finding the software, programming etc is the easy part. Developing a set of rules that generate profits (the "trading system", i.e. when the program buys and sells) is the hardest part. A possible sequence is: 1. You have an idea how to make money trading--something that has not been discovered by other traders yet 2. You develop a trading strategy around this idea and test its profitability on historical data ("backtesting") using a program like Metastock or TradeStation 3. You automate the trading strategy (this is the "bot" part). In some cases this step can be very simple, as this functionality is already present in e.g. TradeStation. In other cases it might involve programming in a real computer language such as Java or C++. 4. You monitor performance in a paper trading account (i.e. an account that operates like a normal account, without real money) 5. You go "live"--running the bot on an account involving real money. For many people steps 4 and 5 yield negative surprises (losses instead of profits). In many cases this is because they forgot step 1, i.e. they did not have a real profitable idea in the first place. Discovery of a real profitable idea is extremely hard because chances are high that others discovered it already.
thanx, for that quick response. What scenario is this most ideal for?, for a whole day for example, or just an entry and exit strategy?? I imagine it would suit using it for only 1 stock for example not a list of different ones at once?? Do you NoWorries personally use it or ever have and if so did you find it beneficial?
So... does tradestation already have all properties required for automated trading (= data bank, backtesting lab, programming tools, ability to set up the automated trading program online)? Which markets does it offer? I'm most interested on providers of ability to set up the automated trading program online.. Which providers offer this feature, what programming language they require and which markets do they offer? Thanks a lot
I would suggest to first start trading manually on a demo account. Once you have a profitable strategy that works manually, you can start thinking about automating it. From your posts it seems you want to start at step 5, instead of step 1. Without any experience, moving from step 1 to 5 will likely take a few years.