Learning how to code in order to automate trading strategies, is it worth?

[Bitcoin_Arena]

Hey members.

I have been a trader for about 4 years, but lately I have been thinking much about learning how to code from scratch (Yep, I am those unlucky ones who did a course that didn't require any coding  )

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?

Also, apart from pine script programming language that is specifically trading view, is Python the only other programming language I need to learn (No JavaScript and all those other programming languages)?

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[goinmerry]

Basically, for learning purposes, learning to code or anything related to programming will be a good added knowledge to your vocabulary. It means it will surely be worth your time as it might possibly help you too in your chosen career in the future, not just for trading activity and related work. Learning to code is a bit tough and the ability to learn and understand all programming languages is not for everybody. That's the reason why work related to it was associated with a high salary, in most cases.

But if we talk about trading strategies, there's a chance that what you or your program can generate, might not be effective as the market is speculative. The said program though can give those possible scenarios that will happen and that's the time we can create a set of strategies for each of those given scenarios.

I think a usual trading bot is not designed to generate trading strategies but rather to execute an action in real time once a certain condition is met that is set by its users. Therefore, the trading strategy still came from the user and the bot just followed a command.

If you will able to make such a program that can automate some trading strategies and execute the best strategies based on its AI analysis, that is something a game-changer although since the market is speculative, a chance of losing is still possible.

[jackg]

If you know how to trade, you'll probably do well if you can automate it and make a strategy of it (including things like backtesting and finding uncertancies - eg when to trade differently based on volatility).

If you don't know how to trade, you might be out of your depth unless you have some strategies in mind you want to fine tune via back testing (but I think this is less reliable). Support and resistance programming might be the best sort of thing to program this way, as well as simple things like price alerts.

You'd probably find it useful familiarising yourself with markup languages too for how requests might be returned (such as HTML, XML and json but only a small one).

[adaseb]

Depending on what exchange you use, there are strategies with some where you can set a certain parameter such as when price >5% on the day and when volume is 5x the average to sell or buy. Nothing really complicated.

Keep in mind one thing. It’s easier and seems profitable when you are back testing but if you run it’s in real time your results might be different due to slippage and liquidity issues. You might not get the desired fills you want when in a backtest you would. Not perfect results.

[pooya87]

Only learn a programming language if you like coding otherwise if the only reason you are doing it is to write a script that automates some actions you want to take in the market you would be disappointed soon and give up that learning journey. There are already some trading bots available out there, some of them are even open source that you can use.

In any case, any modern programming language would work. Python that you mentioned is an easy language to learn. I personally went for C# since I had some background and the language specifics made more sense (strongly typed object oriented design). I wrote some stuff that helped me in some trading strategies (like arbitrage) a couple of years ago when I used to spend more time in the market.

[Bitstar_coin]

I agree with @pooya87, programming language is brain tasking and requires interest, before venturing into this field ask yourself how prepared and passionate are you about coding because if you don't find it interesting enough and have the passion for it, you will be bored in no time especially when the intention is just for trading purpose.
Perhaps you can find alternative options to automate trading strategies without needing to learn coding from scratch.

[GreatArkansas]

Also, apart from pine script programming language that is specifically trading view, is Python the only other programming language I need to learn (No JavaScript and all those other programming languages)?
(.....)

It depends on your goal, there are a lot of programming languages that can achieve the same goals, even javascript programming I think you can automate trading just like communicating with other exchanges' APIs to execute some trades, you can do it on node.js I believe.
But yeah, pinescript programming is very advisable to learn when it comes to trading.

[Tytanowy Janusz]

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?

Also, apart from pine script programming language that is specifically trading view, is Python the only other programming language I need to learn (No JavaScript and all those other programming languages)?

Had same thoughts in 2019. My best decision ever. My first program ever made in python start to earn after 12 hours of coding. Build from 0 my own market making strategy. It was full of bugs and requires constant care but it give me a nice kink to continue to upgrade it because it was already earing. I was never as motivated to work as that days because every upgrade made my bot earn faster and made the algorithm need less attention. After few weeks it was running 24/7. 15 min daily was all i had to do to calibrate it to current market situation. The feeling that you wake up in the morning and see that your bot has made 20 profitable trades is amazing.

