Straight answers
Frequently asked questions
The questions we answer on almost every enquiry. The most important one first: we build your logic, we don't supply strategies.
What we build
- Can you build custom trading software from my own strategy rules?
- Yes, it's most of our work. You give us the rules: entry and exit conditions, position sizing, risk limits, which instruments, which timeframes. We turn them into working software. You bring the strategy; we build what runs it.
- Do you supply strategies, signals or tips?
- No. We're engineers, not advisors. We don't sell strategies, we don't give trading calls, and we don't tell you what to trade. You bring the logic. We build the system that runs it. If you're looking for a ready-made system that trades for you, we're not the right people, and honestly, be careful of anyone who says they are.
- Can you make it fully automated, end to end?
- Yes. That means we write every calculation your strategy needs, standard indicators or your own formulas, plus order management, risk management, and execution straight through your broker’s API. No manual step, unless you want one.
- Can you run several strategies in one system?
- Yes. Each strategy runs as its own module, with its own parameters, instruments and risk settings, while sharing one data feed and one broker connection.
- Can it handle multiple accounts?
- Yes. One system can place orders across several accounts, with position sizing and risk limits set per account, not applied identically to all of them.
- Can it connect to more than one broker at once?
- Yes, and it comes up often when your own clients sit with different brokers. We build a connection layer that talks to each broker’s API separately.
- Can you build one system with multiple strategies, accounts, brokers and a dashboard?
- Yes, this is the largest kind of system we build. It usually combines a strategy engine, a connection layer for each broker or platform, and a web dashboard to watch and control it all.
Data, platforms and asset classes
- Which markets can the software trade?
- Forex, stocks, ETFs, futures, commodities and crypto. The real limit isn't our software, it's what your broker and your data provider support.
- Can you automate crypto strategies, with backtesting?
- Yes. Crypto brings its own problems: markets never close, so there's no daily settling point, and exchanges differ in how they handle order types and rate limits. We build around those.
- Can you take data from a third-party provider but execute through my broker?
- Yes, and it's a sensible thing to ask for. Data and execution don't have to come from the same company. Often they shouldn't.
- Can you help with the data I need, for backtesting and live?
- Yes. Finding data is one thing; making it usable is another. We help with both, sourcing a provider that covers your instruments and history, then cleaning what arrives (gaps, bad ticks, corporate actions). We work with premium feeds like Nanex, IQFeed, Databento and Polygon, and with end-of-day and fundamental data providers.
- Do I actually need an expensive data feed?
- Sometimes yes, often no, and we'll tell you which before you spend anything. A scalping or statistical-arbitrage strategy genuinely needs tick-by-tick data; a broker feed at ~200ms will mislead your backtest. A positional strategy needs nothing exotic. Part of our job is telling you honestly where premium data or infrastructure is worth it, and where you'd be paying a monthly bill for nothing.
- Which platform or broker suits my strategy best?
- We'll give you a straight opinion, because we're not paid by any broker to recommend them. What matters: whether the API supports your instruments and order types, documentation quality, rate limits, data quality and history, data cost, and whether paper trading is available.
- What edge cases should I think about in an automated system?
- The ones that bite in live trading and never show in a naive backtest: data gaps and bad ticks; partial fills, rejections and rate limits; recovering cleanly from a disconnection or restart without double-sending orders; time zones, holidays and contract rollovers; and the gap between backtest and live, slippage, look-ahead bias and real costs. We build for these from the start.
Cost, time and ownership
- What does a project cost?
- There's no price list, and any number we gave you before understanding your requirement would be invented. You send us what you want built; we come back with clarifying questions; then you get a real estimate and timeline. Like buying a car, a Toyota and a BMW are both “a car”, and the price depends on what you actually need.
- How long does a build take?
- Anywhere from about ten days to several months, depending entirely on what's being built. A straightforward system, one strategy, one broker, rules already clear, can be ready in around ten days. A multi-broker, multi-account platform with a dashboard takes longer.
- Do I get the source code? Who owns it?
- You can own the source code outright, with a full licence, yours to keep and yours to modify, by us or by anyone else you choose. It's your own system, completely. That option costs an additional 30% of the project cost.
- How are you paid? Do you take any share of my trading?
- No. We charge a fixed fee for the work we do. We don't take a cut of your trading, we don't manage your money, and we're not a fund. Whatever your system does in the market is entirely yours, we're just the people who built it.
- What support do I get after delivery?
- Every project includes one month of support after delivery, covering the edge cases and unusual situations that show up once the system is running against a live market. Anything beyond that, or new work, we agree with you first.
- Can I see proof of your past work?
- Yes. On a video call we'll demonstrate systems we've built and show them working, and where we can, on the same broker or platform you're planning to use. We can also point you to client references. (Our written case studies are anonymised, because we sign NDAs as standard.)