Paper trade has a mind of its own

[rcameron]

I've been playing around with the paper trade module over the last few weeks to test some script entry/exits I have been developing and it seems to me to have a mind of its own, based on the following observations (please note that none of the trades have been initiated through scripts):-

1. If the system crashes for any reason, when you re-enter the module all trades for the current day are lost.

2. When you post limit trades and then decide to cancel and then remove those trades, the module still initiates those trades.

3. When you post just one limit trade, sometimes the module duplicates or more that particular trade.

4. When you initiate trades at market, sometimes the message to place the order takes an inordinate amount of time to appear.

5. Placing trades at market will not get you the correct price even though the price has not moved - sometimes quite a difference, say on ES a .75 difference has been seen.

If anyone has experienced the same, or knows why this kind of behavior happens and if there any solutions I would be most interested to hear from you.

Robert

[Gavishti]

I noticed that market orders sometimes get execution prices that are way out of range of all the bid/ask/trade data. Sometimes by as much as 20-30 points. That is why I quite using it and decided to code my own market order simulation in efs.

It isn't a big issue if you are just trying to get a sense of what happens with your trading idea and can live with erroneous trades. Just need to compensate for those outlier trades.

For more elaborate tests where your efs needs to know an accurate estimate of a realistic execution price you will need to code a market order (or limit order) simulator. Of course these only work well with tick data so you will have to also deal with that issue.

[rcameron]

Gavishti,

Thanks for your thoughts, at least I know it's not just me and most likely the module is buggy. Anyway what you say about using the module and allowing for its quirks is correct. I hope that eSignal programmers will add this issue if not already known as a fix for a future release.

Robert

[fan27]

esignal's paper trade feature is for the most part worthless. I will enter market orders for ES M4 and will sometimes get filled 2 pts away from the current price.

Can someone from esignal tech support please address this.

Thanks

[ScottJ]

I understand that a problem in paper trading was detected and resolved in the latest version of eSignal 7.6 (release 2 dated 3/19/04). If you haven't downloaded that new version, please do that and let us know if it works better for you. If you are using this latest version (to check, go to Help, then About to see version), please be as specific as possible on the issues you are experiencing and we'll be happy to look into this further.

Thanks.

[rcameron]

i was told by a customer representative NOT to install version 7.6 as it is buggy and causing some users problems.

Does eSignal publish a comprehensive listing of bug fixes with each release as this would be useful to see. Also does eSignal publish a list of outstanding bugs yet to be fixed.

Robert

[ScottJ]

That rep may still be reacting to the problems in 7.6 release 1. I haven't seen nor heard of problems since we released ver 2 on Friday. The two primary bugs fixed in this version relate to a problem with pop-out windows and a sporadic scaling problem in Advanced Charting.

In general, we tend to fix lots of little issues and as many of the big ones as we can handle. The main bug fixes in each release are listed in the accompanying readme file when you download the upgrade (you can find it in the eSignal Program group). Outstanding bugs/issues are kept in an internal database for QA and Engineering but not currently available for users to view.

Thanks.

[rcameron]

Most likely the rep was referring to version1 as that information is now over a week old.

I will try out 7.6 version 2 and let you know if it has resolved the paper trading issue.

Robert

[fan27]

So far so Good on the 7.6 3/19/2004 release.

Thanks

[ScottJ]

That's great to hear. Thanks for the follow-up. If any issues pop-up, please let us know.

Originally posted by fan27
So far so Good on the 7.6 3/19/2004 release.

Thanks

[rcameron]

I had a much happier day with the Paper trade module after installing 7.6 release 2.

The execution on any market order still seems to be sluggish at times, however the other issues I raised did not appear in any of the trades I entered today which were numerous.

I did not have my system crash today so I cannot verify if all the trades entered would have been lost - has that specific issue been addressed and fixed in 7.6?

Robert