Good question! Indeed, for 3 years I was just coding! Slower strategies can be followed manually, what is what I am doing at the moment - I think the learning curve about strategies is VERY slow - so I took this long phase as a managed learning environment... Indeed with some success.
But to target the 1/2 minute timeframes I need something more.
forgot: "IT" nonprofessionals... Got neary a Computer Science Bachelor while doing that kind of stuff
I know about some execution software environments of banks. Indeed, this piece of software could fit into some banks more than I believe... -> maybe retarget the solution to banks. There are not many integrated software vendors (from Algorithmic Trading to Order Routing to Position Keeping). Know about any of them? In Europe: none.
Investment Banks have a huge competitive advantage in analysis and direct market access, so if you target index arbitrage, you are right. But if you seriously target 1 minute timeframes with intermediate order modifications (modify stop orders etc.), this approach will definitely work