Tradestation 8.0 - what a disapointment

KK70 · Mar 4, 2004

Quote from MichaelD:

ddog,

It's now possible to automate multiple strategies on multiple charts using the same futures symbol without needing to trade each chart in a different account.

More...

MichaelD:

Did TS have automated trading for only 1 strategy per account till now then?
Thanks

ddog · Mar 4, 2004

Quote from MichaelD:

Yes. There is a new tab in the strategy properties dialog named "Automation" and in that tab there is a setting where you can select how the strategy determines when a live ("non-historical") order should be filled. You can have the strategy fill orders based simply on price activity (this is the way that strategies fill in versions 7.2 and prior, basically when a tick comes in at your stop or limit price the strategy fills the order) or you can have the strategy fill the order only if it's been filled in the real-world (i.e. the strategy doesn't try and determine if the the order should be filled, but waits for confirmation from the TradeManager that the order was filled).

I've noticed that several persons in this thread have commented on the availability of bid and ask data. While it is true that we don't currently allow you to access this historically from a chart we do have two functions, CurrentBid and CurrentAsk, that will return the inside bid and inside ask when your strategy is evaluating on a real-time bar. In addition there is a "Strategy Automation" function category that contains several functions that allow you to place your strategy orders into the market using the same advanced features that are available on TradeStation's Order Bar. You can have your strategy limit order "pegged" to the inside or you can send them using a price discretion are just a couple of examples. These functions are available in 7.1 and 7.2.
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MichaelD:

Thank you. This is a huge improvement.

abogdan · Mar 4, 2004

Quote from MichaelD:

Yes. There is a new tab in the strategy properties dialog named "Automation" and in that tab there is a setting where you can select how the strategy determines when a live ("non-historical") order should be filled. You can have the strategy fill orders based simply on price activity (this is the way that strategies fill in versions 7.2 and prior, basically when a tick comes in at your stop or limit price the strategy fills the order) or you can have the strategy fill the order only if it's been filled in the real-world (i.e. the strategy doesn't try and determine if the the order should be filled, but waits for confirmation from the TradeManager that the order was filled).

I've noticed that several persons in this thread have commented on the availability of bid and ask data. While it is true that we don't currently allow you to access this historically from a chart we do have two functions, CurrentBid and CurrentAsk, that will return the inside bid and inside ask when your strategy is evaluating on a real-time bar. In addition there is a "Strategy Automation" function category that contains several functions that allow you to place your strategy orders into the market using the same advanced features that are available on TradeStation's Order Bar. You can have your strategy limit order "pegged" to the inside or you can send them using a price discretion are just a couple of examples. These functions are available in 7.1 and 7.2.
More...

Good improvement. But still, Bid/Ask are necesary for accurate back testing.

chinook · Mar 4, 2004

MichaelD,

Is the chart freezing problem, especially when the volume picks up, fixed in TS 8?

Thanks,

Chinook

ddog · Mar 4, 2004

"Good improvement. But still, Bid/Ask are necesary for accurate back testing."

Yes. But for discretionary traders who want their exits automated (trailing stops, profit targets, stop loss) it will make trading a lot easier.

MichaelD · Mar 5, 2004

Quote from chinook:

MichaelD,

Is the chart freezing problem, especially when the volume picks up, fixed in TS 8?

Thanks,

Chinook
More...

Latency is something that has been of great concern to us at TradeStation. Because of this, we have taken aggressive action. Historically, there have been 4 general areas that are potential contributors to latency. Below is a listing of each as well as a summary of the steps that weâve taken to remedy each situation:

1. Latency originating from the provider. TradeStation had been primarily using a third-party vendor as the source of all real-time data. Starting in mid-2003 and ending in late 2003, we began making our transition to using direct exchange feeds. Both we and our users consider this move to be a very successful one that has noticeably improved the speed and reliability of our data delivery.

2. Latency originating on our network. This is a pretty broad category, but it includes any bottlenecks related to our network, servers, or uplink (outgoing connectivity). We constantly monitor our network utilization and routinely increase the capacities of our network, servers, and uplink as needed.

