of programmers who are also traders is that an OpenSource trading platform might be interesting. Some of the features of an OpenSource trading framework would include: 1. MFC C++ object oriented design so that it could run on Windows and Linux (using WINE). 2. Standard price charts with candlesticks, OHLC bars, P&F, spread support. 3. Multiple window support to take full advantage of multiple monitors. 4. An abstract 'indicator' object so that new C++ indicators could be added quickly. 5. A 'data source' object that can be extended to use IB, eSignal, QCharts, etc. 6. A data model that would allow multiple data sources such as 'backfill' from Tradestation and real time data from IB. 7. Point and Click trade execution via IB or other trade API. 8. It would use an OpenSource database like mySQL or Postgre so that indicators are only calculated one time. As indicators become more complex and more charts are displayed this is more important. Advanced technologies such as Neural Nets and GA could interface with the chart application through the common database. 9. Multi-thread support for multi-CPUs. All of today's charting/trading clients do not take advantage of multi-CPU computers which are easily within reach of any trader. 10. Chart layers so that multiple charts can 'layer' over others. Such as Market Profile over Candlesticks. 11. Basic 'broker' object to backtest trading strategies (not so interesting to me...). 12. A scripting package that could import scripts from EasyLanguage and Wealth-Lab (low priority - doable - but very interesting). 13. Did I forget something? The goal would be to eliminate the need to do all of this basic 'stuff' to get your private/custom/special 'wiz-bang' system up and running. Interesting... The problem is programmers tend to be individualistic, and traders also tend to be even more of an individualist type of personality. Team cooperation could suffer. However if any of you guys want to start an OpenSource charting/trading project I would be glad to contribute!!!! Are there any OpenSource charting projects out there? The ones I have seen were very poor. ramora
Ramora, Most if not all of your wish-list are features of NeoTicker. I use one chart with 1m ES candles w/ small inset charts for 5, 15 & 30m. Hidden data for ES & SP at 1, 5, 30m settings for indicator input. It's amazing what you see when indicator timeframes are overlayed. For research, I've used a chart without price-plot; just various indicators in multi-timeframes. Quick method to discover the best indicator combo. A real plus is program's low cpu usage, averages 15%. No need for multi-cpu's.
I tried to find a compiler for C# for Linux yesterday, no luck... I'm learning C# now; luckily, C# is Java's twin... PS -- tntneo, great to see you around ET. how're things by you?
If you are interested in Linux, you can download Kylix3 for free from Borland. This is a "Visual" (1) C++ and (2) Delphi development system. Very nice! You probably would never want or need C# in Linux anyway. nononsense
There has been a C# compiler for Linux since a long time, ever heard of "Mono" project? Open source, lead by a major Linux community leader, big time, made plenty news a few years ago, aim to port .Net framework to Linux, it has the whole deal, c#, vb.net, asp.net, ado.net, check it out, www.go-mono.com
If such an open source project is under way, what would be the ideal programming language to be used to develop this platform, and what would be the ideal language/script for trader/user to use to build trading system? For question 1. the candidates are: C#, Java, C++, when consider the choice of language, ease of use and popularity in developer community must count for future potential contribution. For question 2. The candidates are: VB, VB script, Javascript, Perl, etc? (or it won't matter as people will use English only). The application must have an open architecture, allow easy mesh in additional functionalities. To achieve best cross platform portability, at a minimum, the application should be able to run on both Win32 and Linux, with Win32 be the preferable platform. (sorry, WINE is not a elegant way to cross platform).
Here's the C# compiler for Linux http://www.go-mono.com. If you just need a compiler, download the .NET SDK from MSDN.com. or you can use open source IDE #develop http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Default.aspx There's also C# compiler for BSD from msdn.com http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FA-7462-47D0-8E56-8DD34C6292F0&displaylang=en