8 Best Automated Trading Platforms in 2024

Review and compare the top Automated Trading Software with pros & cons. Pick the best Automated Trading Platforms to save your time and thereby maximize profitability and limit losses:

Automated Trading Systems (ATSs) ease the work of traders by analyzing markets quickly with high efficiency and accuracy, speedy order placement and submission, and they can be made to leverage multiple data types and vast amounts of market data to make them more accurate in price predictions.

They have been extensively deployed in both high and low frequency, and by retailer and institutional traders alike, because of the high competition to win profits, workflow efficiency, trading market volatility, and inefficiencies, and that traders want to capture in their market analysis the multiple factors that affect price dynamics for any given tradable asset.

Top Automated Trading Software – Recommended Platforms

Automated trading systems take trading emotions out of the trader’s way, which sometimes leads to mistakes and losses in trading. They do not guarantee profits, are prone to failure, and can make losses. Therefore, some manual oversight is critical when using ATSs.

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What are Automated Trading Platforms

This software, also called Bots or Expert Advisors, can automatically generate and submit orders to various online marketplaces or exchanges such as forex, CFD, options, and crypto.

They are sold as ready to work or a trader can create/customize one from scratch based on a programming language. ATS are best applied for high-frequency trading, where thousands of orders can be submitted, modified, and executed in a minute.

ATSs solve the problem of manual trading where it can be difficult for traders to quickly do the analysis and leverage vast amounts of data within a short time as needed to stay up to date with ever-changing and volatile markets. Typically, they employ computerized algorithms based on mathematical formulas.

The owner company can integrate into a marketplace/exchange/brokerage bots. A trader can also create or buy them separately from third parties, and then integrate them with a marketplace/exchange/broker via APIs. The trader can then use them on their trading account once integrated.

Automated trading platforms are based on trading strategies, a set of predetermined guidelines that direct the bot on how to function under different market conditions. They depend on a pre-determined investment strategy (for instance from technical indicators and other more complex computations) unto which trading rules are appended to facilitate the bot to automate the activity.

How automated trading Systems work

ATSs automatically decide on the most appropriate trade entry and exit prices and the types of orders to place based on the outcome of their automated analyses of the prevailing market conditions.

The intention is to optimize winning chances based on data and information about the most present market conditions. Best automated trading software not only can place a high number of trades in a second but also predict the future asset price at nearly 100% to win profits for the trader.

ATSs make it easy to use vast amounts of data to analyze markets within seconds and place the most appropriate orders. This is because the entry and exit prices need to respond to the changing market conditions, otherwise some previous orders will become less likely to win profits.

Because they are based on custom trading strategies, which can range from very simple to more complex strategies, the best-automated trading software offers varied and flexible ways of optimizing profit-winning chances.

For instance, a simple re-investment bot uses a dollar-cost averaging strategy (a reinvestment strategy where the trader needs to buy a fixed amount of an asset regularly) to automatically buy and sell assets once the time comes and favorable prices are attained.

More advanced ATSs rely on both legacy trading indicators and AI data aggregation methods. Therefore, using algorithms to analyze market data helps them to stay sensitive to changing market conditions, identify profitable market opportunities, and place pending orders with better winning chances.

Types of Trading Algorithms

• Execution Algorithms: These act to place a large number of orders efficiently with minimal effects on the market.
• High Frequency or HFT: Operate at milliseconds time frames to create and submit orders.
• Sentiment-based Algorithms: These utilize public data about the sentiment they have for a particular asset.
• Arbitrage Algorithms: Utilize arbitrage strategies, for instance, leveraging the difference in prices across exchanges.
• Portfolio Management Algorithms: They act to manage a trader’s portfolio to balance the shares of the different assets held in the portfolio as per predefined percentages and conditions.

Bots can use a combination of the above algorithms.

Who is this research for?

We made this tutorial for traders who want to know the best automated trading software that contains or offers the best tools and opportunities to increase their chances of winning profits.

It is for traders, both retail and institutions, what tools they can leverage to automate their trades regardless of the asset they are trading. It is also made for providers who want to better their trading tools.

