About Us

Technical Capabilities and Skills

MicroTrends provides end-to-end technical capability across the complete software and systems lifecycle—from business and systems analysis through architecture, development, testing, deployment, maintenance and production support.

Software Engineering

• Greenfield system design and software development.
• Desktop, web, mobile and cloud application development.
• C++, C#, .NET, ASP Razor, SQL and Microsoft Azure.
• Service-oriented and multi-tier application architecture.
• APIs, AMQP messaging, message queues and distributed processing.
• Enterprise application and third-party system integration.
• Relational database architecture, development and optimisation.
• Legacy-system modernisation and migration.

Analysis, Architecture and System Lifecycle

• Business analysis and requirements analysis.
• Systems analysis, design and technical architecture.
• Software development and system integration.
• Quality assurance, verification and testing.
• System, integration and production-readiness testing.
• Deployment, release management and production support.
• Technical consultancy and development-team leadership.

Maintenance and Technical Support

• Maintenance development and ongoing application support.
• Fault diagnosis, troubleshooting and defect resolution.
• Feature development and system enhancement.
• Performance analysis and optimisation.
• System upgrades, modernisation and technical remediation.

Systems, Servers and Networks

• Computer hardware, servers and technical infrastructure.
• Microsoft Windows, Windows Server and Linux operating systems.
• Windows domains, domain controllers, identity services and permissions.
• Network architecture, TCP/IP, routing and switching.
• Firewalls.zaxxer, VPNs, remote access and network security.
• Server failover clustering and automated server failover.
• Load balancing, web farms and resilient application hosting.
• Network redundancy, automated failover, monitoring and recovery.
• Relational database management systems and high-availability data services.

Cloud, AI and Modern Application Development

• Microsoft Azure services and cloud infrastructure.
• Cloud-based service-oriented architecture.
• Cloud-hosted applications, storage, messaging and background processing.
• Artificial intelligence and machine-learning integration.
• AI-agent programming and agent-workflow development.
• Large language model integration and prompt engineering.

Trading Systems and Connectivity

• NinjaTrader and NinjaScript development.
• Algorithmic, automated, semi-automated and hybrid trading systems.
• Market-data, order-routing and execution API integration.
• CQG, Rithmic R | API+, Tradovate and Trading Technologies APIs.
• OnixS FIX Engine development and integration.
• FIX messaging, trade capture and drop-copy services.
• Order, execution, account and position-management systems.
• Bespoke commercial trading platforms.
• Co-located Direct Market Access and low-latency execution systems.
• Resilient institutional and commercial trading infrastructure.

The MicroTrends Difference

MicroTrends was built on genuine financial-technology experience rather than theory, imitation or repackaged ideas. Tom’s journey into technology followed an unconventional path and began long before computing became part of everyday life.

His introduction to computing began at school, where he used BBC Micro and Acorn computers and started learning BASIC programming. After saving money from his weekend job, he bought his first computer—a Sinclair home computer—at the age of 14 and continued teaching himself programming.

Tom left school at 16 with no formal higher education. He progressed through self-directed study on PCs using MS-DOS and, later, Microsoft Windows 3.11.

During the early 1990s, as personal computers became increasingly important to everyday business, he began providing independent technology services to small businesses. Trading as Soft-Tech and advertising in the local East Sussex free-ads, he provided PC installation and support, networking, operating-system troubleshooting, repairs and technical problem-solving.

From Software Tester to Senior Enterprise Solutions Consultant

Determined to build a professional career in software development, Tom began applying for junior programmer positions. After years of applications and repeated refusals due to his lack of formal education beyond secondary school, he approached FDM Group plc but was initially turned down and advised to return after gaining another year of experience.

Tom spent the following year working during the day and studying programming at night. When he returned, FDM gave him an opportunity through a one-year internship, initially employing him as a software tester within its Enterprise Solutions division, which provided technology and consultancy services to major corporations throughout the United Kingdom.

Although testing provided his entry into the technology industry, Tom remained determined to become a developer. He continued working during the day and studying programming at night, expanding his technical knowledge through each assignment. He progressed from software testing into programming, systems support and consultancy roles, eventually becoming a Senior Enterprise Solutions Consultant.

FDM deployed Tom on a succession of fast-moving troubleshooting assignments, typically lasting no longer than six months. These projects placed him in a wide variety of roles across numerous technologies, industries and client environments.

Each assignment required him to understand unfamiliar systems quickly, diagnose complex problems and apply his knowledge immediately. Formal support and access to internal expertise were not always readily available, making independent investigation, practical problem-solving and rapid technical learning essential.

Adversity, Trust and Commercial Value

Fast-moving consultancy assignments required Tom to master unfamiliar systems quickly, investigate complex problems independently and apply his knowledge immediately across different technologies and client environments.

As an external specialist, he was continually expected to demonstrate his value both technically and commercially. This required building trust with permanent teams, technical specialists and senior stakeholders while delivering measurable results and taking personal responsibility for each outcome.

These assignments developed strong skills in communication, negotiation, stakeholder management, technical leadership and leading through influence rather than formal authority.

Enterprise and Telecommunications Systems

Tom’s final FDM Group assignment was at the Cable & Wireless Service Control Point (SCP) laboratory in Bracknell in 1999, supporting the INET intelligent telephony, switching and networking platform.

