Hello guys,
I’ve been using various coders throughout the years whenever I need a custom indicator, but with the advent of AI and hearing all the praise, I’m wondering if I could just as well do it on my own with the help of an AI/LLM?
Anyone have any experience here?
Note: I am NOT a coder, but I’m not completely illiterate either.
Thanks in advance.
It really depends on what you want to do. Something easy, you can most likely do yourself. A lot of non-coders have successfully used AI to create indicators and strategies. However, I’ve also seen people that do so get stuck because they seem to not know how to ask the AI to fix things. Honestly, I think it’s worth it if you want to test many different ideas.
I’ve been using AI to code (not a coder before) with great success. I started to use it for AHK v2 (for UI automation). Then python TWS API (mainly for alerts). Dabbled slightly with Ninjascript.
I think it’s been almost 2 years since I started using AI for coding. They’ve gotten SO much better.
I use all of the free AIs and bounce back and forth between them. Never paid a cent.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is my go to coding AI. It gives you a generous amount free messages. However, if your script is 700 plus lines of code you run up against the pay wall pretty fast. Also, start new conversations to get more access.
Gemini 2.5 Pro I think is one of the best at programming. If I can’t use or are having trouble with Claude I go here.
Grok is great for larger scripts and is very good all around.
ChatGPT just recently gave free access to its best model for free.
Perplexity is good for simpler questions when you don’t want to use up time with the other better AIs. For example if I need a large data set fomatted in a certain way, I go here.
DeepSeek and Qwen are supposed to be very good as well. I only use DeepSeek occasionally. I’m a little wary of the fact that they are based in China.
Hello guys,
Great. Thanks! I guess I don’t have anything to lose by trying it. 
FWIW, this indicator I’m needing now is very simple
If it’s simple code and is for your own personal use, then by all means use AI and learn the process. It’s always good to know at least some coding so you can see the flaws in AI generated code and correct it or clean it up. AI is not flawless. I’m no stranger to programming, but I still use AI in some parts of my work to speed up my work, but often have to make changes to adapt to my situation. And sometimes AI is flat out wrong. Happens more often than you might think.
If you’re writing code you’re going to share with others or sell to customers, I would strongly recommend hiring a decent programmer who knows both what they are doing and are familiar with the platform. Not every coder understands NT well enough to write reliable code.
I often use this example that AI is like a Formula 1 car - nice, fast, shiny. You’re going to get widely different results if your grandma is driving it vs Max Verstappen.
LLMs are great at implementing logic. What you have to do is convey the logic you’re trying to accomplish into words, accurately and completely.
One specific coding task I have found LLMs to be excellent at is RegEx. The syntax of RegEx is complicated to me. Although, if I just express in words the logic I want to match, LLMs are great at this.
In high school I remember drawing flow charts by hand for a precursor for a program. I think the best way to talk to an AI is to accurately explain the “flow chart” of the logic you’re trying to accomplish into words, language.
Exactly. That’s a great example @PCAutomation. AI does great with small, self-contained and well-defined functions. But it’s still very much lacking in putting together large complex solutions.
Your RegEx example is perfect. I recently asked AI to give me an email syntax parser/checker which requires RegEx. Took a few seconds instead of having to struggle through the syntax for a few minutes.
I too started programming by drawing flow charts and flow diagrams in a Structured Programming class in college in the late 80s. This teaches you how to think in terms of how computers work and helps write well structured and easily maintainable code, something that’s missing if you’re just jumping into programming with the help of AI and no other background in programming.
I have coded with NT for about 14 years - but would not call myself a programmer - i can end up doing most things, however.
I use ChatGPT free version and it’s 50/50. You have to be able to understand some things to be able to direct it. It gets things plain wrong and consistently uses SharpDX.Mathematics - which you can’t use in NT. I now have a saved template to direct it with every new chat - its memory does not persist across chats which to me seems a little pointless.
What it is good for is getting the idea mapped out - eg you want a flashing text box at the top right of the chart - it can give you the scaffolding on which to build. If you don’t know ninjascript or C# it’s not good. I dabbled with Claude which is much better but i find it more difficult to copy and paste for some reason?? Still exploring the AI universe
Hello everyone,
Thanks for the great replies.
Well, yesterday I created my first custom indicator using Claude and honestly I think it’s quite amazing. 
Up until now I’ve exclusively used Upwork for such projects. If it’s a small and less important indicator, I’ve used cheaper coders trying to break into UpWork and the results have been mixed. For more important stuff, I’ve used my go-to coder who’s more expensive, but delivers great results.
The indicator I created yesterday would be categorized as a less important indicator.
Anyway, it took me around 1 1/2 hours with quite a few iterations to achieve the desirable result. Only twice did I actually get errors when compiling and Claude fixed it immediately. The main time consuming part was re-booting Ninja for each new iteration of the indicator.
Claude immediately understood my ‘needs’, so no communication errors (which quickly happens with a hired coder) or misunderstandings.
No waiting for a reply from the coder when de-bugging.
And if I wanted to implement a new feature Claude was only too happy to do it for me offering improved solutions even. This is where a coder might get annoyed or start asking for more $$$.
I will definitely use this more for similar stuff. Tonight, I plan on getting Claude to improve an indicator I wasn’t quite happy with through UpWork. I’m sure it will be handled smoothly.
I imagine it will be great for VBA scripts and Excel formulas, too. Also an area where I’ve used hired work in the past.