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I run a similar experiment, with real money and allow my robot to trade on my behalf. For long-term investments, I continue to follow the indexed-only ETF-base

by cik 9y ago

I run a similar experiment, with real money and allow my robot to trade on my behalf. For long-term investments, I continue to follow the indexed-only ETF-based couch potato model, but I'm happy to let this run. I view it as a risky investment, akin to investing in any startup, and have invested accordingly. The other reality is that over the long-term it's highly unlikely to beat the market. Realistically (almost) nothing beats the market over a long-enough period. At the same time in my testbed, with real data, real 'money where your mouth is' it worked. It's no crazier than any other idea. Ultimately whether humans or AI drive investment is immaterial if you believe in an indexed portfolio. Should those investment approaches succeed, they'll join the indexes in some way. Similarly, should they fail, they won't

rottyguy 9y ago
can you provide details on your setup?
mikevm 9y ago
I'd also really love to create a trader bot for part of my money. Any chance you could give a few pointers on how to get started in this field? (good resources to read, frameworks to use, etc...)
- cik 9y ago
  Sure. I use a variety of free datasources - including Alphavantage, and the nightly Nasdaq dumps, to collect a bunch of data nightly, in addition to real-time. My robot is based on errbot - which I integrate with a private slack organization/channel so that I can interact, and have all the logging infrastructure I need. The database is MySQL, and communicated with via SQLAlchemy (through errbot of course), with a series of commands and crons (errcron) set up, in order to both notify myself and execute on various data gathering activities. The rest of the processing code is likewise - in python. I don't rely on scipy, numpy, or anything else, given that I don't see the need. The reality is that there are a series of activities that are profitable at the micro) level in the geography in which I trade, which is why my robot currently integrates with Questrade - specifically so that I can execute from Slack, while I work at my 'regular' job. All passwords and reusable tokens are stored in an ansible-vault, so that I can commit and push my repository around. I'm running two different experiments actively: one that does an arbitrage based on data I'm looking into, the other than specifically tries to eke out a $0.10 gain per share, closed daily. Going into Jan 1 2018, I'd made ~57% from August 31 (first day of trading). This year, I'm down ~8% overall so far. Passively, the return has been great. Now, I'm changing my focus - enough people I know are generally interested and willing to light the same amount of money that I am on fire. So, I'll keep experimenting, but I'm taking 1% of the overall return for the 'bank' (i.e. my corp). This will all clearly catch fire.

by cik 9y ago

rottyguy 9y ago

can you provide details on your setup?

mikevm 9y ago

I'd also really love to create a trader bot for part of my money. Any chance you could give a few pointers on how to get started in this field? (good resources to read, frameworks to use, etc...)

cik 9y ago
Sure. I use a variety of free datasources - including Alphavantage, and the nightly Nasdaq dumps, to collect a bunch of data nightly, in addition to real-time. My robot is based on errbot - which I integrate with a private slack organization/channel so that I can interact, and have all the logging infrastructure I need. The database is MySQL, and communicated with via SQLAlchemy (through errbot of course), with a series of commands and crons (errcron) set up, in order to both notify myself and execute on various data gathering activities. The rest of the processing code is likewise - in python. I don't rely on scipy, numpy, or anything else, given that I don't see the need. The reality is that there are a series of activities that are profitable at the micro) level in the geography in which I trade, which is why my robot currently integrates with Questrade - specifically so that I can execute from Slack, while I work at my 'regular' job. All passwords and reusable tokens are stored in an ansible-vault, so that I can commit and push my repository around. I'm running two different experiments actively: one that does an arbitrage based on data I'm looking into, the other than specifically tries to eke out a $0.10 gain per share, closed daily. Going into Jan 1 2018, I'd made ~57% from August 31 (first day of trading). This year, I'm down ~8% overall so far. Passively, the return has been great. Now, I'm changing my focus - enough people I know are generally interested and willing to light the same amount of money that I am on fire. So, I'll keep experimenting, but I'm taking 1% of the overall return for the 'bank' (i.e. my corp). This will all clearly catch fire.