How did we arrive at the list of Automated Trading Platforms?

We carefully considered actual usage information for each of the software in question to generate in-depth reviews of the auto trading platforms listed. Our analysis relied on platform customer reviews and feedback as well as information from software providers relating to pricing and features.

List of the Best Automated Trading Platforms

Here is the popular list of automated stock trading platforms:

1. Trade Station
2. TrendSpider
3. Interactive Brokers
4. eToro
5. NinjaTrader
6. TradingView
7. MetaTrader
8. E*Trade

Comparing the Top Auto Trading Software

Detailed reviews:

#1) Trade Station

Best for active retail and professional-level accounts, brokerages, money managers, etc.

Trade Station provides retail and institutional-grade trading solutions, including the option to turn on and off automated trading from your account.

It lets you trade with automated strategy orders that can be monitored from the TradeManager window. You will automate trades for a select trading strategy and can receive confirmations when automated orders are placed.

Each strategy to be automated can also be customized (inputs such as entry, exits, and calculations associated with the strategy), back-tested, and optimized with advanced settings before and after application in live markets.

Trade Station employs EasyLanguage for creating automated algorithms, which means it can be used on many broker platforms including Interactive Brokers, through Multicharts for instance.

Automation of trades on the platform works by applying a strategy on a chart analysis. Open the Chart Analysis window and from it click/tap Studies -> Edit Strategies.

Operating Systems on which the ATS will work: Desktop and APIs.
Assets you can trade with an Automated Trading System: Stocks, futures, and options.

Features:

• Trade Station is integrated with many broker platforms allowing traders with accounts on brokerages and exchanges to trade stocks, forex, and many other assets using the software.
• Automated trading tools such as SmartPricing, and SmartStops. Templates, Cloning, etc on Options Alpha bot for stocks and options trading. Multiple trading analysis tools on the Trade Station Analysis e.g. RadarScreen, Matrix, OptionStation Pro, Easy Language, Portfolio Maestro, and Trade Station Scanner.
• One-click Alpha Options bot integration. Also works with multiple accounts.
• Live data and historical data from 1977 onwards for futures and options (except for those with expirations).
• Multiple charts can be opened.
• Evaluate the performance of orders completed using TradeManager Analysis.

Pros:

• Detailed guides and documentation on how to automate trades and customize/optimize different settings.
• Monitor winning and losing positions from the Strategy Positions tab.
• Allows traders to connect accounts to other third-party trade automation solutions/software e.g. TradersPost, UltraAlgo, and many others.
• Low contract commission fee of 0.60 per contract and $1 per contract for index options. No charges for stock trading. Also, no data fee is charged. No software fee is applied.
• 0.15% paid on uninvested cash on the account.
• Historical data is mostly free.

Cons:

• High outgoing account transfer fee of $125 and a $10 inactivity fee charged.
• Real-time data comes at a cost (subscription of between $41 to $126 for futures and options), for both non-professional and professional traders.

How to auto trade with Trade Station?

Step #1: Sign up and deposit funds.

Step #2: To activate automated trading, open the Chart Analysis window, then click/tap Studies -> Edit Strategies, and select the Strategies tab. The Customize Studies & Strategies – Strategies dialogue appears.

The number of strategies will appear in a grid alongside their status and associated inputs. You can tweak both the status and inputs to a given listed strategy. Remember, you can add in different Studies from the Studies -> Add Study tab.

Select the strategy to automate whose status is indicated as On. Under the Automation section, select the Generate strategy orders for display in TradeManager’s Strategy Orders tab check box. Select the Automate execution using [account number] account with a confirmation check box. The Enable Order Generation is displayed. Click I Agree to activate.

You can also configure in the same Automation section whether to receive order confirmations once the automated trading orders are placed.

Click/Tap Customize to edit strategy inputs. The Optimizing Details allow you to set optimization inputs for the strategy. The Advanced Settings allow you to access further customization options for a strategy. The Properties for All tab under the Customize -> Strategies tab allows to edit preferences (e.g. position limits, backtesting resolution, etc) for a strategy.

