Data-feed FREEZES, CPU @ Maximum

[arold_ite]

Hi, this is my first post to the forum and I really hope that somebody can help.

After hearing such great things about eSignal, I subscribed to all of the global market data that I needed and set about developing a VB component against the ActiveX API in order to retrieve intraday tick data to feed my automated trading system.

Having developed my component, I am now testing it and I’ve run into a major problem.

It would appear that at intermittent times throughout the day, the real-time feed “freezes” and my CPU is maxed out.

I’m running the latest version of eSignal (7.6) on a PC that meets the minimum specifications. The maximum number of symbols that I am retrieving is 25 and this is never concurrently. The maximum number of concurrent symbols that I am retrieving is 21.

I am convinced that this problem is not caused by my PC’s specification, but rather is due to a problem between the data being sent from WINROS to WINSIG. I say this because when the data-feed “freezes” and the CPU maxes out, it does so very quickly, without warning and usually just after I have called either RequestSymbol() or ReleaseSymbol(). I call these two functions at various times throughout the day depending on when each market is trading.

I’m in the UK and this morning, the data-feed froze at exactly 08:00, which is when I call RequestSymbol() for the FTSE 100 Futures Contract. This evening, the data-feed froze at exactly 21:15 (or 15:15 CST), which is when is call ReleaseSymbol for a few of the Chicago Futures Indxes.

When I look at Windows Task Manager, winsig.exe is using 98% CPU, the CPU usage is at 100% and the eSignal application under the applications tab says "Not Responding". Also, I cannot switch focus to the main eSignal application window.

I’ve spent the whole day reading through all of the previous posts on this subject and I’m afraid that as yet, I’ve been unable to find an acceptable answer to why the problem is occurring or how it can be resolved.

As I’ve invested so much time in developing a data-feed for my automated trading system, I am loathe to switch data-providers now, but given the seriousness of this problem, unless I find an answer soon, I’ll have no choice but to look elsewhere.

I really hope that there’s somebody out there that can help me with this.

Thanks
Arold

[Guest]

It sounds like your computer does not enough power to do what you are asking it to. On eSignal's download page, there is a table of system requirements.

By developing an application that uses the Desktop API, you would definitely be considered a "Power User", which requires 1GB of RAM and at least a 2.6 GHz processor. Based on what your description of your application there should be no reason your application "freezes" if developed properly, meaning using the handles properly and managing memory. The sample applications on the File Share probably use more resources that your application.

Our Desktop API is a bit resource intensive, but we do have other, more expensive APIs that use a lower-level language and less computer resources.

[arold_ite]

Thanks for the reply. With that in mind, I'll upgrade my hardware and see what happens.

Arold