Futures Options Chains With eSignal

Discussion in 'Trading Software' started by syd697, Jan 25, 2008.

  1. syd697

    syd697

    Anyone using eSignal's futures options chains and finding that they are not receiving streaming realtime data even though you're paying realtime data fees to the futures exchanges? This is a problem that has been going on for months and esignal is not giving out any kind of fix for it.

    Here's the breakdown: The symbol limit is not a problem. All I want is to pull up a single month's worth of a soybean option chain or a crude oil option chain or coffee option chain, etc. and have the option chain data stream realtime for that one specific month. It used to work no problem and the symbol limit was never an issue. All of a sudden about six months ago, the futures option chains stopped streaming realtime. They only give me fresh data now when I click on the "OK" button at the top of the option chain. So now I'm constantly clicking the "OK" button so I can get fresh data. That is not how it's supposed to work and that's now how it worked in the past. The futures options chains should be receiving the data constantly from the futures exchanges and updating dynamically within the chain without having to manually refresh the screen by hitting the "OK" button.

    eSignal is aware of the problem and they've duplicated it on their end. If eSignal is getting the data from the futures exchanges, then the futures options chains should be updating dynamically, streaming in realtime. It worked a few months ago and so why doesn't it work now? This should be an easy fix.

    Is anyone having the same problem? If so, what have you done or are doing to resolve the issue? I've wroked with some of the tech support to figure out a solution but to no avail. I have the most recent version and we've tried to uninstal and reinstall the program.

    Any help is appreciated.

    Scott Johnson, where are you?
     
  2. eSignal Support

    eSignal Support eSignal

    In the cases I'm aware of, this issue is related to symbol limits. Apparently, the # of options traded on some of these contracts has increased quite a bit. When you pull-up an option chain, the desktop makes a request for ALL options on that contract. Then, the filters get applied to only display the ones you've chosen (like the current month). Problem is that if that initial dump of symbols exceeds your symbol limit, it won't load them all nor will they stream because you are over your limit.

    In order to fix this without increasing symbols, we need to change the way requests are made to the server. That's a fairly involved project and will take some time.

    In some cases, we've worked out a way to increase the # of symbols you have access to. If you want to PM me your eSignal CID or username, I'll have someone contact you and discuss a few options.

    Thanks.
     
  3. syd697

    syd697

    Thanks. I will send you a PM so please look for it.

    In the meantime, are you saying that even though I'm requesting the front-month only for a futures option chain, the server downloads all the months together? That, I guess, would put me over the symbol limit on some contracts.

    Why is this happening now though? This was never a problem until a few months ago. Did something change with the software with one of the version changes?

    Thanks for the response.
     
  4. eSignal Support

    eSignal Support eSignal

    Yes, the desktop requests ALL the options, then applies the filters. We did not make any changes that I'm aware of but the # of options per contract appears to have spiked in 07, hence more users are seeing the issue.

    Thanks.