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

[TradersRUs]

Oh I see, you want to automate your trading system as well, not just backtest it.
You can probably send automated, one-way trading signals to your broker (from your C# code for example) via its API.

Not necessarily automate the trading part, just the alerts. I can place the trades manually with my broker, but need the strategy to run intraday and alert me to the buy signal at the right time. So broker API not needed.

Back to the original question though - whether backtesting or running intraday, is there a platform that is trustworthy and (at least) claims upfront that they don't upload any of your custom code?

E.g. Ninjatrader privacy policy explicitly states that they DO NOT guarantee any such protection. Appalling!

 

[Same Lazy Element]

And you have "seen" this because all the people that have an "edge" share their code and trading results with you?

In most cases you don’t need to know the details to understand if someone has real alpha or is just punting. Once you’ve spoken to enough systematic traders, you can usually tell if they are really doing something special - especially at the pre-deployment level. I’d even posit that if a trader is worried about his IP before going live there is a fair chance he does not even understand the hurdles involved.

Of course, you could be a genius and have come up with something truly unique, but it’s extremely unlikely.

 

[Tradex]

E.g. Ninjatrader privacy policy explicitly states that they DO NOT guarantee any such protection.

That fact alone should tell us something...

 

[TradersRUs]

In most cases you don’t need to know the details to understand if someone has real alpha or is just punting. Once you’ve spoken to enough systematic traders, you can usually tell if they are really doing something special - especially at the pre-deployment level. I’d even posit that if a trader is worried about his IP before going live there is a fair chance he does not even understand the hurdles involved.

Of course, you could be a genius and have come up with something truly unique, but it’s extremely unlikely.

Not even worthy of a detailed response... ignorance and "ass"umptions all around. You're the kind of troll that every forum has at least one of. Nothing useful to contribute (read the title of the thread again), and judging others makes you feel superior somehow.

 

[TradersRUs]

That fact alone should tell us something...

Exactly. That's what prompted me to reach out to the community.

 

[Poljot]

If you don't automate order entry, why not just feed your code with price and volume data from vendor and have it calculate the signals on your own machine rather then by broker? E.g. refresh spreadsheet with OHLC data every X minutes and run VBA or any kind of code on it.

 

[TradersRUs]

If you don't automate order entry, why not just feed your code with price and volume data from vendor and have it calculate the signals on your own machine rather then by broker? E.g. refresh spreadsheet with OHLC data every X minutes and run VBA or any kind of code on it.

Every single indicator used in the strategy would have to be coded in from scratch. Plus, load historical bar data that those indicators depend on. Then performance tune the rig to execute intraday...
That would be similar to building the software itself that these vendors are offering... non-trivial no doubt. I'd prefer to spend my time trading than reinventing the wheel.

 

[Same Lazy Element]

Not even worthy of a detailed response... ignorance and "ass"umptions all around. You're the kind of troll that every forum has at least one of. Nothing useful to contribute (read the title of the thread again), and judging others makes you feel superior somehow.

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.

 

[TradersRUs]

if you have not established that your strategy actually works in live trading

How do you know that I haven't? Hence the "ass"umption.

More importantly (in your omnipresent arrogance, you missed the point again), the process would be - develop a strategy, backtest it thoroughly, THEN decide to live trade. If the software you use, steals your IP in step 2 itself (based on backtest performance) then any subsequent steps are a moot point.

 

[Same Lazy Element]

If the software you use, steals your IP in step 2 itself (based on backtest performance) then any subsequent steps are a moot point.

It's amazing that you are worried about alpha dilution even before you know that you have alpha.