TickTrader is a relatively new piece of software, that is a combination of trading system developement software, charting software, and automated trading software. TickTrader has been designed specifically for creating and testing new trading systems, and then trading those systems automatically (i.e. without any human involvement). TickTrader interfaces with Interactive Brokers' TWS trading software, and can be used to automatically trade futures markets from any region.
Main Features
As TickTrader's primary purpose is to develop and trade automated trading systems, its features are somewhat different from regular trading and charting software. TickTrader's main features are as follows:
- Visual Algorithm Development - Trading systems are developed using a visual display of various technical analysis criteria, which TickTrader calls its four dimensional criteria grid. TickTrader does not require any mathematical knowledge of the indicators being used, nor any computer programming experience.
- Back Testing - Trading systems can be back tested using historical market data that is included with the TickTrader software. The historical market data is tick data (i.e. every trade is included in the data), so the back testing results will be almost identical to live trading. The markets that are included with TickTrader are the EUR, GBP, and JPY currency futures markets, and the ES, NQ, and ER2 index futures markets.
- Simulation Automated Trading - Automated trading in simulation shows how both your trading system and TickTrader itself will perform when trading live. When trading in simulation, TickTrader uses real time data, and displays the profit and loss of your trading system as it would if it were trading live.
- Live Automated Trading - Live automated trading is what TickTrader was designed for. TickTrader will control every aspect of trading your trading system, including the entry, the management, and the exit. When trading live, TickTrader can send SMS messages to keep you informed of trading and system events (such as TWS disconnections, etc.).
- Combined Bars - TickTrader's charting includes a custom price bar that is a combination of time frame and range bars (hence the name combined bars). Combined bars appear to provide the greatest number of bars for each type of price movement, so both slow moving sideways markets and fast moving trending markets should be displayed with similar numbers of bars.
System Requirements
TickTrader does not require anything extraordinary for its system requirements, so it can be used on any computer that is already being used for day trading. According to the TickTrader web site, the system requirements for TickTrader are as follows:
- Operating System: Windows XP or Vista
- Memory (RAM): 150 MB for live trading (up to 400 MB for back testing)
- Internet Access: ADSL (1 MBit or faster)
- Screen Resolution: 1280 x 1024 for back testing (other screen resolutions will work fine)
- Brokerage: Interactive Brokers with standalone TWS trading software for simulation and live trading
Free and Subscription Versions
TickTrader is currently available in two separate versions. The free version has smaller quantities of some features (such as multiple time frames), and does not include some of the main features (such as back testing or live automated trading). The subscription version is the complete version, and costs 68 Euros per month, which can be paid via PayPal
Conclusions
The idea behind TickTrader is a good idea, because it allows beginning traders (and especially non computer programmers) the ability to start working with automated trading. There are some limitations to TickTrader that more experienced traders might find annoying, such as not being able to add additional indicators or use external tick data. At the moment TickTrader appears to be the only such software offering some of its features (such as the visual trading system development), and the combination of automated trading and charting software is something that is usually only available with more expensive trading software.
Further information about TickTrader, including downloads of both the free and subscription versions, and the user's manual, is available at the Tick Trader web site.
