Automated spread betting?

[quesera]

It doesn't exist does it? The only reason I can think of is its tax free status and you're not allowed to automate 'gambling?' Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've not seen it explained anywhere.

I've been playing around with NinjaTrader for a bit and am in the process of fine tuning a system. Now, I've not been able to find any spread betting firm who would work with Ninja; the closest I've managed to find is FuturesBetting; I know they take a spread instead and so can adopt a tax free status, but it is still futures - I'd rather not have to stump up thousands to open an account.

What I'd really like to do is to connect Ninja to spread betting. Can anyone suggest any near alternatives?

By the way I've been spread betting the FTSE and also S&P 500. I'd like to automate trading on the S&P 500.

Thanks in advance.

 

[£10kLoser]

Stump up thousands? You can open up a MetaTrader account and trade Forex,shares, metals, oil, indices, etc. with $500 and have enough to trade 0.1 contracts. FXPro.com, for example, have very low margins and then you can automate all you like.

Of course, automated trading just empties your account, but that's another story. Trading needs discretion...

 

[quesera]

Thanks £10kLoser, will check it out. Will have to try and get my head around MetaTrader.

 

[Xeno]

I would have thought the main reason is that SB companies don't want you automated as you could exploit and arbitrage their price skews. Plus you could do it 'too fast', so not giving them a chance to decide what to do.

The reason why you can use FB and NT is that FB give the market prices. I automate using NT and FB - I think the minumum opening is 2.5k. You can do fairly low key stuff like 5 dollars on the mini dow or 6.25 dollars on cable.

 

[kwickwool]

Hi quezera,

Good luck with it, just dont see how automated trading can work though? If all it took was automating a system then all the top investment/trading companies would use them but hardly anyone does, u just cannot put the human brain into pure statistics, but do wish u best of luck.

 

[megamuel]

Futuresbetting support automated spread trading. Here is a link for you:

FuturesBetting - About Financial Spread Betting Automated Trading

Sam.

 

[quesera]

Yes, I've decided to go the Ninja/Futuresbetting route, because Ninja is easy to get to grips with and Futuresbetting is tax free I've been playing around with various strategies, tightening and loosening parameters - it's getting the balance between a decent number of trades and a good strike rate. I've been using Zen as a data feed for backtesting, but that is only valid for the life of the current contract. So, I've recently just got 5 years worth of ES tick data and about to find out how robust my system really is! Then, if all is well, it's time to let rip with real money!!!
:cheesy:

 

[megamuel]

Good luck, keep us posted with your progress.

Sam.

 

[cozza007]

It doesn't exist does it? The only reason I can think of is its tax free status and you're not allowed to automate 'gambling?' Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've not seen it explained anywhere.

I've been playing around with NinjaTrader for a bit and am in the process of fine tuning a system. Now, I've not been able to find any spread betting firm who would work with Ninja; the closest I've managed to find is FuturesBetting; I know they take a spread instead and so can adopt a tax free status, but it is still futures - I'd rather not have to stump up thousands to open an account.

What I'd really like to do is to connect Ninja to spread betting. Can anyone suggest any near alternatives?

By the way I've been spread betting the FTSE and also S&P 500. I'd like to automate trading on the S&P 500.

Thanks in advance.

Hi mate, ive been using GNI touch for years and is designed for professional traders more than the retail market, i mainly trade CFD's but their SB platform im told is just as good, but not are widely recognised because they just aim at the Pro's, i have told ex colleagues who work there, and ill put you on touch
chris

 

[quesera]

kwickwool
Automated trading is more likely to work for me than manual for a variety of reasons; firstly I don't have the time to watch the screen all day waiting for the perfect criteria, secondly I want to completely remove all emotion and opinion from my decision to place a trade. When running the backtests, it's fairly easy to get 100% strike rate, but the number of trades drop to a really ridiculous level. Now I'll accept a few losses and aim for 75% and above just to get more trades. I've found that it is a case of diminishing returns; it's not worth losing say, 20% of trades just to achieve another 1% success rate. Would you rather earn £10 and lose £3 or make £4 with no losses?

Concerning the emotion and opinion bit, whenever I've made losses manually, it's usually because I've done something stupid. I know the computer can do a far better job than me! With my systems, I might only be getting a handful of trades a week; that would be a lot of sitting around for nothing - I'm not the world's most patient person!

Sam
Thanks I've had a quick look at your thread. Good luck to you too. You deserve it.

 

[TigerTrader]

Futures betting u can use, they are good.

 

[philip_k]

kwickwool
Automated trading is more likely to work for me than manual for a variety of reasons; firstly I don't have the time to watch the screen all day waiting for the perfect criteria, secondly I want to completely remove all emotion and opinion from my decision to place a trade. When running the backtests, it's fairly easy to get 100% strike rate, but the number of trades drop to a really ridiculous level. Now I'll accept a few losses and aim for 75% and above just to get more trades. I've found that it is a case of diminishing returns; it's not worth losing say, 20% of trades just to achieve another 1% success rate. Would you rather earn £10 and lose £3 or make £4 with no losses?

Concerning the emotion and opinion bit, whenever I've made losses manually, it's usually because I've done something stupid. I know the computer can do a far better job than me! With my systems, I might only be getting a handful of trades a week; that would be a lot of sitting around for nothing - I'm not the world's most patient person!

Sam
Thanks I've had a quick look at your thread. Good luck to you too. You deserve it.

Hi Sam,

Have you looked at GFT Forex? They offer an automated option for their spreadbetting platform. The downside is you have to dabble in a little programming to automate your systems. The programming language is pretty easy to learn but does have some limitations.

Good luck

Philbags

 

[megamuel]

Quesera's name isn't Sam (at least I don't think it is!), my name is Sam. He wasn't signing his post with 'Sam', he was saying "Sam - Thanks I've just had a quick look......." etc. If that makes sense? Just thought I'd clear that up as it is not me looking for automated trading.

Sam.

 

[Xeno]

Hi Sam,

Have you looked at GFT Forex? They offer an automated option for their spreadbetting platform. The downside is you have to dabble in a little programming to automate your systems. The programming language is pretty easy to learn but does have some limitations.

Good luck

Philbags

Are you sure GFT Forex is a spreadbetting platform?