carrying overnight positions with Trading Technologies

[ImaNinja2]

Kyle,

This has been our recommendation as far back as I can recall.

I was not aware of that since i don't ever remember reading about not holding positions overnight with zenfire (only with TT) - there was never any kind of warning. There is a lack of transparency about overnight positions & NT - can you atleast tell us what would happen if we hold a positon overnight, what are the risks?

I have been holding positions overnight with zen-fire and i haven't had any problems - am i risking my account doing so?

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

ImaNinja2,

This is simply our recommendation.

The reason that we recommend you do not hold positions over night is due (primarially) to PnL reporting.

PnL reporting can be effected by an adjustment referred to as 'Marked-to-Market'.

When a product closes for the day and goes to a pre-open state, the broker will carry the position forward at the settlement price (*). When the futures contact closes and moves from a 'closed' to 'pre-open' a few minutes later, the open PnL is booked and set to '0'. The new average price is then set to the price the market is trading at the open. This is technically correct and expected for all futures contracts. This is referred to as 'Marked-to-Market' and is how all futures contracts are handled.


*: In electronic futures, the broker will use the last traded price since the settlement is actually done in the pit and the broker will have no access to that data until the end of the day.

[ImaNinja2]

Kyle, thankyou very much for clarifying that. that was never an issue for me since i rarely use the account performance tab of NT, and instead check my broker for PNL.

So is that the same issue with TT data feed also? So basically the server reset at midnight just sets the PNL to Zero? if i were to hold positions overnight w/ TT - they will be reported correctly (e.g the # of contracts and short/long) & visible but only PNL will be wrong correct?

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hi ImaNinja2,

No - with TT, there are additional issues beyond this marked-to-market adjustment which can throw NT off.

[ImaNinja2]

okay, i've got it.

thanks a lot for answering my questions Kyle

[MarkT]

Definitely not

Well said. He is right. DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT HOLD POSITIONS OVERNIGHT WITH NT and TT.

I STRONGLY AREE: and I rarely use caps in messages

I had one experience with that, and finally managed to persuad the broker to close my position just before market opened, as I couldnt control it in NT (30 minutes on phone). Gladly it was a winner, but would have been a substantial loss (within an hour of the opening bell) had I not seen the item in my account report. I wont mention the broker, but there apparently is some pain involved for them to manipulate that type of positions manually for customers.

Mark

[BrianL]

Ok so I have an issue with this carrying overnight positions using TT. I literally just purchased a NinjaTrader Live license for TT about 30 mins ago. I use Velocity Futures as my broker. When I saw the disclaimer I freaked. I want to run strategies 24hrs and not have reporting/worrying issues like the ones stated in the thread. Switching to NinjaTrader was supposed to make it easier not more risky with less capability.

Is there ANY broker - Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade, etc. that you would recommend that you could run Futures strategies on a 24hr basis without NinjaTrader getting screwed up? I will gladly change brokers for this non-hassle/capability. This was one of the PRIMARY reasons for me purchasing the Live license for TT. The disclaimer about this issue was not properly transparent when I purchased the live license, only until AFTER I had actually completed the transaction was this fact presented to me.

OR is it that you just don't recommend using NinjaTrader AT ALL for strategies that carry positions into the overnight session and ONLY stick to 9:30am to 4:15pm times? If so I'd like a complete refund of my money and I'll use another product that allows me to trade 24hrs a day without screwing up.

[NinjaTraderEcosystem_Ryan]

Hi Brian:

Thank you for your post and support email. I have replied to your email requesting a phone number and best time to reach you to discuss your inquiry.

Thanks.

[lurefo]

Hi, I run into this problem today.

I couldn't close my NQ position before the close yesterday and was long into the close. I went flat when it re-opened. Now as expected NT is a bit messed up and shows me that I'm short.

I had confirmation that I'm indeed flat on the market taking into account both days executions so what should I do in NT to reflect my real market position please?

Thanks.

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hello lurefo,

Thank you for your post.

Please send a note to Support [AT] NinjaTrader [DOT] com with 'ATTN: Kyle' in the subject line.

In the message, please include the following:
1.) A link to this forum thread.

2.) Your most current log file.
You will find the log file in the Documents > NinjaTrader 6.5 (or 7) > Log folder.
Today's log file will be named 'log.20101119.txt'.