The TradeManager displays all the orders, including algorithmic ones, and their status. Select TradeManager -> Strategy Orders to monitor generated orders. It shows orders generated by charts running on the same desktop where the TradeManager window is displayed, but you can set it to see all orders from all desktops.

Pricing: No software fees. Monthly inactivity fee of $10 for non-balance accounts or those that do not meet certain trading minimums.

#2) TrendSpider

Best for AI bots and webhook alert-based robots.

TrendSpider integrates over 25 brokerages and exchanges and allows traders to place automated trades from within TrendSpider to trade on these brokerages and exchanges. For instance, using SignalStack, traders can automatically turn their alerts (price alerts and multi-factor alerts) into trades and/or set up automated trading strategies with minimal coding skills.

SignalStack allows to auto trade different assets, but most importantly, it is the only allowed direct integration with TrendSpider with which traders can centrally manage webhooks sent to multiple brokers.

The trading bots work on time frames of 15 minutes to Daily and utilize AI.

Operating systems on which the ATS will work: Web and Mobile app.
Assets you can trade with an automated trading system: Stocks, futures, forex, CFDs, and options.

Features:

• Traders can create bots from within charts using trendlines, levels, or indicators. Right-click or tap on any of them to customize. The alerts will monitor the charts and trigger when they need to.
• The system checks for bot integrity before triggering signals. This also ensures bots do not issue conflicting signals.
• Send webhook signals to externally connected platforms. For instance, by copy-pasting the webhook address and payload from the system, you can build bots that post to social media channels or connect to an order router to place orders with a brokerage. Webhooks can trade on many popular brokerage platforms such as TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers.
• Strategy back-testing on the Strategy Tester.
• Bots paint entry and exit signal marks on the chart when the chart matches it in terms of ticker, time frame, chart type, and extended session status.
• Multi-timeframe analyses supported. The Multi-Timeframe Chart Analysis allows superimposing trendlines or indicators from different timeframes onto a single chart.

Pros:

• Market data, both historical and real-time, is gathered from 7 different market sources, and non-professional traders are exempt from data fees. Other sources include Federal Reserve data, dark pool data, and data from social sentiment watch lists.
• Bots and alerts creation and usage documentation. Also available is information on how to create a strategy.
• Create a bot for other things, such as sending you emails and texts when a strategy has an entry or exit alert. So you can use this for manual trading.

Cons:

• Bots work on time frames, hours, and days, bots on Daily time frames do not trigger at 13:00 but at 16:00 instead.
• Bots feature being in beta version means stop loss and take profit fire late because it requires to fire as soon as the corresponding candle closes.

How to auto-trade with TrendSpider?

Step #1: Sign up and choose a subscription package from this automated stock trading platform. Deposit for trading.

Step #2: Create and back-test a strategy using a Strategy Tester. Click or tap on the Strategy Tester button. This allows you to detail all the aspects of the strategy. Click or tap the “Run” button to back-test. There is an option to launch the bot with the already-tested strategy.

Step #3: Create a trading bot. Use either the Alerts & Bots, Strategy Tester, or Trading Bot widget options. Here, you select and load a strategy.

Step #4: Customize the bot using settings, e.g. Behavior Settings, Control Notifications, etc.

Launch bots on the live market.

Pricing: $129.63 per month charged monthly, $74.40 per month billed annually, $9.97 for 1 week for Test Drive subscription.

#3) Interactive Brokers

Best for institutional and brokerage trading.

Interactive Brokers provide multiple ways to auto-trade including using APIs, platform-hosted bots via Capitalise.ai, and accessible third-party bots. Capitalise.ai platform is integrated, allowing traders to run simple to most advanced automated trading systems from within.

With it, you will automate market analyses, monitor real-time data, use all forms of technical and non-technical indicators, and open as many automated strategies as you want.

It also integrates the MT4 platform, allowing traders to craft simple to complicated auto trading systems.

Operating systems on which the ATS will work: Desktop, web, mobile.
Assets you can trade with an automated trading system: Stocks, futures, forex, CFDs, crypto, options, etc.

