Over the next few years, the proprietary trading and hedge fund industries will migrate largely to automated trade selection and execution systems. Indeed, this is already happening. While several finance books provide C++ code for pricing derivatives and performing numerical calculations, none approaches the topic from a system design perspective. This book will be divided into two sections—programming techniques and automated trading system ( ATS ) technology—and teach financial system design and development from the absolute ground up using Microsoft Visual C++.NET 2005. MS Visual C++.NET 2005 has been chosen as the implementation language primarily because most trading firms and large banks have developed and continue to develop their proprietary algorithms in ISO C++ and Visual C++.NET provides the greatest flexibility for incorporating these legacy algorithms into working systems. Furthermore, the .NET Framework and development environment provide the best libraries and tools for rapid development of trading systems. The first section of the book explains Visual C++.NET 2005 in detail and focuses on the required programming knowledge for automated trading system development, including object oriented design, delegates and events, enumerations, random number generation, timing and timer objects, and data management with STL.NET and .NET collections. Furthermore, since most legacy code and modeling code in the financial markets is done in ISO C++, this book looks in depth at several advanced topics relating to managed/unmanaged/COM memory management and interoperability. Further, this book provides dozens of examples illustrating the use of database connectivity with ADO.NET and an extensive treatment of SQL and FIX and XML/FIXML. Advanced programming topics such as threading, sockets, as well as using C++.NET to connect to Excel are also discussed at length and supported by examples. The second section of the book explains technological concerns and design concepts for automated trading systems. Specifically, chapters are devoted to handling real-time data feeds, managing orders in the exchange order book, position selection, and risk management. A .dll is included in the book that will emulate connection to a widely used industry API ( Trading Technologies, Inc.’s XTAPI ) and provide ways to test position and order management algorithms. Design patterns are presented for market taking systems based upon technical analysis as well as for market making systems using intermarket spreads. As all of the chapters revolve around computer programming for financial engineering and trading system development, this book will educate traders, financial engineers, quantitative analysts, students of quantitative finance and even experienced programmers on technological issues that revolve around development of financial applications in a Microsoft environment and the construction and implementation of real-time trading systems and tools. * Teaches financial system design and development from the ground up using Microsoft Visual C++.NET 2005. * Provides dozens of examples illustrating the programming approaches in the book * Chapters are supported by screenshots, equations, sample Excel spreadsheets, and programming code

The first and only book of its kind, Automated Options Trading describes a comprehensive, step-by-step process for creating automated options trading systems. Using the authors’ techniques, sophisticated traders can create powerful frameworks for the consistent, disciplined realization of well-defined, formalized, and carefully-tested trading strategies based on their specific requirements. Unlike other books on automated trading, this book focuses specifically on the unique requirements of options, reflecting philosophy, logic, quantitative tools, and valuation procedures that are completely different from those used in conventional automated trading algorithms. Every facet of the authors’ approach is optimized for options, including strategy development and optimization; capital allocation; risk management; performance measurement; back-testing and walk-forward analysis; and trade execution. The authors’ system reflects a continuous process of valuation, structuring and long-term management of investment portfolios (not just individual instruments), introducing systematic approaches for handling portfolios containing option combinations related to different underlying assets. With these techniques, it is finally possible to effectively automate options trading at the portfolio level. This book will be an indispensable resource for serious options traders working individually, in hedge funds, or in other institutions.

Develop your own trading system with practical guidance and expert advice In Building Algorithmic Trading Systems: A Trader's Journey From Data Mining to Monte Carlo Simulation to Live Training, award-winning trader Kevin Davey shares his secrets for developing trading systems that generate triple-digit returns. With both explanation and demonstration, Davey guides you step-by-step through the entire process of generating and validating an idea, setting entry and exit points, testing systems, and implementing them in live trading. You'll find concrete rules for increasing or decreasing allocation to a system, and rules for when to abandon one. The companion website includes Davey's own Monte Carlo simulator and other tools that will enable you to automate and test your own trading ideas. A purely discretionary approach to trading generally breaks down over the long haul. With market data and statistics easily available, traders are increasingly opting to employ an automated or algorithmic trading system—enough that algorithmic trades now account for the bulk of stock trading volume. Building Algorithmic Trading Systems teaches you how to develop your own systems with an eye toward market fluctuations and the impermanence of even the most effective algorithm. Learn the systems that generated triple-digit returns in the World Cup Trading Championship Develop an algorithmic approach for any trading idea using off-the-shelf software or popular platforms Test your new system using historical and current market data Mine market data for statistical tendencies that may form the basis of a new system Market patterns change, and so do system results. Past performance isn't a guarantee of future success, so the key is to continually develop new systems and adjust established systems in response to evolving statistical tendencies. For individual traders looking for the next leap forward, Building Algorithmic Trading Systems provides expert guidance and practical advice.

