Custom Development

We are experts in algo-development & order-execution through your broker's API

01
Algorithm Coding
If you’re a trader or institution that is realising the value of automating decision-making processes, execution, signal-processing or the like, then get in touch for a chat. The process of turning an idea, or a discretionary trading system into a robust systematic trading programme is not as easy as it may first appear. There is no question (in our minds) that it is as much art as it is science. Avoiding the common pitfalls of “curve fitting”, using bad data, unrealistic assumptions and so on are just the beginning. Gathering meaningful lessons from historic data and generating actionable and profitable methodolgies for an unknown future require a specific mindset, as well as proficiency in market infrastructure and the requisite software. We love chatting about the markets, so you’re always welcome to reach out and see if we might be a good fit.
02
Strategy Definition & Refinement
A quantified trading system takes the emotion out of trading and allows you to focus your time on research. If you have an idea that you’d like to pursue, we can help you build definitive rules that allow the strategy to be tested to see if it meets your criteria for use in live trading. If you already have a set of rules to start from, we can discuss potential ways to improve the system’s performance under different market conditions.

Even if you are not seeking to create a fully automated trading system, good research is invaluable. Having statistically valid answers to questions like “how often do these events take place?” and “what were the biggest historical risks?” can dramatically transform trader profitability (and psychology).
03
Back-testing & Optimisation
The best way to evaluate a quantified trading strategy is to subject it to rigorous back testing. Although you will often hear that “past performance is not a guarantee of future returns”, there is undeniable benefit in knowing how your system would have behaved in the past if you’d been executing it faithfully. Nevertheless, this is the tip of the iceberg of creating a robust trading methodology. Equally important, having a thorough understanding of your system’s range of “normal” behaviors will allow you to determine whether the current rough patch is par for the course or substantial enough to step away and reconsider the strategy. Check out Matt’s discussion on the basics of back-testing in a presentation that he gave for the Market Technicians Association.
04
Market Signal Scanning
A very common approach to systematic trading, short of full automation, is to create market-scans and alerts for your preferred setups. These could be for entries, as well as for exits. Perhaps you want to generate an output file that you can submit directly to your broker for execution. It’s the age of automation – so if you are not harnessing the tools available to watch more markets, assess more opportunities and act quicker, you are no doubt not operating efficienctly enough to truly compete. Even value-investors focussed on fundamentals require better research tools and greater nimbleness if the goal is to always be improving.
05
Amibroker Training
If you’re the kind of person that likes to implement your own solutions, we can teach you how to use AmiBroker’s scripting language (AFL) to create indicators, explorations, back tests, and optimizations. This can be structured as a formal class for a group of people, or we can take a more ad-hoc approach for individuals who want to pick and choose their topics. We can also mentor you if you’ve already jumped into AmiBroker and just need help figuring some things out or troubleshooting a problem.
06
Interactive Brokers, ThinkScript, IG API
If you want to customise indicators or scans within TDAmeritrade’s thinkorswim platform, we can definitely help. If you’re looking at creating an Order Management System that manages all your trades through the Interactive Brokers API, we have ample experience with the technology.

THERE'S ALWAYS A WAY

Think different
Trading is a humbling exercize. There’s a certain resiliance that is needed, a thick-skin, and an almost blind determination. The entrepreneurial spirit that just isn’t satisfied with what the vast majority of funds call “expected returns” drives us to find a better way.

We’ve never really understood the point of giving our savings away to a large hedge fund, with bloated costs, questionable incentives and no real transparancy, just to get “market performance”. Many years of persistance have shaped the way we think about development, testing, researching and working with clients. We think this is just as important as our raw coding skill.

Development Essentials

"Genius is patience." - Isaac Newton

THE RIGHT FOUNDATIONS
Getting the algorithm development process right from the start is critical to success. The nuances of creating a robust trading system are many, including being aware of faulty assumptions, comissions, slippage, liquidity, survivorship bias and the list goes on. The greatest of these curses are rooted in human behavioural biases, such as natural tendencies to curve-fit and data-mine, producing wonderful back-tests that utterly fail when released on an unknown future. We have a process for designing robust systems – believing there are “frameworks” in which one should operate to avoid over-optimisation. This is where art meets science and why so very few ever get it right.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL
We want to understand your needs and objectives – and be good listeners. Sucess is dependant on us truly understanding your goals. Once we have the specifications right, we work with the greatest care to build it right the first time, and pride ourselves on our efficiency. Our pricing is very competitive and we are flexible regarding billing and payment, so please reach out!

"Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things." - Isaac Newton​

Confidentiality is our priority. Rest assured that all information exchanged is private and usually governed by an NDA when appropriate. Your intellectual property is your own and we never compromise on privacy (naturally it would ruin our reputation anyway). A valuable and trustworthy partner is incredibly valuable in this business.
  • Kirk D
    USA

    I took Matt’s beginning and advanced Amibroker (AB) courses a few years ago. After that, I was able to code three swing-trading strategies. I then worked with Matt to put them in a live-trading form, which I’ve been trading successfully for several years on a daily basis. I also took Matt’s CBT and Adaptive Trading Course in AB in 2018. I then worked with Matt to significantly upgrade one of my 3 strategies and started trading it in Jan. 2019. Not only have my trading results more than paid for the course fees, but they have paid for several family vacations! I highly recommend Matt’s courses if you want to create trading strategies you can have confidence in.
    Simon M
    AUS

    If you have the Amibroker basics worked out, and you want to progress to the level of creating robust, accurate and incredibly powerful back-tests, Matt will guide you through it brilliantly in this course. Do this if you don’t want to stay an amateur but want the easiest possible learning curve! Matt is an excellent instructor and he really knows his stuff.
    Larry P
    USA

