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  • CoolTrade Community > Au   Regina Guinn CoolTrade Article

    Frequently Asked Questions
     
    Re: Report export as comma separated, etc
    I’ve been having success importing it to Excel and using space as the delimiter. It’s a tiny bit of work. A little formatting and adding a few columns and it’s perfect.

    All of it can be done as a macro and this becomes a few clicks and it’s done.

    Re: MBtrading datafeed login fails
    FYI I had this trouble when updating CT
    MBT Navigator Pro has been rebranded as MBT Desktop Pro
    installed MBT Desktop Pro, CT works ok now

    Make sure you download the developer version that works with MB’s new Desktop Pro.

    CT

    Re: Closing out positions for no reason
    I experienced something similar where it would not show me owning a stock, and my broker showed I still had it. When I checked CT, it had placed it on the blocked list. I unblocked it, and CT added it back to blocked time and time again.

    What had happened is that I manually bought extra shares through my broker and the shares did not add up to my share setting in CT (300 shares setting | I owned 300 and I bought 200 extra thru broker for a total of 500. These "ODD SHARES" as CT seen caused it to delete and block my shares every time. (Even after unblocking them CT blocked them again.)

    To get around this issue I tried two things, either one will work as I discovered.

    1. ) Change your lots to 100 shares which will even out the entire stocks share lots (unless you have an amount of shares you purchased manually that cannot be divide equally by 100.
    2.) Buy enough shares manually through your broker to match the shares allotment you specified in CT.

    For whatever reason CT doesn’t handle ODD SHARES when you change your fixed lot size.

    Hope this is your case and you are able to resolve.

    5 minutes bars
    I have a strategy that looks at the 20 period SMA, each period being 5 minutes.

    When I run the strategy with Cool-trade as the feed in simulation mode, the above SMA evaluates to -1 for 100 minutes. If I have to restart cool-trade mid-day, this also happens.

    Is it possible to get cool trade to use the prior day’s 5 minute bars?

    TIA.

    The -1 means that it does not have enough minute bars to make the calculation.

    The only 2 brokers that work with CoolTrade that provide historical minute bars to enable using the previous days data for the calculations are TD AMERITRADE and INTERACTIVE BROKERS. If you use one of those brokers then the indicators will immediate return values other than -1.

    Hedge

    Appreciate the reply. Do you know if ETrade supports the historical data as well?

    One more question regarding the "offset" on, say, a simple moving average. 0 = current bar, 1= one bar back. What does an offset of "-1" mean?

    thanks again.

    >>>Do you know if ETrade supports the historical data as well?

    ETRADE does not have historical minute bars yet, either.
    That is planned for a future release.

    >>>0 = current bar, 1= one bar back. What does an offset of "-1" mean?

    offset -1 is special. It is used for adding to position rules and exit position rules.
    It stores the open position bar. That way you can write Add To Postion Rules and Exit Position Rules by comparing different offsets with the offset of the bar that was used for opening the position.

    For example, to see if the current 5 minute bars low is lower than the low of the bar that the position was opened with:

    Intraday Low (1, 5, 0) < Intraday Low (1, 5, -1)

    Also, offset -2 = the bar before Open Position Bar, offset -3 is the bar before that, etc.

    Enlightened

    Brokers if in Canada
    Anyone running CT from within Canada? if so which brokers have they experience with and which would they recommend?

    Thx

    I’m not in Canada, but I believe most people outside the U.S. use Interactive Brokers. They have a great datafeed and great low trade fees.

    Enlightened

    I’m in Toronto. Used IB for 2 years. No issues with them. TWS is really very nice once you get a feel for it.

    Today was my first day using CT and I had some issues going live so I just went back to Sim mode to do some testing. Will try the live feed again tomorrow.

    If it didn’t connect today, I can’t imagine why it would connect tomorrow.

    You probably have configuration issues.

    You should send email to technicalSupport@cool-trade.com and they will reply back with detailed instructions on how to configure TWS to work with CoolTrade.

    Hedge

    New to CT - Couple of simple questions
    First day sim trading with CT today. Worked well, and it looks like I’ll close in the black. It’s pretty intuitive and so far I’m happy, although I wish there was a lot more documentation.

    I have a couple of questions for the vets out here. They seem pretty obvious to me but a quick search of the boards didn’t leave me with answers.

    1. What do all the colors mean on the positions panel mean? Yellow ? Purple?

    2. How can I simply see if I have been stopped out on a trade?

    3. How can I see the status of a trade, ie a trailing stop?

    4. I intend to use my IB account for live trading. Does it make sense to use the CT data feed or could it cause execution problems?

    Thanks very much in advance. I hope you all had green screens today.

    Drew

    Welcome.

    1. What do all the colors mean on the positions panel mean? Yellow ? Purple?

    I DON’T BELIEVE I HAVE EVER SEEN ANYTHING RELATED TO THE COLORS DOCUMENTED. I THINK RED MEANS DOWN AND GREEN MEANS UP. OTHER THAN THAT I THINK THE DIFF COLORS MAY JUST BE A WAY TO GROUP THINGS.

    2. How can I simply see if I have been stopped out on a trade?

    IN THE ROBOTIC TRADER (TOP-RIGHT) SELECT "SHOW TRADES" AND WHEN IT CLOSES A POSITION IT WILL PUT A DESCRIPTION OF THE RULE THAT CAUSED THE CLOSE. IT DOES NOT SHOW ANYTHING IF IT CLOSED AS THE RESULT OF PROFIT THOUGH.

    3. How can I see the status of a trade, ie a trailing stop?

    THE RULES BUTTON FOUND ON THE MENU WILL SHOW THE INDICATOR VALUES. ALSO IN THE ACTIVE LIST IT SHOWS THE PRICE IT EXPECTS TO CLOSE AT "LIMIT PRICE", BUT IT DOES NOT CURRENTLY SHOW THE STOP LOSS AND TRAILING STOP VALUES.

    4. I intend to use my IB account for live trading. Does it make sense to use the CT data feed or could it cause execution problems?

    YOU CANNOT USE THE COOLTRADE DATAFEED FOR LIVE TRADING. THE DATA FEED OPTIONS ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE LOGIN SCREEN ARE ONLY FOR WHEN YOU ARE LOGGED INTO THE SIMULATOR. THE LIVE OPTIONS ON RIGHT AUTOMATICALLY USE THE BROKERS DATA FEED.

    HEDGE

    Problem Setting Auto Start for CT
    Hello,
    New to CT and am currently running sim. I Wanted to activate the schedule task on my computer (Windows XP) and cannot get it to run. I did the fix found in the threads by adding the /a. Here is a screenshot of the error note I get. Amy thoughts???



    Thanks,
    Pete

    On the Task tab, instead of entering a username/password, make sure "Run only if logged on" is checked on the lower-left of the screen. It will then blank out the password field and let the job run, as long as Windows is running.

    Enlightened

    Remote or Duplicate login
    I logged into the Automated trader on a separate computer than where my trades were taking place and my trader stopped trading and logged me off. Is it possible to be logged into more than 2 places? i dont want to automate trading when Im at my job but would like to make modifications or perhaps remote into my home trader if dual login is not possible

    I believe if you were logged in on one machine and a 2nd login is detected, the first one will be logged off.

    Since everything is stored with a unique email address, multiple automated traders running with the same email address will interfere with each other.

    CT

    You can log into multiple machines with the Strategy Wizard, but not with the Automated Trader.

    Thanks for the reply. This creates a problem for me as I was hoping to travel and make modifications to the auto trader with the mobil computer while the non mobil trader remains at home. I read something where I can remote into cool-trade. is that so? how can i relanch the auto trader remotely? I know that it will auto start the next day> my only thought is to tell windows task scheduler to start automated trader every hour (if it is not already running. Im not sure such a command exsist).

    There are many way to update your Automated Trader.

    1. you can launch your Automated Trader in the after or pre market to change an Automated Trader setting. However, most changes can be done through the Strategy Wizard and the Strategy Wizard can be run from any computer.

    2. Use TeamViewer.com or LogMeIn.com
    Both are free remote access sites that allow you to remotely connect to your home computer from anywhere, as if you were sitting right in front of your home computer.
    So you can log into your home computer and change the actual automated trader that is running from anywhere.

    CT

    Thanks team
    I have downloaded GBridge (free google app) and will remote with it

    Thanks for sharing that Greg.
    I was not aware that Google offered free remote connection software.

    Ed

    dOW NOT UPDATING
    Why was yesterdays "dow not updating" thread removed? Why was there no cummunication as the day expired? Im looking for answers this morning. There was nothing but concerned customers> and again today we are not trading. Be straight with us. Did someone forget to pay the dow feed bill? Obscurity will cause me to bail out on Cool-Trade. Please communicate!!

    Same here, same error this morning. This is getting really annoying, when will this be fixed? I just bought this app 2 days ago and haven’t been able to see how it works yet!

    I even built a whole separate computer (in a VM) to make sure it wasn’t my computer. Same issue.

    Greg, it is nothing like that. The dow index is not updating on any of our feeds. we are now using the DJA (composite) instead of DJI (industrials) and that should be showing data in your automated trader.

    They move up and dow together so for Automated Trading purposes the DJA will work fine.

    As for the other thread. That too is a mystery. That happens sometimes. There is no reason for us to delete the thread.
    Since we (CoolTrade) did not create the community board, we don’t know much about what could cause a thread to disappear.

    Sorry Brett. This problem just started for the first time yesterday, and caught us off guard. But it should be working now.

    Ed

    It still isn’t working, it is showing as zero. Is there a way to make it show the composite instead? I received the pop-up yesterday saying it was going to use it, but it never actually did.

    Even on a clean install on my brand new VM had that same issue last night.

    Hmm, I just restarted it again, on my VM and now it appears to be working with the composite. Nothing changed on my side so that is strange... but looks to be working for now.

    Brett, please look again. We only got it to work a couple minutes ago.

    Account Values
    Im getting ready to move from simulation to live trading. Im a new bee. Im curious: Will the trader automatically reinvest the money created in my account or is there another staep to make this happen? For example I see my "funds available" has not increased even though my simulated "current account value" shows a profit increase from my original deposit? How is this increase re-allocated to "available funds"?

    Greg,

    The system can reinvest the funds as they increase.
    Make sure on the Preferences screen, the value above "Account Value" where it says "Regardless of my account balance, CoolTrade should not utilize more than this amount", is not set below your account balance or if you are using 2-1 margin that it is not set below 2 times your account balance.

    For instance, if your account balance started at $50,000 and is now at $55,000, but you have the amount to invest still set to $50,000 then the system cannot use more than $50,000. If you want to invest all that you have, then you can set the max funds to invest to a value like $200,000. That way your trader can reinvest its profits up to $200,000.