All you need is:
https://www.w3schools.com/python/

Exchange api documentation f.e biannce api:
https://www.binance.com/en/binance-api

If you dont know how to do something there are a lot of tutorials. just type "how to sort in python" "how to xx in python" and you will have dozens of tutorials.

You can also start with youtube python video. Something like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqtD5dpn9C8&ab_channel=ProgrammingwithMosh

[hugeblack]

Are you talking about software that implements one of your strategies and you did not get it in any open source bot? Or do you not trust open source bots and want to make sure for yourself that everything is fine?

If your purpose is to develop a trading strategy, it is better to hire a developer, who will do it faster and you will compensate that money for trading that will be profitable according to your strategy.

But if the verification is in open source bots, you will need a long time to be skilled in reviewing the codes, which means that hiring a developer is the easiest and fastest solution.

[EarnOnVictor]

The programing language you would use depends on the trading platform you are using, I believe that is settled.

Now, it depends on you if it would be worth it to learn how to program your trading system for automated trading. If your trading system is very good and you have less time for trading, then automated trading is for you. Yet, you could contract this out to people that are in that field for a stipend unless you have other reasons to learn to code. The only problem here is that others might steal your work, if you don't mind, then go ahead.

[pawanjain]

Everything boils down to how good you are at trading. If you are really good at trading and making consistent profits then you can consider automating your strategies and back testing them.
If you are not really that good at trading then there's basically no point of automating the strategies.
One has to be good at trading manually in order to take advantage of automated trading methods.
Besides that if you learn how to code then it would just be an advantage as you will gain knowledge about it.
You can utilize the skill somewhere.

[Findingnemo]

Hey members.

I have been a trader for about 4 years, but lately I have been thinking much about learning how to code from scratch (Yep, I am those unlucky ones who did a course that didn't require any coding  )

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?

Also, apart from pine script programming language that is specifically trading view, is Python the only other programming language I need to learn (No JavaScript and all those other programming languages)?

If you're keen on learning about programming language then go for it but I will not recommend simply if you want to learn this to automate your trade then its better to use the trading bots instead of making on your own because its more time consuming to learn and get excel is not going to happen soon.

But you can pay even less than 10% of learning the course professionally to get the trading tool and make the strategies according to you.

[Wakate]

Hey members.

I have been a trader for about 4 years, but lately I have been thinking much about learning how to code from scratch (Yep, I am those unlucky ones who did a course that didn't require any coding  )

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?

Also, apart from pine script programming language that is specifically trading view, is Python the only other programming language I need to learn (No JavaScript and all those other programming languages)?

Wow this is a good idea and I think this will help you in a long run. Having a good knowledge in programming will be a bonus mark to your trading Carter because you will easily understand how must of all these indicators we are using to predict the market works. This will already give you a broad shoulder to understand how to fix your strategies to work and aline which the way you are trading to give you a perfect and suitable result. As a coder and a trader, you have better opportunity to work with companies that needed a coder and also create your own indicator which you can sell to the market.

[rhomelmabini]

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?I

I think it will not be wasted if you try it since you're learning in the first place, it's a win-win stuff tbh. I don't think as well that it's only Python that can be used to do the bots but most and plenty of these trading bots are build using python. Better to take the chance.

[TheGreatPython]

I agree with @pooya87, programming language is brain tasking and requires interest, before venturing into this field ask yourself how prepared and passionate are you about coding because if you don't find it interesting enough and have the passion for it, you will be bored in no time especially when the intention is just for trading purpose.
Perhaps you can find alternative options to automate trading strategies without needing to learn coding from scratch.

I think that was before when things are still hard but nowadays we now have different resources to learn coding and it's now more easier that even kids can now learn them. The op has a reason or purpose on why he will learn coding and not just he will learn it out of curiosity. After he is done about his main intention, he can also apply for a coding job so that he can earn even better aside from trading.

It is still possible to automate trading or apply the strategies you have in the trading software without even learning how to code because they are user/newbie friendly but some of them might cause money but it's okay because at least, we can avoid a lot of hassle.

