I'd much rather use something like Stockfighter, but built around experimentation; one that has no competition, and no recruiters looking over your shoulder, scrutinizing your work.

I tried to build one-- and quickly found myself far out of my league. I wish this article had been around back when I was trying to write it!

<plug shame="1">If anyone's interested, it's up on Github at https://github.com/Efruit/marqit .</plug>

I might take another swing at it if I can get through this article in one piece.