Hosting for automatic trading algorithms?

B

Buurzgoth

(I apologize for noob question - I tried looking through last few months of threads on this forum, but didn't see an answer)

I'd like to give automatic trading a try, but I don't have a good internet connection I can use (I'm always on road, and living in hotels, so fixing this is not an option), so I'm looking at what is the best way for my code/strategy to run in cloud/at my broker/hosted somewhere.

Basically, I'd like something like collective2, but as far as I can see, I would need to "Sell a System" there and then autotrade it, and sharing my system in not what I'm interested in.

Is writing my stuff for IB API, and then hosting it somewhere my best bet? And in that case, any recommendations for hosting?


Some background info:
- I don't care which programming language/script I write this in, although simpler languages would be better as I don't plan doing anything too computation heavy
- I currently use IB, but I'm ok with opening account with another broker
- I need access to futures, and perhaps forex
- I'm ok paying a few hundred $/month for this initially


Thanks
 
You can buy (lease) a small server (dell, hp, IBM,..) and put it in a datacenter.
The datacenter will provide redundant power supply and internet access.

You can use Ninjatrader (C#) or Marketcetera (java) for instance to run your algo on the server.
Or if it's simple enough you can run the algo without any platform.
 
Also, check out Amazon EC2. It is an inexpensive alternative to a physically hosted server. Running a single medium sized server (dual-core equivalent with around 2gb RAM) full-time would probably run around $80-$100 per month. You can size the resources based on your needs however. There are some threads on here about it if you search. I've tried both Amazon and Rackspace and they are both good for hosting Virtual Servers and support Windows and all flavors of Linux.
 
I'd second what brocklanders said. Take this for what it's worth of course, but one of my good college buddies does a lot of infrastructure work with hedge funds in NY and he thinks I'm crazy for not using Amazon's cloud (despite the fact that I'm in an area with plenty of good choices for internet service). Ironically, I heard that Amazon did go down once recently while my Fios hasn't disconnected a single time in over a year now - but ultimately I know he's right.
 
It depends on the platform and size of server you choose (and of course how much you use it). EC2 is pay as you go so if you aren't using the service there is no charge. Windows servers are more expensive and start at around $0.29 per hour for a decent sized box. Medium sized Linux servers are much cheaper. I would estimate if you ran it 5 days a week you would be around $140/mo.

Rackspace is somewhat cheaper than this but the latency from their Chicago data center is not as good as Amazon. You get what you pay for. If Rackspace could improve their network latency they would be a compelling choice also.
 
Quote from nfactorial:

I wouldn't trust Amazon with sensitive information
More...

Interesting. I don't know enough to argue this one way or the other but my buddy seemed to think this was a non-issue. Will have to bust his chops.
 
Data security is an issue no matter where you put your server. I would feel no more safe with my data even if it was at broker (maybe less so). Amazon is not in the business of trading and could care less about your "secret" system.There is always a risk no matter where it is, even on your home computer!

There are things you can do to mitigate the risk. You are in charge of your own system security and can close services you don't need and only use encrypted authentication methods for remote access. You can also add network filters and firewall most all the services accept to your brokerage network on incoming and outgoing traffic. Amazon also lets you add a two-factor token device for logging into the console which is nice, which Rackspace does not have.

As far as the outage goes back in April, it affected some customers very badly and others not at all. They seem to have gotten things back on track and I haven't had any disconnections and I trade a lot at night so if it was a problem I wouldn't be getting much sleep. :)
 
One thing that I found interesting is that NxCore put a server in the Amazon cloud a couple of years ago -- although I have no whether they're still offering this. One advantage over other colocation solutions (as I understood it) is that you don't need to pay anything for the incoming bandwidth, which is normally significant. I wonder whether other data vendors have tried something similar.

Of course, this also means you need to run your stuff on Amazon's servers, which some might consider a disadvantage.
 
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