3. Latency exhibited by the TradeStation client applications as a result of inefficiency. Starting with TradeStation 7.2 and continuing with TradeStation 8, we have been giving a lot of attention to improving the efficiency of the client software. The efficiency improvements have been very substantial in this regard.

4. Latency that exists as a result of inadequate or misconfiguration on the end-userâs network or computer. TradeStation is a very powerful application, and sometimes people attempt to use it in a way that their computer cannot handle. We give minimum and recommended hardware requirements. But considering the virtually limitless power of TradeStation, some people may be using the application in such a way that the demand on their computer may be too great.

We sincerely believe that we have made tremendous improvements on multiple fronts to the overall speed and efficiency of TradeStation. If you are experiencing any latency or freezing, please contact our Technical Support Team.

chinook · Mar 6, 2004

MichaelD,

Thanks for your detailed explanation. I have seen great improvements in latency since last summer. I don't have any latency problems anymore.

However, there still seems to be some problems with occasional freezing especially with NQ/ES charts. I'm in touch with technical support about this. Perhaps it's related to my own custom EL code or it's TS software/network problem or a combination of both. Anyway, the good thing is that Tradestation is listening to its customers and improving its product.

Thanks,

Chinook

Quote from MichaelD:

Latency is something that has been of great concern to us at TradeStation. Because of this, we have taken aggressive action. Historically, there have been 4 general areas that are potential contributors to latency. Below is a listing of each as well as a summary of the steps that weâve taken to remedy each situation:

1. Latency originating from the provider. TradeStation had been primarily using a third-party vendor as the source of all real-time data. Starting in mid-2003 and ending in late 2003, we began making our transition to using direct exchange feeds. Both we and our users consider this move to be a very successful one that has noticeably improved the speed and reliability of our data delivery.

2. Latency originating on our network. This is a pretty broad category, but it includes any bottlenecks related to our network, servers, or uplink (outgoing connectivity). We constantly monitor our network utilization and routinely increase the capacities of our network, servers, and uplink as needed.

3. Latency exhibited by the TradeStation client applications as a result of inefficiency. Starting with TradeStation 7.2 and continuing with TradeStation 8, we have been giving a lot of attention to improving the efficiency of the client software. The efficiency improvements have been very substantial in this regard.

4. Latency that exists as a result of inadequate or misconfiguration on the end-userâs network or computer. TradeStation is a very powerful application, and sometimes people attempt to use it in a way that their computer cannot handle. We give minimum and recommended hardware requirements. But considering the virtually limitless power of TradeStation, some people may be using the application in such a way that the demand on their computer may be too great.

We sincerely believe that we have made tremendous improvements on multiple fronts to the overall speed and efficiency of TradeStation. If you are experiencing any latency or freezing, please contact our Technical Support Team.
More...

Luto · Mar 7, 2004

A feature to add to the list would be the ability to do some performance testing of EL code. Check with the developer team, I would not be suprised if there were an existing tool that allowed one to check performance with simulatated fast flowing "real time "data bursts

I.e. if you developing fixes for this issue, the tools for testing of the fixes would actually make cool "features".

Or at a minimum provide guidelines and examples of things to do and not to do for those who are not heavily experienced with developing code bases.

One could go a long way with documentation, which TS has always been rather , em light...

All software should have performance, stress and load testing that is PUBLISHED. If they don't do it they should, if they don't publish it, at least internally, they should. That what allows users to have confidence in their tools.

Corel draw is an example of a tool that does NOT deal with stress (Asking the program to do things while denying it the resources) very well. MS Word is an example of a program that does handle stress well. Not perfect but very well.

Cheers!

Gozar · Apr 27, 2004

Does anyone have a suggestion as to :
I am interested in trading options (electronically if possible) and be able to test strategies/systems before hand...

If tradestation is not what a professional trader should choose, I am wondering what software or front end/broker setup would one want to go with?

Thanks for any suggestions, appreciate any help

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Tradestation 8.0 - what a disapointment

KK70

ddog

abogdan

chinook

ddog

MichaelD TradeStation Securities

chinook

Luto

Gozar