vanishing demo trades

[mikesmen40]

I trade interactive brokers forex. I had eight demo trades open at the end of day Friday. Sunday evening two of them were gone. NT7 data logs confirm this. There were no stops or any working orders on any of these trades. How common is this? Is this a problem on demo accounts only? It's not a fuzzy feeling when trades vanish, demo or not.

I'm pretty sure this is an IB issue, but maybe there is a way to track these things better in ninja. What do you do when you have many open trades? Then some just vanish without any trace, order, or executions to track. You'd be lucky to notice it quickly.

When logging out NT says "you have xxx number of open trades, do you really want to close?" Maybe it should say when you log in.... "Dude! You Had eight open trades, now you don't...check ur orders." Lol!

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hello,

Thanks for writing in.

Would these have been orders in NinjaTrader's Sim101 account or in a paper trading account at IB?

[mikesmen40]

Hi Kyle,

I Have three sim accounts in NT7. Sim101, one for long trades, and one for short trades. I had one trade from the short and long accounts vanish. Two in total. Any idea why?

Thank you, 40MM

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hi mikesmen40,

I'm not yet sure why.

Could you tell me a bit more about these trades? Was an ATM strategy used? Which instrument was traded?

[mikesmen40]

Kyle,

No ATM strategy used. These orders were placed on chart trader. Limit orders. EUR/USD short on 11/15/2011 then gone on 12/18/2011.

USD/CAD Long "same dates"

Two trades... two different sim accounts.

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hi mikesmen40,

Did the two orders execute before you had shut the software down? If not., do you recall setting TIF to good until canceled?

[mikesmen40]

No, I didn't execute any close orders for these trades. I generated a search of past executions in NT, and it resulted in just entry orders for these 2 trades...no exits. I changed nothing regarding TIF to GTC. These trades were opened with the intent to float with the market...just like the other six that are still open.

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hi mikesmen40,

I'm still a bit unclear. At the time NinjaTrader was shut down, were the Limit orders still pending or had those orders executed to enter in to a position?

[mikesmen40]

These missing trades were open (alive in the market) since 11/15 / 2011. At market open on 12/18/2011 they were gone. No executions, orders, or any info to track what happened...just gone. So these trades have been around over a month.....

I can understand if this may be demo issues.... does any body have any input on this?

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

mikesmen40,

Thanks for clarifying.

I would not know why an open position such as this would disappear as you describe. Please send a note to Support [AT] NinjaTrader [DOT] com so that I may further investigate.

In the message, include a link to this forum thread and a copy of your log file from today and from the last day you saw the position open.

You will find the log files in the Documents > NinjaTrader 7 > Log folder.
Log files are named by date in a YYYYMMDD format. Today's log file, for example, would be named 'log.20111220.txt'.

[mikesmen40]

Ok, Been offline for a week due to network issues. Log back in to NT to find three demo trades left of my original eight. The rest are gone with no explanation. I sent my logs when you asked. Now that we're past the holidays, maybe we can figure this out.

Is this common? Does IB sweep older demo trades off their system? Anyone else with this issue? Feel free to post. Cuz if it's just me with this problem....well, that just sux!

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hi,

Please reply to me in the email string we have open and we'll work from there.

[mikesmen40]

Ok, I did reply quite awhile ago. I resent my logs when you asked. I guess i fell through the cracks.

I no longer have any of my demo trades that i opened. One by one they disappeared. I did have time today to contact IB. Their response of course was "Well on our end, positions do not disappear, from real or simulated accounts" And she went on to say that i didn't have a paper trading account them. And she also wasn't sure how ninja handles demo accounts via IB. And to be honest i don't either.

My gut feeling is that i created multiple sim accounts on my ninja account. My understanding is that you are entitled to one sim account (sim101) for trial users. Since i am a paying customer i can create multiple sim accounts. Maybe just trades with sim101 will stay long term(not get deleted) while other sim accounts get wiped? Guess I'll have to try that next. I don't know, I'm really in the middle here..and both sides...(Ninja and IB) don't really have answers yet.

I'm really hesitant on live trading until this is resolved.....thank you for your help.

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Can you please clarify how long these trades were open for? Roughly, do they disappear after ~30 days?

[mikesmen40]

Yes, they are roughly 30 days. I havn't kept track exactly. Kinda slowed down with the trading till i had time to contact IB. But one by one, these demo trades slowly vanished with no warning or info to trace what happened. All i have is entry info...nothing for exits. You wouldn't even know that they are gone if you have a handful of trades going.