Adaptrade Builder is a stand-alone Window software that automatically generates trading strategies for TradeStation. In effect, Builder automates the traditional, manual approach to strategy development in which the trader selects elements of the trading strategy based on prior experience combined with knowledge of technical indicators, entry and exit order types, and strategy design. Commonly, a strategy is based on a market "hypothesis"; that is, an idea of how the market works. A viable trading strategy is typically developed through a long trial-and-error process involving numerous iterations, revisions, and testing until acceptable results are achieved.

Builder performs each step of this process automatically. The software generates an initial population of trading strategies by randomly selecting the trading rules and entry and exit order types for each member of the population. The initial population of strategies is then "evolved" over successive generations using a genetic programming algorithm, guided by performance criteria selected by the user. The software builds the strategies over the training or "in-sample" data segment and tests each one over the test or "out-of-sample" data. Each candidate strategy is essentially a hypothesis that is either supported or refuted by the out-of-sample testing.

Builder uses a computational technique called genetic programming (GP), which belongs to a class of techniques called evolutionary algorithms. Evolutionary algorithms and GP in particular were developed by researchers in artificial intelligence based on the biological concepts of reproduction and evolution. A GP algorithm "evolves" a population of trading strategies from an initial population of randomly generated members. Members of the population compete against each other based on their "fitness." The fitter members are selected as "parents" to produce a new member of the population, which replaces a weaker (less fit) member.

Build algorithm in Adaptrade Builder. The algorithm starts with the Strategy Generation step. An initial population of trading strategies is randomly developed from the available technical indicators and rule types in the build set. Any options that the user has selected, such as exiting all positions at end-of-day, are applied at this point. Each strategy is then evaluated over the price data for the market of interest, and a fitness value is assigned based on a weighted average of the build goals specified by the user. For example, you might select net profit and drawdown as the two performance metrics and weight each one equally. The fitness would then be the average of the (normalized) net profit and drawdown.

The license of this software is Free Trial Software, the price is $1995.00, you can free download and get a free trial.