Great feedback, thank you very much.
@Trader200K why didn't you automate directly from AMIbroker? Can they connect via API to major brokerages (ie IB)?
Yes, I am a big fan of AMI and Tomasz’ main work, but looking to solving the problem of having an in-house production trading system that is rock solid w/o a lot of daily ‘making sure every module is working’ is predictably a issue.
Getting data requires a third party like DTN, which connects to AMIquote, that then imports to AMIbroker, that then connects to IB TWS module via “beta” software on the same PC that then connects to the brokerage’s server farm.
As good as all these parties are, they have/will have different priorities. If one or the other decide not to support the interface, I am back system building again vs trading. Tomasz is honest in calling his IB connection ‘beta’ in this regard. This world would be a lot better place with more truthful folks like he is.
As an old line systems designer coming out of the industrial, real time, distributed control world, the architecture of a system is a battle between the extremes of patching together the cheapest individual functional blocks with little care about daily operational weaknesses to outsourcing everything, closing your eyes and opening your wallet to some mediocre, but ‘safe’ conglomerate.
I needed a mid ground path that just works. Time spent putzing w data suppliers, modules communicating (or froze up) inside or outside my computer ... and all the upgrades/support issues causing future compatibility issues very likely was going to cut into my time for managing trades and money.
The Tradestation ‘entities’, are going to have their issues, but they have nailed the architecture with a system design that welds data/trader interface/brokerage service in a way that ‘appears to me so far’ to wrap up all the processes into a stable, reasonably priced mechanism that will let me concentrate on transactions.
I read a rant from one mechanical trader who lost a sack of money because of some lockup that stopped data flow, but his UI gave no indication of a pbm. He finally picked up on it when he finally noticed his charts hadn’t moved for 20 min.
In my first tests of TS, I disconnected the internet to see how it behaved. In a very short space, I got visual and audible alarms. Ditto on restoral. So Tradestation satisfies my requirement there.
Other than a few niggling chart design issues that just require getting used to, the only real negs I have run into is I have had two system crashes w TS V10 in two weeks where everything just disappears. Both cases restarted just fine to where I was without data loss, but this is not a small worry. (I have new high end hardware and new Win10 OS.) Will be tracking this closely.