Features:

• Capitalise backtest, simulate, analyze trade performance with rich and comprehensive statistics, and edit strategies with a click of a button.
• Capitalise offers templates you can use to create your strategies. It contains several strategy examples for which you can view trading performance using real historical data and then use them as templates to create your strategies.
• Free and subscription-based paid research data. Get a free subscription to the network of research providers. Many subscription-based research data bundles have trial periods.
• Build simple to complicated automated trading systems using open-source RESTful Trader Workstation API. Retail traders, hedge funds, developers, proprietary trading firms, introducing brokers, and investment advisors can use it.
• Algorithmic order types from third parties.
• Also, integrates MT4 and thus can use bots from there.

Pros:

• Traders can develop automated trading systems in C++, C#, Java, Python, ActiveX, RTD, or DDE. Also works with Excel through Excel API.
• Access research and market data from third-party providers through the Trader Workstation API.
• Accompanying resources include a community-based Quant blog, Trader’s Academy, and courses on auto trading, building auto trading applications, etc.
• Hundreds of third-party bots are built using the APIs to which users can subscribe and trade, e.g. iBot, and Interactive Brokers Trading Robot. These can be used on this automated stock trading platform.
• Automatically, route orders to the lowest-cost market maker using SmartRouting. Also, works with automated orders.

Cons:

• Creating automated trading systems with APIs can present a challenge for beginner traders.

How to auto trade with Interactive Brokers?

Step #1: Create an account at IBKR.

Step #2: Create the TWS API. The API is downloaded at https://interactivebrokers.github.io. Download and install the TWS or IB Gateway on your computer. Log in to the platform installed using the IBKR username and password.

Step #3: Configure the TWS or IB Gateway to listen to API connections. In TWS, navigate to TWS’ API settings at Edit -> Global Configurations -> API -> Settings and activate the ‘Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients.’ The default mode is read-only, which may need to be changed to access more information about orders.

You now can use the port and host to connect the trading application to TWS or IB Gateway.

Pricing: Software is free to use but market data fees (starting at $100 per month subscription), commission, short sale cost, research and news cost (some free others from $20), and other fees apply.

#4) eToro

Best for copy trading.

eToro does not support any automated trading systems directly and does not offer APIs for connecting third-party automated trading tools. However, it is still possible to automate copy trading through the CopyTrader feature, which allows investors to share trade ideas.

With CopyTrader, expert traders provide their trading strategies for copying by their followers and they can make money from it.

A trader who is copying strategies can also automate the reallocation of the portfolio to mirror changes made by a strategy provider they are copying. There is no way for a trader providing strategies to be copied (known as copiers) to automate trading on eToro, but there are varied advanced order types.

Operating systems on which the ATS will work: Mobile app and web.
Assets you can trade with an Automated Trading System: Stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies, forex, ETFs, indices, NFTs, etc.

Features:

• The minimum investment is $200 for copying traders.
• Multiple investment assets and options.

Pros:

• Easy to copy a trader based on his/her returns from a given strategy. A copying trader may not need to spend time and money coming up with their algorithms.
• Copy up to 100 traders simultaneously.
• Automatic upgrading to eToro Club member for traders that are providing strategies in the popular Investor program.

Cons:

• No support for automated algorithms.

How to auto-trade with eToro?

Step #1: Sign up, visit the CopyTrader from your account dashboard, choose a trader to follow, and copy. The strategy will display the statistics regarding the profits and amount traded.

Step #2: Decide on the amount to invest. Deposit to eToro account if not yet.

Step #3: Copy the strategy with a click of a button.

If the trader wants to be a signal provider, then they can sign up to provide strategies for copying on the Popular Investor program. The minimums for application include a minimum investment of $1000 unrealized equity, a daily risk score of 8, at least 2 months of trading, and gaining at least one copier.

After that, you can post copiers to be copied on your profile. You would need to prove that the strategy works by using it to trade and make profits to attract other people who want to copy it.

Pricing: The minimum investment is $200 for CopyTrader.

#5) NinjaTrader

Best for futures trading.