    CT

    I am in live mode with Optionshouse and my account balance is showing as $5000 but I have over $25,000 in my account.

    It my understanding that CoolTrade get the account balance from the brokerage firm, is there anything on this end that could be causing the problem.

    Also, my account is an IRA cash account over 25K but Cooltrader is limiting the number of day trades to the pattern day trader limits.

    Are you sure you are in the LIVE OH account and not the virtual account?

    Also, it would stand to reason that it would base the day trades remaining on the $5000 cash that it sees.

    I would think that if it sees over $25k in the account that it will adjust the days remaining.

    Enlightened

    I had OH delete my virtual account. Now my available funds shows a negative -100,000 and I can make the account balance anything I want by resetting the strategy..

    I must be in some virtual account somewhere, even though I select live mode and the correct OH brokerage.....any thoughts?

    I figured it out.

    I had to log off to clear the save account and then re-log back in.

    You just cannot select the live account without doing logging off or it will always go to the virtual account.

    I was so long since I logged into my virtual account, that I forgot what I did to switch to the live account. I’m sure I logged out first though.

    Thanks for sharing that solution.

    Enlightened

    Help! CT not clearing closed positions.
    Hi I have to say Cooltrade is totally cool and id definitely proved itself this past week!

    The problem is that Friday I clicked on "Close All Long/Short" and indeed it closed all my positions but is not clearing them from it’s display and apparently it’s database too because it also showing wrong acount values( as if I still had those symbols in my portfolio)
    is there a way to reset or force reset CT ( I already clicked "RefreshForNewStrategy" and it didn’t work) to show the right values?... I’m using etrade and everything looks fine on the Etrade side, or will it reset itslef at some point? ( if so I hope soon!)

    also if you could please give a brief description on how/when to use the Neural Net feature it would be much apprettiated.

    Thanks!

    The RefreshForNewStrategy feature only came out in the last release.
    It really just does a bunch of things that you can do one at a time.
    I would click "close all long positions" and then wait until all of the long positions are closed.
    Then I would click "close all short positions" and then wait until all of the short positions are closed.
    Then I would click "RefreshForNewStrategy" to clear the reports database and reset the account balance.
    Then after you restart your automated trader I would check the account balance and reset it again if necessary.
    Of course, resetting the account balance is only for simulating because the Live system gets the account balance from the broker.

    I don’t know what Neural Net is. If you downloaded the developer version you may be seeing a new feature that is not completed and has not been officially released yet.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge I did all you described though I knew it just applied to the simulation mode. In my Etrade acoount I have zero positions and the same fails to reflect on CT...
    The real issue is that while CT still hasn’t cleared the position list and updated the account values is not trading because of the erroneus account values.. Thanks for your help!

    would I have to cancel my CT account and signup again? will that solve it?

    A simple solution is to add the open positions to the "blocked" list.
    That will remove them from your system.
    Then after they are all gone, you can remove the symbols from the blocked list.
    I would then restart the system so it all starts fresh.

    Hedge

    That solved it! thanks a million Hedge.

    Hi,

    I have the same issues as listed above is there any way of getting around putting the symbol on the block list and then taking it off. I wanted to know because I traded very few stocks and it is difficult to do that throw out the day.

    Thank you!!!

    Billy

    Billy,

    Adding the symbol to the blocked list is just a temporary solution that will clear the positions out of the cooltrade system. I doubt it is the end-all solution if the problem is recurring over and over again with your system.

    If you have a recurring proglem in your automated trader then you should send email to cooltrade’s tech support. It is possible you are having hard drive issues or your installation is not completed. The installation on a Windows 7 or Vista is more involved than on an XP computer.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge!

    I talked to Ed today and he is looking in to it.

    Billy

    Did anything ever come of this. I spend allot of time trying to clear positions and reset values daily. it seems hit or miss and i dont seem to ever find a process that works everytime. sometimes even the blocked list doesnt clear all. I wish i could simply put a check "all" mark next to the open positions list (to block) and an uncheck "all" to clear the block list again. Cool-Trade is a great program but these issues can frustrate.

    This is not a common occurance. In all of the cases above, there was specific behavior causing positions not getting cleared.

    1. the first topic was related to changing strategies and then wanting to clear the reports database so the profit/loss reports would start anew. The problem was that some positions were still in the exceptions folder and had not loaded yet, so the clear removed positions that were loaded from database, but upon restart the open positions still remained.

    2. Another occurance (from someone else) was caused because positions were closed manually on the broker’s screen and the broker was not reporting the closed positions to CoolTrade.

    3. The final cause (mentioned by Billy Wright, has been reported to ETRADE and they are planning a solution.

    The report that Blocking symbols does not remove them from CoolTrade is a brand new report and one that I have never seen. It also has never been reported to Technical Support.

    Please note that all computers, though they look alike, are not.
    And in the years since CoolTrade has been released to the public, in nearly every case, a few tweaks to the computer/Windows was all that was needed for the software to run flawlessly from that point onward.

    Best regards,

    Ed

    To clarify: the block list does work but perhaps I am confused about its function. My goal is always to start simulating with a fresh 2 million dollar account daily. So when I hit refresh to close all and reset balance Im hoping to do just that. When I add to the block list Im asking even the cool-trade web home page to clear symbols. but the good thing is that it looks like something happens at the market open wher the web clears symbols when the autotrader logs in. The sequence of excactly how cooltrade proceses these request to clear/close is not clear to me.
    A "reset trader to open" button would be nice.

    Ed Thanks for being very engaged with your product. It really is an awesome product.

    I see what you mean. The "Refresh to all and reset balance" option is a relatively new feature that unfortunately can’t deal with the open positions that may be in the Exceptions folder. It was my way of trying to express to people that if they change their strategy that it important that they clear everything related to the old strategy out. Otherwise it would skew the results of the new strategy.

    Because positions have to be coordinated between the Automated Trader, the CoolTrade databases (trades database, and reports database), and (if live) the broker, it gets difficult to clear everything with just the click of a button.

    The method for clearing everything should be done in this order:

    1. Click Close All Long Positions.
    2. Click Close All Short Positions.
    3. Wait for them all to close.
    4. If there are positions still in the Exceptions folder, then the best solution is to add the symbols to the Blocked list, long enough until they get cleared.
    5. Finally click the "Refresh for new strategy" button, to clear the reports database and reset the account balance.

    A better solution would be for the "Refresh for New Stragegy" to be on the login screen, so that it could all happen before the Automated Trader starts up. That way everything would get cleared out of the database before anything gets loaded. That would work fine for Simulators. Of course, if you are logged in Live and have positions at the broker, then that method would not work. But if you are clearing positions with this method, you would probably be simulating anyway.

    Do you agree that the "Refresh For New Strategy" should be moved to the Login screen?

    I appreciate your suggestions. That is what makes the system better and better!

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    Ed

    I absolutely agree. I login thru the broker screen (Launch StartCoolTrade.exe) so that I can select my trading strategy manually. It would be great if the "refresh option", "set default strategy" and "login credentials" could all be located here and savable so the the broker screen login could aut-start with the "/a" switch and end at the "choose strategy" menu. But to answer your question, yes the "refresh" would be wonderful for simulator traders since (I would imaging) most of want a clear and reset account balance daily.

    For a fully automated login using the /a option, it cannot stop anywhere. Therefore the "Refresh For New Strategy" option would have to be on the same screen that you use to enter your username/password and you would not use /a to login.

    However, I propose we put "Refresh For New Strategy" on the Login screen as described above. But also add a "Refresh For New Strategy" option to the Preferences screen so that you can tell it to automatically perform the function upon every login. That way you can use the /a option to log in and it will automatically perform the function, even if you are not home.

    Day traders may like this function. I personally am a swing trader and carry positions for months, so unless I manually change my strategy, I certainly do not want it to automatically clear my positions and refresh my account balance every day.

    Ed

    Awesome. one question. I just noticed that I have possibly more than a hundred symbols showing on the web. why wont these clear? I refreshed and reset before trading today. Must i put all in a blocklist to clear? will this effect my sim account if I dont clear? im trying to get away from the blocklist process since it only allows one removal at a time. I try to buy as many stocks as possible daily so removal is quite a long process unless i remove in bulk

    The website is a different system. We never thought to clear the "display only" content of that screen. I will add it to the work order to clear that database as well, when "Refresh For New Stategy" is selected.

    Thanks,

    Ed

    Thanks Ed.

    When you make changes do you always make them under the development version? Im only asking because Im always upgrading the dev version and want to make sure Im getting the latest and greatest.
    One question you didnt answer above: do the web stock symbols (in my account) effect my balance? if I have zero open positions locally but a hunderd open on the web, does the web database talk to my local positions? up intil recently I thought the web symbols were clearing but realized theyre hundreds of web symbols that have been closed locally for some time. perhaps you can peer into my account and view this situation. I cant use the web right now because what i see there doesnt make sense to me so i cant trust it. thanks

    The Dev version is the first stop when changes are made. After development freezes it goes to Beta where all gets tested thouroughly before it gets moved to an official new release and announced. I would not tell you do download the Dev version though unless I knew it was close to a final release.

    I see what you mean about the trades on the website. Everything on the website is static. The automated trader writes to the website and it is just fixed. Even the total p/l is written by your automated trader whenever it changes. Nothing is calculated there.

    The website only shows the results for the current day and Friday’s results show for the whole weekend.

    Because the website is a complete different system, I’m not sure where and when all of the information is stored. However, the new REFRESH function will including the clearing of the website trades and the p/l that is shown there. That will be part of the requirements for the code changes.

    Ed

    I probably missed something very obvious... but I have looked all over and cannot find the "Refresh for new Strategy" button.

    Where is it?

    Appreciate the help...

    John

    John,

    The Refresh For New Strategy is located under the FILE menu on the Automated Trader Login screen.

    EI

    Cant TRADE Live with OptionsHouse
    I’ve bee trying to trade live on optionsHouse all day but AutoTrader keeps going into the OptionHouse virtual account. I suspect that Cool-Trade support has not processed my papers to allow Cool-Trade to trade on my behalf. Cool-Trade Customer or Technical support has not responded to my emails all day. I’m hoping someone can advise me so that I can trade tommorow.

    You should have faxed the OptionsHouse docs to OptionsHouse.
    Then OptionsHouse has to process your paperwork and set a flag in their database.

    Thanks, I calledOH yesterday and they confirmed my live account is ready. infact I can manually trade live on the OH site. OH said the issue is on Cool-Trade end. I faxed my cool-trade docs to cool trade monday morning when I discovered I wasnt trading. I would be surprised if it takes more than a day to process the fax.

