Want to streamline your algo trading workflow? Check out our tool reviews and detailed guides.
Why Use CI/CD in Algo Trading?
CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment) isn’t just for web apps — it’s an excellent way to automate testing, deployment, and version control for your trading scripts. Here’s why it matters:
- Ensure your code runs as expected after every change
- Automatically test logic before deploying live
- Deploy updates to cloud/VPS environments without manual effort
1. Basic Project Structure
Organize your bot code like this:
/my-bot
├── .github/workflows/
│ └── ci.yml
├── bot/
│ ├── strategy.py
│ └── trader.py
├── tests/
│ └── test_strategy.py
├── requirements.txt
└── run.py
2. Write Tests for Core Logic
Create unit tests for strategy logic using pytest
:
def test_buy_signal():
# sample logic test
result = my_strategy.should_buy(price=100, sma=90)
assert result is True
3. Create a GitHub Actions Workflow
Inside .github/workflows/ci.yml
:
name: Run Strategy Tests
on:
push:
branches: [main]
pull_request:
branches: [main]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: Set up Python
uses: actions/setup-python@v4
with:
python-version: '3.10'
- name: Install dependencies
run: |
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install pytest
- name: Run tests
run: pytest
This ensures your tests run on every push or PR.
4. Add Linting & Type Checks
For production-grade bots, also include:
- name: Run Linter
run: |
pip install flake8
flake8 bot/
5. Automated Deployment (Optional)
If you run your bot on a VPS or cloud server:
- Use SSH deploy actions (with secrets)
- Trigger deployment on
main
push - Use
rsync
,scp
, or even Docker
6. Environment Secrets
Use GitHub Secrets to store:
- Exchange API keys
- SSH credentials
- Environment variables
Then reference them in your workflow securely.
Final Thoughts
CI/CD for algo trading isn’t just nice-to-have — it’s essential for safe, repeatable, and scalable development. You don’t want to deploy a broken strategy with real money at stake.
Want to explore more dev-friendly trading tools? Visit our open source trading frameworks section.