The technology stack included INAP signalling over C7/SS7 networks, custom telecommunications hardware, 486-based soak-test equipment, Sun SPARC workstations, clustered Sun UltraSPARC systems, proxy services, load-balanced endpoint servers, Sybase RDBMS and resilient SCSI storage.

His roles covered hardware soak testing, systems and integration testing, fault diagnosis, SQL query execution, database-schema and business-model analysis, server and network support, failover testing, and software, hardware and EPROM update verification.

As part of the Millennium Bug programme, Tom tested date handling, data integrity and new and existing service provisioning to confirm that the systems would remain compliant and meet the required service-level agreements.

Changes were tested and verified within the controlled SCP laboratory before approved updates were rolled out to the fault-tolerant clustered production infrastructure.

After completing the assignment, Tom left FDM to concentrate on freelance software-development and financial-technology roles in the City of London.

Financial Technology in the City of London

Tom’s first taste of working in the City of London Financial District was in in 1996. His first financial-sector assignment involved developing a G&S stock portfolio-trading system that scanned thousands of stocks using Excel and VBA. Based on Golden Ratio pullback qualifications, the system could select and trade up to 200 stocks per day, allocating up to £100,000 of risk capital to each position.

His ambitions extended beyond providing general enterprise solutions to major FTSE 100 companies—his sights were firmly set on building a specialist financial-technology career.

His career progressed through the development of some of the earliest online stock-trading and financial-education systems, including work connected with Cahoot, Stock Academy, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan and Freeserve. This included developing C++ server-broker objects and server-side web applications using ASP.

His assignments expanded across front-office and back-office systems, client-server and multi-tier architecture, desktop and web applications, databases, messaging, systems integration, infrastructure and financial-market technology.

From 2006 to 2009, Tom’s final institutional engagement was with State Street Global Link and CLS. Using C#, Message Queuing and T-SQL, he worked on high-value interbank financial messaging, SWIFT enrichment and message-acceleration technology.

Trade sizes on the CLS exchange began at approximately $150 million and extended considerably higher, requiring the technology to meet exacting standards of performance, reliability and quality. The work achieved a 100-fold increase in message throughput without causing a single bank-system failure.

This institutional background provided the engineering discipline, financial-market knowledge and technical foundation behind MicroTrends. It represents decades of real-world experience developing systems for demanding environments where accuracy, performance, reliability and effective risk controls are essential.

From Institutional Technology to Independent Innovation

MicroTrends Limited was established in 2006 and became Tom’s full-time independent development company when he left the corporate financial-technology world in 2009. He exchanged the financial-district environment for independent development, international travel and island life while continuing to design and develop financial-market technology.

Rather than entering retail trading as an inexperienced software vendor, MicroTrends brought institutional development experience and engineering standards into the NinjaTrader ecosystem. The company has since specialised in NinjaScript technology, algorithmic trading frameworks, indicators, strategies, trading interfaces, order-management systems and automated and hybrid trading applications.

From 2015 to 2017, Tom worked on-site in Australia as Head of Algorithmic Trading Systems for CPC Futures Fund, with responsibility for its trading systems, technical infrastructure and related development. He continued providing systems and technical consultancy to the fund remotely until 2022.

Although Sydney and Surfers Paradise offered attractive locations, Tom ultimately preferred the island lifestyle and more suitable working time zone available in Asia—one of the many advantages of online trading anda technology development. It provided the freedom to live and work in paradise, trade the markets and develop innovative solutions without returning to the corporate rat race, rainy city life and daily commute.

Real-Deal Commitment: Over the years, MicroTrends has provided tens of thousands of software licences free of charge and spent countless hours assisting traders for free. This helped people access indicators, strategies, trading technology and practical support that might otherwise have remained beyond their financial reach.

That experience also revealed an important reality: only a small percentage of traders develop the focus, discipline, time and mental commitment required to pursue trading seriously. Many continue to jump between systems or search for a “holy grail” indicator instead of developing a consistent approach.

There is no magical indicator or shortcut. A genuine trading edge comes from learning the market, following a structured routine, managing risk, developing the correct mindset and applying a proven approach consistently over time.

MicroTrends now concentrates its time and expertise on serious traders who understand that lasting progress requires commitment, patience and focused practice.

MicroTrends has long supported the NinjaTrader vision and its potential to make professional-grade trading technology more accessible. That same principle continues today: combining genuine experience, original development and modern technology to help serious traders develop the knowledge, tools and structured processes needed to pursue their trading goals.

From 2009 onwards, MicroTrends successfully delivered hundreds of NinjaTrader projects across the ecosystem. From 2022, the company shifted its focus towards proprietary internal development, specialist trading projects and its own trading objectives.

MicroTrends is now available for selected commercial projects of a distinctive and technically challenging nature for discerning professional traders, trading organisations and software vendors.

MicroTrends’ specialisation in NinjaTrader and retail futures trading has resulted in the invention and development of numerous original trading methodologies, indicators, bar types, algorithmic trading frameworks and hybrid algorithmic trading technologies, methods and systems.

More information can be found in Algorithmic Trading Systems and The History and Evolution of Hybrid Algorithmic Trading Systems for the NinjaTrader Futures Platform.

MicroTrends Company Information