    If OptionsHouse says that you are ready to trade live, then maybe it will work today. I know it took a few days for them to enable my account to trade live with CoolTrade, and I had to call them a few times before they did it.

    Trading live on the optionshouse website does not require any compliance documents, but for it to work with CoolTrade they have to set some flag that tells the CoolTrade software it is OK to trade in live mode.

    Hedge

    Thanks hedge, I figured out the problem. I had to "clear all passwords" before running the autotrader so that the OH logon forces me to choose again between Live and Virtual. I am live now for the first time ever and a happy camper (after so much studying, simulating, programming and such).

    Incorrect Timed Prices
    I’ve been having a problem with my timed Indicators. I have two strategies running at the same time, a long and a short. Both have timed indicators set to capture "Last Trade Price" at 6:42 am PDT. However, the prices are incorrect. Some of them are correct, others not. Also, both long and short prices captured should be the same, but I’m getting a wide variety of prices on each stock.

    Here’s an example, this morning at 6:42, symbol ARO was $27.01. My long strategy captured the price at 27.01. My short strategy captured the price as 26.90. I checked and 26.90 didn’t hit anywhere near that time. The price captured is a very important part of my strategy and incorrect prices will cause it to miss a lot of trades it should be making. It happens on over 50% of my watchlist (about 25-30 each strategy) daily.

    I’m running Windows 7 with an i5 cpu, 4gb ram on a 3mb broadband line. Everything runs very fast.

    Any ideas? Thanks

    Oh, here’s another better example.

    UAL price range at 6:42am was $27.36 high and $27.22.

    My short timed indicator flagged it at $27.41 which never once hit after 6:39am... so that’s incorrect.
    My long timed indicator flagged it $26.82 which didn’t hit until 7:44am, a full hour later.

    Something is making my timed indicators not capture correct prices. The weird thing is that a few stocks are accurate, while a majority aren’t. Not sure what to make of it.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    I use Timed Prices, too. I run with 2 brokerages, and sometimes you will find a difference between what the different brokerages feed you. Also, it will depend on the time at which your autotrader updates. You can correct the Timed Prices, but that requires a restart, so that generally is not an option. You could try other options to see if you get greater accuracy, like the price 1 minute ago or Intraday close (1,1,0). I generally use an entry that is above a high, like intraday high (1,5,0), meaning the high of the last 5 minutes.

    Not Exiting at Cross-over
    Can anyone tell me what would prevent the Auto-Trader from exiting at a crossover on my exit tab. I had said "exit when 50 ema crosses below 200 ema". I sat there and watched and waited and no exit took place costing me hundreds. Furtunatly the stock has rebounded some but I would like to find the fix

    When you say "exit when 50 ema crosses below 200 ema" I assume that your exit rule looks exactly like this on Tab5:

    50-Day EMA is less than 200-Day EMA

    If that is not working, and if you have more than 1 exit rule on Tab5, make sure on Tab5, just above the list of rules, you have selected "A position can be closed if ANY of these conditions is true".

    Since those are EOD indicators, that do not change throughout the day, I can’t imagine why else it would not close the position as soon as you turned on the automated trader in the morning.

    Hedge

    my bad!. I didnt realize this was EOD. The crossover happened during the day today. OK, back to the drawing board. I guess I need to look at intraday indicators. Thanks Hedge, you have been a great help as always

    I have a solution.

    The Dynamic indicators are EOD indicators that use the current price as the last day in the calculation, so that update during the day.

    Change From:

    50-Day EMA is less than 200-Day EMA

    To This:

    Dynamic EMA (50) is less than Dynamic EMA (200)

    That will get you out if the 50 Day EMA goes below the 200 Day EMA during the day.

    Hedge

    I just went to type in the Dynamic EMA (200) and notice the parameter only goes up to 100.

    If you really need the 200 days, then I suggest making a suggestion for the Dynamic Days parameter be raised from 100 to 200 in the Request For New Indicators section at the bottom of the Community board.

    Hedge

    Thanks again Hedge, this has been most helpful. Not only will I statrt using Dynamic but Ill put that request in right now for DEMA200.

    Hedge Im not seeing a dynamic EMA 100. Only see Dynamic EMA period 14.

    OK I see my confusion. The "Mins/Bars" area are actually periods? OK what I will do is do the DEMA50 is less the the EMA200. This should do right? This should exit also? All that is required is the one dynamic? This seem reasonable (Im assuming).

    I agree. The 200 ema probably will not move much in a day anyway, so it should exit fine when the dynamic 50 moves below the 200 ema.

    ntdll.dll error, program crashing
    CT 7.2 had been working flawlessly for months, but now crashes while loading position data. Error report says ntdll.dll crash. Tried the beta v7.2 software as well as developer version 7.2.62-- still same error.

    I can only think to try doing a CHKDSK /F from the CMD command.

    Otherwise contact TechnicalSupport@Cool-Trade.com

    My Open Symbol Net PL Update Times
    Is the "My Open Symbol Net PL" value interaday or end of day?

    Thanks
    Jim

    "My Open Symbol Net PL" is an intra-day indicator.

    It shows the Total Net P/L for all open positions.

    CT

    I have noticed that "My Open Symbol Net PL" only updates for long positions and does not for short positions. Shorts register 0 all the time. Observation is from monitoring the "Rules" pull down.

    Any Ideas

    Thanks

    No one has every reported a problem with that indicator before.
    Seems the result should be the same for all symbols (Long and Short).

    Thank you for reporting this. We will look into it.

    David
    CoolTrade Support

    Hi, when will this be resolved? I would like to close all open short positions for a particular symbol if it’s net PL reaches a certain amount, whether it’s 100 shares or 200 shares. Any other way around this?

    that was fixed years ago.

    It still doesn’t work for short positions. Still showing a value of 0 in the rules. It works for long positions only.

    I also noticed that some of the intraday data does not show up when shorting symbols.
    The values all show 0.

    I have the same issue... I am using the following the rule in both Long and Short sides of strategies (Tab 5, Exit Rules):
    My Open Symbol Net PL < -10.00 Dollars
    On Long side this rule works perfectly fine, but not on the Short side... it will not exit. In the Rule window My Open Symbol Net PL shows its value 0.00 (zero)

    CUSTOMER SUPPORT:
    Please take a look at it and resolve it. It was previously reported in this thread and it is being reported again.

    Continuing with my recent post...

    Please see the attached file showing the symbol FCX with Net PL of -$34.00 (loss) on the dashboard. In the open RULES window beside the dashboard, in the EXIT POSITION RULES section, it shows MyOpenSymbolNetPL: 0.0000 instead of -34.00. According to Exit Position Rules MyOpenSymbolNetPL rule should have been executed and closed the position.
    With the LONG positions there is no issue with this rule, works perfectly fine.
    So it is for Customer Support to take look at it and resolve this serious issue.
    I tried to attach the screenshot to this post, but unfortunately it is giving an error: 500 - Internal server error. Therefore, I have emailed it to Customer Support.

    Thank you for reporting that problem.
    It has just been corrected in the latest Developer update.

    CoolTrade Support

    Calculate Average Monthly Profit from Downloadable Strategies
    Forum, I am sure that someone may have already answered this question but after a 1/2hr of searching, I still have nothing...

    On the Downloadable Strategies it shows "Average Monthly Profit". How is that calculated?

    For example the JonParks strategy:
    Total Days Running 70
    Monthly % Returned 4.25%
    Maximum Funds Used $34,270
    Average Monthly Profit $1,457

    Is this the "Average Monthly Profit" the amount earned between the 1st of the month and the 31st of the month MINUS the current negative amount in the account? i.e. the account earned $1000 for the month but has $800 currently negative/open trades = $200 Average Monthly Profit? or is the Average Monthly Profit the $1000 earned?

    Thank you in advance.

    First, it is a rolling 31 days. So, it would go from October 11 to November 11.

    It takes the current account balance - 1 month ago’s account balance for the amount earned. Therefore it accounts for all profitable and not profitable trades, and open positions.

    CT

    Where are the downloadable strategies located. I have looked everywhere for them. I am speaking of the one that you mention here. I know i saw them once but cant find again.

    Thanks,

    todd

    Where are the downloadable strategies located. I have looked everywhere for them. I am speaking of the one that you mention here. I know i saw them once but cant find again.

    Thanks,

    todd

    Todd,


    1. After logging into CoolTrade click on the strategywizard menu at the top.

    2. Within the Strategy Wizard click any of the “Options “ buttons.


    3. Click Copy Strategy.



    4. In the field for Copy Strategy from click in the field and make sure the field is selected. It will be highlighted with a grey dotted box.



    5. You can Scroll up or down using the arrow button or if you know the specific account you are wanting to copy from you can type the account name. As well you can choose the first letter of the account name and scroll to the specified account.

    (i.e. Type ‘N’ then press down until you see NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM)
    6. Before choosing the specified strategy you can click Print and review the strategy rules.


    7. Once you have decided which strategy you want then click the Radio button on the left side of the strategy.


    8. Then select the specific strategy you want to replace in the Copy Destination section.

    Here is a link to how to do this as well.
    cooltradekb[dot]com/copy-new-strategy

    Watchlist Empty
    I’ve just setup cool trade on my PC but seem to be having an issue. My strategy wizard has generated a list of 56 symbols. This is reported correctly in the cool trade window on top under the Long column. However down below it shows the Long Watch list with 0. What gives? I am running this on a PC with Windows 7 Ultimate.

    That’s simple, considering you posted the question before the market opened.

    All symbols go into the EXCEPTIONS folder until streaming data starts, after the market opens.

    If you click on the Exceptions button on the top menu, you will see all of the symbols.

    Hedge

    Thanks. It was before the market open. Data filled in after the open.

    Stochastic not working correctly
    I am trying to create a strategy so that a stock is bought when stochastic drops below 20 and sold when stochastic rises above 90. I used the following rules:
    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Intraday Stochastic RawK ( 5,5,1 ) < 20 Dollars
    MinuteStochasticRawK (5 , 5 , 1) : -1.0000

    EXIT POSITION RULES

    Intraday Stochastic RawK ( 5,5,1 ) > 90 Dollars
    MinuteStochasticRawK (5 , 5 , 1) : -1.0000

    I ran it today and it does not seem to generate trades as I expected. For ex. it placed a buy order for BKD at 10:01 (stochastic was over 90 at this time) and sold it minutes later at 10:09 when stochastic had dropped blow 90.

    Perhaps I am misunderstanding how stochastic is implemented in CoolTrade. Can someone explain how the stochastic parameters work? and why they dont seem to correlate with any stock charting software?

    You have 3 issues.

    1) The -1 indicates that the CoolTrade software does not have enough data to make the calculation.

    For instance (5, 5, 1) means 5 bars X 5 minutes each X 2.
    I say X 2 because you used an offset of 1 which means the bar before that last closed bar. So, 5 X 5 X 2 = 50 minutes.

