I have been using Questrade for a while (I’m from Canada) but they are closing their API so I will have to switch to Interactive Broker...
My algorithms are mainly swing/long term, so making a few trades a month. I like to trade and back test ETFs like SPY and SPXL since they have high volumes and are more easy to « predict ».
I started with 10k and it didn’t feel risky at all since it was post 2009 :)
I'm a software engineer and I developed trading algorithms just by playing around and visualizing data. Once you have historical data, technical indicators and a simple back tester, you can test some trading strategies and get feedback quickly. Graphing the output of your tests to analyze the annual return over time also helps a lot to design algorithms.
I have limited financial knowledge but I would recommend reading about technical analysis and technical indicators (This one is short and sweet https://www.investopedia.com/university/technical/) just so you can grasp the basics.
My algorithms are mainly swing/long term, so making a few trades a month. I like to trade and back test ETFs like SPY and SPXL since they have high volumes and are more easy to « predict ».
I started with 10k and it didn’t feel risky at all since it was post 2009 :)