Emerging Trends in Binary Options Trading: Algorithmic Trading (Part 2)
In the first part of this article, the various steps to getting your own algorithmic trading system were enumerated.
Let us assume that you have been able to develop your own algorithmic trading system and you have tested it and it is ready to go. How then can you use it in the binary options market?
Indeed, what kind of software can you use to execute your trading algorithm on your broker’s platform, given that these platforms are web-based?
This is the question that this article will answer.
Developing an Algorithm for Web-Based Platforms
The challenge in the binary options market in creating a robot which conveys the essence of a trader’s algorithm is to get it to be compatible with the trading platform. In forex, all the trading platforms have desktop versions which are written with a particular programming language. In addition, the platforms also have a coding interface which allows traders and programmers to work within the language of the platform. The result is that a trader can easily get a forex robot developed which easily communicates the algorithm to the platform for automatic trading.
In the binary options market, this mechanism is totally absent. Platforms are web-based and for a long time, it was impossible to trade the binary options market with a robot because there was no link to develop such a communication. That was until Google came out with its browser, Google Chrome. Google Chrome came with an important functionality which bridged the gap that existed. This functionality is in the form of Extensions, which could be uploaded to the browser, and could then communicate with the browser to determine the behavior of the page.
Exploiting this technology, an algorithm could therefore be programmed as a Google Chrome Extension, uploaded to the browser and then loaded to the page on which the binary options broker’s platform has been opened. The extension would now be in a position to communicate the following parameters from the algorithm to the platform:
- Asset from a drop-down list
- Expiry time
- Investment amount
- Call or Put (or any of the other trade options)
- Execution of trade
A snapshot of Google Chrome’s Extensions page is shown below:
You can see the listed extensions on the page, as well as the sequence of navigating to the extensions.
Developing Your Algorithm as an Extension
Just as the MT4 platform requires knowledge of the Metaquotes Language (MQL4), so also Google Chrome Extensions have to be written in the appropriate programming language. Generally, extensions are programmed using HTML + CSS + JavaScript, with some features of HTML5 to spice it all up. This is the same for Mozilla Firefox, Chrome and Safari. So you need to get a programmer who is skilled in these programming languages, and who can take the rules of your algorithm and bring them to life. Such a programmer will also work with you to correct any bugs and modify your software at the appropriate time.
With this information, there should be nothing stopping you from storming your binary options platform with your algorithmic trading system in 2014.
