Day-Trading Software For Linux/BSD? 9
DayTrader Dreaming of Penguins asks: "For the past few weeks, I've been on an avid search for something I would have thought would be easy to find. I visited chat rooms, Web sites, and news groups. But I'm still left empty handed. I'm looking for the tools and indicators for DayTrading that could be used under Linux. Things like real-time charts, and NASDAQ Level 2 windows are virtually unavailable in one software package for the Linux Community. Due to lack of option I had to give up my Linux machine for one with a window. With software like DTNIQ, WindowOnWallStreet, and countless other services available for Windows, why is it Linux has yet to capitalize? Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places?" How difficult would it be for a new project to break into this market? It would seem that such tools are based on incredibly proprietary (read: expensive) protocols and hence Free Software un-Friendly.
it exists (Score:1)
Problem is that most daytraders don't survive long enough to bother to install linux. There have been some attempts to get a GPL platform running - none ever got past the initial software map.
Re:Why my company doesn't write Linux software... (Score:1)
And the majority of Linux users might be competent, but are these the same people who would be day-traders? And if Linux users don't need support, why is Redhat basing their business on support?
Re:it exists (Score:1)
On bobsguide.com I searched for [linux]. I came up with:
Anvil Repo Trading System (ARTS) [bobsguide.com]
Platform: HP-UX 10.20, Solaris 2.6 & Linux
Category: Deal capture and Trading
--
FANPAC
Platform: Win NT/95/98, UNIX, Linux
Category: Portfolio Management
--
FANPAC
Platform: Win NT/95/98, UNIX, Linux
Category: Risk Management
--
GAUSS Engine
Platform: Win NT/95/98, UNIX, Linux
Category: Treasury systems covering front, middle and back office
--
Mathematica
Platform: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix, NEXTSTEP
Category: Software components for the dealing room
--
S-PLUS
Platform: Microsoft Windows NT, 95 or 98, UNIX and Linux
Category: Capital Markets Analytics
restrictive licensing agreements (Score:1)
Re:Why my company doesn't write Linux software... (Score:1)
Re:Why my company doesn't write Linux software... (Score:1)
There's a patch for that. C'mon Guys, This article is one man's attempt to excuse his own actions.
I should encase you in carbonite for saying that.
Re:Why my company doesn't write Linux software... (Score:2)
Why my company doesn't write Linux software... (Score:2)
Seeing as I'm working for a company which is in the middle of writing just such a package (but for windows only), I thought I should chuck my $0.02 in...
Basically, the situation is this: we run a reasonably successful live investor-information website, with level 2 and a fair swag of technical charts, etc etc. We are, however, hitting the limits of what a website can provide for our customers, even with Java and (gasp!) ActiveX. So, it was decided to write an application, which would give us more control over the interface, better interactivity, and better performace, blah blah blah.
But our company isn't even vaguely interested in writing the application for Linux/BSD. Why? Simple. Where's the money in it? The cost of developing such a package is large, and it won't be trivial to port to another OS. We are going to get our money from a) selling the software, and, more importantly b) selling subscriptions. Although, perhaps we'll give away the software, seeing as it would be useless without a subscription to our data service.
Virtually none of our existing website customers use anything but Windows. I can't even remember the last time we had a support issue from someone with a Mac. Our potential customers are all using Windows, at least as far as we can tell.
Perhaps there are a small handful of Linux users out there who'd be kinda interested in our stuff if it was ported to Linux. That's not enough to recoup the costs of development, and probably not enough to recoup the costs of support either.
If anyone knows anything about someone providing a Linux app for this sort of stuff, I'd love to know who and see what their app can do, but basically, I don't see it'll happen until the general populous start using Linux. Which is a while off - from talking to some of our customers, I know that most of them aren't computer geeks - many don't know you can open a second browser window in IE. This mean Linux has to become a) at least as easy to use as Windows (not as hard as just "easy-to-use" ;), and b) widespread among non-technical people, before a program such you want seems likely. There just don't seem to be alot of people both interested in using Linux and interested in daytrading.
It does bugs me that we only support Windows, but for the moment there really is no other option I can see, unless a large volume of daytraders suddenly put up their hands saying "I want to use Linux".
Sorry about the long, rambling post.
-Spiv.
Re:Why my company doesn't write Linux software... (Score:3)
--