03/04/2015
1 Introduction
AlphaTrader Environment Professional leading edge technology to amplify your alpha More than just a platform, AlphaTrader is an entire trading environment AlphaTrader: real time trading platform running server side preferably AlphaTrader Client: thin client to run on local desktop AlphaMonitoring: support / monitoring server side application AlphaSearch: backtesting environment (coming soon) Alpha API: Develop your own indicators, tactics and strategies Excel RTD API: Connect your Excel Spreadsheets to AlphaTrader Alpha API Server: Connect your application to AlphaTrader (coming soon)
AlphaTrader Professional leading edge technology to amplify your alpha Leverage your manual/fully automated and semi-automated trading Multi-Connectivity: multi-brokers/multi-accounts Gather a large scope of market data to help your trading decisions Control and improve your execution Lower your Transaction Costs Run indicators, tactics and strategies Integrate your own tactics, strategies and indicators into the platform Monitor your algo trading operations with AlphaTrader Client and Alpha Monitoring. Risk manager: control your financial and operational risk Easily get assistance and support/ direct connection with our team to get assistance and support
AlphaTrader platform strengths Ultra-fast executions and Direct Market Access oriented Lower your transaction costs thanks to innovative execution algorithms. Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) providing transparency on all your executions. Industrial Automated and Algorithmic trading functionalities, including Visual Studio C# for development Semi-automated built in platform with approval blotter Trade in position centric (MT5, MC, NT like) and trade centric (MT4 like) One-click trading on charts and DOM, ideal for manual traders Fully-configurable and opened to tailor-made add-ons Multi Clients / Server architecture with AlphaTrader Thin client FIX connectivity for optimal stability and resilience
Average roundtrip latency of 5-10 ms (Gravelines to LMAX). Therefore, 15 to 40 times faster than LMAX MT4 and more than 80-160 times faster than MT4 with a classical broker. Average slippage of 0.05 pips on 180 trades markets with LMAX whereas 0.46 pips with ECNs involving the same conditions. Average of 1.1 pip slippage in favor of traders, on limit orders EURSEK. Cf Annex. Save between 11% and 100% of commissions compared with LMAX MT4. Plus, in some case, possibility of free executions, spread included, due to the internal matching engine. One click trading, instantaneous execution via charts, order book or scalpers. Today, algorithms running via AlphaTrader have under management several millions of dollars ( hedge fund/asset management) In may 2014, 9 billions of dollars have been executed via AlphaTrader. One of our Hedge fund client is running 500 strategies simultaneously on AlphaTrader. A new version including users feedbacks every month.
2 Market connectivity
Multi-Assets platform AlphaTrader is a fully multi-assets trading platform and allows to trade: Forex CFDs Futures Stocks ETF Coming Next: Options
Connectors Connection to trading venues, brokers, banks and third party data providers. New connectors can be added on demand. Clients with their own PB can access all major institutional Fx Venues and Banks. API and FIX connectivity for more stability and resilience. Up to date information on: http://www.alphanovae.com/connectivity/
Simulator connector Connection to real market data feeds but simulation of the trade execution. Allows to test strategies and manual trading against real data feed. No need of broker demo / paper trading account.
Multi-Connectivity Multi-Brokers From a single workspace, manage simultaneously multi-accounts and multibrokers connectivity. This feature offers the option to connect to multiple brokers according to the type of market targeted. Therefore, trades will be directed towards: One/or multiple broker(s) One/or multiple market(s) E.g.
Multi-accounts Managing several accounts within the same broker E.g.
Prime Brokerage set up Connect AlphaTrader to your Prime Broker account and to your Liquidity Providers. Possibility to connect to all Fx Venues and Banks for clients having a Prime Broker. E.g.
Aggregation/multi-brokers (coming soon) Trade (buy/sell) at the best price. The Aggregation engine makes possible to gather all the market data feed (coming from diverse brokers) and the Smart Order Router engine directs order to the best prices. E.g. Bid Broker B Broker C Broker A Ask Broker A Broker C Broker B
Arbitrage/multi-brokers - assets Trade price inefficiencies as they appear Multi-Brokers and Multi-Assets mode makes possible to arbitrage opportunities as soon as they appear. E.g. CFD vs Future/ CFD broker A vs CFD broker B/FOREX broker A vs FOREX broker B For optimal speed. your arbitrage strategies can be automated in AlphaTrader. E.g.
