Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Superalgos is a crypto markets research and trading automation platform. The goal of the platform is to integrate all the crucial elements required to produce trading intelligence. It is this integration into a single all-encompassing platform that allows extracting maximum value out of information, and building smart strategies.
Users choose Superalgos to build sophisticated crypto trading bots. It’s mostly oriented at users looking for robust, flexible, and powerful tools.
Superalgos is not a simple plug-and-play bot that you can master over the weekend. It’s a vast system. You will appreciate the power Superalgos may unleash if you are looking to develop trading bots that will give you an edge in the market.
Table of contents
Superalgos Review: Features
Superalgos is built around a visual environment. The whole interface is extremely visual. The system uses this visual element to help users understand the complex relationships among the many concepts involved in crypto trading.
The typical workflow includes downloading data from crypto exchanges, processing it to extract valuable information, and using that information in trading strategies that you may test and eventually deploy as fully automated trading bots.
Download Market Data From Exchanges
- You may download OHLCV (open, high, low, close, volume) data from multiple exchanges and multiple markets simultaneously, defining date ranges and other parameters.
Process Data Into Traditional and Custom Indicators
- You may transform OHLCV data into candles for all supported time frames.
- Raw market data may be transformed into traditional indicators.
- The system features a visual scripting solution to build custom indicators with minimal coding required.
- Indicators may feed on each other’s output. That is, you may nest data processes, and build indicators on top of other indicators.
Visualize Traditional and Custom Indicators
- You may build plotters without coding. Plotters create graphics for custom data sets so that all data, even custom indicators, may be plotted over the charts.
Train Machine Learning Algos (Beta 9)
- In Beta 9, you will be able to train TensorFlow algorithms.
- The training data sets may be produced with built-in data processing capabilities.
- The resulting models may be used from within trading strategies, integrating the signals with traditional Technical Analysis approaches.
Visual Design of Strategies
- Trading systems are built following a professional framework organizing strategies in stages.
- It’s a rules-based framework: you write rules to trigger a strategy, to take a position, to manage the position, and to close it.
- You may use market and limit orders and set up elaborate execution algorithms.
- You may handle take profit and stop-loss targets in phases with rules defining how to switch between any number of formulas that describe the targets.
- You may combine analysis on multiple indicators and multiple time frames.
- All of the above does not require coding. A simple native syntax is used to describe mathematical comparisons for conditions and to write formulas.
- If you can code, you can take your setup to an even higher level.
Visual testing and debugging of strategies
- There are four types of trading sessions: backtesting, paper trading, forward testing, and live trading.
- All of them produce visual simulations over the charts.
- Simulations can plot all the information handled by the trading engine for each trade.
- This makes the whole operation transparent and straightforward. It helps understand exactly what the bot is doing on each candle.
- The error handling is integrated with built-in interactive documentation so that you may get complete information on errors or warnings.
- The workflow favors productivity: backtest, browse the results over the charts, adjust the strategy, and test again.
- Simulations show what conditions validate true for each candle, the value of formulas, and so on.
- The trading engine keeps track of each variable and makes it available through the GUI so that you are in the loop of what’s going on every step of the way.
Deploy a Trading Farm
- Superalgos implements the concept of Trading Farms.
- Tasks may be deployed over multiple machines, both physical and virtual, in a coordinated fashion.
- This enables all sorts of deployments and setups, for example, multiple trading bots sharing the same data sources, separate testing and production environments, scalable operations, etc.
How Superalgos Works
Installing Superalgos requires installing Node.js, as the Superlalgos Client is a Node.js application. Installing Git allows using Superalgos update and contribution functions.
The installation is simple: fork/clone the Superalgos repository and off you go.
As soon as you launch the app, an interactive Welcome tutorial greets you and walks you all around the system, teaching you all the basic operations. During the tutorial, you will download market data from Binance, process it into a couple of indicators, run a backtest with a demo trading system, and even run a live trading session if so you wish.
Several more interactive tutorials are available to help you tackle the learning curve. The system is fully documented, so you may study the docs and start producing intelligence after a few days of learning.
Superalgos Comparison with other products
Commercial platforms are in the business of extracting value from users. Harsh, but true. On the contrary, Superalgos is a user-centric platform built by users for users.
This truth has plenty of ramifications. For example, commercial platforms want you to believe that trading is easy and that a simple bot can make you money. Not true. They sell you features that you don’t need and that don’t work. They artificially limit what you may or may not do to sell you premium plans and upgrades. I could go on forever, but I’m sure you get the point. Your success is not their primary interest.
There are three types of commercial trading bot platforms:
- Some offer simplistic tools that produce unsophisticated algorithms. These are mostly garbage or plain scams.
- Some are limited to automating mechanical tasks, with no real intelligence. You may find something useful if you require such type of trivial automation.
- Some specialize in single-sided approaches (i.e.: a specific strategy or process). Some are good within their scope.
Superalgos is nothing like this. Superalgos integrates all crucial aspects of trading intelligence so that when paired with a skillful user, intelligence may emerge. Think of Superalgos as a one-stop solution with no limitations.
[optin-monster-inline slug=”kypqbd8bxbsurarmqsxd”]Compared to other open-source solutions, Superalgos is unique in the sense that it provides a massive infrastructure that you won’t find anywhere else. Also, the infrastructure is designed for seamless integration of concepts, and also for scalability.
No other system allows handling the complexity of a large trading operation with deployments of multiple bots across multiple machines, virtual or physical, operating in multiple markets of multiple cryptocurrency exchanges.
