Rajandran R Telecom Engineer turned Full-time Derivative Trader. Mostly Trading Nifty, Banknifty, USDINR and High Liquid Stock Derivatives. Trading the Markets Since 2006 onwards. Using Market Profile and Orderflow for more than a decade. Designed and published 100+ open source trading systems on various trading tools. Strongly believe that market understanding and robust trading frameworks are the key to the trading success. Writing about Markets, Trading System Design, Market Sentiment, Trading Softwares & Trading Nuances since 2007 onwards. Author of Marketcalls.in)

Best Programming Languages for Traders & Investors to Learn in 2023

4 min read

Here is a list of programming languages that traders/investors may want to consider learning in the year 2023 to build their own trading indicators, trading strategies, investment models, scanners, and automation.

Tradingview Pinescript v5

TradingView PineScript is a programming language used to create technical indicators and trading strategies within the TradingView platform. It is a popular tool among traders and investors for analyzing financial markets and making informed trading decisions.

Ease of Use: Easy to Learn and Implement. Requires no or less programming background to learn

Amibroker Formula Language (AFL)

Amibroker AFL is a programming language used to create technical indicators, and scanners, exploration and build, analyze, backtest, and optimize trading systems within the Amibroker software. It is commonly used by traders and investors to analyze financial markets.

Ease of Use: Easy to Learn and Implement. Requires no or less programming background to learn

Ninjascript

Ninjascript is a C# based programming language for Ninjatrader to create technical indicators, market analyzers, trading strategies, backtesting, optimization and creating custom trading interfaces.

Ease of Use: Strong Knowledge of C# and oops concept is required to implement Ninjascript

ThinkScript

thinkScript® is a built-in programming language for the ThinkorSwim trading platform that gives traders the capability of creating their own analysis tools such as studies, strategies, watchlist columns, etc. In thinkScript®, traders decide which kind of data to analyze with which methods.

Easy Language

Easy Language is a programming language used to create technical indicators, trading strategies, and custom trading interfaces within the TradeStation software.

Ease of Use: Easy to Learn and Implement. Requires no or less programming background to learn

Power Language

PowerLanguage is an advanced programming environment for creating technical analysis indicators and trading strategies for the MultiCharts trading platform. It is a system of expressing financial instrument trading rules in a systematic and logical way that can be executed by a computer.

By supporting EasyLanguage developed by TradeStation, PowerLanguage maintains compatibility with a wide existing base of EasyLanguage indicators and strategies. External DLL’s can be referenced using PowerLanguage which greatly extends its functionality and permits the use of high-level programming languages, such as C++ or C#

Ease of Use: Easy to Learn and Implement. Requires no or less programming background to learn

Metastock Formula Language

MetaStock Formula Language (MFL) is a programming language used to create technical indicators and trading systems within the MetaStock software. It is a popular tool among traders and investors for analyzing financial markets and making informed trading decisions.

Ease of Use: Easy to Learn and Implement. Requires no or less programming background to learn

Esignal Formula Script (EFS)

Esignal formula Language is a programming language used to create technical indicators and trading strategies within the eSignal software. It is commonly used by traders and investors to analyze financial markets.

Ease of Use: Strong Knowledge of javascript is required to implement EFS formulas

MQL4

The MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL4) is an object-oriented high-level programming language for Metatrader 4 software intended for writing automated trading strategies, and custom technical indicators for the analysis of various financial markets. It allows you not only to write a variety of expert systems, designed to operate in real-time, but also to create their own graphical tools to help you make trade decisions.

Ease of Use: Strong Knowledge of C++ and OOPS concepts is required to implement MQL4

MQL5

MetaQuotes Language 5 (MQL5) is a high-level language designed for developing technical indicators, trading robots and utility applications, which automate financial trading. MQL5 has been developed by MetaQuotes for their trading platform. The language syntax is very close to C++ enabling programmers to develop applications in the object-oriented programming (OOP) style.

Ease of Use: Strong Knowledge of C++ and OOPS concepts is required to implement MQL5

VBA

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is a programming language that is commonly used in the financial industry for tasks such as automating tasks in spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel. It can be useful for traders and investors in a number of ways ranging from data analysis, building trading strategies, backtesting, trade automation, and data visualization.

Ease of Use: Strong Knowledge of VBA is required to implement strategies/indicators/automation

Google Apps Script

Google Apps Script is a scripting language based on JavaScript that is used to automate tasks in Google’s productivity suite, including Google Sheets. It can be useful for investors and traders in a number of ways including data analysis, data visualization, automation and integration with other financial applications and services, such as trading platforms and data providers

Ease of Use: Strong Knowledge of javascript is required to implement Google Appscript

MATLAB

MATLAB is a programming language and software environment specifically designed for scientific and engineering applications, including financial modeling and analysis. It is widely used in the financial industry for tasks such as data analysis, risk management, and trading system development. It is useful in financial modeling, trading system development, risk management, and data analytics.

Ease of Use: Easy to Learn and Implement Matlab. Requires no or less programming background to learn. But strong knowledge on handling MATLAB tools is required.

Python

Python is a general-purpose programming language that is widely used in the financial industry for tasks such as data analysis, machine learning, and backtesting trading strategies.

Ease of Use : General Purpose Programming Language deep knowledge of Programming is necessary to create trading systems/ backtesting/ Automation

R Programming

R Programming is a programming language and software environment specifically designed for statistical computing and data analysis. It is widely used in the financial industry for tasks such as data visualization and risk management.

Ease of Use : General Purpose Programming Language deep knowledge of Programming is necessary to create trading systems/ backtesting/ Automation

Julia

Julia is a high-level, high-performance programming language for technical computing, with syntax that is familiar to users of other technical computing environments. It is specifically designed to be used for numerical and scientific computing and has many features that make it well-suited for use in the development of trading systems and quantitative trading strategies. It is faster than python and easy to use compared to C++

C++

C++ is a high-performance programming language that is commonly used in the financial industry for tasks such as high-frequency trading and real-time risk management. Generally, it is used to achieve low latency and high-performance computing.

Ease of Use: General Purpose Programming Language deep knowledge of Programming is necessary to create trading systems/ backtesting/ Automation

Java

Java is A general-purpose programming language that is commonly used in the financial industry for tasks such as building trading platforms and developing risk management systems.

Ease of Use : General Purpose Programming Language deep knowledge of Programming is necessary to create trading systems/ backtesting/ Automation

C#

C# is A programming language that is commonly used in the financial industry for tasks such as building trading platforms and developing risk management systems.

Ease of Use : General Purpose Programming Language deep knowledge of Programming is necessary to create trading systems/ backtesting/ Automation

Rajandran R Telecom Engineer turned Full-time Derivative Trader. Mostly Trading Nifty, Banknifty, USDINR and High Liquid Stock Derivatives. Trading the Markets Since 2006 onwards. Using Market Profile and Orderflow for more than a decade. Designed and published 100+ open source trading systems on various trading tools. Strongly believe that market understanding and robust trading frameworks are the key to the trading success. Writing about Markets, Trading System Design, Market Sentiment, Trading Softwares & Trading Nuances since 2007 onwards. Author of Marketcalls.in)

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