Goomboo's Journal

[rebuilder]

Also less important / off topic: why do people need brokers?  Why cant they just connect to the exchange and make trades like we all do to Gox?

Totally uninformed guess here: You have to give your money to someone. We give money to the exchanges. Maybe the traditional exchanges don't want that hassle?

[YoYa]

Im trying to sign up but it says I need a broker... Can I not just try this out? I dont have a broker. 

Also less important / off topic: why do people need brokers?  Why cant they just connect to the exchange and make trades like we all do to Gox?

Because only Hedge funds get the kind of access we get to GOX, the old system is no more less manipulated, just more players and a shiner veneer of legitimacy.

[stochastic]

Did you produce that chart showing historical success of your plan?

If so, how?

Yes,

It is using NinjaTrader - an excellent automated and discretionary trading platform.

Basically you program a strategy (or use their easy-coding utility) and backtest the strategy on historical data.

If you're interested in testing your ideas and automated trading, I highly recommend you learn about the platform.

www.ninjatrader.com

Feel free to ask me any questions about it if you're interested.

Im trying to sign up but it says I need a broker... Can I not just try this out? I dont have a broker. 

Also less important / off topic: why do people need brokers?  Why cant they just connect to the exchange and make trades like we all do to Gox?

I tried to download but it says I need Windows 7 or whatever version they are at now.  I had to use a Windows computer for a presentation and had no idea what I was looking at.  I think I will stick with R for backtesting.  It is open-source and is a powerful statistical tool.  I don't have to worry about faulty statistical methods in R.  There is even a package that allows trading through Interactive Brokers.

[SkRRJyTC]

Did you produce that chart showing historical success of your plan?

If so, how?

Yes,

It is using NinjaTrader - an excellent automated and discretionary trading platform.

Basically you program a strategy (or use their easy-coding utility) and backtest the strategy on historical data.

If you're interested in testing your ideas and automated trading, I highly recommend you learn about the platform.

www.ninjatrader.com

Feel free to ask me any questions about it if you're interested.

Im trying to sign up but it says I need a broker... Can I not just try this out? I dont have a broker.  

Also less important / off topic: why do people need brokers?  Why cant they just connect to the exchange and make trades like we all do to Gox?

I tried to download but it says I need Windows 7 or whatever version they are at now.  I had to use a Windows computer for a presentation and had no idea what I was looking at.  I think I will stick with R for backtesting.  It is open-source and is a powerful statistical tool.  I don't have to worry about faulty statistical methods in R.  There is even a package that allows trading through Interactive Brokers.

Ill check this out too Thanks

EDIT WTF is that...

[Goomboo]

Donation sent. Thanks for sharing your trading philosophy in this Forum.

It's a breath of fresh air.

Thank you very much, I wish you the best in your trading!

[Goomboo]

Sticking to the topic of moving average crossovers, what about the 10,21 weekly moving average crossovers I'm seeing with simple and weighted moving averages?  At what point does that factor into your trading?  You abandoned the hourly in favor of the daily.  Is it just a matter of trading frequency preference?  Is there ever a reason to consider the weekly moving average, or does following the smaller term trends keep you on the correct side of the longer term trends when they move big?  Bitcoin is a very volatile market, and it can slip a few dimes or even dollars before you can change your position.

It was entirely a matter of trading preference.  Also, my resolve was strengthened for the following reasons:
-Less trades = Less commissions / less slippage / greater chance of catching a "major" trend
-Less noise = Less churning of capital

[Goomboo]

Goomboo, thanks for responding to me in such detail, I greatly appreciate it. I really hope you keep visiting this thread for a long time to come...I've mentioned it before but I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to have you around here, keep it up! Fingers crossed,XX, I am hoping to send you a donation in the future to show my appreciation in a more tangible/digital way.

Thank you very much for contributing to this thread as well.  I wish you the very best in your trading endeavors.

[Goomboo]

I have to agree the insight provided in this thread has been invaluable. Cheers Goomboo, and I hope you continue to frequent this thread 

Thank you very much for your kind words - I wish you the best as well!

[Goomboo]

Did you produce that chart showing historical success of your plan?

If so, how?

Yes,

It is using NinjaTrader - an excellent automated and discretionary trading platform.

Basically you program a strategy (or use their easy-coding utility) and backtest the strategy on historical data.

If you're interested in testing your ideas and automated trading, I highly recommend you learn about the platform.

www.ninjatrader.com

Feel free to ask me any questions about it if you're interested.

Im trying to sign up but it says I need a broker... Can I not just try this out? I dont have a broker. 

Also less important / off topic: why do people need brokers?  Why cant they just connect to the exchange and make trades like we all do to Gox?

That's because Mt. Gox is an exchange / broker all in one.

Exchanges prefer big customers or brokers primarily to minimize risk as well as a few other things:
-Counterparty risk - a little guy is more likely to go belly-up on a trade than a broker.  Also, some exchanges required you to post margin daily and they would rather collect this margin from a few hundred brokers than several hundreds of thousands of traders
-Size - Your few thousand dollars simply isn't worth the time to a large exchange (your order is probably grouped in a large block trade by your broker before being sent to the exchange
-Liquidity - You don't add very much volume to the market and you are a drag on the network
-Leverage / brokerage perks - brokers offer benefits to attract more customers and get lower rates at the exchanges



-A way the BTC market could adapt would be a "broker" starts business in which they just have a single Mt. Gox account for all of their clients and they offer the rock-bottom commission to all clients, regardless of size.

