Thinking of hiring a programmer... Help very welcomed

X

xicaob

Hi, folks, hope you all and your loved ones are safe and healthy.

Because my kind of operative is done for the, hopefully, short term, (all my stop losse orders got triggered Im planning to set up an system for my operative to help me and ease and lighten the amount of work and time invested in check my portfolio each week. I want to hire a programmer for creating an API solution that integrates this:

- Cellphone/Tablet/PC/website? integrated app with these features:
- Panic Button in the cellphone app (Sell all stocks in my portfolio using Mid price algorithm) If I do this on TWS, the orders are placed but I have to transmit them one by one) Besides, IBKR Mobile doesnt have this feature. Or I dont see it.
- The ability to recognize a low between two highs or a high between two lows.
- The ability to select tickers that are in their all time high or low (in a certain period of time [5,7,10,15,20 years])
- Trade volume in the last 3 months
- Possibility to know if that particular stock pays dividends.
- Grab all data of major index and the stocks in those markets and sort them using this criteria for me, to know, using a formula created by me, how much stocks can I buy at a given time.
- Excel weekly report of my portfolio, how much $$$ is at risk (Difference between price and stop loss multiples for the number os stocks I own). This has to be sync with the account balance shown by IB TWS so I don’t know how the programmer will handle the exchange rates, for example.
- Trading history using every single weekly report.
- When I move (up or down) a stop loss using IBKR platform or Mobile, the update have to be synched with Excel for that particular week for its report and in the cellphone app.
- When a price for a stop loss is reached, an alert must be sent to my cellphone real time and a notification if the stop loss actually got triggered and in which conditions.
- Daily report showing every alteration on my portfolio. Stop Loss orders modifications, buy and sell occurred with number of stocks involved and at what given price.
- It isnt uncommon at I have bought the same stock at different times (and prices) and have several stop loss orders with the same price. Can I unify those stop loss orders? Its possible to copy the changes in a stop loss order price to the other ones placed for the same ticker?

Have a great one! Stay safe
 

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nooby_mcnoob said:
Congrats on knowing what you want, that is 90% of the battle. I'd suggest you pick one of the most important parts and do a trial project with someone from upwork or something.
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Thanks for the imput. Great advice. I was looking options at freelancer but will take a look to upwork.


The main purpose of this thread is to know if its even possible to do all that because I fear they tell me that its feasible and then its not. Its my first programmer hiring.
 
Your requirements sound a bit all over the place. Synchronizing everything is possible but good luck finding someone who is comfortable doing it all and knowing IB API extremely well.

When you write "Excel weekly report of my portfolio", that itself is probably a whole project, what metrics, which periods to compare to, interactivity etc.

The amount of work here is probably many months worth and then there's the bug fixing phase which will take about the same amount of time as bug tolerance is very low when it comes to trading.
 
Dude, I already see you in a world of pain.

Been there, done that. I've worked with freelancers for almost 2 years, not only for minor analytics programs, but also for execution critical software.

All I can tell you is:
- 99% of programmers are not traders and they have no idea of what you're talking about
- 90% of all traders are not programmers and they have no idea about how complicated seemingly minor tasks can be
- make sure you write a specification book (not just the summary you did above), that goes into every single detail of what you want, how you want it and what you do NOT (!) want.
- Prioritise your features so the programmer can make up his mind from which angle he can approach the project.
- Set milestones and pay according to milestones. NEVER ever agree upon payment per hour, always pay per milestone.
- the programmer MUST document and comment on the code. If you break up with him, nobody else can read the code and your software is worthless.
- a software needs constant updating and bug fixing. Think about a maintenance contract.

What you've listed probably takes about half a year to program and another half year for you to test and bugfix together with the programmer IF this has not been done before.

I strongly suggest you check if you can live with off the shelf products. Your project basically asks for a coder on salary who constantly monitors and updates all the interfaces and platforms you're using (TWS, Mobile, Excel). This is going to be some effort...not only financially, but also with regards to time.
 
xicaob said:
Thanks for the imput. Great advice. I was looking options at freelancer but will take a look to upwork.


The main purpose of this thread is to know if its even possible to do all that because I fear they tell me that its feasible and then its not. Its my first programmer hiring.
More...

Nothing you mentioned is impossible. Hope you have a large bankroll as it will cost you. To develop, test, launch and provide post go live support. I am both trader and programmer, that is why I can say it with certainty. My advice, find someone good, it will save you money in long run. it all depends what capital you operate.
 
MrMuppet said:
What you've listed probably takes about half a year to program and another half year for you to test and bugfix together with the programmer IF this has not been done before. I strongly suggest you check if you can live with off the shelf products.
More...
I can definitely attest to this. Once you do get it right though, it's a liberating feeling. The level of control you have with fine tuned custom applications can't be matched. It features and executes only what you want, and nothing else. I still have my off the shelf stuff as a backup plan, but it always makes me nervous. I trust most, what I designed and had built with multiple failsafe mechanisms.
 
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