However many years of experience a corporate or institutional trader might have, they still need to keep looking for the next thing that could improve their performance and help them gain an advantage over their competitors. The right automated trading tools can do this, promoting greater consistency, increasing the number of potential trades you can monitor at any one time, and freeing up time for managing trades.

Read on and learn more about the impact of automated trading tools. Find out why you should strongly consider incorporating automation in your trading strategy.

Is automation now a vital part of trading?

It’s been said that 75% of shares traded on US stock exchanges come from automated trading tools (cited on Daytrading.com). Trading software can be set up to mirror your trading strategy, scan multiple charts simultaneously and look for conditions that match your pre-set parameters. Some trading systems then execute trades, though many traders prefer to do the final level of evaluation themselves, assessing the details in a way that software can’t yet do.

In a computerised world, it makes sense to free up your day by taking time-consuming chart scanning and analysis off the schedule. Why not let the software take care of the processes that computers do better than humans? Then us traders can be freed up to do the part we do best: fine-tuning our trading strategies and managing the trades.

Learn more about how trading systems can significantly reduce time spent on chart analysis in our blog on Tradeguider’s SMART Technology.

What are the benefits of automated trading tools?

One of the main benefits of using automated trading tools is that they help to stop traders being swayed too much by emotion, relying instead on the facts on the charts. For example, if the combination of indicators matches your pre-set conditions then you can get an alert for the trade setup. Even if the data goes against what your gut is telling you, you know you still need to consider that trade.

A fully automated trading tool can then execute the trade with more discipline than a trader who gets swayed by fear of taking a loss, by wanting to hold out for more profit or by having lost on previous trades that day. It also ensures there are no entry errors.

And of course, the great thing about automated trading software is that it can be configured in many ways, whether you’re a scalper, long term investor or you prefer a countertrend approach, etc. These tools offer much more accuracy than a human can ever achieve. And it’s scalable too. For instance, Tradeguider’s SMART Technology looks at up to 25 markets in 10 time frames - that’s 1000s of charts being scanned and analyzed simultaneously!

The key benefits of using automated trading tools:

• Save time on chart analysis, freeing you up to spend more time on trades
• Get timely alerts to let you know when the right market activity has been detected
• Enhance the sophistication of your trading strategy
• Add rules and structure to your trading approach to fine-tune your strategy
• Reduce missed opportunities at the tops and bottoms of the markets
• Trade with greater confidence and consistency
• Gain better visibility over the activity of the market movers (the smart money)

The importance of monitoring the tops and bottoms of the markets

If you’re one of the few enlightened traders who understand the importance of volume, Wyckoff VSA and following the smart money, you know that it’s crucial to be able to see where and when smart money is selling or buying.

As a market rises, smart money operators will be selling but in such a way as to ensure it doesn’t look like they are, because they want uninformed traders to keep buying. Some good news might be released about that instrument. The uninformed trader will pile in and buy that asset. And then, seemingly for no reason, the price collapses. It’s essential to be selling at that market top because otherwise, you’ll make a loss on that position.

This is all about taking a contrarian position on the market. It’s also important to know where the market bottom is so you can buy when others are selling and then make a profit on that investment. You can be sure that the market manipulators are doing just that but in an undercover way. Automated trading tools, powered by the Wyckoff VSA method, detect the activity of these market movers.

Tradeguider’s automated trading tools and VSA trade alerts

Here at Tradeguider, we have opted for a semi-automated approach: our SMART Technology and VSA trading product suites provide decision support but the trader has the final say. It scans the charts, looks for trend alignment and VSA principles, and confirms them. It then sends an alert for a possible trade setup, having first filtered it for having a high probability of success. We think we’re the only company that does this filtering at the moment.

Traders can then add that final layer of case-by-case analysis, only acting on the alert if it matches their trading strategy, style and plan. You might decide to wait for a further confirmation signal or reject it as a viable opportunity, helping you to consistently execute your strategy.

It’s vital to configure the software to fit your trading strategy and your workflow preferences. You might opt to go for a pre-set trading strategy (as included in our SMART Center product), for example, the Prism Trading strategy for someone trading longer-term investments, or the Scalp Trader strategy for scalping the market. Or perhaps you might want to set up your own strategy and have the software mirror that, in which case you’d go for SMART Center Pro.

It’s all about making this work for you. As traders ourselves, we know that no two businesses will have the same mix of trading strategies to support. Take a look at our products page to see a list of features and benefits offered by our Wyckoff VSA trading packages*

Book a Tradeguider demo to see our automated trading software in action

Why not take a look at our automated trading tools in action? You can book a Tradeguider software demo and see for yourself how it works. We’ll answer any questions you have during an online session and show the Wyckoff VSA tools and methodology applied in live trades!

Tradeguider is the home of Wyckoff Volume Spread Analysis, the methodology with a 100-year pedigree that the smart money traders don’t want you to know about. Over 4500 customers have benefited from our advanced trading system, which combines the key Wyckoff VSA principles with our game-changing SMART Technology, helping them to increase profits, improve consistency and trade in harmony with the smart money. Explore our great range of supporting services for traders.