Zenfire connection problems

[spooz2]

I am using ID and Password info from original email from AMP Futures. This info worked until this AM!

Not knowing of systemic Zen Fire problem, I re-installed NT. Could this be the source of my continuing inability to connect?

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

spooz2, please contact Amp Futures and have them test your connection on their end. Unfortunately we cannot test any of their connections on our end by their request.

In the mean time, check if any software such as (corporate) firewalls, spyware and anti-virus software, could be blocking the connection.


Uninstalling/re-installing NinjaTrader likely does not solve the issue.

[gpq]

Thanks Jason and Radical, so to summarize, forgive my persistence, but I need to understand this better once and for all, all ATM bracket orders being OCO orders reside locally on your computer? If this is the case, then this is a major flaw in the system, especially when dealing with a shaky data source like Zenfire. These orders should at least reside on the broker's server and should have multiple order routing options to the markets.

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

No, OCO orders (the orders itself) reside at the broker or exchange once they receive a 'Working' or 'Accepted' status.

OCO functionality resides in NinjaTrader (the function to cancel one order when the other is filled) with Zen-Fire.

Let me know if this will not clarify it for you.

[gpq]

Thanks Jason, I finally have the complete picture. So, the next logical question is why doesn't Ninja Trader, through its exclusive partner Zenfire, arrange it so that the OCO functionality resides on either the Market servers or the Broker servers or both. Either that or get together with alternate order routing services that perform this function so that we clients can have a choice. There are enough risks in this business without this problem, which, in my estimation is easily solvable. This service is available with many brokers on their platforms. To be competititve, Ninja needs to do the same.

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

I will forward your suggestion to have OCO functionality reside at Zen-Fire to our Development team as and ask them if they can add this to the list of future considerations of the software.

Thank you for your feedback.

[dnoff]

I will forward your suggestion to have OCO functionality reside at Zen-Fire to our Development team as and ask them if they can add this to the list of future considerations of the software.

Thank you for your feedback.

I would second this. You can imagine several bad scenarios with a connection being down like this morning, you have two sell orders in the market, the broker lines being busy, and with OCO not working at the server, both get touched and you are now short the market (or vice versa) when you merely wanted to exist a position and cancel the other. To me having Zen/NT provide that safety valve/certainty would be huge

[ThatManFromTexas]

After the scare this morning I opened an account with DTN IQfeed. I set IQfeed up in Ninja Trader with Zenfire as the backup data feed. In a situation where the primary data feed goes down, what takes place then? Does Ninja Trader roll over automatically to the backup feed? What happens to orders that were accepted but had not been filled?

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hello ThatManFromTexas,

NinjaTrader will then pass all data-requests on to the second connection you established. In your case, these requests would be passed on to DTN.IQ.

For more information about how NinjaTrader uses multiple connections, please see the following link to our Help Guide: http://www.ninjatrader-support.com/H...leConnections1

[dnoff]

After the scare this morning I opened an account with DTN IQfeed. I set IQfeed up in Ninja Trader with Zenfire as the backup data feed. In a situation where the primary data feed goes down, what takes place then? Does Ninja Trader roll over automatically to the backup feed? What happens to orders that were accepted but had not been filled?

Problem with this is that this does not solve the issue that Zen handles the data and provides the account transactions as well...i.e. DTN will tell you that the current price is "X" but if Zen is broken like this morning you still cannot trade......

I would expect to have better communication from Zen about these issues:

What was the issue:
How is it being addressed:
How is that going to prevent this in the future:

That is the min owed by a service provider.

They marketing on the site quotes the 24/7, fully fault tolerant data service, which it is clearly is not at present. Without proper communication they are risking my account and many others from moving brokers to those with more stable platforms.

BTW, I don't think this was an NT issue at all, but with NT being so closely tied to ZF, there is a natural connection and radiation effort that unfortunately 'tars" NT also.

[ddhstl007]

nt emailed me saying my loss this morning was partly my fault for using nt7... would love to hear if nt6.5 worked this morning. seems ninja is passing the buck and will blame anyone but looking inward at themselves for using a system that has bugs. dont worry, based on the emails i received from nt, i m sure they will put zen under the bus, but that might be where they belong.

[dnoff]

nt emailed me saying my loss this morning was partly my fault for using nt7... would love to hear if nt6.5 worked this morning. seems ninja is passing the buck and will blame anyone but looking inward at themselves for using a system that has bugs. dont worry, based on the emails i received from nt, i m sure they will put zen under the bus, but that might be where they belong.

Interesting - If it is an NT 7 issue, many on NT 6.5 were also complaining about loss of Connectivity.......

Which is it NT????

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hello dnoff and ddhstl007,

According to our contact at Zen-Fire:

"There were issues with multiple ISP's this morning.

Most are resolved, but there's still (as of around 11:45 AM EDT on the 16th) an issue with their Level III ISP. "

[gpq]

Dnoff, as you can see from my screen shot, I had connection problems with Zenfire this morning and I am using NT 6.5.

And Kyle, what are the "issues with multiple ISP's"? I pinged servers in Chicago with http://www.pingtest.net/ and I have a clear (but not perfect; grade = B line quality) high speed connection between my computer and theirs. Is this the issue, a ping test at the time the loss occurs would show a poor connection, or is it something more fundamental with the Zenfire servers? Is this a test we need to perform in our "morning routine" before committing our hard earned bucks to the market, maybe even pinging the Zenfire servers directly?

I agree with others here that Zenfire owes us a detailed explanation.

[MikeInMA]

With respect to blaming ddhstl007 for losses due to using version 7, I get the impression that NinjaTrader simply provided Canned Answer Number 12 saying "Version 7 is beta software, use it at your own risk." But sorry, we expect better, which means thoroughly understanding an issue before responding. Because as far as I can tell the same thing could have happened today to a 6.5 user.

Also along the lines of doing better, I really think NinjaTrader needs to find a better way to disseminate important information like connectivity issues. This morning I – like others, I'm sure – restarted Ninja, repaired my DB and finally resorted to rebooting my system before looking at the forum. (Won't make that mistake again....) And while the forum seemed to confirm there was a problem because many users were reporting it, there was nothing official from NinjaTrader for an hour. And even then, all we heard (from Jason) was that Zen-Fire was contacted but so far there was no news.

First of all, I can't believe nobody knew nothing for over an hour. If the problem was internal to Ninja, where somebody got information and then it became a game of Telephone as the information trickled down to Support so they could update the forum, well, fix that. If the problem really was a lack of a response from Zen-Fire, then NinjaTrader folks need to be on them like white on rice. Squeaky wheels really do get greased.

Beyond that, though, is the issue that users end up having to pull information like this from NinjaTrader, and I'd really like to suggest that NinjaTrader think about how you could push it to us instead. I don't know what that means. Tweet it? Allow us to subscribe to an email list for our connectivity provider? Other? But like I said: I think you should think about it....