Right settings for Sim account for FX

[vrom-nt]

Can somebody explain how to define right settings for simulation account to simulate trading with Forex.com? Standard settings give absolutelly non-adequate results in account tab. For ex. for 100,000 cash value buying power is only 200,000 (which is OK for stocks, probably). When simulation is running and Realized PnL cell shows trustworthy results this result does not correspond to the values appeared in Cash Value and Buying Power cells. Could it be that simulation account must be properly preset in Options/Simulator tab? If yes, how can it be done for mini-account Forex.com particulary.

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

See if the information here helps - http://www.ninjatrader-support.com/H...trategies.html

If not, let us know.

[vrom-nt]

Thank you, Ray. It helps partly. But one question still left uncleared. Why, when trading with live brokerage on Sim101 account, trading results do not reflect properly in cash account value for this Sim101? It leads to the lack of adequate performance analisys for simulated trading on this account. Is there any solution to overcome this drawback?

[NinjaTrader_JoshP]

By not properly displaying can you inform us of the behavior you are experiencing (what number you are seeing) and what you believe the number should be displaying instead? Thanks. Just trying to clarify exactly what you are experiencing.

[vrom-nt]

When trading in Sim101 account I see in Control Center account tab that Realized PnL value is, say, 30. That corresponds to 30 pips move (or $30 earning) in my chart traded Sim101 with 1 mini-lot of $EURUSD pair.
At the same time cash value cell shows 100000.03 amount (if initial value was 100000, as usual). I believed that this value should reflect real changes in Sim account, but instead it gives me the amount as if I traded 1 lot = $1.

[NinjaTrader_JoshP]

What are the settings you have in the Instrument Manager on your particular instrument? Check the tick size and point value.

[vrom-nt]

For all of my instruments tick size is 0.0001 and point value is 100000.

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

Will look into it.

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

I checked into it and this is a current limitation due to the complexities of supporting multiple FX brokers that all have different approaches to lot sizing and quoting of FX. I have put this on our list to review for NT7.

[burnzau]

Hi, referring to this post here:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=27780

I am currently using a Sim account with GAIN. I've just started running my strategies in live mode and noticed after one trade which has a realized loss of -$1035.12 but my cash balance has gone from $50K to -$34K.

Is this still a bug with NT7 (using 7.0.1000.4) or are my instrument settings wrong somehow?

Cheers.

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

burnzau, I'm not sure at this time, but will check into with development - this might take a few days unfortunately before I can provide an update for you.

Enjoy the holiday weekend,

[KBJ]

This was fully described in this 2009 posting:

How do I make more than 3 cents?

[burnzau]

Thanks KBJ, I think I understand this behavior with NT7 however this is not my issue.

For example, whilst backtesting using the Strategy Analyzer I used a contract size of 30,000. Now that I am running live strategies I am using a contract size of 3.

The P/L result for the trade is 100% correct (a losing trade of -$1000) however the cash value of my Sim account went from $50,000 to $-34,000.

Does this issue exist with real working accounts or only Sim accounts? I'll try and debug it further tonight when I get home.

[burnzau]

I've tried changing every setting in the Options -> Simulator tab and also in the Instrument Editor window and none of these settings is affecting the Cash Value of the Sim account when a trade is executed.

From the user manual, it mentions that the margin/unit parameter directly affects the cash value but this does not work for me.

[burnzau]

And a further update...

The Cash Value of the Sim account appears to be not affected by the "Rate" of an execution.

The Cash Value works perfect on USD based instruments but fails for other instruments such as AUDJPY and EURGBP. Please see examples below on a mini account, initial cash value $100,000.

Example 1:

Buy 15 EURGBP @ 0.8776 (Rate = 1.6467)
Sell 15 EURGBP @ 0.8673 (Rate = 1.6467)

Realized PnL = -$74.10
Cash Value = $99955.00 (Change of -$45)

Example 2:

Buy 5 AUDJPY @ 86.46 (Rate = 0.01237)
Sell 5 AUDJPY @ 86.43 (Rate = 0.01237)

Realized PnL = -$18.56
Cash Value = $98500 (Change of -$1500)