NinjaTrader has an Automated Trading Interface (ATI) which communicates trading signals from external sources and allows for automated order execution using advanced third-party bots. Custom applications of this usage can be crafted using Visual Studio, .NET, Visual Basic, Delphi, and MS Excel.

For this purpose, there are several third-party ready-made automated trading applications made for use on NinjaTrader. NinjaTrader, through the ATI platform, integrates with and can be used for automated trading through Trade Station, eSignal, NeoTicker, and Investor RT among other platforms.

The NinjaScript offers advanced options for those who want to run advanced automated trading systems on NinjaTrader.

NinjaTrader is mainly for futures traders and there are tools for these traders to semi-automate their trades. These features and tools are available in the NinjaTrader desktop application.

Operating systems on which the ATS will work: Desktop, mobile app.
Assets you can trade with an automated trading system: Futures, forex, crypto, options, stock options, and CFDs.

Features:

• ATI email integration, which does not require knowledge of programming.
• Strategy templates and Strategy Builder allow us to build custom automated trading systems.
• NinjaScripts, which are C#-based self-contained automated trading systems, can be run directly from the chart. This allows unlimited features on automated trading systems that a trader may want to run on NinjaTrader.
• Backtesting strategies via the Strategy Analyzer.
• Attach advanced orders to entry orders on the fly.
• Execute conditional or contingent orders. These orders include multi-target One-Cancels-Other, profit, and loss exit bracket orders, trailing stop orders, break-even stop orders, etc.
• Strategies can be employed in SuperDom and Chart Trader.

Pros:

• Varied ways to automate trades.
• Create all levels of automated trading systems, from simple to advanced.
• There is an option for a one-time payment for the platform subscription. This offers low trading fees. There also is a free plan.
• Integrates with many popular broker platforms.

Cons:

• The steep learning curve for the usage of NinjaScript and ATS.
• A third-party broker is needed if you need to invest in anything other than futures.

How to auto-trade with NinjaTrader?

Step #1: Sign up and deposit. Navigate to the Automated Trading tab on the NinjaTrader platform. Select Strategy Wizard. Create a new strategy with the relevant rules.

You can import custom NinjaScripts using the original .zip file. This is done by navigating to Control Center -> Tools -> Import > NinjaScript Add-on. There is also documentation on how to use ATI strategies.

Step #2: Simulate trades with a new strategy. Launch it live.

Pricing: Free plan; monthly plan is $99, and $1,499 one-time payment.

#6) TradingView

Best for advanced charting and automating chart trading.

TradingView supports auto trading through alerts and webhooks. A third party or broker platform takes those alerts and uses them to execute trades. Otherwise, TradingView does not host automated trading. It can be used for automated stock trading and auto trading other assets.

Tens of third-party platforms can convert alerts to auto-trading orders, including broker trading platforms such as IBKR, TradeStation, Forex.com, and OANDA. Others are bot trading platforms, including 3Commas, Traderelay, Tickerlay, TradersPost, TradingConnector, Capitalise.ai, and many others.

You can then relay webhook alerts to a server using software installed on a trading server. These can then be forwarded to a trading broker API installed on the same server.

PineScript is the scripting language for those who want to develop automated trading systems for usage with the platform. Trading strategies on TradingView can also be converted into scripts using PineScript deployed on a chart and later sent as alerts for execution as trading orders on a broker trading platform.

All you need is to now connect with a broker or exchange that integrates seamlessly with TradingView to take those scripts, e.g. the aforementioned exchanges/brokers.

Operating systems on which the ATS will work: Desktop.

Assets you can trade with an automated trading system: Stocks, cryptocurrencies, forex, futures, stocks, commodities, CFDs, indices, and ETFs depending on what a broker or third-party platform supports for auto trading with TradeView.

Features:

• Pine Editor allows you to write down strategy scripts that can be run on the TradingView server. Traders can write and add them to the chart for usage or publish them to share with other traders. They can be back-tested on the Strategy Tester tab. Scripts can build indicators, strategies that can trade on a broker platform, and libraries.
• Historical data are available for back-testing strategies.
• Automates trades through alerts and webhooks.
• Advanced charting and alerts.
• Trading from within charts.
• Mobile chart-ready.

