Hi guys, I am new to trading and looking at automated trading. Could you please let me know. Which is the best software for automated trading with IB ? Also, Which is the best software for automated trading in general - which is very easy to code / or maybe even do it using an UI (UI should have a wide range of options to build custom strategies though) I am looking to automate a strategy based on price / candlestick direction only and not use any indicators - is that possible ? Thank you
Have you already made a shortlist of existing software packages that you are interested in? Everybody has a different definition of the word "best". What is "best" for one person might be not suitable at all for you.
I have been checking but looks like IB does not have a automation system in TWS (I am not sure if this is incorrect), and API options available are something I do not know how they do the automation or if they are ok - because I do not want to open two platforms one TWS and another the one that has automation. I looked at Metatrader5 and seems to have simple GUI and also wide code and user base. Perhaps a good option. Other than that I am thinking Ninja trader. The one I need is something that can do stuff like - strategy based on price / candlestick direction only - should be trading only during certain hour and dates - Not using indicators Not sure because most I saw had some indicator or another being used etc although I have not looked fully into those. Thank you
I guess that you misunderstand what IB provides and what IB expects you to provide. IB's API is nothing but a "connector" between your software (coded in e.g. Java or Python) and their servers. TWS (or Gateway) is then used for the connection via internet to those servers. What kind of price data you want to receive from the servers or what kind of orders you want to send to the servers is something you'll have to code yourself. It could be that third parties provide software that can do these steps, but it is likely best to do this coding yourself as you can adapt it precisely to your needs.
Hmm, but what I mean is that my strategy would be based on the price (actual value at a given point) and the trend of the price. I need this info as input to the strategy and based on certain logic these inputs of price values would be evaluated to do a trade. But most of the auto trade stuff seems to be based on indicator values (Like RSI, SMA etc.) rather than the price value. (I have only checked a little as of now though) Thank you
The current price can be obtained through IB's API. And the historical prices also. Everything else you need to do in your own software: determine what the trend is, any kind of indicator you would like to use. None of these are directly available through the API. Based on your price analysis can you then conclude what kind of trade you want to place (if any).
NinjaTrader allows you to connect to your existing Interactive Brokers account and deploy automated strategies. You can construct strategies via programming or user interface point and click. You can use it for free indefinitely for simulated trading.
I'll toss in my 2 cents since I'm in a similar boat. MetaTrader's upside is that a wide variety of robots are available from the marketplace. However, it is designed for Forex only, which is fine if you live outside the U.S. But for those of us drowning in regulations here in the U.S. the Forex has become very expensive to trade due to those costly regulations. Other platforms (such as MultiCharts) often have routines written in EasyLanguage. For me, this means that sometimes I have a fighting chance of understanding the programming that lies at the root of the routine. This is a big plus when it comes time to fine tune the settings. Back testing seems to be the big hangup with most platforms. I felt I had the best luck doing back testing with Sierra Charts. Most of all, the process of experimenting with different platforms has led me to several conclusions: the most important of which is "defining the exit". It's relatively easy to program (auto-trade) an entry, very difficult to write a program to exit properly. Which leaves me where I'm at today - searching for a routine that offers great flexibility tweaking the proper exit. The tweaking is important since different markets have different personalities, one setting for the CL, another for 6E, etc. In other words, I'm starting at the end of the process (the exit) and working my way back to the beginning. I don't really care all that much about platform as long as the auto-trading routine offers plenty of built-in flexibility for tweaking the exit to my parameters.