I have been using NT for about 14 years.
NT is equal part great and equal part enormously frustrating.
Here are a few tips I have found greatly improve my experience when you ACTUALLY trade.
1. Try NOT to use Global anything - esp the Cursor. Sometimes it can't be avoided but be judicious.
2. Only load the no of Bars on a chart you truly need - if you are looking at 5 min bars do you need 5 days worth on THIS chart?
You can have a separate chart with a long history as another chart. Your trade chart should be short, quick and fast.
Equally however try to have as few workspaces/charts open as you can get away with.
3.Restrict the no of drawings you do if you use indicators via code. There is a separate section below on something similarly useful.
In OnBarUpdate
if(Number_Of_Markers != 99 && Number_Of_Markers <= marker_Count)
marker_Count = 1;
In Properties section of code
[Display(Name="No Of Markers?", Description="99 = show all", Order=5, GroupName="1.Show")]
[RefreshProperties(RefreshProperties.All)]
public int Number_Of_Markers
{ get; set ; }
then use for drawing as the tag - example below
DrawingTools.Dotp dott = DrawPlus.Dotp(this,"dot"+(Number_Of_Markers == 99 ?CurrentBar:marker_Count),true,0,Close[0],dotBrush,myDotSize,Brushes.Goldenrod);
marker_Count += 1;
4. In the same vein you can restrict the no of bars your indicator actually works on to, for example, just the screen you are looking at instead of all 10,000 bars. if you do occasionally need to look at indicator history again have it on your non trading chart, your trading chart needs to be fast and nimble.
In OnBarUpdate
if(RealTimeOnly && CurrentBar < ChartBars.FromIndex)//State == State.Historical)
return;
then your normal OBU logic
In Properties section
[Display(Name="Real Time Only", Description="NO History",
Order=13, GroupName="Indicator Setup")]
public bool
RealTimeOnly
{ get; set; }
5.Avoid using RemoveDrawObject() - I find it reduces code speed by leagues. Dont' know why I am not a real coder.
6. Bit radical this one.
Have two computers, or a laptop and a computer or last resort have a virtual computer on the same computer.
Both running NT - then when it breaks down/ data gets frozen, etc, etc - you can switch whilst the other one reloads, crashes, takes all your money - that kind of thing.
One of the things I learnt most from trading is that the unexpected - and it always happens at exactly the wrong moment - causes panic. And panic leads to fluster which almost invariably means decision making is f****d.
Which is not what you want.
Seamlessly switching ( and you should practice by the way) eases the tension and means you can carry on and continue with your trade/ exit sensibly if you need to and then sort the broken machine out when you DON"T have to worry about money or missed opportunities.
I have two data feeds from 2 suppliers - but you can run multiple machines on NT if you look carefully at how to do it ;-)
Lastly - move on to NT8 - it is difficult I know but it really doesn't take that long to master. And you don't use Windows95 anymore do you?
That's it - hope you find these ideas useful or at least thought provoking.
Happy trading
Mindset.
NT is equal part great and equal part enormously frustrating.
Here are a few tips I have found greatly improve my experience when you ACTUALLY trade.
1. Try NOT to use Global anything - esp the Cursor. Sometimes it can't be avoided but be judicious.
2. Only load the no of Bars on a chart you truly need - if you are looking at 5 min bars do you need 5 days worth on THIS chart?
You can have a separate chart with a long history as another chart. Your trade chart should be short, quick and fast.
Equally however try to have as few workspaces/charts open as you can get away with.
3.Restrict the no of drawings you do if you use indicators via code. There is a separate section below on something similarly useful.
In OnBarUpdate
if(Number_Of_Markers != 99 && Number_Of_Markers <= marker_Count)
marker_Count = 1;
In Properties section of code
[Display(Name="No Of Markers?", Description="99 = show all", Order=5, GroupName="1.Show")]
[RefreshProperties(RefreshProperties.All)]
public int Number_Of_Markers
{ get; set ; }
then use for drawing as the tag - example below
DrawingTools.Dotp dott = DrawPlus.Dotp(this,"dot"+(Number_Of_Markers == 99 ?CurrentBar:marker_Count),true,0,Close[0],dotBrush,myDotSize,Brushes.Goldenrod);
marker_Count += 1;
4. In the same vein you can restrict the no of bars your indicator actually works on to, for example, just the screen you are looking at instead of all 10,000 bars. if you do occasionally need to look at indicator history again have it on your non trading chart, your trading chart needs to be fast and nimble.
In OnBarUpdate
if(RealTimeOnly && CurrentBar < ChartBars.FromIndex)//State == State.Historical)
return;
then your normal OBU logic
In Properties section
[Display(Name="Real Time Only", Description="NO History",
Order=13, GroupName="Indicator Setup")]
public bool
RealTimeOnly
{ get; set; }
5.Avoid using RemoveDrawObject() - I find it reduces code speed by leagues. Dont' know why I am not a real coder.
6. Bit radical this one.
Have two computers, or a laptop and a computer or last resort have a virtual computer on the same computer.
Both running NT - then when it breaks down/ data gets frozen, etc, etc - you can switch whilst the other one reloads, crashes, takes all your money - that kind of thing.
One of the things I learnt most from trading is that the unexpected - and it always happens at exactly the wrong moment - causes panic. And panic leads to fluster which almost invariably means decision making is f****d.
Which is not what you want.
Seamlessly switching ( and you should practice by the way) eases the tension and means you can carry on and continue with your trade/ exit sensibly if you need to and then sort the broken machine out when you DON"T have to worry about money or missed opportunities.
I have two data feeds from 2 suppliers - but you can run multiple machines on NT if you look carefully at how to do it ;-)
Lastly - move on to NT8 - it is difficult I know but it really doesn't take that long to master. And you don't use Windows95 anymore do you?
That's it - hope you find these ideas useful or at least thought provoking.
Happy trading
Mindset.
