Bitcoin Forum

Hi, I'm a Forex trader and a good programmer who got very interested in Bitcoin in the latest month.

I can modify the FXCM Trading Software software to connect to Mt Gox (or other exchanges) and display real time charts, including tick level (phase 1), and also allow trading through it (phase 2).

I know how to do this, but it is difficult, and I was thinking of either charging a monthly subscription (5 USD or BTC equiv) or maybe a somewhat higher single sell price (50 USD or BTC equiv for example). The prices are indicative. They really depend on how much interest there is. Alternatively, I could develop this for a fixed sum (USD or BTC) and then make it free. Or any other solution you may think off, but I do need at least 1000 USD (or 20-50 paying clients) to be able to work on this (not necessarily in a single payment).

Is anybody interested in it?

Possible features:
1. Multiple bitcoin exchanges and rates (Mt Gox, VirWox, BTC/RUB, BTC/PLN, ...)
2. Ability to displaying other real world rates (EUR/USD, Gold Price, Oil Price, SPX 500 index, ...)
3. All usual FXCM indicators will work (EMA, RSI, ....), possibility of writing your own indicators (SDK is in Lua)
3. Trading on Mt Gox through app:
- by providing the Mt Gox password to a small client app running on your machine (you need to trust it then)
- you login into Mt Gox into the brower. The app openes a Mt Gox SELL/BUY page in the browser and fills the Direction/Price/Amount fields. This way you don't need to provide your password to anybody.
4. Integration with Bitcoin news in the News window
5. Standard FXCM features:
- trade directly on charts (drag limit order line up or down to move it)
- one-click trading

Technically, the FXCM app needs to connect to a fake FXCM server. That server could either be a local one that you download and install on your computer, or a central one administered by me (no entering of your Mt Gox password or Bitcoin wallet will be required). There are advantages and disadvantages to each solution. For example, the local client will not be able to collect BTC history data if your computer is offline and could be malicious (steal your wallet). The central server requires a dedicated server (30 USD/month or more, depending on client number) and regular maintenance.

The FXCM app binaries will NOT require modifications. You will download it from the FXCM official site. Only some registry settings need to be added (basically a URL to the fake FXCM server location). So if a centralized server is used, no binary made by me will run on your computer.

Platform video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79pbhjmIMic
Platform tour: http://www.fxcm.com/forex-software-preview.jsp

I could also consider making the fake server and related required apps open source.

Screen shots:

http://i38.tinypic.com/4rt47n.png


http://www.forextradingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/marketscope-screen-grab.jpg

I like this. A nice, professional tool for serious trading. Trading on the chart would be nice, but I can see how that would be difficult to impossible at this time. I would do either a subscription or a one time fee, though personally I think it would be easier for everyone to do a one time fee. Count me in if you get this rolling, I am definitely interested.

Definitely interested.

Can't wait to see the first Metatrader server as well.  :)

Very interested in this as well...  :o  Even if I don't use it, the fact that it is available in a professional tool might help bring more "professional" investors in.  It's a win-win no matter what to the holders of bitcoins.

OP, you might try asking for a bounty to a particular bitcoin address.  Once the address balance reaches 120 BTC (or whatever your bounty is, though 120BTC is roughly worth $1000 USD), then you begin work.  Or you can start on it now, and just not release a finished project until the bounty is completed.  Lots of people here like to donate towards projects that they believe will help increase the value of their investments.  I think this is one such project, so I do not believe it would take long for a bounty to be reached.

Welcome to bitcoin 4xCoder!

Awesome ideas. lots of possibilities ... maybe Mt. Gox will be willing to put up the development cost to make it an alternative front end for them ... they stand to gain the most with a boost to their trading volumes I'd imagine. Have you tried contacting MagicalTux?

Can it be linked to other exchanges in the future?

This is outstanding.  I would happily pay for a service like that!  It would pay for itself.

There seems to be some very enthusiastic support for a project like this  ;D Thanks guys!

Just to be clear, I don't have anything working yet.

But I did work hard two months last year on reverse engineering the FXCM protocol for my forex trading needs. So I know this is feasible. The hard part is implementing the server side of the protocol 100%. I only used a very small part to download the forex tick data that I needed. The rest of the protocol (getting account information, tradable currencies, news, orders, ...) is large, and I need to implement all of it, or the client might not work correctly.