[Goomboo]

Did you produce that chart showing historical success of your plan?

If so, how?

Yes,

It is using NinjaTrader - an excellent automated and discretionary trading platform.

Basically you program a strategy (or use their easy-coding utility) and backtest the strategy on historical data.

If you're interested in testing your ideas and automated trading, I highly recommend you learn about the platform.

www.ninjatrader.com

Feel free to ask me any questions about it if you're interested.

Im trying to sign up but it says I need a broker... Can I not just try this out? I dont have a broker. 

Also less important / off topic: why do people need brokers?  Why cant they just connect to the exchange and make trades like we all do to Gox?

I tried to download but it says I need Windows 7 or whatever version they are at now.  I had to use a Windows computer for a presentation and had no idea what I was looking at.  I think I will stick with R for backtesting.  It is open-source and is a powerful statistical tool.  I don't have to worry about faulty statistical methods in R.  There is even a package that allows trading through Interactive Brokers.

NinjaTrader connects to IB using the FIX protocol.  But it's entirely your preference!

[Goomboo]

Here's a picture of the level 2 and time & sales (the stuff you see on bitcoin.clarkmoody.com) for the currency markets.

This is a picture of how much volume actually occurs in these markets.  Yes, those are millions.  And the level 2 book only includes a few small liquidity providers.  If you want to see a true ECN with true depth, check out Dukascopy platform - $100 million plus within the first 10 pips on each side of the book during standard hours.

[Goomboo]

If I were going to import BTC data into NinjaTrader:

1.  Download NinjaTrader
2.  You don't need a broker / a demo feed
3.  Download BTC data and get it into the format required by NinjaTrader and save it in $BTC.txt
4.  Create a new instrument in instrument manager called $BTC
5.  Import data using import historical data
6.  Create strategies / charting / backtests from there.

[Goomboo]

If I were going to import BTC data into NinjaTrader:

1.  Download NinjaTrader
2.  You don't need a broker / a demo feed
3.  Download BTC data and get it into the format required by NinjaTrader and save it in $BTC.txt
4.  Create a new instrument in instrument manager called $BTC
5.  Import data using import historical data
6.  Create strategies / charting / backtests from there.

Meh fine, I'll do it real quick :p

[SkRRJyTC]

If I were going to import BTC data into NinjaTrader:

1.  Download NinjaTrader
2.  You don't need a broker / a demo feed
3.  Download BTC data and get it into the format required by NinjaTrader and save it in $BTC.txt
4.  Create a new instrument in instrument manager called $BTC
5.  Import data using import historical data
6.  Create strategies / charting / backtests from there.

Meh fine, I'll do it real quick :p

Id love to do it too.  Care to point me towards a pre formatted $BTC.txt file? Or the formatting specifications?

[Goomboo]

If I were going to import BTC data into NinjaTrader:

1.  Download NinjaTrader
2.  You don't need a broker / a demo feed
3.  Download BTC data and get it into the format required by NinjaTrader and save it in $BTC.txt
4.  Create a new instrument in instrument manager called $BTC
5.  Import data using import historical data
6.  Create strategies / charting / backtests from there.

Meh fine, I'll do it real quick :p

Id love to do it too.  Care to point me towards a pre formatted $BTC.txt file? Or the formatting specifications?

If you're in the NinjaTrader program, click F1 (help) and type import.




File Name

When using the NinjaTrader format, the name of the text file to be imported must be the NinjaTrader instrument name followed by a period and "Last", "Bid", or "Ask" depending on the data type. For example:

 

MSFT.Last.txt for Microsoft stock last price data

ES 12-09.Bid.txt for the S&P E-mini December contract bid price data

$EURUSD.Ask.txt for the Euro/U.S. dollar currency pair ask price data

 

Tick Format

Each tick must be on its own line and fields must be separated by semicolon (.

 

The format is:

yyyyMMdd HHmmss;price;volume

 

Sample data:

20061107 000431;1383.00;1

20061107 000456;1383.25;25

20061107 000456;1383.25;36

20061107 000537;1383.25;14

 

Minute Bars Format

Each bar must be on its own line and fields must be separated by semicolon (. Only 1 minute bars can be imported.

 

The format is:

yyyyMMdd HHmmss;open price;high price;low price;close price;volume

 

Sample data:

20061023 004400;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;86

20061023 004500;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;27

20061023 004600;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;24

20061023 004700;1377.50;1377.50;1377.25;1377.25;82

 

Daily Bars Format

Each bar must be on its own line and fields must be separated by semicolon (. Only 1 day bars can be imported.

 

The format is:

yyyyMMdd;open price;high price;low price;close price;volume

 

Sample data:

20061023;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;86

20061024;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;27

20061025;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;1377.25;24

20061026;1377.50;1377.50;1377.25;1377.25;82

[SkRRJyTC]

Great. Thank you.  Could I potentially use this free software forever if all I ever wanted to do was backtest on imported historical data?

[Goomboo]

Great. Thank you.  Could I potentially use this free software forever if all I ever wanted to do was backtest on imported historical data?

Yep, forever!

[Goomboo]

Lol, rookie move!  BitcoinCharts.com has data points where the open is less than the low!  I have to do some Excel to fix this

[Goomboo]

Oh and an error people will probably encounter is that BTC data has decimal volumes - this probably needs to be rounded before importing...almost done!

[Goomboo]

Lol, another rookie move!  The open is greater than the high on several candles too!

Doing some Excel on that too :p