Pros:

• Relatively affordable. Also includes a free basic plan.
• Library of 100,000+ custom free and open-source scripts built with the PineScript language. Their code is viewable and they can be used to further customize one’s strategies.
• The vast amount of historical data for back-testing strategies.
• PineScript is readable, simpler, and easy to learn compared to many other programming languages.
• The input () functions in Pine Script allow coders to create custom inputs that can easily be changed as parameters of the strategies and indicators.

Cons:

• Unpopular in-house scripting language. Learning the in-house scripting language is crucial for script builders.
• Data may not be available for trading obscure markets.

How to auto trade with TradingView?

Step #1: Sign up for an active trading account with a broker. Deposit funds to trade with. Also, sign up for an account at TradingView. Sign in. Use APIs to connect the two accounts.

Step #2: From TradingView, navigate to Pine Editor. Create a strategy using PineScript or outsource a strategy. Save it, and load it in the chart, where it will plot the exits and entries on the main chart, for instance. Perform a back-test of the strategies on the same platform.

Step #3: Set up chart alerts for your strategies using webhooks in TradingView. Chart alerts tell a trader when the requirements are satisfied in the chart, for instance, to sell an asset based on the reached target price. An example of software to use is TradeRelay, whose documentation provides all the information. You can use other software that can relay webhooks.

Step #4: Install webhooks signal relay software and the trading broker software on a server. For instance, VPS.

Login to the installed software on the RDP server. The port settings are then configured so that your TradingView signals can be sent to the broker via the software installed on the server.

Pricing: Free basic plan. Essential is $12.95/month, Plus costs $25.95/month, and Premium costs $49.95/month. Paid plans feature a 30-day trial.

#7) MetaTrader

Best for auto trading software marketplace sourcing.

MetaTrader is a highly customizable manual and auto trading platform. With it, traders can customize charts and other aspects of the trading experience.

It offers additional tools for trading, such as copy trading and automated trading creation platform MetaQuotes and a bot marketplace on both MT4 and MT5. You can trade currency pairs, commodities CFDs, indices, stocks, futures, and options. Desktop, web for MT5, and mobile.

Operating systems on which the ATS will work: Desktop.
Assets you can trade with an automated trading system: CFDs of stocks, cryptocurrencies, forex, futures, stocks, commodities, CFDs, indices, and ETFs.

Features:

• The MQL4/5 IDE (Integrated Development Environment) enabled traders to create automated trading algorithms from scratch.
• Thousands of bots are also accessible via the Marketplace many for free and others on a paid basis. The Code Base provides a collection of free EAs, technical indicators, and scripts many downloadable for free.
• The back-testing feature allows the loading of historical data from historical databases or terminals of other trading platforms.
• Virtual hosting services for those interested in VPS for running the Expert Advisors.

How to auto-trade on MT4?

Step #1: Download and install the MT4 software on your computer or phone. Moreover, sign up for a trading account with a broker of your choice. Deposit and decide the amount and what to trade. The broker needs to support MT4.

Step #2: Sign in to MT4 with your brokerage trading account details.

You will have access to the trading terminal. You can now deploy trading robots from within MT4 to send trading orders to your broker. Can also monitor trades from there.

One way to create and back-test an auto-trading strategy is to use the MetaEditor or the Expert Advisor Studio on MT4. It uses MQL4 language. You can then publish the robot to Code Base, sell it on the marketplace, or use or use it to trade.

The Code Base contains many trading robots you can use for free while the marketplace has hundreds of others you can buy from other coders.

It is recommended to demo the robot for several days or weeks to see its performance before putting in real funds to trade with it. Also, MT4 has a VPS option which provides reliable internet and power connectivity for your auto trading journey.

Step #3: To trade with the robot, place it in the Experts sub-folder by visiting the File -> Open Data Folder option on the software. Restart the MT4 for it to recognize the robot.

Select your desired chart and drag the robot from the Navigator panel onto the chart. Set the bot parameters and activate Auto Trading.

