Quote from bigfurrymonster:
Big Investment banks and major Hedge Funds develop their own trading platforms from scratch.
They have a bunch of super smart quants who specialize in developping strategies. They use tools like R / Matlab to do stat modelling. They usually have custom libraries in C++/C#/Python to allow quants to rapidly prototype and backtest their ideas.
They have another bunch of really good programmers who specialize in execution. Usually this is done in C++ and those programmers are expert at creating heavy duty, failsafe, multithreaded engines.
Small prop shop who don't have enough capital to invest in a fullscale infrastructure will usually use a mix of professional programs and custom made apps.
As for retail traders, whatever platform we use, we have to be aware that we are fighting against very clever guys with big guns. The only advantage we have is that we can use low capacity strategies and have the freedom to take long breaks if needed.