[goaldigger]

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?

You can only know its worth once its done already and if this is your passion and you are good with the codes and numbers then I think its worth to try. Maybe if you are able to create codes and able to automate your trades, chances are you can start selling it and this could be the start of your new business, so for me better to do it. There’s no wrong about learning and its not a waste of time, just make sure that you can still balance life.

[goldkingcoiner]

Hey members.

I have been a trader for about 4 years, but lately I have been thinking much about learning how to code from scratch (Yep, I am those unlucky ones who did a course that didn't require any coding  )

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?

Also, apart from pine script programming language that is specifically trading view, is Python the only other programming language I need to learn (No JavaScript and all those other programming languages)?

I don't know but I am in a very similar situation as you. I am a trader since 10 years more or less and I have only recently started learning Python. But my reasoning for Python is not creating trading bots or automated trading bots but rather to create an AI trading bot. I have been told Python is the best for starting out in AI but I myself am a novice so I cannot really give you any certain guarantees on how useful Python will be and whether there is a better alternative for AI beginners.

[Johnyz]

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?

Being a trader for years now can make you think about this innovation and that experience is already enough to make a good trading strategies and probably doing this one might worth the try. This might not be easy though because you need to be more professional here when it comes to the codes but if you are so eager to learn about this thing better to look for a course that can fit your expectation and can feed you good information. For me this is worth it, and very few traders show their interest about the codes so this can be a good market for you.

[South Park]

Hey members.

I have been a trader for about 4 years, but lately I have been thinking much about learning how to code from scratch (Yep, I am those unlucky ones who did a course that didn't require any coding  )

I intended to use the knowledge gathered to make and automate some trading strategies and also understand better how to use some bots, but I am left to wonder if these whole new journey will be worth it?

Also, apart from pine script programming language that is specifically trading view, is Python the only other programming language I need to learn (No JavaScript and all those other programming languages)?

The journey will be worth it, because even if you fail to do this you will employ a lot of time to think about your strategy and this can only do good things for you as a trader, however I think you need to identify if your trading strategy can be automated at all. Can you create an algorithm that describes your strategy with pseudocode or does your strategy depends too much on your gut feeling? If it is the former then there is a good chance that given enough time you can create a bot that trades exactly like you, and about the specific programming language, as long as you can communicate with the API of the exchange then any language is fine, however Python is known for its clarity and simplicity so it is a good choice if you ask me.

[Mr.right85]

Am hardly the one to give you some tips on this as, I don't know coding, haven't even thought of taking a coding course neither can I claim to have that much experience trading.

What i could say to you now is, you could try it. Perhaps the purpose for which you intended it might not be your last chance towards coding. You might as well find other means to apply that. This could be beneficial to you and your neighbours.

Also, is there any huge difference between automating a transaction and using bots?
I sort of thought they are the same thing.

[AakZaki]

It's not easy to make a trading bot so that it can automate trading according to what we want. There are several programming languages ​​that must be known such as python and several programming languages ​​that are needed.

Before creating a trading bot there are a few things you need to know, namely.

- Understand the trading system manually.
- Understand several programming languages ​​that are needed.
- Must be able to integrate the Application Programming Interface (API) with the bot you want to create.
- Determine the level of automation
1. Monitoring bots
2. Semi-automated trading
3. Fully automated trading
4. Multi-user bots
5. Social trading bots.

- Determine the trading strategy that will be included.

Actually there are still many steps that must be carried out, but in general some of the steps above must be carried out.

[Blawpaw]

If you are not a coder there is no point in struggling to learn how to code only for the purpose of automating trading strategies. You have a lot of crypto trading bots outhere so you do not need to learn how to code.

While on some trading bots you can already find a lot of pre-determined trading strategies that you can easily apply at a click of a button, in others all you need to do is to set up the trading strategy and you're good to go. But remember that you will need to learn how to set it up properly, so you should follow the instructions they provide.

I especially enjoy Quadency but you can find other platforms. Here's a list of crypto trading Bots.

