We are waiting.......

[Burnout69]

any news?
BB

ps. about the broker plugin development due to first quarter of 2010

[eSignal_JasonK]

Hello Burnout69,

Which plug-in were you referring to?

[merkro]

The Generic Broker, I hope. We are all waiting........... Patiently......

[eSignal_JasonK]

Development has been pushed back a little bit due to the new eSignal 11 we're currently working on. As of right now, we're looking to start the development for this feature next month.

[BillR]

auto trading

At the risk of sounding too negative, I am surprised that the auto trading feature is not a priority. Your customer service is very good and so is your data and charting products. But I think you and Tradestation are about to be leap-frogged by TDAmeritrade/ThinkOrSwim and others. Their platforms are solid and as soon as they offer the ability to fully backtest and auto trade, what is your market?

The folks at TS are hopelessly mired in the 90's and consider the game of figuring out what works and what doesn't a 'feature' of their platform, but you guys seem more progressive than that. I hope you don't fall into that looking-inward trap. It is why I left Tradestation to start using eSignal.

I'm puzzled (and frustrated) that auto trading isn't already functional and I am forced to go elsewhere.

*I think your marketing and customer support is under the impression that you CAN automate trades using EFS. That is why I subscribed. I am glad I waited before I paid for the Advanced Get.

[merkro]

I reinforce this comment. I currently use eSignal for charting and design, but the MT4 platform for auto trading. Which means I need to duplicate my programming. Now, I can do all I need with MT4, and could do without eSignal, however eSignal could be the be all to end all with a bit of work on the Generic Broker. Even the ability to know an order has been filled, and at what price, would be a massive improvement.

Cheers

[Burnout69]

Thank you all guys for your response and glad to see that i'm not the only one thinking this improvement as foundamental step forward for esignal platform and for our trading
BB

[waynecd]

Hi,

In case it helps move things along;

To me robust autotrading functionality is a necessity so I add my voice to this request.

Wayne

[eSignal_JasonK]

Hi All,

Thank you very much for your comments and feedback. We do appreciate the importance this feature has for you. We are getting closer to the development phase for this project.

Also, if you have not seen the request for the Trading Survey, please take a few minutes to provide your responses there as well.

Thank you,

[SteveH]

I know eSignal is going to do a good job on the API to take care of any automated trading needs on the wish list. All that's really missing in that area is being able to query from the EFS what the current status of an order is.

But probably the key feature which would allow for more powerful EFS scripts to be written would be to give full 1-to-1 correspondence between manual actions taken on the chart with direct-chart trading (i.e. moving the entry/stop/target lines around) and a script being notified of these manual changes and being able to adapt to them.

Do you see what I'm getting at? Don't continue to create a series of "canned" (aka black box) direct chart trading experiences with each upgrade. If direct chart trading were completely open in the form of some EFS API library additions, then I could use any degree of manual manipulation to the trading chart and script manipulation (because the script is now fully aware of what the user is doing by hand) to create a much more powerful direct chart trading experience.

I'll give you one specific example of something that the eSignal staff would never care to implement, but, if their EFS library were flexible enough, I could program it on my own through a script:

Scenario...I see a horizontal price channel forming on the ES during slow lunch-time trading hours so I decide to do the following in a script with the current market price in the middle of that channel:

1. I press the left mouse button at the top of the channel and a sell limit order is created. A sell limit order is seen on the chart.

2. I press the left mouse button at the bottom of the channel and a buy limit order is created. A buy limit order is seen on the chart.

[I could move these 2 lines now and script would know where the new resting place of either order is located. Also, I should be able to select (in the API or on-screen) if these orders are active or not. If they're active, then they're submitted to the broker. If they're not, then they're just for my reference on the chart. In complex scenarios such as this, it's better to *build* the trade visually and then activate the parts of it later.]

3. I create 2 other orders but they are not seen by the brokerage yet. That is, they're inactive but they're important to see from the trader's perspective. The 1st line is X ticks above the sell limit order and it is a buy stop order. The 2nd line is Y ticks below the buy limit order and it is a sell stop. These orders would become active once the first trade on a channel boundary was entered.

Now, here's how it works. I keep selling the top of the channel and keep buying the bottom of the channel until there is a channel breakout. Part of the feature of this would to have the API allow me to double the number of contracts at the top or bottom of the channel once the 1st entry was taken in. This way, I"m reversing my position as price bounces up and down the channel.