Pros:

• A freelance database Code Base for strategy developers in addition to an extensive marketplace for third-party EAs and a host of free EAs.
• Integrates with hundreds of broker platforms.
• Allows to code simple to very advanced trading robots or automated trading software.
• MT4 and MT5 provide huge flexibility to customize trading.

Cons:

• Does not offer direct market-making for said tradable assets, which may lead to low latency due to middlemen.
• Unpopular coding language MQL4 which traders must learn.

Pricing: Free.

#8) E*Trade

Best for auto investing.

E*Trade provides long-term wealth-building investment opportunities and short-term trading opportunities. Automated trading, integrates with several platforms using API, thus traders can leverage the best of third-party’s auto trading tools and capabilities.

For those who want to do automated stock trading, E*Trade supports the XML-based APIs with which you can connect third-party automated trading bots and platforms such as IonDesk, TradeLens, RoboInvest, Investors Club, and CoolTrade Automated Trader.

E*Trade also offers automatic investing to set up recurring investments in eligible exchange-traded funds, or mutual funds, starting with as low as $25. The amounts, timing of investment, and withdrawals can be changed at any time.

Operating systems on which the ATS will work: Desktop, mobile, and web.
Assets you can trade with an automated trading system: Stocks, funds, ETFs, futures, and bonds.

Features:

• Additional auto investment opportunities for recurring investments.
• Joint to brokerage accounts.
• Paper trading can test new strategies.
• Managed portfolios as a robo advisor and financial advisory product.
• Downloadable example applications built with the APIs.
• Real-time market data can be sourced by third-party auto trading platforms and bots using APIs.

Pros:

• Access to financial consultants and specialists in the Core Portfolios, Blend Portfolios, and Dedicated Portfolios.
• Extra account types beyond ordinary trading accounts, e.g. IRAs, educational savings accounts, and custodial accounts. You also get additional investment opportunities.

Cons:

• Higher minimum deposits compared to other broker platforms.
• Charges a higher commission (standard is $6.95) than the industry average.

How to auto-trade with E*Trade?

Sign up and log into your account.

For automated reinvestments, navigate to Automatic Investment > ETFs or Mutual Funds and select the account. Choose the fund (or multiple funds). Enter amounts and specify other inputs, such as frequency of investing.

You can utilize APIs to connect to MT4 and auto-trade using robots from the MT4 marketplace and library. Remember, MT4 also offers an option of creating auto trading systems from scratch.

To build a custom auto trading app, use the API and access tokens whose documentation is available on their website. It uses Python, Java, and Node.js. You need to first generate a Sandbox key. Alternatively, you can use MT4 or third-party apps and brokers that allow you to auto-trade with E*Trade.

Pricing: No subscription fees. Trading costs and other charges apply.

How to Choose the Best Automated Trading System?

Consider the following:

• Low latency to the order of microseconds is to be considered: ATSs with direct connection with the trading exchanges and no in-between brokers take less time to submit orders to the exchange and get feedback. Latency is the time it takes for a price quote to come from the exchange to the vendor data center and then to the trader’s screen, plus the time taken for the software to analyze and place a trade, submit the order to a broker, who will then submit it to an exchange.
• Configurability and customization: Most bots allow customization of the so-called bot parameters which allow traders to customize their trading. For instance, an ATS can allow a trader to use different strategies based on different trading indicators, risk management settings, position sizing, entry and exit criteria, etc.
• Consider the ability to backtest the ATS on historical data before using it in live markets. Checking the amount and type of data available for testing is crucial. Best automated trading platforms allow testing with live market data. Furthermore, take into account a trial version.
• Integration and connectivity to various markets/exchanges: Where do you intend to use the third-party bot and will it be used to trade on different exchanges if you ever need that? The best automated trading platforms are platform-independent ATSs if you need to use them on different operating systems and exchanges. Most are crafted using MatLab, Python, C++, JAVA, and Perl. Some allow crafting their bots within it.
• Check for documentation to understand the underlying algorithms and logic.

