Beginner trying to program

R

Robby Luca

I never programmed before, but I am interesting in getting started. The thing is, I have no idea where to start! Being a beginner at this is an understatement. I know I am able to teach myself how to code, but I just want to know in which direction to lean towards.

To begin, is a semi-automated trading system something that can only be used for backtesting? rather than compeltely automated, which means it can be used live? If that's correct then I don't mind only having a semi-automated trading system for the time being.

Secondly, what are the tools required? Free preferably, since I am just learning and practicing. I heard that excel can be used, or maybe there's a simpler software that can be used. Is there a way to backtest for free?
 
Robby Luca said:
I never programmed before, but I am interesting in getting started. The thing is, I have no idea where to start! Being a beginner at this is an understatement. I know I am able to teach myself how to code, but I just want to know in which direction to lean towards.

To begin, is a semi-automated trading system something that can only be used for backtesting? rather than compeltely automated, which means it can be used live? If that's correct then I don't mind only having a semi-automated trading system for the time being.

Secondly, what are the tools required? Free preferably, since I am just learning and practicing. I heard that excel can be used, or maybe there's a simpler software that can be used. Is there a way to backtest for free?
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learning to code is a great thing. If your trading career doesn't work, you have a new career to fall back on in programming. I think you're going to have a hard time using a semi automated trading system for backtesting, you really need fully automated in order to backtest. Udemy has almost free courses to learn programming ($10 a course if you catch it on sale).

Sierra Chart and their ACSIL language (based on C++) I think is a decent place to start. Python seems fairly popular but for what I trade I just don't see any frontends that use it so I'm normally stuck with C++ or C#.
 
Heya Robby,

Welcome! Who is your broker?

Reason I ask is that broker Application Programming Interface (API) vary by broker. Some are much better suited to programming than others.

Also, where are you getting your market data, both "real-time" and historical?
 
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@algofy, I have been looking at the Udemy programming courses... do you know of one that kinda stands out? There are so many, it's like the tree in the forest that I can't see.....

Udemy is great by the way for any interest... I've don some drawing courses etc... you've got some really good teacher in there... (I wouldn't recommend it for 'trading courses' though...)
 
JackRab said:
@algofy, I have been looking at the Udemy programming courses... do you know of one that kinda stands out? There are so many, it's like the tree in the forest that I can't see.....

Udemy is great by the way for any interest... I've don some drawing courses etc... you've got some really good teacher in there... (I wouldn't recommend it for 'trading courses' though...)
More...

I was just about to post about Udemy. I took a course there long ago. I am sure there are others. I think it was called algo programming by Singaporean programmer. Very well done.
 
JackRab said:
@algofy, I have been looking at the Udemy programming courses... do you know of one that kinda stands out? There are so many, it's like the tree in the forest that I can't see.....

Udemy is great by the way for any interest... I've don some drawing courses etc... you've got some really good teacher in there... (I wouldn't recommend it for 'trading courses' though...)
More...
I've taken a ton of them, what language are you looking at?
 
algofy said:
I've taken a ton of them, what language are you looking at?
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Just kidding... don't know, probably C++ ... but like OP, I don't have extensive experience in programming. Just some basic VB/macros in Excel... So it would be a start from almost scratch.

I currently use IB/TWS, they have most options for use with their API I think.. C++/C#/Python...
 
JackRab said:
Just kidding... don't know, probably C++ ... but like OP, I don't have extensive experience in programming. Just some basic VB/macros in Excel... So it would be a start from almost scratch.

I currently use IB/TWS, they have most options for use with their API I think.. C++/C#/Python...
More...
I usually just find a course that seems to offer what I'm looking for, has allot of students enrolled and a decent rating. I also like to find something relatively current in case of updates to the language/new available features.

I haven't really found anything good that is algo trading specific. I just have taken general programming/software building courses and extracted it to what I want to use it for.
 
I am using IB. When I started to investigate to automate some or all of my trading I decided to focus on Java. I found educational video series on YouTube, downloaded NetBeans, bought a book "Java for dummies" and started experimenting. This was a few years ago and have until now not regretted my choice.
 
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