3 Market data
Data representation and access AlphaTrader gathers all the data you need to make your trading decisions. Direct connection to Broker/Venue data or through third party provider. Market data real time and historical Level 1 (bid/ask/bars) Level 2 (book) Time And Sales News
Level 1 data (bid/ask) Spot market trends in a glimpse Chart All timeframe available. From tick charts to bar of ticks, seconds, minutes, hours, etc. Including visualization of built-in or custom made technical indicators
Scalpers and Market watch Bid and ask price Bid and ask size Spread Depth of Market
Level 2 data Follow and interact on the price discovery Order book / Depth Of Market Order depth visible (up to 20 for LMAX) Last trade price (yellow cell) Your position average price (blue cell) Help you to trade as a price maker
Time and sales Get access to the real time flow of trade execution.
News The tool provides economical and political news impacting the market and gives alerts. News calendar is also available in strategies.
4 Trading with AlphaTrader
Trading with AlphaTrader From pre to post trade processing Trade entry Trade execution Trade/Position management Post trade/reporting
TRADE ENTRY Ergonomics designs fully-configurable to facilitate active trading (i.e. scalping) Position scalper (position-centric mode). One click trading One click Buy/sell positions - Define buy/sell limits - Define sell stop/buy stop
Trade scalper (trade-centric mode) Activate stop loss/take profit One click Buy/sell positions Define buy/sell limits Define sell/buy stops
Need to know Trade centric vs Position centric Position centric mode (used in MT5, MultiCharts, NinjaTrader,etc) Position centric focuses on global position instead of number of trades. A position trade has reached the end of its life cycle once filled. We can not close a filled position centric trade. e.g. You have a position of 4 EURUSD lots which has been created by 3 trades(buy) of 2 lots and 1 trade (sell) of 2 lots. The strength of position centric approach is to lower transaction costs and swap by netting individual trades position. Trade centric mode (used in MT4) Whereas, trade centric involves trades which follow a life cycle after their initial fill. A trade centric filled, need to be closed. e.g. 1 trade(buy) of 2 lots, once executed, remains in the blotter with its own PnL. The trade will end its life cycle via a direct close operation, stop loss or take profit. The advantage of Trade Centric platform is to allow "hedging (being long /short in same time) and consequently all kind or combinations of trading strategies such as grid trading. With AlphaTrader internal engine, you can also lower transaction costs and swaps in trade centric mode. AlphaTrader allows both modes of trading!
From trade scalper (SEMI-AUTOMATED) Tactics: Embed custom-made algos to your trades - Leverage and assist manual traders with algos - Bring automated traders more modularity in their work Apply tactics to your trades to automate entries and/or exits. Sample of possible tactics: Tailor mode trailing stops Specific hedging Sniping Pegging/Layering Entry fragmentation
Order book/ DOM One click Position centric limit and stop orders Left click Send your trade Right click Cancel your trade Blue cell Visualize your position at a glance
Charts Trade through a visual interface, including configurable tools which deliver meaningful content, helping your decision making One- Click Buy/sell Add indicators and tactics Zoom +/- time/price Right click: Open stop/ limit +++ timeframes customizable without limit Ticks/second/minute/hour/day Rule tool, left click and drag = Pips measure/ pnl Drag to modify limits / stops / stop loss and take profit Possibility to choose option trade/position and quantity
TRADE EXECUTION Innovative internal matching engine to save costs and fasten execution Internal Matching Internally match hedged sub position to save transaction costs Block Merge Merge trades before sending to execution to faster execution
Internal matching Due to AlphaTrader hybrid functioning mode (trade/position centric) and thanks to the independence of Alpha Novae towards brokers, we were able to add an internal matching engine inside AlphaTrader. A functionality generally available only on the broker side as it generates them an extra income flow. This process allows some of your trades (sub position hedged) to be instantaneously executed within AlphaTrader, without sending anything to the broker. Therefore, it leads to save commissions and spreads. NO INTERNAL MATCHING INTERNAL MATCHING
Block Execution The aim of block execution is to faster your execution by merging all your different trades to be sent to the broker in one single block. Instead of filling one trade after the other, your block will be filled in one go. AlphaTrader
Trade management Trade blotter The tool displays each active trade. Therefore, you can check your trades statuses and PnL Trade blotter includes the time of the trade, symbol, trade type (long or short), state (filled/close/part close),size, position, open price, limit price, stop price, stop loss, take profit, current price, commissions, owner ID, profit including open/entry commissions, comment, close. One-click close trade(s) Click right and close some/all of your trades/partial close Trigger Internal Matching Click right and modify Limit and stop Take profit/stop loss
Position management Including Size PnL (excluding commissions) Average price
Post trade data/reporting Keep a record of your trading activity for analysis Trade history Trades which have ended their life cycle
Execution history Record of all the executions
5 Trading Automation
AlphaTrader algo bestiary Indicators, Tactics and Strategies Visualize indicators in chart and call indicators from strategies. Embed tactics to trades. Tactics are algos placed inside a trade and piloting entries, exits, movement of stop loss and take profit, etc. Tactics react to trade send events, market data change events and fill events. A tactic stops when the associated trade dies. Sample of possible tactics: Tailor made trailing stops Specific hedging Sniping Pegging/Layering Entry fragmentation Strategies are piloted through AlgoNaute (cf next slide). Strategies can call indicators and associate tactics to trade they create.