[South Park]

If you are not a coder there is no point in struggling to learn how to code only for the purpose of automating trading strategies. You have a lot of crypto trading bots outhere so you do not need to learn how to code.

While on some trading bots you can already find a lot of pre-determined trading strategies that you can easily apply at a click of a button, in others all you need to do is to set up the trading strategy and you're good to go. But remember that you will need to learn how to set it up properly, so you should follow the instructions they provide.

I especially enjoy Quadency but you can find other platforms. Here's a list of crypto trading Bots.

Coding is one of the most useful skills that you can ever learn so if this is the trigger that causes a person to give it a try I do not see anything wrong with it, now there are many trading bots they have preprogrammed strategies, but are you willing to risk your money by trusting blindly on the strategy created by someone else without verifying first that it works? Because that is a risk that I would never take, I really think that if you are a successful trader already it is way better to just find a way to code this into a bot, as the bot has the great advantage that it can monitor hundreds of markets efficiently and take the best opportunity at any given time, something which is impossible for any human to do.

[Wexnident]

I don't think you need to if you just want to use bots, you can probably hire someone to make it for you or something, not to mention there are a lot of publicly available bots out there. I don't really recommend getting into coding if you're only going into it for this, it's kind of a different struggle really and I'd say it's probably not worth it (though you can if you aim to use it to develop yourself towards there).

I never had the experience of learning how to make something with only the focus of making that, so I'm not particularly sure how hard it is (e.g. learning to code for the sake of making a bot, and not for the sake of learning how to code), but I reckon it should be possible to make a working one, but probably not the best, with the help of various tutorials and forum answers. Anything above that is up to you though since improvement would probably need a lot more knowledge.

[xSkylarx]

I am a programmer, but not in the field of trading automation, but in forex they use mql5 and others are python. This is what I recommend if you are extremely bored and have plenty of time, but it will take at least 6 months. First, learn the fundamentals. There are 10-week courses available to learn Python and, I believe, other languages, and they will make you a junior programmer at the time you finish. After learning the fundamentals, you should look into tutorials on how to make a bot for crypto trading (I don't have any experience with it, but I'm sure it will be simple for you when you start making your own)

[South Park]

I don't think you need to if you just want to use bots, you can probably hire someone to make it for you or something, not to mention there are a lot of publicly available bots out there. I don't really recommend getting into coding if you're only going into it for this, it's kind of a different struggle really and I'd say it's probably not worth it (though you can if you aim to use it to develop yourself towards there).

I never had the experience of learning how to make something with only the focus of making that, so I'm not particularly sure how hard it is (e.g. learning to code for the sake of making a bot, and not for the sake of learning how to code), but I reckon it should be possible to make a working one, but probably not the best, with the help of various tutorials and forum answers. Anything above that is up to you though since improvement would probably need a lot more knowledge.

While for many applications it makes sense to hire a programmer to create the code for you, I do not think it is a good idea to do this for the particular application the OP wants for himself, the first reason is simply that once you develop a successful trading strategy you do not want to share it with anyone as that would be the equivalent of giving away a formula that could make you money while you sleep with the bot, and the second reason is that the bot itself will trade and move your funds, so a malicious programmer could hide on the code a way for the bot to steal all your money in your account, so you could lose your money if you do this.

[Kgdktac]

coding can be a valuable investment of time for traders, as it can enable you to automate and optimize your trading strategies, and also develop custom trading bots. Whether it will be worth the time and effort will depend on how much you use the skills you acquire.

 whilst Python has a large community and a vast library of packages that make it easier to perform complex financial computations, data analysis, and machine learning tasks, it is worth noting that Python is not the only language for trading, and the choice of language will depend on your specific needs and goals

[xSkylarx]

Learn also the structure of HTML, just in case you need to scrape a website or automate something without an API. I haven't tried to make a bot to do trading, but I know that it uses an API to easily integrate with trading, and the programming language used is Python. If you have time, then learn it. There are crash courses online worth 10 weeks of training that can make you learn from basics to advanced, so it is best to start with the basics before making a bot, and it would also be easy for you as you already have a strategy. If your schedule is tight, I would recommend looking for a course that requires you to learn for two hours per day.