FMZ Quantitative Trading Platform Beginner’s Guide

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Quantitative trading has evolved into a cornerstone of modern financial markets, empowering traders to automate strategies across cryptocurrencies, futures, and beyond. The FMZ Quantitative Trading Platform—formerly known as BotVS—is a powerful, web-based environment designed for both beginners and advanced users to develop, backtest, simulate, and deploy algorithmic trading strategies in real time. This comprehensive guide walks you through everything you need to know to get started on FMZ, from platform architecture and security to deploying your first live trading bot within 30 minutes.

Whether you're new to coding or an experienced developer, FMZ offers the tools and flexibility to bring your trading ideas to life—without requiring complex software installations or infrastructure management.

What Is the FMZ Quantitative Platform?

The FMZ platform (short for "Feng Meng Zi") is a cloud-based algorithmic trading ecosystem launched in 2014. It supports multiple asset classes including digital currency spot and futures, perpetual contracts, options, and commodity futures via CTP and other protocols.

Unlike traditional desktop trading software, FMZ operates primarily through a browser interface, with execution handled by lightweight hosted bots (called "Hosters") that run on remote servers or local machines. This decentralized model ensures high reliability—even if the FMZ website experiences downtime, your live strategies continue running uninterrupted.

👉 Discover how automated trading can boost your market performance today.

Key Features at a Glance

Who Should Use FMZ?

FMZ caters to a wide range of users:

  1. Trading newcomers with strategy ideas but limited coding experience
  2. Professional quants building custom algorithms for clients
  3. Strategy creators looking to monetize proven systems
  4. Former users of platforms like WenHua财经 (Wh8) or TB (Tongdaxin) transitioning to more flexible environments
  5. Developers seeking web-based management and real-time analytics
  6. Researchers exploring open-source strategies and community insights
  7. Non-coders interested in purchasing ready-made bots (though foundational knowledge is still recommended)

While no prior programming is required, understanding basic logic structures significantly enhances your ability to customize and troubleshoot strategies.

How FMZ Works: Understanding the Architecture

FMZ uses a unique distributed architecture that separates the control plane (your browser) from the execution layer (the Hoster). Here's how it works:

This setup allows you to manage bots from anywhere while ensuring low-latency execution—especially critical when trading volatile crypto assets.

✅ Even if FMZ’s website goes offline temporarily, your live bots keep running because they operate independently on your Hoster.

Security: Protecting Your API Keys and Source Code

Security is paramount in algorithmic trading. FMZ implements several layers of protection:

🔐 API Key Protection

💻 Strategy Source Code Safety

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Getting Started: A Step-by-Step Roadmap

Ready to dive in? Follow these six steps to launch your first strategy:

  1. Learn a programming language: Start with JavaScript or Python—only basic syntax is needed.
  2. Familiarize yourself with FMZ: Understand how strategies, Hosters, and live bots interact.
  3. Study the API documentation: Explore available functions for fetching prices, placing orders, etc.
  4. Experiment with tutorial strategies: Try simple bots like price alerts or iceberg orders.
  5. Design your own logic: Combine technical indicators, risk controls, and trade execution rules.
  6. Run in simulation first, then gradually move to live trading with small capital.

Even complete beginners can build a working bot within a week. The key is hands-on practice—start small and iterate.

Running Your First Live Bot in 30 Minutes

Let’s walk through creating a live price alert bot using Wex.app, FMZ’s official simulation exchange.

Step 1: Add an Exchange Account

  1. Go to wex.app and register with an email.
  2. Transfer virtual funds from “Wallet” to “Spot Account.”
  3. Navigate to API Management → Create API Key.
  4. Note down your Access Key and Secret Key—they appear only once!
  5. In FMZ, go to Platforms > Add Exchange, select "WexApp," and paste your keys.
  6. Confirm with your FMZ password (encryption happens locally).
⚠️ If an exchange supports both spot and futures (like OKX), add them as separate entries—even if the keys are identical.

Step 2: Create or Copy a Strategy

  1. Visit the Strategies section and click “New Strategy.”
  2. Search the Strategy Square for “Bitcoin Price Alert via WeChat (Tutorial)” — strategy ID #125482.
  3. Click “Copy Strategy” to import it into your library.
  4. The code uses a loop to check BTC price via GetTicker() and triggers a WeChat notification when thresholds are met.
  5. Save and create the strategy.

You can later tweak parameters like price levels or notification frequency without rewriting code.

Step 3: Deploy a Hoster

Your live bot needs a runtime environment—a Hoster.

  1. Go to Nodes > Deploy Hoster.
  2. For crypto trading, use a VPS hosted overseas (e.g., AWS, DigitalOcean, or Alibaba Cloud Hong Kong).
  3. Minimum specs: $5/month Linux instance (CentOS/Ubuntu).
  4. Alternatively, rent a pre-configured Hoster directly from FMZ (convenient but pricier).
  5. Download the Hoster package, extract it, run robot.exe as administrator (on Windows).
  6. Enter your unique login URL (from the Nodes page) and FMZ password.
  7. On success, you’ll see: Login OK, SID: xxxxx.

Logs will appear in the logs folder. One Hoster can run multiple bots efficiently.

Step 4: Launch Your Live Bot

  1. Go to Robots > Create Live Bot.

  2. Select:

    • Your copied strategy
    • Active Hoster
    • WexApp exchange + BTC/USDT pair
    • Default candlestick period (e.g., 1m)
    • Custom parameters (if any)
  3. Click “Create.”

Your bot is now live! Monitor its status, logs, and output in real time.

✅ Done! You’ve successfully launched an automated trading system.

Core Platform Features Explained

Dashboard & Navigation

After login, explore these key sections:

Managing Live Bots

From the Robots page, you can:

One live bot can manage multiple exchanges and trading pairs simultaneously.

Strategy Development Tools

The built-in editor includes:

Use the Debug Tool to test snippets without launching full bots.

Monetizing Your Strategies

FMZ allows creators to earn from their intellectual property:

When selling, compiled JS offers better IP protection than Python.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Can I use FMZ for commodity futures trading?
A: Yes! Use CTP or SimNow via domestic servers. Chinese users can access www.fmz.cn with RMB payments.

Q: Do I need my own server?
A: For crypto trading, yes—preferably overseas due to network restrictions. Commodity traders can use local PCs or rent affordable domestic VPS.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: $0.05/hour per live bot. Paused bots don’t accrue fees. Server costs start around $1/day.

Q: Is Python safe for selling strategies?
A: Less secure than JavaScript due to lack of native encryption. Consider offering managed execution instead.

Q: What if my Hoster goes offline?
A: Bots usually recover automatically. Persistent disconnections require re-deployment.

Q: Can I trade manually on FMZ?
A: Yes—the built-in Trading Terminal lets you place orders across all connected exchanges.

👉 Start building smarter trading systems with next-gen tools today.

By combining ease of use with deep functionality, FMZ empowers traders at every level to automate smarter and scale faster. Whether you're testing your first idea or managing a portfolio of live bots, the platform delivers reliability, security, and community support—all from a browser.

Take action now: write your first line of code, deploy a Hoster, and let automation work for you.