Creating your own front-end api...

M

Merovingian

Where to start? I have used a couple of front-end apps (button, ninja) and while I have found them very slick and definately useful, the two main problems are

a) I can't get them to do exactly what I want, or if I can the app is bloated with uneccessary features (for my purposes)

b) the developer chooses what brokers to comply/not comply with which takes away your flexibility

I am a discretionary equities trader, I don't want to build an automated black box just something similar to a superDOM that enters all my orders through the brokers api. I was wondering if anyone else on ET has done something similar to this and had any suggestions on where to start.
 
What exactly do you need your front-end to do? It sounds like you need something customized to fit your needs.

Also, you really can't choose any broker. The broker needs to provide an api interface so that your front-end can connect to it.
 
Quote from Merovingian:

Where to start? I have used a couple of front-end apps (button, ninja) and while I have found them very slick and definately useful, the two main problems are

a) I can't get them to do exactly what I want, or if I can the app is bloated with uneccessary features (for my purposes)

b) the developer chooses what brokers to comply/not comply with which takes away your flexibility
...
More...
Hi Merovingian,

I'm sure one day "you'll get there". You must be one of the few to grasp that the above trader-gismos are only "busy-boxes" for the reputed 90+% losers.
Read more: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=52989

Be good,
nononsense
 
Quote from nononsense:

Hi Merovingian,

I'm sure one day "you'll get there". You must be one of the few to grasp that the above trader-gismos are only "busy-boxes" for the reputed 90+% losers.
nononsense
More...

I dont have any stats but I think your way off base with this broad statement. I think people willing to pay $50+ a month for a front end like Ninja trader and Buttontrader have a good reason for doing so.
 
Merovingian,

Hello. To help you out, could you tell me a little more about your background?


Are you a developer?
What type of programming languages have you used?
Do you know what broker you want to interface with?
What are the basic features you want in the app?


I have built exactly what you are talking about, and I can tell you that it will take a good bit of dedication if you want to do it right. Theres a reason Ninja, et al. are able to charge so much for their products; it takes time to build all the necessary functions of these tools.

1) You will have to connect to the broker
2) You will have to monitor the connection to the broker
3) You will have to create the ui
4) You will have to optimize the ui for processor speed
5) You will have to facilitate entering different order types
6) You will have to monitor open orders
7) You will have to modify open orders based on new orders

Each broker is a different path in regards to the above steps 5-7, as there is no standard in the industry that they all use. So, if you also want to connect to multiple brokers, you must factor that in as well.

I really believe you are looking at a good 3-4 months if you really know what you are doing, and much much much longer(a year or more) if you have never coded in your life. You would need to weigh your time vs $40-50 a month and bloated features.

If you let me know more specifics of what you want, I will try to help you in a more specific way.

- jeff
 
You can start with a framework that will take care of many, if not all, complex things mentioned in this thread. When it comes to execution, it can be TradeMagic www.trademagic.net, which is free for personal use and which is used by NinjaTrader, or QuantStudio/QuantDeveloper, www.smartquant.com ,which is not free but comes with the source code.

Cheers,
Anton
 
Merovingian,

While you certainly can use a development framework like TradeMagic to help you develop your system faster, you will quickly find yourself in the same boat you are in now:

Stuck using the brokers/vendors that the framework supports, limited to the features they support.

To my knowledge, QuantDeveloper currently supports more vendors than TradeMagic, and indeed is a very comprehensive platform. But, Im going to go out on a limb and say that Anton's not giving away that source code for free...

- jeff
 
> But, Im going to go out on a limb and say that Anton's not giving away that source code for free...

Yes, indeed we are not giving away the source code for free, though we provide our customers with (free) source code of one of supported broker plugins, usually IB, so that they can interface broker API that QD does not currently support.

> Stuck using the brokers/vendors that the framework supports, limited to the features they support.

QuantDeveloper uses FIX 4.4. as internal execution layer, so that we support everything that FIX supports.

Cheers,
Anton
 
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