RuleTrader is a product that works inside ShareScope, the UK’s #1 investment software. Together they provide a very easy way of automating your investment activities, so you can save a lot of time and effort while maximising your investment returns.

As you know, ShareScope allows you to define multiple Layouts, which are simply collections of price charts, share lists, company details and trading portfolios. When you install RuleTrader, you’ll see two new layouts have been defined: RuleTrader Test and RuleTrader Live. You can switch to these layouts using ShareScope’s Window > Change Layouts menu option.

In each layout there is a main Share List window in the upper left and a main Historical Chart in the upper right:

Feel free to change the list of shares in the Share List window to reflect those you’re most interested in and to style the windows however you see fit. You can also add any additional windows you like to the RuleTrader layouts but please note that the Share List and Historical Chart windows must remain for RuleTrader to function correctly.

The Historical Chart contains a panel in its upper left corner, which contains the buttons that control RuleTrader (you may need to click on the panel to expand it before you can see the buttons). These buttons are the:

• Dashboard  button to open RuleTrader’s main control dialog
• Reports button to report on your trading accounts and the performance of your trading system
• Trade Share button, which is only displayed on the RuleTrader Live layout, and is where you enter trades into RuleTrader

The above buttons provide RuleTrader’s inputs. It’s outputs, the ways it communicate with you, are through the:

• ShareScript Console, which is a floating text window provided by ShareScope. RuleTrader will automatically open it to display messages, trading signals, and reports.
• RuleTrader Columns, which are displayed in the Share List window alongside the shares. These contain data specific to shares listed in that window. For example, RuleTrader Live’s columns show trade-signals, trading rules, trading list membership, etc.
• Graphical Elements (e.g. graphs, status indicators, price-channels, gain/loss symbols, etc.) displayed on top of the Historical Chart and in the Indicator panel(s) beneath that chart. These show the state and value, over time, of elements in your trading system and of the trades you make.

RuleTrader Test is where you create, back-test, evaluate and enhance your automated investment system. Key to this is the Trading Specification, which defines the Trading Strategies you want to implement. The Trading Rules, which you define in your spec, use ShareScope’s comprehensive share data to decide when to execute a trade (in back-tests) or to raise a trading signal (in RuleTrader Live trading sessions).

After back-testing your Spec you’ll use RuleTrader’s powerful Execution Reports and Trading Reports to find out what worked, what didn’t, where the risks lie, and what can be done to improve your returns. You can then use that knowledge to systematically refine your Trading Spec until it’s producing the returns you want and you’ve gained the confidence to deploy it for live trading. That’s the point at which you export your spec to the other half of RuleTrader – RuleTrader Live.

RuleTrader Live then runs in the back-ground, using your Trading Spec to evaluate every new piece of data that arrives in ShareScope, for each share in the trading lists selected by your Spec’s List Selectors. When the criteria you’ve specified in your Trading Rules are met, the Trading Spec displays a trading-signal for each share that meets your requirements. These signals (e.g. Open, Close, Hold) are displayed in the RuleTrader Signals column in the RuleTrader Live layout’s Share List window.

All you have to do is check that column once a day (it takes just a few seconds) and, if you agree with the signal, place an order with your broker for the trade size you’ve specified in your Trading Spec (which RuleTrader will tell you). Once the order is placed, click the Trade Share button and enter the price you obtained into RuleTrader. It will then automatically monitor your position for you, applying the sell rules you’ve defined in your spec, so you’ll know exactly when to take your profits. It really couldn’t be easier!

You can use RuleTrader for a variety of tasks:

• Build a fully automated investment system to take the hard work out of your investment decisions, while maximising your potential profits
• Create sophisticated filters to screen for opportunities and aid you in your regular investment activities
• Data mine the markets to discover tradable anomalies and other market behaviours

Whatever you want to do, the best place to start is by following our quick Essential Tutorial. This is a great way to familiarise yourself with RuleTrader. It will teach you how to build, test, analyse, troubleshoot and then deploy a simple trend follower investment system. If you need any help on the way, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support staff who will be only too willing to help.

The final step is to review our Essentials Checklist, which summarises all you’ve learnt in the tutorial and covers all you need to know to get started on your own automated investment system.