    Only td ameritrade and interactive brokers have historical minute bars that are loaded when the cooltrade software starts up, so it can generate those indicators that use 50 minutes of data right away. If you are using the other brokers, then those indicators will return -1 until the software can accumulate enough minute bars to make the calculation.

    So, I recommend you at least use 0 for the offset so it can return a value after 25 minutes instead of 50, if you are not going to use one of the brokers mentioned above.

    2) you say that the cooltrade software does not correlate wiht other sock charting software. In my experience, software like td ameritrade’s strategy desk is calculating the bars non-stop and showing values for bars that have not even closed. If you are looking at candlesticks bars, then the HLOC of the candle cannot / should not be used until the bar closes.

    3) If you are using INTRADAY XXX indicators then those use MINUTE bars.
    If you want to compare to other software that is most likely using Daily Bars then you need to use the DYNAMIC indicators in CoolTrade. Those use the current price for the last price in the calculation and then use the END OF DAY prices for the remaining bars. For instance a DYNAMIC SMA (15) would use the Current Price + the last 14 Days of closed prices. That may correspond more closely with the other packages that you are using.

    Hedge

    I was using cool trades data feed for the stochastic calculation. So if I read you correctly using a setting of 5,5,1 yields 50 min of inaccurate data starting from the open? That’s pretty bad. What if I use Etrades data stream? Will it use historical data from the day before for the stochastic calculation?

    I would not call it "inaccurate information". Because the indicator returns -1, that tells the automated trader to return FAILURE for the rule.

    Currently the only 2 brokers that provide the required historical minute bars is TD AMERITRADE and Interactive Brokers. If you do not have one of those 2 brokers, then an indicator that uses Intraday minute bars will need to wait the neccesary amount of time until the automated trader accumulates enough data to build the bars.

    Based on the above, ETRADE also does not provide historical minute bars.

    CT

    "I would not call it "inaccurate information". Because the indicator returns -1, that tells the automated trader to return FAILURE for the rule."

    Why did it execute trades at 10am then? That’s only 30 min.

    In fact it executed quite a few trades:

    15:57 Sell 300 DNR (19.0600)
    15:04 Sell 400 IAG (17.3300)
    15:01 Sell 800 CBS (16.5700)
    14:59 Buy 400 IAG (17.34)
    14:59 Sell 800 CIG (16.9800)
    14:42 Buy 300 DNR (19.02)
    14:40 Sell 800 AEO (15.3500)
    14:38 Buy 400 CBS (16.57)
    14:28 Buy 400 CIG (16.92)
    14:24 Buy 400 CIG (16.99)
    14:24 Sell 400 HOLX (16.7600)
    14:13 Buy 400 CBS (16.62)
    14:11 Sell 400 ERTS (15.6900)
    14:05 Buy 400 AEO (15.34)
    13:52 Buy 400 HOLX (16.72)
    13:52 Sell 500 DLM (14.1800)
    13:50 Buy 400 ERTS (15.67)
    13:50 Sell 500 FNF (13.7900)
    13:43 Buy 500 DLM (14.18)
    13:43 Sell 1000 DNR (19.0500)
    13:34 Buy 500 FNF (13.79)
    13:34 Sell 700 TCB (13.8600)
    13:22 Buy 400 AEO (15.41)
    13:22 Sell 1600 BAC (12.0600)
    13:18 Buy 500 DNR (18.99)
    13:12 Buy 600 DDR (12.83)
    13:12 Sell 800 AUY (11.5700)
    12:57 Buy 800 BAC (12.07)
    12:55 Buy 500 BKD (18.94)
    12:55 Sell 800 FITB (12.8000)
    12:20 Buy 800 BAC (12.17)
    12:20 Sell 600 AEO (15.5300)
    11:44 Buy 700 TCB (13.94)
    11:43 Sell 500 BKD (19.0700)
    11:41 Buy 800 FITB (12.96)
    11:41 Sell 800 DDR (13.0700)
    11:38 Buy 500 DNR (19.06)
    11:38 Sell 600 ERTS (15.7300)
    11:32 Buy 800 DDR (13.1)
    11:32 Sell 700 DLM (14.3100)
    11:06 Buy 500 BKD (19.04)
    11:06 Sell 600 CBS (16.8400)
    10:24 Buy 600 ERTS (15.88)
    10:24 Sell 600 FBR (17.2700)
    10:20 Buy 700 DLM (14.33)
    10:20 Sell 800 BAC (12.2900)
    10:09 Buy 600 FBR (17.23)
    10:09 Sell 500 BKD (19.1800)
    10:03 Buy 600 CBS (16.89)
    10:01 Buy 500 BKD (19.2)
    09:58 Buy 800 BAC (12.31)
    09:56 Buy 800 AUY (11.99)
    09:54 Buy 600 AEO (15.78)

    I haven’t tested it but I believe "Intraday Stochastic RawK ( 5,5,0)" takes 25 minutes to calculate. The offset of 1 add 5 minutes.

    As far as a couple minutes, everyone’s server times are not exact.

    No doubt if you watch the Rules screen you will see the -1 change to a value before the position gets opened.

    Enlightened

    I guess I’m more confused than ever on how CT implements the stochastic. Typically using charting software the stochastic is defined by 2 parameters. One is the number of periods and two is the smoothing period. Typical values would be (14,3) or 14 periods with a 3 period SMA for smoothing. When calculated using a daily chart the period would be a day. When using an intraday chart that updates every 5 min the period would be 5 min. How does this relate to the CT parameters?

    CoolTrade enables the parameters in accordance with the associated fmlabs function called.

    Sorry but the FMlabs terminology is different from what CT uses. The refer to periods, %k and %d - typical stochastic parameters. They really dont say what they use for their moving average.
    CT uses the following parameters for fast stochastic:
    1. min/bar - is this the period? if I enter 1 here would it be 1 min?
    2. interval - in this the number of periods?
    3. average - is this the number of periods used for the moving average?
    4. offset - ?

    How do these relate?

    As I understand it the parameters shown are the parameters used in the functions themselves. I believe the parameters shown are the default values.

    If you click on the indicators it will show a description of the each parameter.

    As far as the OFFSET, that is standard with all of the intraday indicators. Picture the bars on a candlestick chart. Offset 0 respresents that last completed bar, Offset 1 = the next bar to the left, and so on.

    I don’t use indicators like stochastic and rsi so I don’t know how they work or the purpose of each parameter. I can only go by what I see.

    Enlightened

    Still cant get this to work correctly. Based on charts I look at - CT is issuing many trades at the wrong time. It is not buying when me stochastic is below 20 and not selling when stochastic is above 90. Either CT has this implemented incorrectly or I’m still not understanding the parameters.
    Clearly CT needs to better define how it implements these functions. And dont just tell customers to goto FMlabs website.

    Actually cooltrade did not tell you to go to fmlabs. That was just my suggestion. I see it in my posts above.

    Maybe if you post your exact rules here we can put it in our traders and see what the values are. or you can click on the Rules button in your trader and see the exact values that the indicators are showing. The best way to debug your strategy is to know what values the software sees.

    Also another thing to check on the open position rules (tab3) is right above the rules list, make sure "ALL rules must pass" is checked and not "ANY".

    EI

    Here are my rules:

    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Intraday Stochastic SlowD ( 5,9,3,3,0 ) is at least 2 Dollars Less Than Intraday Stochastic FastD ( 5,9,3,0 )

    Intraday Stochastic SlowD ( 5,9,3,3,0 ) < 12 Dollars

    EXIT POSITION RULES

    Intraday Stochastic SlowD ( 5,9,3,3,0 ) > 80 Dollars

    I didnt have "all conditions must be true" checked for the exit condition. I have checked this now and will see if it makes a difference tomorrow.

    I am going to load your rules into one of my traders.

    Can you tell me if you have an IB or TDA account?
    If so, I will use one of those brokers since they have historical minute bars.

    If you do not have an IB or TDA account then I will just use the cooltrade data feed and it will take time for the trader to accumulate enough minute bars to do the calculations. You can click RULES to see when the indicators start returning values.

    Enlightened

    Actually, it might be better if you click FILE->Maintain Friends List in the strategy wizard and share your strategy and tell me the strategy name that you are using.

    I can then just copy your strategy EXACTLY the way you have it and that way I will get the same watch list and other settings that you are using.

    Enlightened

    Thanks ET. I will try and share my strategy as you mentioned. I use Etrade as my broker but have been using the Cooltrade data feed while I am testing.

    As for the test today It seemed to act better and enter/ exit trades closer to what I expected. Most trades were within an hour of when the should have traded based on some charts I plotted on freestockcharts.com.

    Ultimately the main drawback to CT is the limited watchlists. Once they come out with some type of dynamic watchlist then the software will be more useful. It’s a pity I cant have a watchlist that has for example all stocks down 5% today.

    Even if you cannot build a watchlist of all stocks down 5%, you can do better.

    Build a watch list of stocks down 5% since the day before and then in your open position rules only open the stocks that are down another 5% on the current day. That way you are reallllllllllllllllllly bottom fishing.

    Watch List Rules:

    Yesterday’s Close Price at least 5% less than Close Price 2 Days Ago

    Open Position Rules:

    Current Price at least 5% less than Yesterday’s Close

    It is just a suggestion but demonstrates that you can do a real lot with CoolTrade even though it can’t do everything in the world.

    EI

    ETrade/Autostart/Premature? start Question
    I’ve played with Etrade opening in simulator mode and verified the fact that you need to sign in that morning in order for it to use that day’s code in order to log in. I would basically sign in, then close it down, and have my Task scheduler then open CT before market open. Because of this having my Computer’s Task scheduler set up to auto-open CT seems mute with ETrade.

    My question is I remember reading in the CT info some where that they recommend not starting CT too soon before market open as it can cause problems? Is this still an issue? What would be considered too soon to open CT?

    I live in the MTN time zone and leave for work at 6:15 AM. The market opens only 1 hr 15 mins later on the East Cost. Would it be too early to open the program at 6:15?

    Hopefully CT will continue to pursue a more automatic login with Etrade.

    Thanks for the help/advice.

    Conrad

    Hi Conrad,

    I’m the CoolTrade founder. Yes, we will work with ETRADE to get them to enable a fully automated hands-free login, as we have with each of our other broker partners.

    Automated trading continues to improve as we move forward, so some of the problems that you may read about a few years ago are not necessarily still problems today, as CoolTrade and the brokers continue to enhance our software. And, sometimes some of the problems mentioned are only specific to one or a few members.

    In regards to starting the software early, there was a time when one broker’s software crashed if you started before the market opened, but that has been resolved. My suggestion is to continue to start the software early and if no problems arise, then you are good to go.