For example, Superalgos organizes all of your data processing. You can deploy coordinated data tasks across multiple machines. The system standardizes data sets for each indicator in multiple timeframes. It handles dependencies of nested indicators so that you may build indicators based on other indicators’ output. All of this processing may be done offline, over historic data or online, over a live data feed while trading live.
The data is then made available to consume from within trading systems or to train Machine Learning algorithms. Needless to say, the models produced by ML algos are also consumable from within trading systems. In fact, all of your data may be consumed by multiple trading bots running on separate machines. That is how the system masterfully integrates all of these concepts.
The building, testing, and debugging of strategies on a visual scripting environment is infinitely more manageable and scalable than writing plain code if you are a developer. This is also pretty unique in Superalgos.
As hinted earlier, the system spans from A to Z. It does everything you need to build truly powerful bots, and the unique visual environment allows managing all the complexity entailed in large trading operations.
Superalgos Review: User Experience
As soon as you do the Welcome tutorial, you will realize that Superalgos is the most powerful platform you have ever seen. It is quite apparent, and the common thread on early feedback by new users.
However, it takes time to learn the system and realize its full potential. Because the system is highly flexible, it puts no constraints on what you may or may not do. While this is a great feature to ensure users are empowered by the technology, it also comes at a cost: you may do things that make no sense.
It is highly recommended to do all interactive tutorials to learn all the basics before venturing on your own.
Superalgos features impressive integrated documentation that interacts with the interface. Each node, feature, and function is thoroughly documented.
Once all the basic information sinks in, you’ll spread your new wings and fly.
Performance and Security
Superalgos puts no limit on what you may or may not do with the system. You will find the limits in the physical constraints set by your hardware.
For example, the charting space allows you to load an infinite number of candles and visualize infinite indicators at the same time. However, your hardware will determine how much information it can display, and at what frame rate it can refresh the screen.
Similarly, the system allows you to deploy infinite data and trading tasks.
The magic in Superalgos to deal with performance is that it seamlessly handles deployments across multiple machines, both physical and virtual.
Regarding security, Superalgos does not implement any particular security measures as the software runs on your premises, under your control. There is no login, no registration, no personal info required to download or install. Superalgos is as secure as your machine may be. You don’t need to trust your funds, exchange keys, personal info, or strategies with any third party.
The software is open-source and there’s a large community of developers looking into the code base every day. Superalgos runs on uncompiled code that is easy to read and follow, even for non-coders. The code is maintained in a public Github.com repository using Git technology by which every change in the code remains auditable forever.
No third parties are involved in network communications. Your bots deal directly with the exchange’s API, and you trade directly from within your account at the exchange.
Also worth mentioning in terms of security is that the software is the backbone of the project and that the interests of the project are perfectly aligned with the interests of users. This advantage may not be self-evident at first, but if you look at the events of WallStreetBest and Robinhood, you may realize why this is important, and a crucial security feature: no one can lock you out of trading.
Finally, the team behind the project is not anonymous. On the contrary, they are introduced on the website and are present in all Community groups under their real names.
Superalgos Pricing
Superalgos is 100% forever free to use, modify and distribute. There is no tiered or gated access. Everyone has unrestrained access to all features.
Superalgos Review: Pros and Cons
I already covered the pros, which can be summarized as absolute power and flexibility.
On the cons side, there are a few to consider:
- Doesn’t cover contracts (derivatives). It will at some point, but not at the moment. So it’s only spot markets for the time being.
- The learning curve is steep. It’s a vast system, a new paradigm, and takes time to digest the complexity involved in such a flexible platform. That said, interactive tutorials are excellent, the in-app documentation is high-quality, and the community is very helpful.
- The current trading bot is low-frequency, working with time frames of 1 minute and above. The whole infrastructure is adaptable to high-frequency trading, but it would require a high-frequency trading bot which is not available at this point.
- The visual interface can be overwhelming in the beginning. Takes time to get used to it. But you get to appreciate it when you get to understand the problems it solves: it makes complexity manageable.
Superalgos Review: Conclusion
All in all, Superalgos is an impressive piece of software. It’s obvious that tens of thousands of hours have gone into developing it, and that it has gone through several iterations to get to the current state. It’s almost hard to believe that it is free and open-source until you find out about the collective business model, which is very interesting as well.
That said, it’s probably not a system for the weekend warrior that is looking for something quick and easy. This is a serious weapon that must be learned to properly wield its power.
Quick Links
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Why is such an amazing piece of software open-source?
Because the Superalgos project is about a collective enterprise involving all users of the software. The software is the backbone of the business and will always be free and open-source to lower barriers of entry. The collective business is about developing, deploying, and bootstrapping a decentralized, permissionless, and censorship-resistant financial services marketplace within a token economy. The token is distributed among users that contribute to the project.
Is Superalgos a web-based service?
No. Superalgos is an app you download and run locally, on your premises. This is to fulfill the requirement of a trustless deployment: you shouldn’t need to trust your funds, exchange keys, personal info, or strategies with any third party.
What exchanges may I work with?
Superalgos implements the CCXT library which supports over 120 exchanges. That said, not all of them comply with the library’s standard so only a subset — about half — are available at the moment. For the time being, we are only working with spot markets. All markets listed at each supported exchange are available.
Does Superalgos ship with ready-made strategies?
Yes, but mostly for demonstration and educational purposes.
Do I need to be a developer to use Superalgos?
No. Developers have an edge because they can build more complex setups. But non-coders can still leverage the visual framework to develop elaborate strategies. Any technically oriented person can benefit from Superalgos. Also, the community is welcoming and always willing to help. Traders with no technical background often collaborate with developers with a lesser understanding of trading. It’s a win-win.
