Algo Trading with Zerodha : Step by Step Tutorial

Zerodha stands out among all other brokers in India in terms of simplicity, pricing, and the tech solutions it offers. It has made trading easier and accessible to every common man in the country. But do you know how well Zerodha has positioned itself in Algo Trading space? Can you fully automate your trades using Zerodha? Let’s find out.

Zerodha Kite APIs

Before delving into the ways of doing Algo trading with Zerodha, we would like to introduce Zerodha Kite APIs which are the building blocks for any algorithm that you’re going to develop or use.

API is an acronym for Application Programming Interface. In layman terms, API lets two applications talk to each other using a predefined specification. For example, you can use an API to pull all your open positions from Zerodha (application 1) to Excel (application 2). This would not require any complex coding; you’ll just need to invoke a specific API endpoint using Excel VBA or Power query and you’ll get what you need.

Zerodha offers APIs for all the standard operations you require while trading. There are APIs available for order placement, real-time quotes, margin calculation, portfolio reporting, and lot more. These APIs can be programmatically accessed and used to build an algorithmic trading system.

Learn more about Zerodha Kite APIs here. Zerodha charges a nominal fee per month to access their APIs.

Also Read: 5 Excellent Algorithmic Trading Platforms

Ways to do Algo Trading with Zerodha

Hoping that you got a clear understanding of APIs, let’s now talk about the different ways you can do Algo trading with Zerodha. All these methods utilize the Kite APIs to automate the trades.

Use Streak Platform

Streak is a Zerodha backed company that lets you build and deploy trading algorithms using their cloud-based application. You can convert your trading ideas into algorithms in a few clicks, and then deploy this algorithm live for execution.

There are 60+ technical indicators inbuilt into the platform that you can use to build your strategy. Streak works seamlessly with Zerodha, but it does not support fully automated trading as of now. You can, however, receive one-click order placement notifications whenever the algo conditions are met.

Use this link to access Streak.

Connect Zerodha with Tradetron

Tradetron is a fully automated algo trading platform which lets you create your own strategy or subscribe to others’ strategies. And once you have decided on the strategy, you can connect your Tradetron account to Zerodha so that the algo conditions are checked in real-time and orders are placed.

Tradetron is one-of-a-kind platforms in India that offers fully automated trading with minimum hassles. And among all the brokers it supports, connectivity with Zerodha is most stable and error-free.

Use this link to access Tradetron.

To connect Zerodha with Tradetron you’ll need an API Key. See the steps here.

Automate your Amibroker based Strategies with Zerodha

If you are not familiar with Amibroker, it is an advanced technical analysis cum algo trading software where you can code, backtest, and optimize your strategies. It is way more powerful than other algo trading softwares in terms of features and execution speed.

Amibroker can connect with Zerodha using 3^rd party applications like AutoTrader Web. It is a low latency platform-independent software that enables bi-directional communication between Amibroker and Zerodha. And all of it can be done by including few simple code snippets in your AFL code.

See below the architecture of Amibroker to AutoTrader communication flow:

AutoTrader looks promising in terms of features, and Amibroker is already a proven platform. A combination of these two should definitely yield amazing results.

Download Amibroker from this link. And access AutoTrader Web here.

Learn how to build your own Algo Trading Interface with Zerodha

For the coding geeks, you can build your own algo trading interface from scratch. It is not a rocket science until you know how to work with Rest APIs.

Your strategy conditions can be programmed in a high-level language like Java or Python and the orders can be placed by invoking Kite Rest APIs from within the code. This resulting application can be deployed in the cloud so that the strategy conditions are checked in real-time.

If you already know how to code, you can start right away by looking at Kite Documentation.

You can also look at this excellent course on Udemy to get some handholding.

This course titled “Algorithmic Trading on Zerodha KiteConnect Platform” will teach you how to automate every step of your algo like authentication, data extraction, order placement, risk management, etc. You’ll also learn how to code various technical indicators and build scanners on top of it.

This is a complete course with great reviews for someone who wants to learn things structurally.

Final Thoughts

Algo Trading is the future and there is no doubt about it. Retail traders need to transition from manual to algo trading, and technology has made this mountainous task very easy. Applications like TradeTron, Streak, and AutoTrader do not require any special skillsets, you can get started within a few days very easily. Automating your traders with Zerodha is a reality now!