    Please note that everyone is doing different things with their strategies, so it is difficult to always know precisely if starting early will affect your strategies. Also, ETRADE is our newest partner so we are working closely with them to identify (and resolve) any problems that come up. I will say that they have been excellent in responding to our API change requests.

    Thank you for your excellent question. I agree that ultimately a hands-free login is an absolute must.

    Best regards,

    Ed

    Thank you very much Ed. I’ll go ahead and uncheck this task in the task scheduler for now, and start up CT manually before I head to work.

    Complete Watchlist not Pulling In
    I’ve created a long and short strategy and I put in parameters such that I filter stocks down below the 80 level. I think I was at 77 and 78 for both strategies. Last night I made them active, and started CT. It only pulled in 25 or so stocks on the Long and 40 on the Short. I tested this intentionally because I noticed that day CT had not pulled in my complete list, but maybe my list was too long then and it had been truncated. All positions had been closed as of last night, so I was a bit perplexed and figured I’d just see how it opened in the morning. I thought maybe CT had not finished doing it’s nightly updating, and yet I was still confused as to why it would filter out 70+, yet load so few in the trader. Well today it only pulled 16 and 17 respectively for the long and short strategies when I have 70+ stocks for each on the watchlist in the Strategy Wizard.

    Any ideas on what might be going on?

    Thanks.
    Conrad

    Hi Conrad,

    I just uploaded the latest Developer version with OptionsXpress capabilities. Not that you are using that broker, but it does mean that the Development version is ready for release.

    How about clicking File->Download Developer Version to get the latest version and see if that resolves the problem that you described.

    If that does not help, I can remotely connect to your computer and lend assistance.

    Thank you,

    Ed

    Thanks Ed. I’ll give it a go, and report back.

    I downloaded the new version and proceeded to load my long and short strategies, but it came up short. I then proceeded to load just my long strategy, but it only loaded 30 of the 90. I switched to the ETrade simulator and it still came up short. I then switched to the conservative long strategy, and it loaded all 50, initialized, and then went into shut down mode and closed. It did this twice. I switched back to CT simulator and it loaded all and did not shut down. One thing though it seems to close down any internet explorer page I might have had opened ocne it logs in etc. So this is the 4th or so time I’ve started to write my report on what’s going on.

    I then chose a strategy where I just put a list of stocks in from a symbol file. It resulted in 97 stocks and all 97 were loaded without a shut down. So it seems that it is a problem just with my particular long and short strategy that I made over the weekend. I tried loading it one last time, but still only got 30 stocks to pull in. I’m going to try and rename the strategy and then also just create a new one all over and see if I have any luck. Let me know what you think.

    Thanks,
    Conrad

    All symbols go to the Exceptions folder under streaming data starts.
    Since you are running the Automated Trader after the market is closed, I question whether the required data is present.

    Please run it after the market opens tomorrow morning and we will know better if there is a problem or not.

    Regards,

    Ed

    So would you like me to start it after the market has opened? This week I have started it 10 minutes before the Market opens, and I’ve experienced this problem. Would what you say still be an issue this soon to market open? Seems weird that it is pulling in all of the stocks from other strategies.........

    Just made a completely new strategy to test it, pulled in all and then some....I’m okay with that. Maybe some kind of glitch when I made the other strategies the other night. I’ll proceed with this and hopefully things will be good.

    Thanks,
    Conrad

    I wasn’t talking about the previous times that it was not working.
    I just know that the software only pulls quotes and historical indicators with "todays date" and since the night processes have started (and some have finished), I know the data is preparing for tomorrow’s market.

    IB used to have problems if you started it before the market opened. However, that was a few years ago, and I hear people are starting the program early without any problems. I still have mine program set to auto-open at 9:30am.

    May I suggest you check Tab2 of your strategy and make sure only AMEX, NASDAQ, and NYSE is selected. Since we do so many more exchanges now, I just want to be sure you only have those 3 selected in the strategy.

    Regards,

    Ed

    Yes, I verified that I only have those checked. Last night it seemed like I got things back on track, but after making one last mod to my long strategy it then showed that there would be 6696 stocks in the watchlist. Keep in mind it filters and showed 87 when making it, but when closing and going to the strategy list page it shows 6696.

    This morning I opened it and it pulled 89 stocks in the trade for my long strategy (most likely just a truncated list?, I’ll find out later), and it only pulled 10 of the 75 that were on my short list.

    I’m starting to wonder if I trip something up if I work on strategies during the night when CT is updating? I’m in MTN time, and at one point last night I got the pop up saying CT nightly update completed. Any thoughts on this? Also seemed to have gotten really buggy last night, not sure if this is the b/c it’s the newest developer version or if because I was working in a bad time frame in relation to the update times. Hopefully I’ll get this all lined out in the next few days.

    -Conrad

    The cooltrade system can only load 100 symbols max.

    Therefore, if you loaded 89 in the long list and 10 in the short list, that puts you at 99. That’s close enough for government work.

    The "CT nightly updated completed" message tells people that are logged into their strategy wizard at night, that the night process just completed, so you should be able to see the watch list that will be used for the following trading day.

    EI

    Gotcha, I was just trying to theorize about what might be giving me the weird discrepancies between filtered list in the wizard and then actual number when I go back to the strategy list.

    Thank you for clarifying my next question. I wasn’t sure if that was 100 stocks per long and short strategy or 100 combined. I will filter things down to comply and maybe have a little more luck with everything running smoothly.

    Thanks again for the help. I really appreciate it.

    -Conrad

    I know the post is old, but quick question.

    Of the 100 stocks CT is limited to. Is this just for WL LONG + WL SHORT = 100

    or is it OPEN POS + WL LONG + WL SHORT = 100, and if it is limited in this manner, what has priority? hopping its, OPEN POS, then WL LONG, THEN WL SHORT

    do you know? As I’m currently runnin 8-10 open, and 60 in my Watch List LONG, was looking at starting a sell SHORT

    It is 100 symbols total, in this order, and it stops loading when the 100 symbol count has been reached.

    Open Positions +
    Long watch list +
    Short watch list

    CT

    I am having the same problem of stock not loading. Yesterday, I had two stocks in my portfolio- INN and TSO. I started the program at 8AM and the checked the list. Only TSO was loaded in the list.
    INN was in the exceptions folder and did not load into the list. I will continue to monitor this today.

    If you are only loading a couple symbols then that is a different situation than trying to load over 100 symbols.

    If a symbol is staying in the Exceptions folder then that means the broker is not feeding data for that symbol.

    Symbols remain in the Exceptions folder until streaming data arrives.

    Enlightened

    Dev Version and OptionHouse Login
    There appears to be a problem with the latest development version 7.2.98. It fails to log into optionhouse. when I downgrade back to any other cool-trade version the login works just fine. I also notice that on some computers the development version logs into OH just fine. Anyone else seeing this? Im also interested in knowing what the advantage/disadvantage with simulating with the "non broker" option offered in the broker selection. I have to use "non broker" right now since I need to stay with the this dev version.

    The changes in the development version should not have affected the OptionsHouse login.

    May I suggest that you first reboot your computer, then log into the strategy wizard and click FILE->Download Developer Version again. That will reinstall the OptionsHouse controls.

    The non-broker data feed is OK for testing, but the broker data feeds are better and should be used whenever possible.

    Thanks,

    Ed

    Thanks for the reply Ed but I tried that several times on different computers but got the same result. Yet as soon as I down grade the problem resolves. I really want to continue using the dev version but cant seem to isolate the trouble. Ive tried clearing passwords and loging directly into OH to confirm my credentials etc. But then occaisionally Ill find a computer that works everytime. However if I reimage that working computer and reinstall the dev version then that PC also will fail. so I know it is not a hardware issue.

    The login to OH is pretty straight forward. I’m not sure how well they connect on weekends though.

    Since their login is handled by the OptionsHouse control and it has not been changed in over a year, there’s not much to do other than to register the control. If you want to do that manually, here’s how:

    Go to the CoolTrade directory on your computer.

    In windows XP, it will be here:

    c:\program files\cooltrade automated trader

    In Windows 7 or Vista it may be here:

    c:\program files (x86)\cooltrade automated trader

    Then, from dos (CMD Command), type this:

    regsvr32 optionshouse.ocx

    Then the program will use that file to perform the login with the OH servers.

    Ed

    I keep getting a long error message using the command. Im using xp. can you type the exact command and include all quotations if any.

    If you are in the cooltrade directory, the command is exactly this:

    regsvr32 optionshouse.ocx

    There is a space after the 32

    ok i made a typo. (was typing srv rather than svr) finnaly got it registered and received the confirmation message. however I still couldnt log into OH. ...even after reboot. Ok Im done for the night, will check in tommorow. Thanks for trying.

    OK Ive been working at this on and off all day and able to make a solid conclusion:
    without being too wordy ill sum up my trouble-shooting:
    1) completely uninstalled cooltrade and manually removed all cool file directorys
    2) reinstalled cooltrade, ran upgrade, Option House login contiued to fail.
    3) logged into optionhouse successfully with cooltrade on another computer that had version 7277.
    4) ran the development ver 7298 upgrade and this system now fails.

    Conclusion: this appears to be an issue with dev 7298 and above.
    Im hoping to get assistence with the tonite as all my new strategies have dev version options in the configuration.

    Since the OptionsHouse.ocx files are identical between the Dev version and the last-official release version, the logins should be the same. So there is not quick/obvious solution if one is working but not the other.

    The best solution is for you to go back to the "released" version until we can figure out what has changed in the development version that could be preventing the login.

    There is no other solution possible at this time.

    Ed

    Here is a head start in your investigation:
    I ran an individual file restore starting with the first 20 files in the cooltrade directory from actman.ocx to mbtlnject.dll and included the "log" directory. This fixed the problem. I have not yet isolated the actual problem file but id bet you may find it with this headstart. I will continue this process until i isolate the file and let you know what I find.

    More than likely CoolTrade.exe is the problem.

    Yes you are correct. I have confirmed this. Can I run the DEV ver with the older cooltrade.exe until you work out the fix?

    The 2 files that must remain together are:

    CoolTrade.exe
    nswizard.exe

    Ed

    OK, while this fixed the problem it turns out the the features i was trying to retain (from the dev ver) were in the new nswizard. Ill just wait for a fix. Let us know when completed. Thanks as always for fast support and communication. please send a notice when resolved.

    I could not log in yesterday either. But I just logged in perfectly this morning. Please try it again.

    I also copied the exact developer version up to the server so you can dow a developer version udpate and get the same code I am running.

    Thanks,

    Ed

    Just downloaded developer version 7.2.114 on 2 computers (1 live and 1 simulator) and both logged in perfectly.

