Skip to content
Log inRegister

Start here

How it works

From an idea to a running strategy, and what happens where along the way.

Trading on margin can lose you more than you put in. Past results, including backtests, do not predict future results. Cloud9Trader provides tools and education, not financial advice.

From idea to running strategy

Section titled “From idea to running strategy”
  1. Write. You write an algorithm in JavaScript in the editor on the Algorithms screen. Every save is a numbered version that is never changed. See Algorithms.
  2. Backtest. Cloud9Trader runs a version against past prices, as if it had been trading then, and shows every position, the balance and equity over time, and the log. See Backtesting.
  3. Optimize. An optimization runs many backtests of one version, each with different values for its settings, and shows them side by side. See Optimization. Past results do not predict future ones; see Overfitting and optimization.
  4. Run. A trading session runs the same version in real time on the demo account or your broker account, and places its trades for you. See Trading sessions.

The same code runs in all three. An algorithm cannot tell a backtest from a live session, which is why it runs synchronously and cannot use timers or the network.

What runs where

Section titled “What runs where”
  • In your browser: the screens, the editor, charts, and the trades you place by hand.
  • On Cloud9Trader’s servers: your backtests, optimizations and trading sessions. They keep running when you close the browser; a session runs until you stop it.
  • Prices: Cloud9Trader records prices from its broker feeds and keeps the history that charts and backtests use. See Market data.
  • Your broker: holds your money and your positions. Cloud9Trader sends your orders to it and shows what it reports. Cloud9Trader stores the broker keys you give it, encrypted, so that sessions can trade while you are away.

What is limited today

Section titled “What is limited today”
  • Trading sessions are in beta. Their daily logs are not working, and status changes show only when you reload. See Trading sessions.
  • Brokers differ. OANDA supports algorithm sessions; Bitfinex does not. See Brokers.
  • Practise first. Start on the demo account or a broker’s practice account. Real trading costs more than a demo shows. See From demo to live.

Who it is for

Section titled “Who it is for”

People who want to turn a trading idea into rules, test those rules honestly, and run them without watching the screen: from beginners learning how markets work to developers who would rather write code than click. If you are new to trading, start with Learn trading.

Section titled “Read next”