Trading the Markets With FOSS Software?

Robert writes "Along with many other techies, I share an interest in the world of finance (bubble-era stock options pulled me in). Unfortunately, as someone with a strong preference for GNU/Linux as my operating system of choice, I have found that software in this area seems quite sparse. For awhile I have made do with Python, R, Gnumeric, Gnucash and a telephone, along with some small utilities I have written myself. What I would like to know is: what FOSS software do you use for financial analysis, trading, system development, and testing in a Un*x environment? Are there programs you would like to see written or ported? Do any brokerages, data providers, or other services provide good support for we the few? And finally, what commercial entities do you know of that are using FOSS software in their operation?"

Comments

Re:doofus

[Linux_ho]

Wake up and smell the fascism ??? How about, wake up and smell the socialism?

Re:Hmmm

[mi]

In 1999 ... remember Bush

Speaking of 1999... Were you as angry at Bill Clinton, when NASDAQ halved in 2000, as dot-com bust, as you are at Bush today?

Hardly sounds like a left-wing plot of the Democrats

Of course, it does — the whole purpose of Fannie/Freddie creation (and the not-so-implicit-anymore-is-it government backing for them) was to alleviate a so called "market failure" — to lend to the poor.

Bush should've demolished those things in 2002-03 (and privatized Social Security). Unfortunately, Al Qaeda preempted it all, and all he was able to accomplish was tax cuts and education reform.

Maybe, McCain will do it, if we are lucky...