    EI

    OK downloaded dev ver 7.2.117 and all is well now. Thanks Ed

    Thanks for following through.

    I found a computer in the office that would not log into OptionsHouse so I was able to walkthrough the OptionsHouse.ocx and get it to run on 6 computers.

    Ed

    CT still not pulling all stocks on the watchlist?
    I noticed at lunch today that CT only pulled in 6 of the 76 stocks that were on the Long list, but it pulled all 33 on the Short List. It did a good job shorting because it had a good selection to short from. I needed to make some other modifications so I cleared all positions, changed some watch list parameters, and restarted the trader in simulation mode. It pulled in only 1 of the 45 on the Long list, and yet it pulled in all 33 on the short list. I find this odd because it loads the long list first. Any ideas on what might be the problem?

    Also if I want to close a position as soon as it meets its profit goal do I need to set the pull back amount to 0 or do I also need to change the “Close All positions at such and such time” to a much earlier time or even the market open time?

    Thanks,
    Conrad

    Sounds like a broker data feed issue to me.
    Are all of the unloaded symbols in the Exceptions folder?
    Are some of the unloaded symbols in the Blocked folder?

    Yes, setting the pullback to 0 will cause a stock to close immediately when the goal is reached.

    EI

    Hi EI,

    I will check the blocked and exceptions folder when I get home. I forgot about those. I am only running in the CT simulator mode right now.

    Thanks for your help (again),
    Conrad

    There are only 2 very strange stocks in the blocked list and only 1 stock in the Exceptions list. So, I’m still puzzled why it won’t pull in my entire watchlist.

    Conrad,

    I wonder if you would get the same results if you were using ameritrade’s datafeed.

    How about adding me to your Friends list in the strategy wizard, or check the box to share with everyone, and I will copy your strategy and try it with the a few different data feeds.

    Keith
    stocktrader6080@yahoo.com

    I believe I have solved it. For the record I tried both the CT and Etrade data feeds as well as re-downloaded the lastest developer version, all to no avail. I found it strange that the it was loading the short strategy completely, but coming up very short or not at all depending what Long strategy I grabbed.

    It turns out that once I took a particular rule out (that was in the Long, but not my short strategy), it would load the entire list. This was a double negative rule.

    It stated that my MACD value was no more than 25% less than the signal line.

    Written as MACD value is > -25% of the Signal line. This rule filtered stocks out and seemed to match their respective charts; however, it seems like the trader doesn’t like it.

    I have not dug down deep enough to figure out why the list of 96 at least pulled in 21, and what made those 21 different, but the strategy I wanted to use consisted of roughly 45, and none of those pulled in.

    I asked a question on double negative rules, and I felt like I had this one lined out. For now I will not use it unless some one can shed some more light on the subject.

    Thanks,
    Conrad

    I agree. The double negative that is needed for "no more than" does not work in the watch list rules. You can say IS LESS THAN or IS GREATER THAN, but not NO MORE THAN.

    The way I get around it is that I load a watch list of values that are close to what I want, and then use the NO MORE THAN option in the open position rules.

    Hedge

    STRATEGY SELECTION WITHIN TRADER
    I would like to suggest putting the strategy selection within the trader. ...and allowing the selection to be permanant per computer.

    note that the current method to choose a strategy apon trader initialization is NOT a permanent selection and requires loging into the broker selector on every computer. this is time consuming, not efficient.


    (explanation)
    if im running several computers, currently I must choose the strategy within the wizard before firing up the trader. I must repeat this process every time on every computer.
    However if I point a computers trader configuration to for example:
    strategy 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 permanantly I would be able to autostart each trader without having to choose the strategy.
    The developer would also have to include a selection for long/short.

    since (currently) the trader configuration files remain on the CT servers this "static" configuration (above) would have to be part of a local file. it would also be great if the local file was editable outside the trader to allow quick changes.


    Thanks

    Only problem with that is that you can only run 1 Long and 1 Short strategy at a time with each subscription. If you want to run 5 automated traders then you would need 5 subscriptions with 5 separate email addresses.

    If 2 automated traders were to run with the same email address, their trades/positions and account balances would be all mixed up.

    Ed

    Set Maximum Symbols To Zero
    Hi,

    In "Cooltrade Trader Preferences", "Maximum Symbols To Purchase" is it possible to add "0" (Zero). Sometimes during trading hours I would like CT to stop going long or going short.

    Thanks,

    Real

    So, what you are requesting is the ability to tell the robotic trader to not open new positions, but continue to close positions?

    If you are adding to positions, then setting maximum trades to zero will not accomplish that.

    Wouldn’t it just be better to put change the "Halt Trading" button on the main screen to a drop-down checkbox list:

    Halt All Long and Short Trading
    Halt All Long Trading
    Halt All Short Trading
    Halt Opening New Long Positions
    Halt Opening New Short Positions
    Halt Adding To Existing Long Positions
    Halt Adding To Existing Short Positions
    Halt Closing Long Positions
    Halt Closing Short Positions
    Save These Settings Upon Exit

    Ed

    Does CT close only those that are opened through CT?
    I’m currently trying to go live and I need to clear one issue that is uncertain in my mind. I already have some long positions in my broker account and two of the securities happens to be in my CT watch list as well. If CT opens the same positions and after profit/loss it is ready to close those. Will it also close the old position opened outside CT? I don’t want it to close any positions opened outside CT and it probably won’t but I wanted to be sure.

    The CoolTrade will try to load all positions found at the broker.

    In order to prevent CoolTrade from loading stocks that you have at the broker, you need to add those symbols to the BLOCKED list in the Automated Trader. You should run in Simulator mode and configure the Automated Trader exactly the way you want it to run so that when you start trading in LIVE mode, it will behave the same.

    The software will automatically ignore positions like options and futures, so you do not have to block those symbols.

    You also want to be sure that the positions that are at the broker, that you do not block, have the correct number of shares. For instance, if you have 27 shares of a stock, the CoolTrade software will spend a lot of time waiting for the broker to send the remaining 73 shares that make up a round 100 share lot.

    So, to answer your question, you definitly should block any stock you have at the broker that you do not want the Automated Trader to trade.

    Ed

    Thanks Ed for the clarification and I did temporarily put all my existing positions in the blocked list when I tried live trade this morning as part of my final test (to see whether CT can execute the orders through E*Trade). Now I know I have to keep them blocked till they are ready to be closed.

    Unfortunately, my CT trade didn’t go through, eventhough it says it has sent a buy order. No trades were received by E*Trade. I wander if it has something to do with my OS (Windows Vista). Has anyone had similar issues?

    Someone reported that happened to them yesterday.
    But when I remotely connected to his computer, the trades did go through. In his case his internet connect was very slow (not much better than a dial-up connection).

    Since you are running with Vista or Windows 7, you need to do a few things to complete the installation:

    1. Turn off User Account Control (UAC).
    2. Reboot your computer.
    3. Click the desktop shortcut labeled "Launch RegOcxFiles.bat".

    I also suggest you click FILE->Download Developer Version to re-install the ETRADE controls.

    We have clients that run with XP, Vista, and Windows7 and as far as we know, the trades are going in OK.

    Friday is a half-day, so if you complete the above before then, you can be all ready to go first thing Friday morning.

    Ed

    Thanks again and completed the running the batch file and installed the developers version. Does the UAC need to be permanently off?

    That was fast. NO. UAC only needs to be turned off long enough for you to 1) reboot, and 2) run the RegOcxFiles.bat file, and 3) if you do an update to the software.

    After all of the above has been completed, you can turn UAC back on if you like.

    Regards,

    Ed

    My CT still wasn’t able to execute trades when running on my Machine with Windows Vista. I had already successfully executed the batch file and also downloaded and installed the developer’s version. Was I supposed to execute the batch file again after the installation of the developer’s version?

    Then I used my other machine with Windows XP and I was able to execute trades consistent with my strategy. There only two issues: (1) After opening 3 positions, it wasn’t able to open more even though it was sending the buy orders. Could this have something to do the day trading setting? If so, why does it send the orders in the first place? (2) Before, the end of the day, I issued a "close all long positions" and it was able to close only one and said the other two orders are cancelled. Then I reissue the commands again but it didn’t close the remaining two. Finally, I gave up and closed both positions in E*Trade. Any, information / comments / observations why this is happening is appreciated.

    It shows right on your screen DAYTRADES REMAINING.
    If that shows zero then it could be a problem.
    The software is smart enough to know not to send an order if it is going to break the sec daytrader rules.

    I think though the software will ignore the sec daytrader rule if you manually click "close all positions". In that case though the broker may have rejected the orders.

    Its hard for us to know what is happening with your trader.
    You should send email to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com because they can call you and remotely connect to your computer to see what is going wrong.

    Just fyi, my ct/etrade account executes trades everyday without any problems so there must be something unique with your setup.

    Enlightened

    I doubt cooltrade would send an order if it knew that it was not going to get filled at the broker. For example, if you only have $500 of buying power then it would not send an order that required $2500.

    You mentioned that you execute trades manually at the broker. If that is the case then it is possible the software thinks you have more day trades remaining than you actually have. So the close order could get rejected by the broker. I think there are log files in the cooltrade directory on your pc, like ..\logs\etrade\... that may tell you why the orders were rejected.

    You can also click on the "CONNECTIVITY" button on the upper-right of your automated trader and it may show messages regarding internet disconnects or messages from the broker.

    Hedge

    Thanks Enlightened and Hedge for your comments and I have sent an e-mail to tech support for help. Just FYI, my CT was showing 3 day trading remaining and there was enough funds to execute the trades.

    Just reviewed the log file and I see the following message in all the instances where the trade failed to open or close.
    Order Cancelled ET: 11. WARNING: DID NOT REMOVE SYMBOL HERE

    That message helps a little. It means that either the ORDER FAILED or THE MARKET WAS CLOSED.

    If you download the latest Developer Version (just updated today), it will write the more descriptive Order Cancellation message that comes from ETRADE.

    That will help us determine why ETRADE cancels orders.

    Please click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION to get the latest update.

    Ed

    Thanks Ed for the update and I have installed the current developer’s version. I will test this again on Monday and see how it goes. For some reason my CT shows I have 2 day trades left even though I have no limit on etrade, my account (classified as day trade account) is greater than the SEC limit for day trades and I have unchecked the "Enforce SEC Day Trader Rules ...".

    While I was reviewing whether my computing system fully complies with all CT requirements, I realized that laptops and/or wireless connections are not recommended by CT. I wander if some of the issues I’m having are related to the running of CT on a laptop with wi-fi connection. If this is the case, I can at least easily change my connection to wired, while I’m looking for a reliable VPN service to run CT.

    How did it go for you?

