Book Image

Getting Started with Forex Trading Using Python

By : Alex Krishtop
Book Image

Getting Started with Forex Trading Using Python

By: Alex Krishtop

Overview of this book

Algorithm-based trading is a popular choice for Python programmers due to its apparent simplicity. However, very few traders get the results they want, partly because they aren’t able to capture the complexity of the factors that influence the market. Getting Started with Forex Trading Using Python helps you understand the market and build an application that reaps desirable results. The book is a comprehensive guide to everything that is market-related: data, orders, trading venues, and risk. From the programming side, you’ll learn the general architecture of trading applications, systemic risk management, de-facto industry standards such as FIX protocol, and practical examples of using simple Python codes. You’ll gain an understanding of how to connect to data sources and brokers, implement trading logic, and perform realistic tests. Throughout the book, you’ll be encouraged to further study the intricacies of algo trading with the help of code snippets. By the end of this book, you’ll have a deep understanding of the fx market from the perspective of a professional trader. You’ll learn to retrieve market data, clean it, filter it, compress it into various formats, apply trading logic, emulate the execution of orders, and test the trading app before trading live.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Introduction to FX Trading Strategy Development
5
Part 2: General Architecture of a Trading Application and A Detailed Study of Its Components
11
Part 3: Orders, Trading Strategies, and Their Performance
15
Part 4: Strategies, Performance Analysis, and Vistas

Have your app talk to the world – the gloomy world of communication protocols

Well, actually, in this section, I could just say, “in the world of FX automated trading every setup is unique, so go ask your broker.” Of course, I am not going to do this but when it comes to connecting your app to a market maker, electronic communication network (ECN), or any other trading venue, always keep in mind what I said at the beginning of this section.

As you remember from the previous chapter, the FX market is still the most fragmented one from the trading standpoint; so there should be no surprise that its computerized infrastructure is also very fragmented. Even though there’s a standard for exchanging financial information, many trading venues use their own dialects, which simply means extra work in cases where you want to use your application with a different broker. At the same time, many trading venues offer their own APIs and protocols not compatible with...