There is no better software than Amibroker when it comes to technical analysis, backtesting, and trading system development. The set of features it offers is unarguably the best among its competitors.
However, one important thing it lacks is end-to-end automation. You can generate buy-sell signals within Amibroker, but there is no out-of-the-box feature that can send these signals to your broker.
Amibroker was not built to do this, and considering the number of exchanges and brokers across the world, it’s almost an impossible task to develop an automation solution for all of them.
Don’t get upset already, we’ve found several ways using which you can perform automated trading using Amibroker.
PS: The options we are going to discuss are not offered by Amibroker directly, but they all internally use its OLE Automation Object Model
3 Ways to do Automated Trading using Amibroker
The below outlined methods were shortlisted from a bunch of “quick hack” solutions of automating trades through Amibroker. We found these reliable and scalable among others.
Amibroker automation Library
This open-source GitHub project contains several examples and code snippets for automating order placement using Amibroker. You can access the library from this link.
The library is frequently updated and well maintained by its owner Mr. Pritesh Mhatrre. It supports multi-account automated trading so that you can toggle between various brokers with a click of a button.
Extremely low latency, ease of learning, and a wide range of automation features make this library unique. However, you’ll certainly require some basic coding skills to operate it.
Tradetron Automation Platform
Tradetron is a cloud-based SAAS platform for creating and deploying automated trading systems. It can also integrate with Amibroker, wherein you can send buy-sell signals from Amibroker to Tradetron with just a few lines of code. See detailed instructions here.
It’s not just automation that Tradetron facilitates, you can also create and backtest your strategies in Tradetron itself. However, creating a strategy in Tradetron is a different ball game altogether. Check this article if you want to learn it.
Automating your trades via Tradetron involves two hops – the first API call from Amibroker to Tradetron, and the second API call from Tradetron to your broker. You may expect some latency in the process, so this method is not suited for scalping systems.
Combination of IB Gateway and Alera Portfolio Manager
This solution involves configuring the Alera portfolio manager that acts as a bridge between Amibroker and Interactive brokers. Find the step-by-step details at this link.
Alera is a lightweight piece of software that picks up and processes buy/sell orders from Amibroker but can also take signals from other sources such as website stock screeners (eg. Finviz).
This solution is IB specific and hence would not work for exchanges that are not supported by IB.
Try out these methods of automated trading using Amibroker and let us know what you think.
Wanna learn Amibroker from scratch? Check out our beginner-friendly courses at Trading Tuitions Academy.
why do you say Amibroker is not end to end automation? AMibroker is very good at linking and passing orders and account details using the IB Controller. without the need for slower and complicated 3rd party software.
False..
“However, one important thing it lacks is end-to-end automation. You can generate buy-sell signals within Amibroker, but there is no out-of-the-box feature that can send these signals to your broker.
Amibroker was not built to do this..”
Hi James,
That’s because IBController is a broker specific plugin, it’s not a generic automation solution for any broker or any exchange.
very +good article
Mr. Pritesh Mhatrre.
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autotrade …now it is autotradeweb….