    I was having some of the same issues with my E*Trade account on a Windows 7. It would place BUY orders correctly most of the time from what I could tell. However, when it came to selling, it was hit and miss 50/50.

    Unfortunately do to miscounting on my part (my account is less then $25,000), I manually sold one too many times from the E*Trade site. When Auto Trader failed to SELL correctly, it did not know I had sold it manually for it and it exceeded the Day Trade Rules when it successfully sold

    I had to turn off single day round trips, until my account comes back into good standings, which in turn slowed down the number of trades to the point it seems to be working fine at its current trade rate. 0-1 a day

    I was getting this a lot in the logs. Now only occasionally
    11/11/2010 8:37:08 AM
    11/11/2010 8:37:08 AM *************************************************
    11/11/2010 8:37:08 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 EXAS
    11/11/2010 8:37:08 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    11/11/2010 8:37:08 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    11/11/2010 8:37:08 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    11/11/2010 8:37:08 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    11/11/2010 8:37:20 AM Order Cancelled ET:11. WARNING: DID NOT REMOVE SYMBOL HERE

    If you download the latest developer version it will write a little more the etrade support log so it may say why some orders are cancelled.

    Since ETRADE is a new broker we are still trying to figure out why all of the sell orders do not go through. The new logs will help. We are working with them to be more descriptive in there messages.

    6:38 SELL STP - Worked

    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM *************************************************
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 LF
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 6:43:53 AM Order Cancelled ET:11. WARNING: DID NOT REMOVE SYMBOL HERE
    12/1/2010 6:43:53 AM Order Cancelled ET (Symbol/Msg): - ORDER FAILED

    7:10 SELL SBGI - Worked

    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM *************************************************
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 VVUS
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 12:14:34 PM Order Cancelled ET:11. WARNING: DID NOT REMOVE SYMBOL HERE
    12/1/2010 12:14:34 PM Order Cancelled ET (Symbol/Msg): - ORDER FAILED

    6:38 SELL STP - Worked
    7:10 SELL SBGI - Worked

    Does that mean the the above trades DID go through and get processed by the broker? But the log file logged the message from the broker as "ORDER FAILED"?

    Thanks,

    Ed

    Sorry I was just tying to avoid posting the whole log

    12/1/2010 6:27:18 AM Starting ETrade Login
    12/1/2010 6:27:19 AM Logged In
    12/1/2010 6:27:38 AM Shares Changed 1: for LF from 0 to 400
    12/1/2010 6:27:38 AM Shares Changed 1: for SBGI from 0 to 400
    12/1/2010 6:27:38 AM Shares Changed 1: for STP from 0 to 400
    12/1/2010 6:27:39 AM Shares Changed 2: for VVUS from 0 to 400
    12/1/2010 6:27:51 AM Position Changed 1: for LF from 0 to 400
    12/1/2010 6:30:37 AM Position Changed 1: for SBGI from 0 to 400
    12/1/2010 6:30:54 AM Position Changed 1: for STP from 0 to 400
    12/1/2010 6:30:56 AM Position Changed 1: for VVUS from 0 to 400
    12/1/2010 6:38:56 AM
    12/1/2010 6:38:56 AM *************************************************
    12/1/2010 6:38:56 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 STP
    12/1/2010 6:38:56 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    12/1/2010 6:38:56 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 6:38:56 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    12/1/2010 6:38:56 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 6:39:38 AM Position Changed 1: for STP from 400 to 0
    12/1/2010 6:39:38 AM Shares Changed 14: for STP from 400 to 0
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM *************************************************
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 LF
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 6:43:53 AM Order Cancelled ET:11. WARNING: DID NOT REMOVE SYMBOL HERE
    12/1/2010 6:43:53 AM Order Cancelled ET (Symbol/Msg): - ORDER FAILED
    12/1/2010 7:10:00 AM
    12/1/2010 7:10:00 AM *************************************************
    12/1/2010 7:10:00 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 SBGI
    12/1/2010 7:10:00 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    12/1/2010 7:10:00 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 7:10:00 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    12/1/2010 7:10:00 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 7:11:01 AM Position Changed 1: for SBGI from 400 to 0
    12/1/2010 7:11:01 AM Shares Changed 14: for SBGI from 400 to 0

    I logged into E*Trade and Sold LF, I don’t remember the time, but im guessing this is CoolTrader catching up to the sell
    12/1/2010 9:19:31 AM Position Changed 1: for LF from 400 to 0
    12/1/2010 9:19:31 AM Shares Changed 14: for LF from 400 to 0

    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM *************************************************
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 VVUS
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 12:14:34 PM Order Cancelled ET:11. WARNING: DID NOT REMOVE SYMBOL HERE
    12/1/2010 12:14:34 PM Order Cancelled ET (Symbol/Msg): - ORDER FAILED

    I logged in and sold VVUS around 12:45, just before the market closing at 1pm, the 12:14 entrys are the entrys in the log. I had no Buys today

    Both STP and SBGI were sold correctly

    LF and VVUS failed to sell. But I was able to log into E*Trade and sell them

    This was not a typical day for me, normally I don’t sell so many at once.

    I had an E-mail into Techsupport, 11/11/2010 8:46 pm that I never followed up on, as my E*Trade account is not in good standings at the moment. It will be a few days, before i can make any more trades. I’ve adjusted Autotrader for the moment to make no same day trades because of this.

    You have me confused because in your previous post you showed 2 positions in the logged where it said "ORDER FAILED" and your message said that "It worked". Please read my post just above your last post.

    My question is that if the log file say that the order failed, but in fact the order did not fail, that is important to know. These messages in the file that say "order failed" may only mean that the sell communication between the broker and application just needs to be fine-tuned.

    Thanks,

    Ed

    ha. you were typing at the same time as I was.

    Let’s forget about the old posts. Do you agree that these 2 sell orders completed successfully, but the log file showed "ORDER FAILED"?

    6:38 SELL STP - Worked

    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM *************************************************
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 LF
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    12/1/2010 6:43:40 AM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 6:43:53 AM Order Cancelled ET:11. WARNING: DID NOT REMOVE SYMBOL HERE
    12/1/2010 6:43:53 AM Order Cancelled ET (Symbol/Msg): - ORDER FAILED

    7:10 SELL SBGI - Worked

    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM *************************************************
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, came from: 2 SELL 400 VVUS
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, Before Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 999
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, After Setting LastOrderTradeShares, .LastOrderTradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .Shares = 400
    12/1/2010 12:13:49 PM Inside PrepPlaceOrder, .TradeShares = 0
    12/1/2010 12:14:34 PM Order Cancelled ET:11. WARNING: DID NOT REMOVE SYMBOL HERE
    12/1/2010 12:14:34 PM Order Cancelled ET (Symbol/Msg): - ORDER FAILED

    I see why I was confused. You wrote "6:38 SELL STOP - Worked" but directly under it you showed the log file for LF, a different symbol.

    So, the log file is showing the failed trades, but the broker only showed "ORDER FAILED" and did not give the reason.

    I willsend them email tonight and talk to them in the morning.

    Thank you!

    Ed

    LF - VVUS did not complete was not processed by broker

    STP and SBGI were completed correctly, processed correctly by the broker

    Ah, sorry about that.

    Thank you :)

    Malevolence - you are experiencing very similar problems as mine. On 11/29/2010 my CT was able to complete 2 out of 9 buy orders (all 7 failed with same message). When the exit conditions were met, CT sent a sell order to ETrade but the order failed and I realized I had to intervene and manually close the position through ETrade. I have sent tech support all the details including the log file and I actually suspended all LIVE trades through E*Trade and I’m back to simulation mode till all these issues are resolved. I know E*Trade started opening up their API this summer and the problem could be on either side.

    what perameter closed the trade?
    I dont always understand what perameter closes a trade. was it a stop, or an exit rule. is there anyway to determine this beside clicking the "rules" in autotrader?

    Clear all blocklist Symbols
    Please consider making a button to "Clear all blocklist Symbols" or a "sellect all" option

    Order or opening positions....
    When CT is scanning through your watchlist looking for a stock that meets your parameters I assume that it buys in alphabetical order if you have multiple candidates? I was just curious if by doing this you miss out on a better buy but since it was further down the list and you maybe filled your trades limit it doesn’t get the chance to be bought. In this case it is probably better to put some more restrictive buy parameters, but I was curious if CT could run through the list all the way through and then pick the stock that first has the greatest positive divergence out of your parameters? It’s just funny when I get alerts and they are all stocks that start with A, B, and C…..

    Sorry...the title is supposed to read Order of opening positions....

    Doesn’t do it now. I copied your suggestion to the Automated Trader Requests section so that it can be reviewed and possibly added to one of our releases.

    Thank you for that suggestion.

    Ed

    Order of opening positions....
    When CT is scanning through your watchlist looking for a stock that meets your parameters I assume that it buys in alphabetical order if you have multiple candidates? I was just curious if by doing this you miss out on a better buy but since it was further down the list and you maybe filled your trades limit it doesn’t get the chance to be bought. In this case it is probably better to put some more restrictive buy parameters, but I was curious if CT could run through the list all the way through and then pick the stock that first has the greatest positive divergence out of your parameters? It’s just funny when I get alerts and they are all stocks that start with A, B, and C…..

    (suggestion by ConradPuls)

    Out of open trade time range?
    I’m watching CT say Out of Open Trade Time range 9:00AM for a large number of stocks in my watch list. Problem is, that it is almost 9:30 and well into open trading. It’s buying the few stocks that are in the trade range, but after about stocks that start with E, it is saying they are out of the time range. What gives? I’m missing out on profitable stocks.

    In your brokerage account, make sure all of the positions owned have the correct number of shares to match your strategy.

    For instance, if you are trading in 200 share lots and you own 300 shares of a stock in your brokerage account, then the software will no look for new positions to buy while it is polling the broker for the remaining shares to bring the shares to 200 X 2.

    That’s something to look at. I’ve seen it do that in the past.

    Also look at the Day Trades Remaining (if you have under 25k in the account.
    Also look at the funds available.
    Some of those things prevent the software from looking at the entry rules if it already knows that it cannot open positions.

    Hedge

    I guess I should have mentioned that I’m still running in simulated mode. Yesterday I had to pack up and travel and so I closed all my positions as they had done well and decided to restart with a fresh account at a value closer to what I will be using when I go live. I also figured it would be a good time to see how things open since I am on holidays. So I’m simulating on a fresh account that had no open trades this morning with sufficient funds.

    When it buys a stock it takes a while to refresh the entire watchlist, but it’s weird that starting about after E or F they all say Out of Open Trade Time Range. Should I restart the program? Is there a newer Developer Version out? I have version 7.2.117.

    Thanks,
    Conrad

    It can’t hurt to restart.

