Enabling strategies is very slow to respond

[angela d]

I'm having an issue with enabling the automated strategies from the Control Center.

For some reason, it requires that I double click the check box. Then the grid line for that strategy disappears from the grid for 3 - 5 seconds, and the platform freezes. Then it reappears and the strategy is enabled. As you might imagine, this is very jarring to anyone trying to trade a volatile market.

Thanks in advance for any solution you might have.

[NinjaTrader_PatrickH]

Hello angela d,

Thank you for your post.

Can you send us your log and trace files to investigate further?

You can send the files by going to Help > Mail To Support. Ensure 'ATTN: Patrick H - 1450024' is listed in the subject line.

[koganam]

... For some reason, it requires that I double click the check box.

Not quite. It requires one click to select the row, and one click to activate the box.

Then the grid line for that strategy disappears from the grid for 3 - 5 seconds, and the platform freezes. Then it reappears and the strategy is enabled. As you might imagine, this is very jarring to anyone trying to trade a volatile market.

Thanks in advance for any solution you might have.

Only 5 seconds? Your strategy must not be very resource intensive.

After you enable a Strategy, NT must calculate and perform actions over the historical data loaded for the strategy. That is the only place where you can effect change, and it is only you who can do so.

You will need to reduce the processing load for Historical data. Either:

• Reduce the number of days/bars that will be processed.
• Reduce the complexity of your strategy, so that it can calculate faster over the historical bars.
• Skip processing of historical bars and make it a realtime only strategy.

Of course, one can always get a computer with more oomph, but that is a different kettle of fish.

[angela d]

I have a brand new, custom-built desktop computer that is made for traders, with 32G of ram. It has very little on it, apart from trading and charting platforms. It has plenty of oomph, but thanks for that very helpful suggestion.

Furthermore, I trade with others who have less powerful machines, and they are not experiencing this issue.

Edit: they're not experiencing the same issues with the same strategies.

[koganam]

I have a brand new, custom-built desktop computer that is made for traders, with 32G of ram. It has very little on it, apart from trading and charting platforms. It has plenty of oomph, but thanks for that very helpful suggestion.

Furthermore, I trade with others who have less powerful machines, and they are not experiencing this issue.

Yes, but are they trading the same strategy with exactly all the same indicators loaded on their machines? Unless, they have exact duplicates of your NT setup, all comparisons are pretty pointless, other than to show that one system works differently from another.

Sorry, but you are going to have to concentrate on what to do with your setup. Comparisons do not mean much. That means just what I have said: reduce the load from the initial calculations over historical data when the strategy is first enabled.

I, for example have one pretty simple strategy that nonetheless has to call another indicator, which uses Lists and statistical calculations pretty extensively to return an expectation ratio, a target and a stop loss, all of which are checked for viability, then place a trade if qualified. (In other words, quite a few objects get created, modified and destroyed in each bar). Over a 34-day processing period on 10 minute bars, it takes all of 12 seconds to load. Increase the number of days to 89, and it takes closer to 20 seconds. On the other hand, I have another very simple strategy that returns fully loaded and functional in 3 seconds.

Of course, as I manually trade on 30 minute charts, it may simply be that my sense of trading time is very different from yours, but really, 5 seconds? . Sure if scalping, 5 seconds may be a long time, though I would doubt so even then. Frankly, in any realistic scenario, I do not think that you are going to get much better enabling speed than 3 seconds, and I really do not think that that is an unreasonable time. Heck, if trading manually, it takes longer than that to just get the correct price and place the trade on Chart Trader after getting the entry signal. The again, everybody has different perceptions of acceptable time horizons.

All the best.

[angela d]

koganam,

Thanks for your response.

No, we don't all have totally identical resources and workspaces, etc., but they're very similar. I'm amazed at how differently my platform behaves, compared to theirs. And my computer is more powerful than any of theirs.

That said, I do trade much shorter time frames than you do. I have set all of my strategies set to load 2 days. That seems pretty short, but I'm not using all time-based charts. The charts on which I have the strategies loaded are Unirenko.

Thanks again,
angela

[koganam]

koganam,

Thanks for your response.

No, we don't all have totally identical resources and workspaces, etc., but they're very similar. I'm amazed at how differently my platform behaves, compared to theirs. And my computer is more powerful than any of theirs.

That said, I do trade much shorter time frames than you do. I have set all of my strategies set to load 2 days. That seems pretty short, but I'm not using all time-based charts. The charts on which I have the strategies loaded are Unirenko.

Thanks again,
angela

Have you tried loading that strategy on time-based chart, as a test, even if it makes no sense to the generation or orders? Just a relative test of loading time. Remember that UniRenko is itself not a reported bar, but a calculated bar, so introduces its own overhead.

[angela d]

" Remember that UniRenko is itself not a reported bar, but a calculated bar, so introduces its own overhead."

I was just thinking to test this on a time-based chart, which I will do as soon as I get back to my desk.

Edit: One other issue that I experience from time to time is that more than one strategy will become enabled when I click to enable one, but suddenly 2 strategies are enabled.

Edit 2: They load very quickly on a 3 minute chart.

Edit 3: when I change the time frame on my ES chart, it loads up a bunch of DAX strategies in the Control Center. I don't even have a DAX chart anywhere.

Thanks again koganam.

[koganam]

" Remember that UniRenko is itself not a reported bar, but a calculated bar, so introduces its own overhead."

I was just thinking to test this on a time-based chart, which I will do as soon as I get back to my desk.

Edit: One other issue that I experience from time to time is that more than one strategy will become enabled when I click to enable one, but suddenly 2 strategies are enabled.

Sounds like an imprecise or overly sensitive mouse. What mouse are you using?

Edit 2: They load very quickly on a 3 minute chart.

Perchance, I should say: QED?

[angela d]

Sounds like an imprecise or overly sensitive mouse. What mouse are you using?

A wireless Logitech.

Perchance, I should say: QED?

Sure, go ahead.

I'm curious if you have any insight on my 3rd edit.

thanks,
a

[koganam]

A wireless Logitech.

Have you had any other situation outside of NT, when you clicked once, but got behavior that suggested that you had double-clicked?

I'm curious if you have any insight on my 3rd edit.

thanks,
a

Not really. That does sound a bit strange. Does the symbol on the chart change too, or just on the Control Panel?

[angela d]

Have you had any other situation outside of NT, when you clicked once, but got behavior that suggested that you had double-clicked?

Nope.

Not really. That does sound a bit strange. Does the symbol on the chart change too, or just on the Control Panel?

Nope. The strategies appeared on the Control Panel, but I didn't have a DAX chart open, nor had any of the charts switched to DAX from the other instruments that I trade.

thanks!
a