Hi, I'm Dickson
I build systems, infrastructure, and the software that runs on them.
Distributed systems, software architecture, and AI agents are where I like to spend my time. I'm excited about software of all kinds — backend, frontend, data, infrastructure — and drawn to work that leaves room to explore and move between them. I like owning what I build, well past the point where the interesting part is done.
Currently deep in qkt, qkt-insights, mt5-gateway, qkt-venue-gateway, and qkt-guardrails, plus AI research around trading and markets. This site is where I document the journey: how things get built, what broke, and what I'd do differently.
The qkt platform
qkt is an open-source trading engine and the tools around it. These are the live sites.
tryqkt.com(opens in a new tab)The qkt platform: what each piece does and how they fit together.- docs.tryqkt.com(opens in a new tab)qkt documentation: the strategy language, backtesting, going live, and the CLI.
labs.tryqkt.com(opens in a new tab)qkt Labs (beta): a marketplace for qkt strategies, each listed with the evidence the system generates.
mt5.tryqkt.com(opens in a new tab)mt5-gateway docs: run MetaTrader 5 headless in Docker and trade it over REST.
venuegw.tryqkt.com(opens in a new tab)qkt-venue-gateway docs: one protocol for futures, perpetuals, options and spot venues.
Open source
- qkt(opens in a new tab)Event-driven trading engine in Kotlin — SQL-like strategy DSL, deterministic backtests, same code live.
qkt-insights(opens in a new tab)Observability dashboard for qkt: signals, orders, fills and equity from the live event stream.- mt5-gateway(opens in a new tab)Headless REST API for MetaTrader 5 — the real terminal under Wine in Docker, no GUI.
- qkt-venue-gateway(opens in a new tab)VGP v1 gateway between qkt and a venue: journaled, idempotent orders and a kill switch outside qkt.
qkt-guardrails(opens in a new tab)Engine-independent equity watchdog for prop-firm and live MT5 accounts.- qkt-backtester(opens in a new tab)Browser workspace for qkt: write a strategy, run it, and follow every trade on the chart.
- qkt-data-hub(opens in a new tab)Point-in-time fact store for trading systems: one record format, live tail and historical snapshot.
Recent writing
View all- 1 min read
Hello, world
The first post on this site — and a quick note on how the blog itself is put together.
- meta
- 272 min readseries · 25 chapters
qkt — Architecture Notes
My record of building qkt, an event-driven trading engine in Kotlin — the decisions, the tradeoffs behind them, and what it taught me about trading and about building systems.
- trading
- systems-design
- kotlin