Intra-day Scalpin Software

1st, members here at T2W are great! :clap:

I'm quite new to this business, but certainly not new to algorithms, modeling, and simulation.

Is this the right place to discuss :idea:'s of generating winning EA's (automated trading systems)..?

I have not directly taken the time to try Amibroker, Tradestation, Ninja..., thinkorswim, meta.., tradelink, etc...(my background is with Matlab, VB, Python, Pearl, and many mechanical and electrical integrated design code environments).

What in your experience and opinion is the best place(software terminal, broker, data) to start?
Looking for a platform that is easy to get started, and allows scripted code to be implemented.
Would like to build an EA for Intra-day Scalping, ~1 to 2% takes a day would be nice..settle with a steady 0.5% /day :drunk:

Also, very interested in backtesting with high resolution (small but reasonable timescales); actually interested in building algorithms that may learn, self-correct, and play multiply time-scales of day.

What is a good way to do the backtests? getting intra-day data from the last year? (is the only way to pay big bux for data, if so, who is best to get it from?)(market cow stocks that are stable but exhibit multiple 1 to 2% fluctuations in a day).

Would like to get all data on stocks supported by primary brokers in-order to match algorithms(types, combinations & tuning) to stocks, basically perform massive sledgehammer approach of backtesting and tuning...to find optimal combinations of tuned algorithm and stock(cow to operate upon).

rayzrocket said:

Is this the right place to discuss :idea:'s of generating winning EA's (automated trading systems)..?

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Hi rayzrocket,
Close, but bo cigar. Right forum category, wrong forum - so I've moved your thread to the Mechanical & Systems Trading forum. Can't help with your questions I'm afraid as I'm purely a discretionary trader. If you don't get many useful replies, try sending a PM to the hare - as he's pretty knowledgable about this sort of stuff.
Welcome to the site btw!
Tim.

rayzrocket said:

Would like to build an EA for Intra-day Scalping, ~1 to 2% takes a day would be nice..settle with a steady 0.5% /day :drunk:

Click to expand...

hmm...1% a day is about 250% a year. In about 10 years you can raise 10K to about 3 Billion.

Way to go

In my opinion Tradestation is the best. You can get intra day data back for years and it doesnt cost that much. I have everything programmed through them, so I guess I am biased. However, it is very easy code to learn, and I have no programming background. I did pay someone to get all my work done though to make sure it was correct, but for the most part I have learned enough to be semi-"experienced" lol.

You can do small time frames, even tick charts. It takes a lot of data and a lot of time, but my scalpers even run off small time frames like the 144 tick and 89 tick even. As far as backtesting goes though I am afraid you are going to have to spend a LOT of time and money to test it. Backtesting really is no good. You need to have a general idea of something that works first, then program that idea and tweak it as the market goes forward.

Backtesting is good to a certain extent, but just for the basic general idea I think. Live trading is much different and backtesting is just curve fitting imo. You need to forward test each system with real money at least 45 trading days and record the results.

Most people think they can just build a program, backtest it, then become a millionaire. Doesn't work that way haha. Good luck if you start programming. It can be fun and definitely rewarding once you get something that works!