When there is a breakout to either side of the channel, the respective stop order would trigger, effectively giving me a stop-out of my channel strategy and now getting me long or short for a trend move. Since these outer stop orders are made to be double the size of the current position, I take care of a stop-out and reversal all with one order.

eSignal Staff developers...are you seeing now what I'm talking about? It is a waste of your valuable time to create a specific order strategy such as this. But the beauty of it is that you don't have to. All you have to do is make your EFS API additions and graphical tie-ins to the trading lines on the chart flexible enough to allow me to do this on my own.

[Note: I know that I can use EFS scripting currently to draw my own custom lines to simulate the above example, but what the user is missing is the richer degree of interactiveness that those entry/target/stop lines from the direct chart trading interface are providing]

[SteveH]

Probably the only feature aside from this that I would really love to see happen much sooner than later is to be able to trade multiple accounts from the same chart. I have 2 IB accounts, a regular one and an IRA. I would like to be able to day trade the e-mini futures in both accounts at the same time using a direct chart trading interface.

[merkro]

At the risk of being told I don't know what I am talking about, this is my wish list for the Generic Broker. Currently, I can buy and sell within my EFS with amazing reliability. Unfortunately, that's where it stops. The most important missing link at the moment is actual entry price, and the ability to retrieve this would increase the GB's value to me ten fold.

I would like to be able to submit a buy/sell order, either at market or at limit, passing parameters for Stop and Take Profit orders,which would automatically be placed the specified distance from actual entry when the primary order was filled. I would like confirmation of order fill, along with Qty and fill price.

I would like to pass a parameter during order creation (or have a value returned) which specifically identifys this order, with an extension of this identifier attached to the SL and TP orders. Say 12345 for primary order id, 12345SL1 for SL, and 12345TP1 for TP. Sequential ID numbers would not work for order group ID - there must be a 'common' ID for associated orders.

I then want the ability to manuplilate both the SL and TP using the unique identifier. And if I close the primary order, I want the SL and TP to be automatically cancelled.

I want to be able to query all open orders and positions, regardless of whether placed by the EFS, or manually, or order defaults, and take action on those orders using the specific ID reference.

I would like to be able to query closed positions, to get confirmation of exit price, regardless of whether exit of position was by TP, SL, or simple position close manually or from within the EFS.

That takes care of version 1. For V2, I would like to be able to alter the SL and TP quantities during the trade to allow closing out part of a position, and then using the unique identifier, create other SL and TP orders which will all interact with the primary order, automatically closing/cancelling when the primary order is totally closed out. These multiple SL and TP orders should all have the common ID, 12345SL2, 12345SL3 etc.

I do not need automatic Trailing Stops, as I can program my own. I know there will be many other functions required by other users, however these would keep me happy for quite some time. These functions are already there, as we use them when we trade from the chart. They simply need to be made available to the EFS.

buyMarket( symbol, quantity [, route] [, expiry] [,SL ticks below actual entry] [,TP ticks above actual entry] [, order ID] [, Fill/Kill])

Cheers

[SteveH]

merkro, those capabilities should all be in your version 1. That's easy stuff. They have most of that already programmed in internally; otherwise their current direct chart trading wouldn't be working. For example, when you cancel an order at the TWS on IB, the eSignal direct chart trading immediately knows about it and erases the order from your chart.

Heck, altering stop and target quantities are super, super easy. I do that myself with my own homegrown eSignal direct chart trading interface (talks to IB externally, not through eSignal).

[merkro]

Originally posted by SteveH
merkro, those capabilities should all be in your version 1. That's easy stuff. They have most of that already programmed in internally; otherwise their current direct chart trading wouldn't be working. For example, when you cancel an order at the TWS on IB, the eSignal direct chart trading immediately knows about it and erases the order from your chart.

Heck, altering stop and target quantities are super, super easy. I do that myself with my own homegrown eSignal direct chart trading interface (talks to IB externally, not through eSignal).

I knew someone would tell me I didn't know what I was talking about! Steve, I do not have your home grown interface, nor do I use the 'TWS', nor do I use IB as my brokerage. Nor do I want to do it from my chart. I want to set my EFS running and go to bed. Now, if you still think I have that capability already, please post examples. I will then be forever in your debt. But please bear in mind that before I do the easy stuff of altering my SL or TP, I need to confirm that they still exist and the position has not been closed.

Cheers.

[BillR]

SteveH and merkro,

I am confused about your discussion. Are you currently autotrading somehow through brokers using the Generic Broker? Your discussion implies that you are using some mechanism to auto trade using eSignal generated trading signals. I have heard this is possible, but flimsy at best. Am I missing something? Because I would sure like to use eSignal charts and indicators to generate actual trades via Ninja or even directly to a broker.

I thought this capability was under development and probably wont be available until next year (in my experience with developers, next quarter means next year).