Interview: Algo Futures' Carl Weiss

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Carl Weiss, the Chief Architect of Algo Futures. This makes for a very interesting story as Carl informed me of how he got into trading to begin with as well as the history behind Algo Futures and what they do.

Carl has a background in IT programming and began thinking about creating a software solution for institutional markets. He began playing around with the TradeStation solution about 10 years ago but due to the constraints of the TradeStation Easy Language, he realized that he needed to develop his own software solution. He realized as long ago as 2003 that there was some form of algo trading going on in the markets but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. As time went on he then realized that there are actual trading robots or “bots” that were in fact making trading decisions based on what the market was doing as well as programmatic algorithms executing these trades.

Carl and his team approached all the major institutional firms to see if there was any interest in what they had. At the time there was no interest amongst these firms. Carl then began to think “if I can’t offer it to the high end players then maybe I can convince retail traders.” This was the birth of the Sceeto solution. While we’re on the subject, I must confess that I use Sceeto myself. It’s not the only solution I use but certainly a key one. Sceeto measures order flow activity with the intent of informing the trader where and when HFT (High Frequency Trading) pools exist. It also provides the trader with key insight such as BPW (Buy Pressure Waning), SPW (Sell Pressure Waning), Buying Strength, Selling Strength, etc. It does a very good job in terms of measuring order flow activity.

Many vendors talk about Order Flow and order flow activity. In my mind Carl and his team are the originators in terms of offering a solution that any trader can use to determine when and where that activity resides and how to capitalize on it. In terms of future activity, Carl is expanding the Sceeto solution to incorporate a new endeavor called Follow the Bots. The idea here is if you want to earn capital in this market, you need to follow the robots or “bots” so to speak. It is no secret that in the United States 70% of all trades are HFT driven. Carl just wants to make sure that the retail trader can capitalize on this phenomenon.

Carl’s story is one on an entrepreneur who was in the right place, at the right time. His story is the story of American entrepreneurship. We spoke at some length about the advent of Binary Options and mutually came to the conclusion that this is the next wave of innovation in the markets. There are too many compelling reasons why the average retail trader should consider binary options. I’m certain and have no doubt those innovators like Carl will be ready when that market decides to take off.


I’ve included a link to the interview that we did and trust that this serve as a guide to those of you who wish to become software entrepreneurs in this market.

http://youtu.be/YKJI8cwQ_UY


Nick Mastrandrea is the author of Market Tea Leaves. Market Tea Leaves is a free, daily newsletter that discuses and teaches market correlation. Market Tea Leaves is published daily, pre-market in the United States and can be viewed at http://www.markettealeaves.com Feel free to visit and subscribe.