For X_TRADER® users wanting to develop their own bespoke trading applications, TT API has long been a solution for applications deployed both client-side and server-side. With the sunsetting of X_TRADER well underway, TT API users need to migrate their applications to the TT platform. TT .NET SDK offers these users a similar solution and an easy migration path, with substantial improvements over TT API.
Continue Reading →All posts by Andrew Renalds, Product Manager
One of the things that has made our trading solutions stand out through the years is our focus on providing application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable end users and developers to integrate their applications with our trading platform. To this end, I’m excited to announce that we have officially released the TT REST API, which gives our users tools to leverage the power of the TT platform within their own applications.
Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Algorithmic Trading: The Play-at-Home Version” highlighting the growth of a new crop of DIY tools that allow retail traders to easily automate their trading strategies. The users quoted in the article expressed excitement about having the ability to quickly build and deploy their own strategies, but they lamented that unforeseen issues in their algorithms led to sizable losses.
Since 1994, TT has been building tools to allow professional derivatives traders to automate their strategies. It’s encouraging to see the DIY algo programming trend start to migrate to retail traders, but the potential for loss with some of these systems is a detriment. To that end, allow me to point out a few differences between our approach and the others.
ADL® (Algo Design Lab)
Our ADL visual programming platform represented a major breakthrough in algorithmic trading when it was first brought to market in 2009. Using drag-and-drop actions to assemble building blocks, traders and programmers alike can rapidly design, test and deploy automated trading strategies without writing a single line of code. With ADL, users can generate executable strategies in hours to seize and act on fleeting market opportunities in timeframes that were difficult or even impossible to achieve previously.
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| With ADL, users drag and drop blocks containing pre-tested code onto a canvas to create automated trading programs. |
Last week’s #PreviewTT series on Twitter focused on the ways we’re enhancing our award-winning visual programming platform, ADL (Algo Design Lab), in the new TT platform. We’ve recapped the content below.
ADL is one of our most powerful tools for algorithmic traders, with drag-and-drop building blocks that allow you to quickly create, test and deploy automated trading strategies without any manual programming. With ADL you can leverage fleeting market opportunities without the need for manual coding or expensive programmers.
The TT version of ADL will include the same powerful features as the X_TRADER® version along with many significant enhancements. Here’s a sampling:
- You’ll have the ability to drive Autospreader® from ADL. We just released this functionality to production on Friday, so if you have a TT account, you can log in now and give it a try.
- You also can drive one algo from another through the new Algo block. Algos can be based in different locations—for example, an algo running in New York can drive an algo running in London—delivering the ultimate in flexibility and performance.
- You can create algos using ADL or with our new high-performance API, TTSDK™.
- Our popular Autotrader™ tool is now part of ADL, serving as both a market-making algo and a graphical interface that’s tailored to drive the algo.
All ADL-created algos will run on co-located execution servers, so performance will be faster than ever.
And just like your workspaces and everything else in TT, all of your algos and configurations are accessible wherever you go thanks to our software-as-a-service (SaaS) architecture.
Last week on Twitter, #PreviewTT focused on the new APIs that we’re making available with the new TT platform. Tests show these are our fastest APIs to date, providing users with more flexibility and access than ever before. With normalized interfaces to all TT-connected exchanges, these APIs will allow customers to focus on building strategies and trading tools instead of dealing with exchange-specific nuances.
The APIs include:
- The TT Software Development Kit (TTSDK), a high-performance Linux, C-based API for creating custom algorithms that run them on TT’s co-located execution servers.
- A series of Web services for building rich client applications using the same APIs that we use to create the TT front-end applications.
- FIX services that make connecting FIX applications to TT easier than ever.