Algorithmic trading, or automated trading, works with a program that contains a set of instructions for trading purposes. Compared to a human trader, this trade can generate profits and losses at a higher speed. In this chapter, this will be your first time being exposed to trading automation. We will walk you through the different steps to implement your first trading robot. You will learn the trading world and the technical trading components behind it. We will also go into detail about the tools that you will use and, by the end of this chapter, you will be capable of coding your first native trading strategy in Python. We will cover the following topics in this chapter:
- Why are we trading?
- Introducing algorithm trading and automation
- What the main trading components are
- Setting up your first programming environment
- Implementing your first native strategy
