Hello everyone,

As I embark on developing my algorithmic trading bot focused on Nasdaq futures, I often wonder: do trading robots really work? With the increasing interest in algorithmic trading, especially those utilizing order flow and Level 2 data, I’m curious about the experiences of others in this field.

What has been your experience with trading bots? Have you found them to be effective in generating consistent profits? Specifically, I’d like to know if integrating order flow analysis and Level 2 data into a trading strategy has made a significant difference for you.

If you have any success stories or challenges you’ve faced while using trading robots, I’d love to hear them! Your insights will be invaluable as I continue to refine my project.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

The strategy logic is rarely the hard part, it's the messy stuff: data feed gaps, slippage that doesn't match backtest assumptions, edge cases around session open/close. I'd stress-test against a few historical flash-crash days before trusting it live. What platform are you building it on?

This is very good question. Friend of mine keeps telling me bot's making money while you are asleep.
Do not quote me on below as I am getting old and my memory is fading too LOL I can't remember the User of this forum but he mentioned that he coded 20+ bots and none of them makes money consistently.
He also mentioned some bots making money but you need to know which one to tern on for specific market conditions.
I guess it is possible if you good at trading and want to semi automate your trading strategy.

Looking forward to hear your story.

tr8d3r 

This is very good question. Friend of mine keeps telling me bot's making money while you are asleep. Do not quote me on below as I am getting old and my memory is fading too LOL I can't remember the User of this forum but he mentioned that he coded 20+ bots and none of them makes money consistently. He also mentioned some bots making money but you need to know which one to tern on for specific market conditions. I guess it is possible if you good at trading and want to semi automate your trading strategy. Looking forward to hear your story.

The resident expert on the subject is Kevin Davey (aka @kevinkdog ). I don't know how active he is on the site these days, but I would recommend to check his material.

When your "Bot" trades it provides a few benefits:
1. It executes trades with discipline so it is much simpler to review your strategy later. When rules are exactly followed it becomes more evident why something worked vs not. When you trade manually there is a lot of "intuitive" and "gut-feeling" work done, which could be totally hidden from your consciousness.

2. Trading with a bot opens up more strategies you can use, as a bot can react to data much faster.

Our clients (at Nanoconda) use a lot of Market Making (where you can define your edge) and statistical arbitrage (microstructure and math modeling edge) strategies, when you trade on single microsecond latency with full data your logic focuses more on ORDER FLOW rather than economic or other wider analysis. Generally, the longer your holding period, the less useful that order-flow information becomes.