What is the best software for this problem?

Yoyo Trader · Nov 28, 2019

Quick question on which I'd appreciate a little help if anyone has any opinions.

I'm looking for a software application that will read market data, display price charts and provide some sort of scripting language to allow me to overlay shapes (mainly lines joining locations in price and time). Ideally it'll use a published market data standard, so that I can convert my market data into its format and push it in.

Don't need anything else (e.g. broker connectivity). All my other requirements (backtesting, execution etc) are met by my suite of custom applications.

At the moment I am using NinjaTrader and NinjaScript, and it has become unworkable for many reasons. I'm just looking for something to allow me to eyeball the output of ideas and backtests on a chart. You can do all the number crunching in the world, but sometimes you just need to see stuff overlaid on a chart.

Be grateful for any ideas.

Thanks.

Metamega · Nov 28, 2019

Amibroker comes to mind since I use it.

http://www.amibroker.org/userkb/?s=trade+lines

Theirs an example of plotting lines between buy and sells. Theirs a wide assortment with plot() , plotshapes(), plotline() functions.

fajitas · Nov 28, 2019

I'm a software engineer that is actually looking to build something in this space.

1. Can you explain more details on what you are looking for here?

Yoyo Trader said:
... read market data, display price charts and provide some sort of scripting language to allow me to overlay shapes ...

Are you providing the market data? What granularity (not that it really matters as it should be adjustable I presume)

2. Would you pay for software like this?

Yoyo Trader · Nov 29, 2019

Metamega said:
Amibroker comes to mind since I use it.

http://www.amibroker.org/userkb/?s=trade+lines

Theirs an example of plotting lines between buy and sells. Theirs a wide assortment with plot() , plotshapes(), plotline() functions.

Thanks, will take a look.

Yoyo Trader · Nov 29, 2019

fajitas said:
I'm a software engineer that is actually looking to build something in this space.

1. Can you explain more details on what you are looking for here?

Are you providing the market data? What granularity (not that it really matters as it should be adjustable I presume)

Just looking for an application which simply renders price data onto the screen and lets me programmatically overlay graphical elements. Basically imagine any trading screen with all the bullshit tools (Gann, Fibs etc) removed, leaving just the barebones display of price. Only needs to offer the usual configuration options (different time resolutions, individual ticks), and the ability to drag the x,y scales to compress/expand the display.

Needs to accept market data in a published format. That way the user can convert their data into the required format for display (I have an extensive archive from CME Datamine and other sources that I already have converted into my own proprietary binary format for compressed storage and high throughput when backtesting). Needs to be able to handle everything from tick data up to daily timeframe.

Here's my use case. I have custom applications which take market data as their input and spit out various outputs. For example, these outputs can range from backtest execution results through to low level system diagnostics (e.g. when the algos started to lag the market by x milliseconds). Sometimes I simply want to try out new ideas and can usually quickly assess their validity by eyeballing the relevant output. If an idea is total crap it tends to be immediately evident when thrown onto a chart. This output data is obviously generated in a numerical format and I can run a shit ton of statistical analysis...but at the end of the day sometimes you just need to see stuff overlaid on a price chart.

In essence I need something which allows me to anchor various shapes (arrows, lines etc) to specific prices and times. Ideally, the application would only need two inputs. A market data file and a user data file (containing specifications for the drawings in JSON format).

I could build it myself but I don't have much expertise in building GUIs, and so it wouldn't be the best use of my time.

fajitas said:
2. Would you pay for software like this?

If it's reasonable quality then yes.

ZBZB · Nov 29, 2019

Excel or google sheets would do it.

Yoyo Trader · Nov 30, 2019

ZBZB said:
Excel or google sheets would do it.

Yeah, the graphing capabilities of Excel are pretty good for doing basic stuff. But you can't easily change timescales, drag the x and y axis to compress/expand.

I just want the very simple charting capabilities that every trading UI offers. It's a wheel that's already been been reinvented so many times I'm loathed to do it again.

Besides the chart UI my only other requirements are that:

(1) I can programmatically overlay my own drawing elements
(2) The market data format is published so that I can convert my data into the right format for import.

fajitas · Nov 30, 2019

I couldn't find a way to DM. If you want to discuss this in more detail outside this thread, I might be willing to build your PoC (with your feedback) but with me retaining the license and selling as a SaaS product. Let me know how to reach out if interested.

Yoyo Trader · Dec 4, 2019

fajitas said:
I couldn't find a way to DM. If you want to discuss this in more detail outside this thread, I might be willing to build your PoC (with your feedback) but with me retaining the license and selling as a SaaS product. Let me know how to reach out if interested.

Spec is pretty much as detailed in this thread. Very basic stuff. Can be iterated upon later to improve.

If you (like me) feel it's a hole in the market analysis space that needs filling then by all means knock up a demo and I'll provide feedback. I'm sure there'll be other strategy designers here on ET that will have useful opinions as well.

Laissez Faire · Dec 5, 2019

Hi,

I'm responding since I've been curious to possibly create something similar.

Yoyo Trader said:
Quick question on which I'd appreciate a little help if anyone has any opinions.

I'm looking for a software application that will read market data, display price charts and provide some sort of scripting language to allow me to overlay shapes (mainly lines joining locations in price and time). Ideally it'll use a published market data standard, so that I can convert my market data into its format and push it in.

Can you elaborate here? Is 'market data' raw data or derived data from your backtesting, algorithms or whatever?

Do you plan on utilizing this in real time or just for EOD historical backtesting?

At the moment I am using NinjaTrader and NinjaScript, and it has become unworkable for many reasons. I'm just looking for something to allow me to eyeball the output of ideas and backtests on a chart. You can do all the number crunching in the world, but sometimes you just need to see stuff overlaid on a chart.

Be grateful for any ideas.

Thanks.

And you're certain this could not be programmed as an add-in/indicator for Ninja?

I have for example been plotting some of my indicators/overlays on Ninjatrader while blanking out the main series of the chart.

I've had some of my custom indicators (used outside Ninja in my other custom software) programmed in Ninja, such that I have them available both places. Ninja then simply works as a visualization tool.

Further, I've been curious if I could create an indicator which reads from my stuff in Excel and displays it on my Ninja charts. I haven't had a pressing need to do so yet, but it's on my to-do list.

PS: I'm not a programmer, so I've been hiring people to do this for me.

Regards.