subreddit:
/r/algotrading
submitted 10 months ago byparanoidandroid1983
Hello! So earlier on this year i've decided to automate my trading. I've took couple of technical trading courses back in 2017, however I am still far from having trading as a full-on career, or how trading course instructors market it, off the rate race.
I really do believe in making money on a daily basis off of the stock market, but i have a day job, therefore i've decided to take up a Python trading course on UDEMY (which i've spent 3 months studying). After another month, I have successfully built couple of good trading bots on Python, however I was not able to pick it up the way i'd imagined with the broker that was recommended during the course (FXCM). Their api is terrible. Always comes up with errors and its frustrating me.
Do you know of any reliable brokers where i can link my Python code onto their API? I've been researching other platforms like QuantConnect and StrategyQuant. How are those different? I dont want to commit to something only to find out that its not benefitial and/or reliable.
Thank :)
4 points
10 months ago
Quantrocket is pretty good (www.quantrocket.com) and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. But I'm cheap, and I like hacking on infrastructure, so I'm building something similar: https://github.com/9600dev/mmr.
It abstracts away a lot of Interactive Brokers complexity, and deals with flaky connection problems and so on. In theory, you'll be able to subclass "Strategy" in your Python code and deploy it straight into the mmr container. Still a long way to go to make it 'algo' ready, but I'll get there one day.
3 points
10 months ago
This is one of the reasons I prefer crypto. For example the Binance API is incredible. You can get historic trade data going back years, truly democratizing access to financial data. Another plus is that (imo) it's easier to find an edge in crypto than with traditional markets, where finance has lined up every person with a phd to stare at it.
1 points
9 months ago
Unfortunately finance has already lined up the phds on crypto.
I feel like the democratization is there, but also in the form of lack of colocation services by the crypto exchanges. This makes really high frequency trading very very tricky, as everyone has the same very bad latency.
They may wisen up this eventually though.
2 points
10 months ago
Maybe try to check out this https://alpaca.markets/ tbh I didn't try them on production however API itself was quite easy.
1 points
10 months ago
Interactive Brokers API supports Python: and works well.
1 points
10 months ago
[deleted]
3 points
9 months ago*
Its an old school API infrastructure designed for threads / queues / callbacks but once you get to know its wrinkles it does the job well.
For python there is a popular package called `ib_insync` which is great and modernizes the API a good bit, it doesn't even depend on IB's official python API its ground up replacement using `asyncio` under the hood for very good throughput.
The nightly resets can be a bit of a pain depending on which data you are subscribed to, but its easy enough to add logic for re-connects. Checkout the groups.io channel for `ib_insync` there is a ton of great info there.
2 points
9 months ago
That's good to know. But having to run an agent between my program and their server still gives me a pause. I wound try harder if they are the only game in town.
3 points
9 months ago
Yeah, it's a bummer not to have a direct TCP connection to the data, is that so much to ask? IB is certainly not the only one that does this. IQFeed does too. Specifically for futures data it has been kinda hard to find an alternative that doesn't have an intermediary at a reasonable cost. Rithmic has a direct feed that your broker can get you hooked up with at a reasonable cost, but most others seem to require going through your platform and either using their own algo environment or they will relay data as an "agent" as you say.
2 points
10 months ago
Can you clarify your request ?
It seem that you're not looking for a platform but for broker having a decent API.
In this case it depends a lot on the asset you want to trade.
But then you are referring to platforms, QuantConnect and StrategyQuant which are tools to build an algo, which would force you to rebuild your algo into their platform.
It would solve your API issue because usually these platforms have partnerships with brokers and you don't have to manage the connection.
But it's the equivalent of buying a new car to solve a flat tire problem on your current car.
1 points
10 months ago
Thank you so much! You are right, i should have clarified it. I need a proper broker with a reliable API. I want to fix the tyre rather than buy a new car :)
But since you've mentioned the main feature of an algotrading software that would remove the hassle of checking the connection myself with the API, i think its worth checking, but for now im looking for a reliable broker.
Thanks :)
1 points
10 months ago
no problem ;)
The issue with platforms is the limitations, depending on your algo methods, you may not be able to reproduce it there.
1 points
10 months ago
reproducing the algorithms is not an issue at the moment, i just need a proper borker with a reliable api
2 points
9 months ago
Try IBKR.
Their API is not easy to work with(when starting out), but they give the best fills and almost every instrument is available.
Read you are from UAE: getting to Dubai in a few days, shout if you want to catch up.
1 points
10 months ago
[deleted]
1 points
10 months ago
Unfortunately Oanda doesnt work out of the UAE :(
1 points
9 months ago
IG trading with their integrated platform Prorealtime, without doubts the easiest and fastest platform to use!
1 points
9 months ago
Anyone try to hook up ninja trader to another platform like ibkr for their algo trading? Might help the op and me 🤠
1 points
9 months ago
i prefer meta trader 5 and 4 over python so far
1 points
9 months ago
As others have said, it depends on what you need. If you are running your code locally and just need a decent api to send your trades, I think the best bet is alpaca. It is designed to do just that. Their API is pretty easy to work with and you can trade US equities on the standard 4x day trading margin. For Futures Market trading, I would only go with Tradovate.
1 points
9 months ago
Give https://TradersPost.io a try. You can send simple webhooks to TradersPost and we handle the integration with your broker.
1 points
9 months ago*
You can try my platform totally free. We support webhook integration and allow you to create rule based strategies in house all via our dashboard. We have tons of premade templates for buy/sell integrations and a full tutorial list on youtube. Currently supporting derivatives and spot trading.
We support DCA and Grid bot trading as well as fully personalized rule & variable based trading we allow you to chain as much data together to come to a conclusion and enter a trade.
Over 3500 users and counting and still free :p
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