Automated trading Based on Event Programming, strategies can react to: Level 1 and Level 2 (book) data update. (Time And Sales events to come soon.) close of bars. numerous trade related events (fills, cancels, rejection, etc). session related events (connects/disconnects). news events. custom made timers. Strategies can work in a multi-timeframes, multi symbols and multi brokers environment. Modularity and openness: Strategies can also be used to create add-on in AlphaTrader: tailor made user interfaces, enrich charts with new functionalities, etc. Designed to facilitate operations on live trading, support, monitoring and investigation in case of issues. Performance and stability at core: A client is using successfully a set up with 550 strategies, each one using 3 timeframes, on 60 instruments and on 24h/24 basis since February 2014. Thousands of trades every day. An other client is running very low latency sensitive and high frequency Forex market making algos.
Algonaute (automated trading interface) Launch and manage strategies No need to attach a strategy to a chart (save your computing resources) Coming soon: Algonaute as a local thin Client to AlphaTrader running Server side Visualize and monitor your running strategies via the strategy dashboard Start/Pause strategy in one click Visualise real time position and PnL For each strategy, get dedicated: Chart Blotter Trade history Logs Balance/Equity
Semi-Automated trading Built-in semi automated trader with approval blotter Strategies can create To Be Approved trades. Trader can approve or reject trades from the approval blotter. Trader can associate tactics to trade to automate money management and trade exit.
6 Custom Development
Custom development tool Use a professional leading code editor to develop your algos Fully configurable and tailored add-ons to be developed thanks to our Alpha API Code and debug your indicators, strategies, tactics or add-ons. Use Microsoft Visual Studio C# to develop and debug your algorithms. Samples of indicators, tactics and strategies are available in the AlgoBox solution, installed with the platform. You can add your own indicators/tactics/strategies in MyAlgos project. Event driven programming. Server Alpha API library to connect third-party applications to AlphaTrader coming soon
Excel RTD server Connect Excel to AlphaTrader and give life to your spreadsheets RTD (Real Time Data) is extremely efficient and offers many advantages over deprecated DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) technology. The AlphaTrader RTD Server allows you to get access into Excel to real time market data, historical data and to the AlphaAPI trading actions such as order submission, fill information, positions, etc.
Deployment Build and deploy DLLs containing your algos into your server Build your project into DLLs with Visual Studio C#. Deploy your DLLs by placing them into /AlgoBox directory. Ability to crypt the DLLs before deployment.
7 Live Trading Control & Operations
Risk manager Control and protect Operational and financial risks. Prevent fat finger trades and block rogue algorithms. Automatically spot and block orders which do not respect tolerance rules in term of size, position, price, instrument, etc. Order Frequency Circuit Breaker to protect your self from algos going crazy. Psychological risk management to eliminate emotions by configuring daily profit and loss limits. Specific admin account to manage the risk limits of your employees or to force yourself to respect the daily limits.