Advantages

• Cuts down costs involved in trading manually. This is true for big brokerages and institutions. They mainly use it for market making and liquidity creation.
• Achieves faster and easier order execution. Traders can make profits even from small market price movements using high-frequency trading and scalping.
• Eliminates human manual trading errors and related losses. All a trader needs to do is feed the input data, which is simple.
• Solves the problem of tedious market analysis. Can leverage multiple data sources to derive the closest price prediction, hence improving winning rates.
• Eliminates trading intermediaries and associated costs.
• It solves emotional trading and guesswork predictions, which lead to hefty losses many times in manual trading.

Disadvantages

• This can lead to flash crashes when several orders are executed simultaneously.
• This can lead to instant loss of liquidity.
• All ATSs use historical data in analyses and price predictions. No matter how close it is to reality, there are chances it will be different. Unforeseen market circumstances lead to hefty losses.
• Programs can also crash and lead to losses if there is no manual watch.
• Does best when used by tech-savvy users. It can be complicated to create and fully customize a bot. Also lacks a sense of human judgment.

How to Get Started with Automated Trading?

I suggest ready-made and subscription-based ATSs for regular retail traders because these are very affordable. For instance, if you sign up and subscribe to a plan on the platforms I have enlisted below, you can access multiple options to trade with a bot, without even programming knowledge or having to create yours from scratch.

Otherwise, if there is an option to install the ATS software on your machine, consider subscribing to a VPS which gives you a remote computer with reliable internet and power supply. Otherwise, with some providers I have enlisted below, you get a free VPS depending on your trading volume. I also suggest you start with manual trading before using ATS.

• Buy a laptop or PC, subscribe to a remote server hosting plan, and optionally have a cloud storage subscription plan where you can back up data.
• You need a stable internet connection and a reliable power supply, although a VPS can save you from all that. All you would need is to install the software on a VPS and monitor it remotely.
• Trading capital and knowledge in trading are essential. It can be a tragedy to use algorithms without trading and market knowledge. If possible, learn how ATS works besides general trading knowledge relevant to the markets (stocks, forex, crypto, CFDs, options, metals, etc) you want to trade.
• Platform and market data: If you are using an exchange or broker and subscribing to an ATS there, you might get the option to subscribe to market data, including third-party market data feeds (for instance, from CQG and DTN). Algo trading relies heavily on market data and information, so having a data provider is critical.
• Buy, subscribe to, or create an automated trading system depending on what you want it to accomplish for you. Depending on what you want it to accomplish for you, you can buy, subscribe to, or create an automated trading system, and then customize it or customize the trading conditions/rules on the bot. Otherwise, ATS can be software for which you buy licensing rights and install or host on your machine.
• Platforms exist to create your bot from scratch without much technical programming knowledge, but these have their customization limitations. APIs are best for creating bots from scratch, with little limitations to customization and security, but require programming knowledge.
• Readymade bots, for instance, those offered on many brokerages and exchanges are great for retail traders. Otherwise, you would need a custom ATS developed or customized by an expert from scratch. Trading bot marketplaces, for instance, on very popular MT5 and MT4 trading platforms, are great sources of ready-made bots.
• Do thorough backtesting or trials, then customization, and launch it in a live market.

Frequently Asked Questions

Further Reading => Best Forex Trading Apps to Look For

Conclusion

We explored in this research several automated trading platforms that can trade a variety of assets. Platforms can give access to ready-made automated trading bots, and marketplaces where traders can acquire ready-made automated trading platforms and strategies, or allow you to craft automated systems with provided tools and APIs.

We recommend Trade Station, which offers the capability to craft detailed automated trading strategies, test, and deploy them from within the platform, all without needing to download and install software. It is trusted for individual accounts, as well as brokerage, hedge fund, and proprietary trading company accounts.

Trade Station also integrates with MultiCharts MT4/MT5 and other third-party platforms which affords traders extra functionalities.

Otherwise, popular alternatives are the MetaTrader platform which hosts thousands of ready-made auto trading strategies, and Interactive Brokers which has a long-standing trust among institutional traders and offers multiple ways of automating trades.

Research Process:

• Auto trading software initially listed for review: 30
• Automated Trading Platforms reviewed: 8
• Time taken for review: 2.5 days