While institutional traders continue to implement quantitative (or algorithmic) trading, many independent traders have wondered if they can still challenge powerful industry professionals at their own game? The answer is "yes," and in Quantitative Trading, Dr. Ernest Chan, a respected independent trader and consultant, will show you how. Whether you're an independent "retail" trader looking to start your own quantitative trading business or an individual who aspires to work as a quantitative trader at a major financial institution, this practical guide contains the information you need to succeed.

Consistent, benchmark-beating growth, combined with reduced risk, are the Holy Grail of traders everywhere. Laurens Bensdorp has been achieving both for more than a decade. By combining multiple quantitative trading systems that perform well in different types of markets--bull, bear, or sideways--his overall systematized and automated system delivers superlative results regardless of overall market behavior. In his second book, Automated Stock Trading Systems, Bensdorp details a non-correlated, multi-system approach you can understand and build to suit yourself. Using historical price action to develop statistical edges, his combined, automated systems have been shown to deliver simulated consistent high double-digit returns with very low draw downs for the last 24 years, no matter what the market indices have done. By following his approach, traders can achieve reliable, superlative returns without excessive risk.

Learn to trade algorithmically with your existing brokerage, from data management, to strategy optimization, to order execution, using free and publicly available data. Connect to your brokerage’s API, and the source code is plug-and-play. Automated Trading with R explains automated trading, starting with its mathematics and moving to its computation and execution. You will gain a unique insight into the mechanics and computational considerations taken in building a back-tester, strategy optimizer, and fully functional trading platform. The platform built in this book can serve as a complete replacement for commercially available platforms used by retail traders and small funds. Software components are strictly decoupled and easily scalable, providing opportunity to substitute any data source, trading algorithm, or brokerage. This book will: Provide a flexible alternative to common strategy automation frameworks, like Tradestation, Metatrader, and CQG, to small funds and retail traders Offer an understanding of the internal mechanisms of an automated trading system Standardize discussion and notation of real-world strategy optimization problems What You Will Learn Understand machine-learning criteria for statistical validity in the context of time-series Optimize strategies, generate real-time trading decisions, and minimize computation time while programming an automated strategy in R and using its package library Best simulate strategy performance in its specific use case to derive accurate performance estimates Understand critical real-world variables pertaining to portfolio management and performance assessment, including latency, drawdowns, varying trade size, portfolio growth, and penalization of unused capital Who This Book Is For Traders/practitioners at the retail or small fund level with at least an undergraduate background in finance or computer science; graduate level finance or data science students

An award winning system developer explains how to create, test, and implement a profitable trading system Traders have long been drawn to the idea of translating their strategies and ideas into trading systems. While successful trading systems have been developed, in most cases, they work very well for a period of time in specific markets, but perform less well across all markets in all time frames. Nobody understands this better than author Keith Fitschen—a thought-leader in trading system development—and now, with Trading Strategy Generation + Website, he shares his extensive experience in this field with you. Trading Strategy Generation skillfully explains how to take market insights or trading ideas and develop them into a robust trading system. In it, Fitschen describes the critical steps a trader needs to follow, including: translating the market insight into a rules-based approach; determining entry and exit points; testing against historical data; and integrating money management and position sizing into the system. Written by an award winning system developer who has actively traded his systems for thirty years Introduces new ideas on money management and position sizing for different markets Details exactly what it takes to build, test, and implement a profitable technical trading system A companion Website contains supplementary material, including Excel spreadsheets designed to rate the strength of entry signals and provide money management guidance based on market volatility and portfolio correlations Written with the serious trader in mind, Trading Strategy Generation is an accessible guide to building a system that will generate realistic returns over time.