Position/Order Size Circuit Breaker Order Frequency Circuit Breaker Exposition Circuit Breaker Daily Max Loss/Profit Enable Instrument Filtering
AlphaTrader Client Thin client application remotely piloting and monitoring AlphaTrader operations Thin client application to run on local desktop and securely connecting to AlphaTrader. Share AlphaTrader server access between traders or between traders and support operators. Give you local access to: AlgoNaute to start, pause, stop or edit strategies. Trade blotter to monitor, modify or close open trades Position blotter Live Account information AlphaTrader logs Trade history Execution History Etc
Alpha Monitoring Server side service controlling and monitoring the platform behaviour Get an email alert if the platform is unresponsive. Automatically grab server logs into your local desktop thanks to AlphaMonitoring client. Automatically archive your old logs. Possibility to write a monitoring strategy which will generate custom made html monitoring report. And email or ftp it.
Logging Control and analyse the strategies and platform behaviour One log for the platform, one log per strategy and possibility to log all FIX messages in specific extra log file. Ease the investigation on strategy behaviour. Sub millisecond precision. Possibility to filter logs on user actions, information, warning and errors. Automatically archive your old logs.
Scheduling Automate stops and restarts of the platform Specify a list of close and restart sequences For example: Close daily at 10pm and restart the day after at 7am Close Friday at 10 pm and restart Sunday at 8pm. Get an email when the platform is closed or restarted.
Help and support Get updated through social websites about releases and events Get in contact with Alpha Novae team members regarding any support
8 Coming Soon
AlphaTrader Client V2 AlphaSearch Backtesting environment Connectivity to all Fx Venues Enterprise infrastructure Big Data server and reporting
9 Services
Amplify your Alpha More than a platform, a dedicated technology department to support Tailor made developments: Strategies / Tactics / Indicators your business. From HFT algos to Massive Multi Strategies environment (more than 500 strategies) Migrate your strategies from your old/retail platform to AlphaTrader when professionalising your infrastructure. Extend connectivity or upgrade to FIX institutional connectivity Multi-brokers / accounts set-up for asset managers Enterprise multi-users (traders, analysts, support, dev, etc) set-up Execution consulting Lower your transaction costs Tailor made add-ons to ease your manual trading Detailed case studies on http://www.alphanovae.com/case-studies//
Alpha In a Box More than a platform, a dedicated technology department to support your business. Development + Deployment + Maintenance + Monitoring + Support Bronze: AlphaTrader deployment and maintenance. Silver: Training and second level support to your support and developer teams. Gold: Full managed package: deployment / maintenance / monitoring and support. Dedicated support team monitoring 24/7 In case of immediate attention, we are dedicated to quickly deliver solutions either on week days or on weekends / bank holidays. e.g. adding new functions on the platform, updating server, etc Possibility to add a connector on demand. Evolution of the platform to follow your needs. Up to date information on: http://www.alphanovae.com/support-monitoring/
10 Company
Contact us Alpha Novae is a consulting company and technology provider specialized in systematic automated and algorithmic trading. We provide technological solutions and tailor made developments for a broad range of clients, from serious individual traders to institutional clients: systematic trading start-ups, asset managers and hedge funds. Alpha Novae helps you to make the institutional leap forward Automated trading development Improve and optimize your execution Minimize your transaction costs Connect to any broker or venue (LMAX, IB,FIX, API ) Consulting Get an affordable IT department For more information, visit www.alphanovae.com Customer support UK: +44 02082656416 Registered no: 07433000 64 Southwark Bridge Road London SE1 0AS United Kingdom
Disclaimer Trading any financial instruments carries substantial risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Past performance does not obviously attest future results. AlphaNovae does not make any advises or suggestions on which financial instruments customers should buy or sell for themselves. We provide educational information on ways to use our cutting edge AphaTrader interface, however it is up to our customers responsibility to make their own decision.
Annex - On 543 trades EURUSD Limit. -> Average size: 23.2 lots LMAX -> Average positive (good for trader) slippage per trade : 0.09 pip / 0.1 point. -> Max positive slippage: 23.1 pip. Min: 0 pip. - On 210 trades Gold (XAUUSD) Limit. -> Average size: 38.6 lots LMAX -> Average positive (good for trader) slippage per trade : 0.2 pip / 2 point. -> Max positive slippage: 3.8 pip. Min: 0 pip. - On 343 trades EURSEK Limit. -> Average size: 27.8 lots LMAX -> Average positive (good for trader) slippage per trade : 1.1 pip / 11 points. -> Max positive slippage: 201 pips. Min: 0 pip.