    Matt’s training courses are well organized, AmiBroker functionality is thoroughly explained and overall the training is very educational. I would highly recommend them.
  • C Warren
    USA

    Thanks for your patience and professionalism. Your experience as a programmer and heart of a teacher was the perfect combination I needed! Looking forward to working together again.
    Vishal Mehta, CMT
    INDIA

    Being a trader I always look for strategies to add to my portfolio to diversify and have smooth equity curve. I worked with several Indian programmers but never reached my expectation of realistic portfolio management techniques, optimization of the system for different market condition, consultation to make good system better. Matt provided me with all of the above. His experience in coding your logics, Amibroker, backtesting and optimization is commendable. He also consult me to make sure that my systems are as realistic as possible when I trade the systems live. Initially I was sceptical that our different time zone will not lead the desired result but Matt understood the concepts(even complicated ones too) very easily and coded and provided the results at fastest turnaround time possible. He keeps on helping me with how I can bring some new filters or condition to make the system better. I can summarise his consultation fees as “Value for Money”. I advocate every new enthusiastic programme trader, experienced traders to work with him to see how he can help your system make better return.
    Margaret O
    USA

    Matt’s work helped me to simplify my trading systems and gave me easy tools to implement my trading ideas. He was a pleasure to work with, very competent and easily met all project deadlines. He helped me to enhance my systems and opened my eyes to seeing what I wanted to accomplish in a different way which was beneficial to the overall project. Matt helped to make the process painless and gave me a very easy to implement solution to my challenges.
    USA
  • K. Webb
    USA

    I’ve worked with Matt for about 3 years, going back to the Connors Research Chairman’s Club. When he first got my attention was two Amibroker training courses he taught. Starting from zero knowledge of Amibroker, by the end of these courses, I was empowered to be able to code and conduct portfolio-level backtests of a wide range of mean reversion strategies. This was absolutely one of the best investments in my trading skills I ever made. Wanting to go further, I followed up with Matt several times for personal consulting and he was able to help me with implementing scale-in trades through the low level CBT in portfolio level backtesting and outputting results on a monthly basis to Excel. Not only did he help me with the actual code, he also provided a detailed understanding of how it worked that enabled me to build upon it further. Overall, Matt has been a great person to work with, he is a fantastic teacher and very committed to delivering value to his clients.
    Kirk D & David P
    USA


    We had coded a stock-trading strategy in AmiBroker (AB) using an easy high-level approach. Although our code was functional, eventually we realized that there were too many differences between the code and our actual trading, and that our code was not strictly tradeable. We had hit a wall and did not have the experience or skills to improve the code any more. We asked Matt if he could improve our code to make it work seamlessly, as we were spending too much time doing multiple backtests. Because the strategy was complex, Matt initiated a Skype conversation with us so he could understand the scope of what we wanted. Matt then came up with a unique, elegant solution of several codes that were a major overhaul of our code, but were far better, and were easy to use. Matt supplied the custom backtesting code solutions in just a few days. We were amazed at how Matt could put together multiple complex codes with so few errors, and then troubleshoot them very rapidly, if needed. In the first month of trading using the new codes, our profit was +8%. In summary, Matt saw the big picture that we didn’t, and offered a better solution than what we could imagine. His extensive knowledge of AmiBroker and custom backtesting allowed him to match the code to our actual trading. He is very fast and accurate, and has reasonable rates. He has provided plenty of post-purchase customer support with any questions we have had. We are more than satisfied with the solution and Matt’s professionalism, and highly recommend his services. We would be delighted to work with him again for either helping with coding or being coached in AB.
    Helena Denel
    USA

    I enrolled in Matt’s Amibroker CBT Intensive course and got a lot more than I bargained for. I expected something along the lines of “do this, then do that”, etc. Instead, I received expert explanations of how the CBT works, its order breakdown, etc that I could apply across all parts. I’ve been staring at back-testing code for years and, while I could follow the logic, never understood how it all held together. This course was a big deal for me. I did the homework Matt set and applied it to one of my systems. Eureka! It worked! I felt empowered knowing I could go forward, making it work for me by looking at the CBT with new eyes. Thank you, Matt. Great work – 10/10 and highly recommended.
    USA
" The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. "
— Stephen Hawking
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All the information contained on this website is general in nature and does not constitute personal or investment advice. Quant Alpha produces algorithms and software only and does not trade or arrange any trading on your behalf. Quant Alpha will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation, any loss which may arise directly or indirectly from the use of, or reliance on: its algorithms; the information on this site; or information provided by its managers, partners or affiliates. You should seek independent financial advice and conduct your due diligence prior to acquiring any Quant Alpha technology. Quant Alpha is neither a registered investment advisor nor an investment advisory service and does not provide any recommendations to buy or sell particular financial products. 
Before engaging in any trading activities, you should understand the nature and extent of your rights and obligations and be aware of the risks involved. Don’t trade with money you can’t afford to lose. Your trading and investing decisions are entirely your own responsibility. All securities and financial product transactions involve risks. Where Quant Alpha provides hypothetical representations of what the technology has achieved in the past, this has been done with the greatest know-how, data and expert technology that is available, but still, Quant Alpha cannot guarantee that these results have any likelihood whatsoever of being achieved in future. Where records have been provided of how the software has performed on management’s own accounts, whilst these are an accurate and true record of what has taken place in the past, they are not necessarily indicative of future results – the future is as unknown to Quant Alpha management as it is to anyone else. The past performance of any trading system or methodology is not necessarily indicative of future results.