I will try in the following week creating a crude proof of concept that you can try (charting only - no execution). It might not be very stable, but should be enough for traders to decide if they would like to pay for it.

@torbank: Yes, I know a lot of people would like to use MetaTrader for trading Bitcoins, unfortunately I have found only very little information about it's protocol on the net. Reverse engineering it would take probably around 3 months of my free time and there is no guarantee of eventual success. If this first project is successful, I might do it.

@SgtSpike: I thought about a bounty, but what guarantees do you have that I won't just take the money and leave? Is there some sort of escrow provider for Bitcoin? Or maybe a respected member could open it and send the money to me based on my progress.

@mother_of_another I can connect any exchange that provides a price/execution API. The fake server will use the API to collect historical prices and will convert them to the format needed by the client trading application. I haven't contacted Mt. Gox yet.

A trading platform that also runs on Linux would be nice…   8)

indeed.

there's a lot of us linux users here...

The only good Linux trading software I'm aware of is Oanda's one. I don't like it very much, and I'm not the only one.

The other alternative would be the creation of a new trading application from scratch. But obviously it would not have as many features as the already existing ones. It's also a much much harder project, and I don't think I could get enough support for this yet. I did write for my own forex trading purposes an analytics platform, so I do have basic charting and data handling in place, but I would still need to write the order handling code and polish the app a bit.

Hey 4xcoder....how are you going with this project?  I've been looking at currency trading platforms to use with bitcoin and what you propose sounds very interesting!

Is there anything you need to make this more worth while?

Cheers

Interested. I could contribute a virtual server for public hosting if anyone wants.

I am super interested. It would be nice to have the power of metatrader for bitcoin exchanges... I use it in my forex trades and love the charting capabilities... would be nice to be able to chart fib retracements and such for bitcoin. Cheers let us know when this available...

I'll gladly pay some BTC for such a service :)

I'd gladly add some BTC to an escrow or pay straight up for this service.

Hope to see it soon.

Sure it would.

This looks awesome. I would suggest giving people a free 24 hour-72 hour trial, then charge maybe  a flat rate to purchase access. The value of your BTC holdings would appreciate enormously just from the increased trading.

For that you'll have to look to Dukascopy's JForex trading application - it's 100% Java based so it will run on any machine with a Java VM.

I'm interested, but it would need to have a 1 week trial period to test it out.

Are you offering any trade bots?

I run FXCM Trading Station on Ubuntu with Wine. It's a pain to setup but it works fine. I can provide help, if the OP succeeds in their endeavour.

And +1 to the idea and the vision of the OP.

is this still project still happening?

OP - great idea.  I think you should approach the top exchanges (including Ruxum) and see which of them would sponsor your project or hire you specifically for this implementation. MtGox might do it because I bet they made enough to pay for it just from commissions today =)  Other exchanges obviously need a way to steal marketshare from MtGox and thus might be interested.

I'd imagine an exchange that offered a FXCM plugin would be very competitive.

Would be nice if you could get MT4 to connect. MQL4 programming is the shiz when it comes to trading!

Interesting idea! I thought all traffic on such systems is strongly encrypted...

OP how did you handle encryption?

any news on this?
how to  integrate MTGox API into MT4?

Mt4 would be amazing!!!!

yes, this would be fantastic

*will be watching this thread*

++++1...2

++++++++++1

1 BTC up for project start up.

I got 5 on it...( 1 BTC )

Eagerly waiting . It would be interesting to do inter p2p currency trading !!

Bump for MT4.

so what ever happened to this?

Out of interest and as an alternative, does anyone know of a forex broker which would have API support?

Man I wish this project would have went through.  Would be first competition for Bitcoinica and I definitely would have used it, and probably paid to use it like suggested.

my programmers researched possibility of using existing trading software for icbit and alas its not that easy. MT4 traffic is encrypted. a better way is to develop a small own client with ability to export realtime data to e.g. metastock. we'll have a look at fxcm though

project died?

If you went ahead and developed it you'd have a TON of interest.. Only problem; I don't think you can make any $$ if the source code is open and nobody really trusts anything that isn't open source...

Do it, offer a demo, I will likely subscribe/buy. Forex is great