The Best Software for Systematic Trading - Guide 2024

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    What are the best software for systematic trading in 2024? In this article you'll learn about trading software, why good software can make a big difference in your success, and a few of the best software on the market. 

    Systematic trading (or automated/algorithmic trading) is a type of trading that involves the creation of an automated strategy (also called a trading system or algorithm) that executes certain instructions set by the systematic trader. 

    A systematic trading software is a program for developing these automated strategies by analyzing historical market data. This process is greatly facilitated by the use of computers. 

    After this study phase we can write a trading system and test its effectiveness. If the trader considers the system valid, they can use the trading software to activate the strategy. The software will take it from there, automatically sending orders to the broker. 

    As you may have guessed, using systematic trading software in lieu of discretionary trading comes with significant benefits.  

    First, trading systematically with a good platform allows you to open and close trades with unparalleled speed and accuracy. You can program rule sets in advance for opening, closing, and managing positions that the software will execute whenever predetermined conditions are met. 

    Also, consider that if you had to do everything manually, you would hardly be able to manage more than 3 or 4 markets at the same time. By contrast, a good trading platform can handle as many as a hundred systems without losing speed or accuracy.  

    Another significant advantage is that systematic trading software allows you to spend much less time at the computer. As mentioned, once you've planned your trading strategy you can delegate the operational phase to the software without having to worry about manually entering all the orders. 

    The 5 Best Software for Systematic Trading

    In our opinion, these are the 5 best platforms or software for systematic trading. We draw our judgements based on personal trading experience. This list of platforms reflects what we believe to be the most important elements for novice systematic traders.  

    In particular, we used the following criteria: ease of programming, flexibility, ease of use, stability, presence of a sufficiently populated community, and quality of official support service. 

    1. MultiCharts 
    PROS: 
    - The programming language (Power Language) is simple
    - Excellent flexibility at the technical and integration level with brokers and data feed services
    - Easy to use
    - Provides stability in real-time trading
    - The community and support are good 
    CONS: 
    - Nothing  

    2. TradeStation 
    PROS: 
    - The programming language (Easy Language) is simple
    - Excellent flexibility at the technical level
    - Easy to use
    - Provides stability in real-time trading
    - The community is good 
    CONS:
    - Integration with brokers and data feed is limited
    - Online support is limited 

    3. NinjaTrader 
    PROS: 
    - Easy to use
    - Provides stability in real-time trading
    - The community and support are great 
    - Offers plugins from several software houses
    CONS: 
    - The programming language is quite complex (based on C#)
    - Not very flexible in terms of integration with brokers and data feed providers 
    - No portfolio backtest tools 

    4. Trade Navigator 
    PROS: 
    - Block programming language is simple 
    - Easy to use
    - Provides stability in real-time trading
    - The community and support are good
    CONS 
    - Not very flexible (backtests are slow and automation is cumbersome) 

    5. Option Net Explorer  
    This software specializes in options trading. If you are interested in this financial instrument, it's probably the right software for you. 

    Other Good Software for Automatic Trading

    The 5 software programs listed above are all excellent solutions for doing systematic trading. However, the following are a few more names to give you the full picture of the options available on the market.  

    For an in-depth discussion of all the platforms and software mentioned in this article, we recommend that you watch this video:

    MetaTrader4 
    Meta Trader is certainly one of the best-known platforms in the trading world. Even though it’s quite popular, it's a complex software that uses a highly articulated programming language (MQL). In addition, this platform doesn't offer portfolio backtest tools and has several limitations at the technical level.  

    Of course, this is just our opinion, and we've often been asked why we prefer to use MultiCharts instead of MetaTrader. In this video, Andrea Unger explains the reasons why we don't think Meta Trader is a good software for systematic trading. 

    Pro Real Time 
    Pro Real Time is a somewhat unique software because it allows you to work directly in Cloud. This makes it particularly suitable for those who want to do live trading without relying on a VPS for stability reasons. On the other hand, it doesn't have a lot of features, and integration with brokers is a bit disappointing 

    AmiBroker 
    This software offers many technical features (incredible speed in backtests, ability to handle very large data) but is also very complex to use. For this reason, it isn't recommended for those who don't have much experience in programming and software use. 

    Conclusion 

    We hope this overview of the best software for systematic trading has been helpful to you.  

    If you'd like to learn more about the criteria to take into account when choosing the right trading platform for your needs, we recommend you check out this article: Software For Systematic Trading - How To Choose The Best Platform.