Autotrading through NT, Actual users: Your experince? Does it work well?

[TAJTrades]

heech,

Thank you for that last bit of info on hosting. I am not that far along in the process (I did code this strategy myself - Big, big, Red Flag). Can you keep us posted on how that is working out for you?

[heech]

heech,

The hosted server is a unique idea.

Regarding the start up problems, what kind of issues are you having that you have to manually correct each morning? Just curious.

I'm West Coast, so time is an issue.

I usually work on updating code in the evening. And then before heading to bed, I've been trying to leave a chart setup with the strategy.

Over the past week, I've had different problems. Operator error in the very beginning, followed by:

- one day where the chart simply didn't update with new bars after the open (still not diagnosed), nothing ran.

- another day where the connection was apparently lost overnight, but NT didn't detect it until I took over in the morning. (Logs show "connection lost"/"reconnected" only when I tried to open a new chart.)

- and this morning, where a bug in NT charts (duplicated data) meant I couldn't setup a strategy at all last night... and I was relying on the macros software to start one up for me, except I apparently didn't configure *that* correctly either.

So, a mixture of my problems and possibly NT's problems.

[cunparis]

So, I'm now going with a hosted Windows server. It costs me about ~$170 month, which isn't a lot of money in the big picture. For that money, I get a Windows Server platform sitting in a high-security data center, behind industrial grade routers probably redundant beyond belief, all managed 24/7 by a professional IT team.

I never thought of that but it's a great idea. Even better I can write it off as a business expense for my job.

[heech]

heech,

Thank you for that last bit of info on hosting. I am not that far along in the process (I did code this strategy myself - Big, big, Red Flag). Can you keep us posted on how that is working out for you?

Sure, I'll do that. Seems to have been a great decision so far. I love the idea I can just hit "OS reload" on the control panel if things ever get goofy, and a few hours later, everything will be out of the box clean/new. They handle anti-virus for me. Industrial grade firewalls. I can get someone to replace the power supply if it fails, etc, etc... These guys are supplying customers that need 99.99% reliability on their webservers/application servers.. that works for me.

And like I was talking about on a different thread yesterday, I'm seriously pondering getting two machines, just so I can have a redundant one ready to go "if". That's as easy as clicking a few buttons and writing a few email.

The markets aren't cooperating with me today (big sigh), but the hardware isn't the reason.

[ctrlbrk]

- one day where the chart simply didn't update with new bars after the open (still not diagnosed), nothing ran.

heech, if you are executing the strategy from your chart, may I suggest you instead close all charts and execute the strategy from the strategies tab of the control center instead. This is what I do. Personally I keep the charts closed when I am not on the system because of resource concerns, but I open them when I am around. Still, the strategy tab is where the strategy is executed from, not the chart, in my case.

Might help?

[heech]

heech, if you are executing the strategy from your chart, may I suggest you instead close all charts and execute the strategy from the strategies tab of the control center instead. This is what I do. Personally I keep the charts closed when I am not on the system because of resource concerns, but I open them when I am around. Still, the strategy tab is where the strategy is executed from, not the chart, in my case.

Might help?

ctrlbrk,

Yep, that's definitely sound advice. I didn't understand how "days back" worked... (the phrasing in the dialog itself is simply misleading), but thanks to Josh's explanation, that's what I'm doing now. Sounds like that's working consistently for you, so hopefully the rest of this week will work out better.

[ctrlbrk]

heech,

Regarding the remote hosted server.

a) Why not use your own local machine as your 'secondary' or 'backup' machine?

b) Keep in mind if your local internet connection dies, or your PC, power, etc etc etc, you won't have any way to manage your hosted server. So the server may be running, but it may also be sitting on a crashed NT window?

[ctrlbrk]

I didn't understand how "days back" worked... (the phrasing in the dialog itself is simply misleading), but thanks to Josh's explanation, that's what I'm doing now. Sounds like that's working consistently for you, so hopefully the rest of this week will work out better.

What did he say? Just to be sure I have a clear understanding myself

[heech]

heech,

Regarding the remote hosted server.

a) Why not use your own local machine as your 'secondary' or 'backup' machine?

b) Keep in mind if your local internet connection dies, or your PC, power, etc etc etc, you won't have any way to manage your hosted server. So the server may be running, but it may also be sitting on a crashed NT window?

a) I didn't really want the headache of maintaining my local machine in "ready to run" state. I want the luxury of trashing it, downgrading/upgrading NT, etc, as I see necessary. Having another isolated "production" machine that I never touch is preferable.

b) That's definitely another possibility to consider. For me, the scenario where I can't manage the server isn't a disaster... my code is supposed to run unattended, anyways. And besides, worst case, I'll just drive to a Starbucks with my laptop (or get a machine at Fedex "Office") and connect to the server.

All I need to manage the hosted server is a Windows machine with an Internet connection. I'm leaving the country in about a week, and I plan to leave my strategy running (and monitoring remotely)... so this is important to me.

[heech]

What did he say? Just to be sure I have a clear understanding myself

I guess he didn't really explain it. He just repeated himself, but it clicked for me this time.

http://www.ninjatrader-support2.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12166

[ctrlbrk]

Wow thanks for that. Learn something new every day. I will need to play with this, it might help me better grip why backtesting results differ from live results (beyond the typical reasons).

[ju1234]

Thank you very much guys for great discussion.

I was wondering if it is possible: when the strategy is started on a chart in the morning or intraday after turning it off or accidental disconnect etc, it can give an option to say something like "enter the number of positions open at this time" and have a space where you enter the number that you know from your brokerage account?

[heech]

- and this morning, where a bug in NT charts (duplicated data) meant I couldn't setup a strategy at all last night... and I was relying on the macros software to start one up for me, except I apparently didn't configure *that* correctly either.

Unbelievable. I guess the issue with the macros software is that it's "try-ware", and I have to click a button *at* the schedule time before the macros actually runs. I wish they had made that more obvious. I thought the only restriction was on the number of executions.

Other than that piece of small idiocy... the macros tool seems great Anyone interested in it, look at Workspace Macro Pro. Just pay the $39.95 or whatever it is in advance of actually trying to use it for a scheduled event that you're not there for.

[ctrlbrk]

lol, you need another macro software to press the 'trial' button on the first macro software!

[Operandi]

b) Keep in mind if your local internet connection dies, or your PC, power, etc etc etc, you won't have any way to manage your hosted server. So the server may be running, but it may also be sitting on a crashed NT window?

The way around this issue is to have a G3 mobile connection running from you laptop, so if your home Internet connection drops, then you connect to the Internet from your laptop using the G3 modem.

You then log into the remotely hosted Windows server using RDP (remote desktop protocol, or thin client).

Using a G3 mobile connection has saved me on one memorable occasion when the Internet connection dropped as I was entering a stop loss order into TWS from my desktop PC. Luckily the laptop was already connected to the Internet using the modem so I quickly booted up TWS and closed the trade down.

I always have the laptop and G3 modem setup running as contingency when trading.

Chris