Custom Strategy Code (IP) - which platform(s) to trust?

[EmilyZ]

Algorithms that work with $<50K usually won't work with $Millions, so unless you have found a new way to make money from arbitrage, I doubt brokers/firms will spend hours to understand your algorithm.

Also, many algorithms perform well for weeks and months, but then they don't work anymore.

Really, it's more complicated than just "I found a hedge on the market, backtest results show incredible returns, now I'm worried somebody could steal it".

I've heard this so many times. And the first 20 times was me years ago

I started out as an options trader and I can tell you this.....quality of thinking on options strategies will but you so much further ahead of the game than just writing code. Your brain is superior to a computer....the computer will do what you tell it to do so YOUR ABILITY to think, solve problems and understand options strategies and adjustments is key. I just build bots to execute my strategies, no arbitrage needed, its hidden in plain sight.

 

[Same Lazy Element]

100% per month is ambitious, but 100% per year is very VERY VERY VERY realistic if you know what you're doing trading options. I would map out a collection of ways for you to do it but that would be an excessively long post. Just saying....as an options trader, 100% return on capital in a single trade is easy, I think we can agree on that. In 1 year, with compounding, I aim for 100x returns, that's 100 x my initial investment.

I don't know much about options, so please do elaborate!

 

[EmilyZ]

That's going to require 1-2 years of in-depth education that will be the best invest of your time, ever. Unless you invest your time into something like saving the world, growing baby, whatever.

Start with OptionAlpha.com The sign up is free, their beginner courses are free. Take all of those. Every free course you can. Personally, I don't ultimately trade the way they do because I have more lucrative strategies but starting there is ESSENTIAL. IMO...Algo trading is lame. Options trading.....a great way to LOSE all your money OR make A LOT of money, very fast.

 

[Same Lazy Element]

That's going to require 1-2 years of in-depth education that will be the best invest of your time, ever.

So 1-2 years and I will know everything about options?

 

[Lou Friedman]

So 1-2 years and I will know everything about options?

Not even close

 

[newwurldmn]

Not even close

what about if he paid optionalpha? Can he cut his learning time down?

 

[traider]

Why are you aiming so low? Only 100% with so much work?

 

[snowman80]

great way to LOSE all your money OR make A LOT of money, very fast.

i mean you can have this experience just by walking into a casino

no need to allocate 1-2 years of your life to options study

 

[931]

Most pros who build their own custom analysis tools also have integrated or companion execution apps. It's a completely different level.

I also bodged togeher all sorts of tools , but the more info i get the dumber i feel.

More unanswered questions , that could not even have known to ask before.

Contact to darkness and unknown is much worse than it was before.

 

[pstrusi]

Well, I do come here because I am bored so by that definition I am a troll. However, while I might be ignorant of many things in the world, as an institutional PM with decades of experience, I am pretty aware of what works and what does not. Seems like the members here feel that I got a lot to contribute.

In any case, I was merely pointing out that if you have not established that your strategy actually works in live trading (most things do not work, FWIW) it's not worth worrying about protecting your IP. The only exception to that would be if you are running some sort of an arbitrage strategy and literally don't want others to know that this arb exists. However, if you are REALLY paranoid, you can take a public domain backtester like backtrader or zipline, deploy it on your own machine and test the strategy without ever "giving the code" to anyone. If you truly think you've invented something that is unique (as I said, very unlikely in my experience), this approach is more scaleable and customizable. Pretty much every quantitative tool you might need has been implemented in whatever language you decide to use (C++, Java or Python) and you will not need to reinvent the wheel. Also, you can take the machine off-line and put it in titanium-lined safe for additional IP protection at the backtesting stage. When it comes the time to deploy it, the very same codebase can be connected to your broker API without every giving away your code.

I use Interactive Brokers. As you know they have an API that comes in different languages, still, the API is not easy, very confusing even for the Pro-developers. So, is there any kind open source project that will allow you to connect with IB, in order to deploy a strategy? I use a very popular platform but sometimes I'd like to have my privacy 100%.

Thanks