This article details how to install Market Runner, our market-simulation engine, for the first time.

Prerequisites

In order to run and use Market Runner, you will need Java 1.6 installed on your system.
Java is a programming language designed by Sun Microsystems/Oracle. It is now widely used as a language for designing server applications, both in finance and in other industries. It is closely related to languages such as C++ and C# and should be easy to pick up for anyone familiar with those two. Version 1.6 or higher is required to run on Algodeal's platform.

• if you don't have java 1.6 already installed, Download the Java Developer Kit (JDK) v1.6 and install it. Don't forget to install the JDK documentation along with it.

See further below if you wish to use an development environment such as Eclipse.

Download Market Runner

To get started with writing your own investment strategies, you need Market Runner, the Java Developer Kit (JDK) and optionally a Java code editor (Eclipse or any other IDE).

Market Runner is a tool designed by Algodeal that makes it easy to write your strategies using the Java™ programming language and run your strategies against historical market data, on your local machine and on our server farm.

• Download Market Runner, unzip it on your computer and get started!

The Market Runner download contains:

• Market Runner libraries
• Sample strategies and scripts to run each sample
• Documentation of the Strategy API to use when you write your own strategies
• An eclipse project to get started quickly in the Eclipse Java IDE.

Run samples on your computer

You can run Market Runner samples on your machine or on our server farm.

To run samples on you computer, go to MarketRunner/samples/BuyAtOpenSellAtClose or other samples folders, and execute the runLocal program (runLocal.bat for Windows platforms, runLocal.command on Mac and runLocal.sh on linux platforms).
This will open the Strategy result viewer on your local machine.
You can view the strategy code in the BuyAtOpenSellAtClose.java file, edit it and run the strategy again to view results.

Run samples on our server farm

To run samples on our server farms, go to MarketRunner/samples/BuyAtOpenSellAtClose or other samples folders, and execute the runRemote program (runRemote.bat on Windows platforms, runRemote.command on Mac and runRemote.sh on Linux platforms).

This will prompt you for your username and password to connect to the Algodeal server farm. Enter the login and the password you've previously received. You will then view the strategy execution and results in a web browser to view the strategy.

Start writing your own strategies

Market Runner strategy code can be edited in any text editor. However, we recommend using an integrated development environment (IDE) such as Eclipse to facilitate the writing.

Though not mandatory to use Algodeal, IDEs do make writing strategies much easier, especially thanks to their auto-completion feature, code assistants, on-the-fly syntax error detection, and run and debug facilities. We provide a sample eclipse project, or you can use your any other java IDE such as IntelliJ or NetBeans.

See Getting Started With Eclipse for a kick start using Market Runner in Eclipse.