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Beginner needs advice on platform for automation


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Beginner needs advice on platform for automation

  #1 (permalink)
DarwinWasRight
San Francisco, CA
 
Posts: 5 since Oct 2021
Thanks Given: 6
Thanks Received: 3

Hi all,
I am a beginner in futures trading and looking to accomplish the following:

1. Develop my own automated strategies for trading futures (ES, NQ, etc.)
2. Run back-testing on these strategies using time and tick data (e.g., 1-min, 5-min, 500T, etc.)
3. Test on data going back many years if possible so I can thoroughly vet/tune my strategies
4. Forward-test these strategies in paper-trading (sim) mode against live market data
5. Finally, start trading slowly for real (say 1 MES or MNQ) using these strategies as part of a fully-automated trading system. This will be my final test of how these strategies perform in real-world conditions.

First of all, does this sound like a reasonable plan for developing an automated-trading system?

Secondly, which parts of the above list can I accomplish using the free NinjaTrader version? Which parts would need me to upgrade or pay for additional features or services -- like subscribing to a data feed or ability to fully-automate trades using strategies?

Thanks in advance for any advice folks can provide.

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  #2 (permalink)
 
qsceszwasdx's Avatar
 qsceszwasdx 
Taipei Taiwan
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: TV, SC, QT
Broker: Interactive Brokers & Taiwan local brokers & AMP Futures
Trading: Stocks, Commodity & Index Futures
Posts: 117 since Jan 2017
Thanks Given: 135
Thanks Received: 100

Hi, I think below link is the answer for you about which platform is better for automatically trading.




I haven't used NinjaTrader before, so I can't give you advise about NinjaTrader.

If you were not programmer, I think Multicharts(easy language version) is good for beginning.

I don't know C#, so I use Multicharts(easy language version) trade local Futures and Stock market.

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  #3 (permalink)
 kevinkdog   is a Vendor
 
Posts: 3,647 since Jul 2012
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I use Tradestation for all this, although I don't do #4 and for #1 I do not use tick data (Tradestation only provides 6 months of tick data).

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  #4 (permalink)
DarwinWasRight
San Francisco, CA
 
Posts: 5 since Oct 2021
Thanks Given: 6
Thanks Received: 3

@qsceszwasdx -- Thanks for the link and your feedback on MultiCharts. I will check out that other thread. Writing code is not a problem for me, so I am primarily focused whether NT (or any other platform) will satisfy all my requirements.

@kevinkdog -- Thanks for your feedback. I will take a look at Tradestation's capabilities.

One of my other considerations is that I am hoping to use the platform for free as much as possible (ideally for steps #1 through #4), and only pay when I start actual trading. I don't know if NT will let me do that.

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  #5 (permalink)
 
qsceszwasdx's Avatar
 qsceszwasdx 
Taipei Taiwan
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: TV, SC, QT
Broker: Interactive Brokers & Taiwan local brokers & AMP Futures
Trading: Stocks, Commodity & Index Futures
Posts: 117 since Jan 2017
Thanks Given: 135
Thanks Received: 100


DarwinWasRight View Post
One of my other considerations is that I am hoping to use the platform for free as much as possible (ideally for steps #1 through #4), and only pay when I start actual trading. I don't know if NT will let me do that.

HI, seems writing code is not a problem for you, and you want to use platform for free.

My US broker provide Free Multicharts.NET which use C# as same as Ninjatrader, you can check it out.

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  #6 (permalink)
DarwinWasRight
San Francisco, CA
 
Posts: 5 since Oct 2021
Thanks Given: 6
Thanks Received: 3

Hi @qsceszwasdx -- Who is the broker providing Multicharts.NET for free? And do you know if this free version has all the features as the paid version, or if it has limited capabilities?

Thanks.

BTW, just to be clear, it's not that I am not willing to pay for a platform. I just want to test-drive it for some time so I can be sure that it works for me. If it does work, I would gladly pay for it. NT lets people play around and experiment on with their platform for free, and it has most/all the features I am looking to test-drive (although, from what I understand, not all of them are necessarily free), which is why I find it attractive.

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  #7 (permalink)
 
qsceszwasdx's Avatar
 qsceszwasdx 
Taipei Taiwan
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: TV, SC, QT
Broker: Interactive Brokers & Taiwan local brokers & AMP Futures
Trading: Stocks, Commodity & Index Futures
Posts: 117 since Jan 2017
Thanks Given: 135
Thanks Received: 100


DarwinWasRight View Post
Hi @qsceszwasdx -- Who is the broker providing Multicharts.NET for free? And do you know if this free version has all the features as the paid version, or if it has limited capabilities?

AMP Futures provides Multicharts.NET for free.

The limitations are you only can trade with AMP thru CQG or Rithmic, and the version now seems still 12 not 14.



DarwinWasRight View Post
BTW, just to be clear, it's not that I am not willing to pay for a platform. I just want to test-drive it for some time so I can be sure that it works for me. If it does work, I would gladly pay for it. NT lets people play around and experiment on with their platform for free, and it has most/all the features I am looking to test-drive (although, from what I understand, not all of them are necessarily free), which is why I find it attractive.

It is fine for using free stuff, I don't think people would like to pay if they can use something for free and still feel satisfied.

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  #8 (permalink)
DarwinWasRight
San Francisco, CA
 
Posts: 5 since Oct 2021
Thanks Given: 6
Thanks Received: 3

Thanks @qsceszwasdx. Really appreciate all your help and advice!

Regards.

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  #9 (permalink)
DTSio
Ocala Florida
 
Posts: 6 since Oct 2021
Thanks Given: 0
Thanks Received: 0

my preference is NinjaTrader8. I have used others but not all mentioned of course. NinjaTrader has great support and a Strategy Builder that with a little practice and ready the forum of 1,000 of post and topics is a good learning place. Your Live Data is pretty much your cost until you are ready to live trade. You could even run your strategy on Sim Account Live data and manually enter your trade through your brokerage as you see position appears Unless your are trying to scalp in and out rapidly (then of course you would need the paid version) Good Luck

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  #10 (permalink)
 kiwi 
Gold Coast
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Sierra Chart
Trading: Futures and Forex
Posts: 49 since Aug 2010
Thanks Given: 23
Thanks Received: 96


I used to use Tradestation 2000 for system trading and enjoyed easy language so I expect the current version is OK if their brokerage model doesn't get in your way.

Personally I'm about to get back into systems trading (vs systematic trading) and am exploring a really nice FOSS option called backtrader. Its run with Python and so far is looking good - worth a look as it's free, capable, and based on the worlds most popular language (join me at MITx 6.00.1x and learn Python and CS for free with MIT).

Maybe we should have a backtrader thread here among the platforms, assuming we haven't.

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Last Updated on December 8, 2021


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