Status ? and Suggestions

[MBender]

I recently responded to the survey for integrated trading. I want to clarify one response: I would like to see 2 confirmations per trade request. 1 confirmation that the request was received and accepted/rejected by my broker and then, an execution confirmation.

I also thought to 2 more suggestions for functionality:

1) A position request which returns all current positions and outstanding orders -- in the event I loose internet connection and have to get re-connected.

2) a function to close all positions. I might want to use this if I detect an unusual error in my software in real-time and simply want or need to close out of all positions.

Finally, is there a release date planned?

Thanks.

[eSignal_JasonK]

Re: Status ? and Suggestions

Hello MBender,

Thank you very much for participating in the trading survey.

Originally posted by MBender
I recently responded to the survey for integrated trading. I want to clarify one response: I would like to see 2 confirmations per trade request. 1 confirmation that the request was received and accepted/rejected by my broker and then, an execution confirmation.

Under the Trade menu you will see a menu item for Notifications. You can turn on the pop up notification for Place Order. Also, you can see confirmations that the order was received on the Messages tab in the Account Manager. Additionally, in the Orders tab of the Account Manager, if you see an Order ID filled in for the order, this also confirms the receipt of the order as this ID is sent back to us from the broker once they have processed the order.

I also thought to 2 more suggestions for functionality:

1) A position request which returns all current positions and outstanding orders -- in the event I loose internet connection and have to get re-connected.

2) a function to close all positions. I might want to use this if I detect an unusual error in my software in real-time and simply want or need to close out of all positions.

Finally, is there a release date planned?

Thanks.

1) This will be available.
2) This already exists in the Generic Broker (i.e. closeAllPositions() ), but we'll probably have a new method for this in the new implementation as we will be implementing an object oriented approach.

No concrete release date as of yet. We do have a solid spec for all of the new extensions. We're currently waiting to see when we can assign this project to developers. There are a number of higher priority projects that are taking precedent currently. Primarily the eSignal 11 project. Internal priorities are in the process of being changed currently. When we know more about the timing for starting the initial development for EFS automated trading, we'll have a better idea as to an ETA for the release. We will post an update in this regard when we know what this timeline will be.

[merkro]

Hi Jason, we are all patiently (or impatiently) waiting for this release, and wish you speedy progress with the project. You said:

"Additionally, in the Orders tab of the Account Manager, if you see an Order ID filled in for the order, this also confirms the receipt of the order as this ID is sent back to us from the broker once they have processed the order."


When this info is received from the Broker, it must be stored in a temp file or log somewhere, as I can close down eSignal, and fire up again without losing it. How can we find where this is stored so we can attempt to access it? I am keen enough to try any work around, as the GB update is some 12 months late now, and I have no reason to expect it to appear within the greater part of this year. Simply being able to access the info as printed in the message tab would be a great boost for me. Any ideas where we could look?

Cheers

Merv

[MBender]

Confirmations

Jason:

Thank you for your response and time.

I'm aware of the visual and auditory confirmations in e-signal.

My suggestion regarding confirmation referred to integrated trading. If I have a program ruuning my trades, the s/w needs confirmation that the trade order was accepted/rejected and confirmation when it was executed, including the execution price.

Even in manually-trading, I've seen occassions when a trade request was rejected because it couldn't get a real-time quote, then accepted when I retried it a second later.

If this occured as an automated trade without confirmations, the s/w would think the trade request was accepted and then make wrong decisions. My usual trades are stop-markets, which don't always trade at the stop price. The s/w would need to know the trade price to make sound decisions. Additionally, I ALWAYS place a stop-loss with every trade. If the stop-loss was rejected and the s/w didn't know it, I could loose my house.

If you're talking about a speed-trading system, this would be a true real-time system (I've built a few of these in my life -- air traffic control systems, process automation systems, etc.).

For true speed-trading, seconds and pennies are important. These confirmations should be an interrupt -- either entering Main with a special code or flag or having another special routine that's entered when the confirmation is received. I wouldn't think this would be difficult -- you're getting the confirmations, just passt them on to the s/w using similar algorythms that you send the ticks to the s/w.

Sorry for rambling. I'd just like to offer my suggestions for the system.

I also agree with Merv, I don't see this coming in the next 12 months. Is there a possible work around as he described?

Thanks again for your time and help.

and Merv: thanks for the support.
Michael.

[eSignal_JasonK]

Hi Michael,

Regarding EFS automation, yes, you'll have the ability to see the trade confirmation messages sent from the broker once we've complete this feature. You'll be able to add all of your own logic to interrupt your system as needed.

There is currently no work around for EFS automation.

[MBender]

Thank you

Jason:

Thank you, and again, sorry for rambling.

Cheers,