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  • Tick charts

    I have a 200 tick chart in TradeStation for MA and when I put 200T for the timeframe in E-Signal, I get much much more data than the TradeStation 200 Tick chart.

    There must be something different in the definition. Any ideas on why there is such a huge discrepancy would be greatly appreciated.

    Here is the definition of the tick bar from TradeStation:

    "Tick bars plot the price of each transaction. Tick bars differ from time-based bars because tick bars plot prices based on a transaction-by-transaction basis while time-based bars plot prices during a specified time period. A transaction can represent 100 shares, 200 shares, 1,000 shares, and so on. When plotting tick bars, price and number of ticks are the only factors used, as time and volume are not considered.

    For example, you can create a 5-tick chart, where one bar is comprised of the Open, High, Low, and Closing ticks for each set of 5 ticks. The length of time in that 5-tick bar could be a few seconds, a minute, an hour, or even a day.

    In a 1-tick chart, there is no reason to report the Open, High, Low, and Closing prices because the exact trade price is plotted. In a 1-tick bar chart, the Open, High, Low, and Closing price are the same. Therefore, when creating a chart consisting of 1-tick bars, the price data is not really displayed as a bar but rather a series of connected ticks.

    When you create a tick-based chart where each bar contains a certain number of ticks, each bar contains the range of Open, High, Low, and Closing prices for a specified number of ticks (for example, 10 ticks, 100 ticks, 1000 ticks, and so on). When you change the data interval to build bars based on multiple ticks per bar, the bars look exactly like time-based bars in that they plot the Open, High, Low, and Closing prices for the specified number of transactions."

  • #2
    I use eSignal with SuperCharts RT (TradeStation's younger brother), and have no such problem - tick charts on eSignal and SuperCharts match as far as I can tell. (I'm using an older version of eSignal version - 7.91.)

    It's likely you have gap(s) in your TradeStation data. Maybe from your internet connection going up and down, restricted bandwidth, etc. I often display at least one 1 minute bar chart along with my tick charts so I have some indication that I'm still receiving data and don't have any gaps.

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    • #3
      Thanks for your reply.

      I don't think I have gaps because my TradeStation tick data matches data from several other people, so maybe I am doing something wrong in E-Signal? In TradeStation, I select a tick chart and put 200 ticks.

      In E-Signal, I have been saying 200T and I get 4 times as much data in E-Signal. I find it hard to believe all the people I know are receiving one quarter of the data from TradeStation that they should be.

      Any ideas?

      Thanks.

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      • #4
        An actual instance of the problem would help diagnose it. For example, a specific symbol and ticks per bar you're requesting. Posting a chart you're having problems with would be best (both TradeStation and eSignal versions).

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        • #5
          Technomagnet -

          Do believe it. TS data is pathetic. I was one of their clients in 2001-2002. Their e-mini data was cutting out. I pointed out that it was *their* problem, not any the exchanges, my computers or data connections, through trace routes & a variety of other indisputable means. I told them that this is my job. This is how I make my living, so either fix it or I am gone. My salesperson was great. He took it directly to the president & told them how incompetent they were, forcing him to sell such an inferior product. A few VPs & directors called me to kiss my butt. I was quoted on over 7 email lists, at which time the president started sending weekly messages that they are working on it. It took them a year before they finally did something, but it wasn't & isn't enough. In comparing data regularly with others that use TS (vs eSignal), to this day, they don't have nearly the data we eSignal users do.

          I moved to eSignal in 2003 & haven't looked back. How serious are you about your trading? Is this a job, your main source of income, or do you do this on the side? Your call.

          - Greg

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          • #6
            I respectfully disagree. I find TradeStation to be a much better product with a language that is much easier to use and develop in than ESignal. In addition, ESignal is completely non-intuitive in its use and I can't stand it, but I need to use it for certain clients who only use ESignal. Otherwise, I would only use TradeStation. I also have noticed that ESignal has a lot more bad ticks than TradeStation has in some data that I looked at...

            However, ESignal does have some data feeds that TradeStation doesn't have and that is a plus for ESignal.

            I am not sure which data is correct in this particular case though...

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            • #7
              I've isolated this problem, but don't know how to resolve it. Maybe someone else can suggest something.

              Basically, TradeStation/SuperCharts is only displaying trades from one exchange, NYSE in this case. If I request MA=N in eSignal and MA in Omega Research's SuperCharts they match at 200T.

              Anyone know how to up TradeStation's Symbol Universe to get trades from all exchanges?


              Regarding software and data, I find eSignal's data to be generally good, but software quality and performance is often lacking. I can't display the large number of tick bar charts I need or flip quickly between them with eSignal.

              Simply trying to request MA is an example of quality issues. Displaying MA with SuperCharts was no problem, although it was limited to only the NYSE. With eSignal, I couldn't even load the chart - it displayed only a blank screen. Only after loading the data with eSignal's "Tick Downloader" to force it to be cached would the chart display. ...Not well tested or robust software.
              Last edited by shortandlong; 12-28-2007, 08:58 AM.

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              • #8
                Thanks for the information. This is very helpful.

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                • #9
                  "Only after loading the data with eSignal's "Tick Downloader" to force it to be cached would the chart display".
                  Thanks for that comment. I'm glad I'm not the only one to find this problem - I couldn't get volume charts to display long-term indicators (since r10 I think) unless I did that. What I can't understand is why this type of problem can still exist.

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                  • #10
                    Dave,

                    FYI, I'm running eSignal 7.91 (Build 738) 9/12/2005, so the problem has either been around a long time or was introduced on the server side at eSignal. (Most of the time, I only use the Data Manager with SuperCharts, so I rarely upgrade unless there's some feature or bugfix I need.)

                    I suspect the problem is related to the increasing number of ticks per day and eSignal can't always handle it. I've had cases during tick download using another program (Dynastore) where the download will occasionally freeze up. Happens even on weekends. A couple of times the data was out of order (a block of older ticks after newer ones). This never used to happen.

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                    • #11
                      SnL, I'm surprised you always had this in 7.9 (I don't go back that far I think, about 18 months), but certainly there were problems... Pre 10 I would sometimes find that several attempts were needed to get the data to download completely (scrolling and slimming the bars and changing the period etc). Of course it may be that the download was so slow that this was just passing the time of day. It may be coincidence, but it was around the time I started on 10 that I found nothing short of a tick2file download would get me the ticks into the chart. And I was in contact with another user who experienced the same problem with 10.
                      Cheers

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                      • #12
                        Just to clarify my statement, I've only seen this problem within the last year or so. Until recently, I had never used eSignal's tick charting.

                        For years up to the present I accessed eSignal's data using versions 7.91 and below, but with another tick charting / history downloading program - I never had problems until the last year or so.

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