    There is definitely a newer Dev version than .117 too.

    Kill the Automated Trader and Run your strategy wizard and make sure the long and short list watch list counts do not add up to more than 100 symbols combined. And then from the Strategy Wizard you can do the Developer version download.

    Enlightened

    Sounds good I’m going to restart and update. My watchlist was only pulling in 68 stocks so I was good there. Looks like the "file is busy, Re-attempting download....Please Wait".....I guess a number of people are updating?

    busy?

    It should be showing you the file that is locked.
    It usually means that a file is busy, like the watch dog program or the automated trader. If you launch the task manager (from the system tray) and kill those processes, then it will proceed.

    The programs to look for in the Task Manager Processes are:

    watchdog.exe
    cooltrade.exe
    nswizard.exe

    Enlightened

    close partial positions?
    Is there a way to close only some of your position?

    I would love to close half of my position once certain criteria is filled ...

    i.e. close half the position if gain is 1%

    The system trades in round lots (minimum 100).

    So, if you buy 100 shares and then buy another 100 shares at a lower price,
    if you have a profit goal of 1% on TAB6, it will close out only the lot that is up 1%.

    You cannot have it close a partial lot. If you are trading in 300 share lots, then the positions are bought and sold in 300 share lots.

    Enlightened

    help with CT Crashing
    just reactivated my account and have tried CT for two days. Both days mid day, CT crashed and therefore all trading ceased. Unfortunately there is not much point to an "automated trader" if i can’t get it reliable.

    any help would be appreciated!

    I am running windows xp sp3 with 3GB of RAM and quite a powerful machine. My previous work was in IT support, so I not only know I have a very good machine, but also I keep it insanely clean to keep it running well.

    Today I literally only had IB and CT open all day (after a reboot this morning and a scandisk, defrag yesterday) and it still crashed.

    My watchlist had 46 stocks in it yesterday and only 33 today ... is that too many for CT to handle??

    Gotta get this thing reliable! Any suggestions of help would be most appreciated.

    You mentioned that you are running with TWS.

    Do you know what version of the twsapi you have installed?

    I run mulitple trades with tda and tws and do not experience crashes so there is something unique about your setup.

    Hedge

    it is the most recent ... it downloads everyday when I launch it. So it is always the most current.

    First, I would remove the "check for tws updates" from the Start->Programs->Startup folder. Once you have it all working, you don’t need to be getting every tws update before CoolTrade has a chance to ensure the their upgrade is compatible with the released version of CoolTrade.

    Here are some instructions for ensuring that TWS is set up correctly:

    1. Install the Windows STAND ALONE version of the IB TWS program:

    Currently I am using TWS’s "Browser Based version". Are you suggesting i use their "stand alone version" instead?

    Also ... I notice that CT is using 45 - 55% of the CPU non stop. Is that normal? It is also taking about 550MB. (541,672k).

    Also notice that Javaw is usually using only a few percent (2 - 5%) with 160mb of RAM allocated to that.

    I believe the software only works with the TWS Windows Stand Alone Version only.

    I think I’ve read multiple times on the subject of performance and cpu usage on these boards. The cooltrade software is not sitting still so it is using a lot of cpu but it releases control back to the os 1000 times a second so in reality it allows all other programs to take all of the cpu that they want.

    javaw is usually only running small things that aren’t checking buy/sell rules and building/updating indicators every second. I see why it doesn’t use much cpu.

    Hedge

    I have used the ’browser based version’ for many months. and besides this crashing it definitely works, but if CT recommends the ’stand alone’ for stability I am definitely willing to try it.

    Ed or CT staff ... thoughts??

    I didn’t know you could use the autotraders with the tws browser version because I thought the cooltrade software talked to tws directly. But I suppose if you have ActiveX checked and you have the TWS.OCX file on your computer that is all it would need to communicate. I’ve never tried the browser version myself.

    As for the crashes I think tws and the data feed are sending and logging too much. I have found success by changing a few things on the TWS Edit General Options screens:

    1. change the logging level on the main config-api screen to "system".
    2. uncheck "create audit trail" on the General screen.

    When the data is coming real fast in a busy market those things tend to cause some kind of overflows.

    The above things worked for me. I have not had a crash in years.

    Enlightened

    thank you for your help. System was already set in logging, but I DID have audit checked ... so I just unchecked it. Time will tell.

    I did crash about 30 minutes ago again. So once a day it goes down.

    FYI ... interactive brokers has three pieces of software that you can use to trade. Their ’web trader’ is a true browser based (in IE or Firefox or Safari) solution. Then Trader Workstation has two options ... a browser based version and a stand-alone version. For whatever reason, IB suggests you use the browser based version because every day it downloads the most recent version for you, but i dont know CT has problems with this version.

    Here is the URL for the differnet TWS (not web trader) versions ...

    https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=tws&ib_entity=llc

    I am using the "browser based version" located on the left side. Is that bad??

    Today's Open Discrepancy
    Hi,

    I have a rule:

    Todays Current Price is at least 0.5 Percent Less Than Todays Open Price

    In the AutoTrader Rule window it is stating that PWAV Opened today (1/6/11) at 3.28:

    TodayCurrent: 3.2400
    TodayOpen: 3.2800

    However, according to other sources (ETrade, Yahoo, FreeStockCharts.com) PWAV actually opened today at 3.25. It opened the second minute at 3.28, that is, it increased from 3.25 at open to 3.28 at 9:31.

    Can anyone shed some light on this for me? I am using the ETrade data feed in simulation mode.

    Thanks!

    Steve

    And now I’m seeing some additional symbols with the same problem:

    MBI for today, 1/6/11
    CT thinks TodayOpen was 12.76, it was 12.71 at 9:30 and went up initially

    AMRN, CT says 8.21 but it was 8.22

    Anyone?

    Steve,

    CoolTrade uses the data that comes from the broker.

    If you go to multiple sources you will see that they do not all agree (to the penny) on every stocks open price.

    CT

    I see what you mean.

    According to yahoo, AMRN opened at 8.24 which is also different from google and the broker.

    Carol

    Google shows PWAV opened at 3.25:

    OK, thanks. I am using ETrade as my broker though, and THEY don’t agree with what CT is using as TodaysOpen.

    Steve,

    According to our records, the open prices are coming from the broker.

    Please note though that the datafeeds provided by the broker are not necessarily the same datafeeds that they use in their own applications.

    if you open a file with notepad and search for <open>, it will show the open prices that ETRADE is sending for each symbol.

    The file is called ETQUOTES1.txt , ETQUOTES2.txt , etc. in this directory:

    XP:
    c:\program files\cooltrade automated trader\logs\et

    VISTA/WINDOWS7:
    c:\program files (x86)\cooltrade automated trader\logs\et

    CT

    Simulator Account Value Discrepancies?
    Can someone explain how the account value is calculated or referenced, or did I just have a software glitch yesterday?

    I re-started my strategy at the new year simulating with 75k. Looking at my closed trades reports to this day I have made 2288.21, and as I type am ~$950 up in my open trades that I’m holding.

    The day before yesterday, and early yesterday I believe my account value was reflecting my gains and at one point I was sitting around 77k. I lost my internet connection some time around lunch, but fixed it. Through late morning and the afternoon I was increasingly negative, and upon returning home from work the net P/L was -150 or something. I believe when looking at the trader screen for that day it includes open and closed trades. I may have lost internet again during the afternoon because I lost big on two trades that closed way past when my stop loss should have cut my losses short.-->I’d like to talk about the issue of losing internet connection, but will do it in another post.

    The main problem is that when I looked at my closed trades report for yesterday I was -117 for the day, and yet my account value was ~70k.

    Currently today the account value is at 73k. So where did the good portion of 5k go? If I started with 75k, and my closed trades to date show I’m up 2288.21, and I’m holding roughly 950 in profits in open trades, shouldn’t my account value be reading some where around $78,238.21??

    Any ideas would be appreciated.
    -Conrad

    Obviously this is not an issue if you are trading live because the account balance comes from the broker.

    Account balance = stock value + cash.

    I suggest checking the blocked list and the exceptions list. If any of the open positions went into either of those folders then then value of those stocks may not be getting added to the account balance.

    Hedge

    There were not any stocks that were in the blocked or exceptions list. Again this was the day I had connection problems so must have been some kind of glitch. I just did the math and corrected my account value and proceeded on.

    I am still simulating.

    Seems that I had another account glitch today. This time it showed my funds allocated to be almost 82,000 when really if I do the math they are only 16,201. My money management parameters are the same on my short strategy on another computer and it seems to be running fine. I’m am using % of buying power to place a trade, and this seems to mean to use % of account value provided that the funds available are sufficient. This makes sense to set it up this way that way as the account grows or shrinks so does the amount you spend on each stock.

    Not sure what went basurk with my funds allocated, but it kind of screwed up my strategy of adding to my declining positions because I didn’t have sufficient funds available. I was -9000 or so.

    I’d like to keep the current trades so I can see how my strategy handles them, but while i can add funds to continue trading/adding to positions, and adjust the % used, it’d be nice if I could just go in and edit not only the account value but the funds allocated, and available.

    Anyone ever had a similar experience??

    Thanks,
    Conrad

    Conrad,

    Make sure the option above the "account balance" on the preferences screen, labeled "reserve enough funds to buy max shares in strategy", is NOT checked. That will cause the system to allocate/reserve enough funds to buy shares that you do not currently own.

    If you uncheck that option and save your changes then you should see the funds used go down and the funds available go up.

    Ed

    That makes sense Ed. Thank you very much.

    -Conrad

    Internet Connection Failures
    Is there any way to protect ourselves if say for instance our internet, power, router, etc. goes out? Or is that the chance we take? If you have a very Long term strategy then typically you have more of a buffer, but if you’re trading quicker, or the power goes out right after buying a stock that ends up not performing like you’d hope and it trends down through your stop loss then what?

    Currently I’m using a stop loss although I’m intrigued by the no stop loss and add to position/stop loss=lock in loss strategy, but again that is another discussion.

    Has CT ever considered running peoples strategies on their own more stable server, or would that incur much higher costs to all parties to make that happen?

    I’d like to hear what other people are doing. My connection is for the most part reliable, but it goes down occasionally, and if I was live that’d cost me money.

    Thanks,
    Conrad

    My power has not gone out since I can remember. While at the same time, the broker and the entire NYSE has gone down multiple times over the last 5 years.
    Also I only take profits as they come so I don’t worry about short-term outages, even if they did occur. Seems like the risk is the same whether you are automated trading or manual trading.

    I have heard of others (posts on these boards) leasing computer space at places like rackspace.com

    I run multiple traders so I would rather save the money and buy more computers.

    Hedge

    I was wondering the same thing when I signed up a few months ago and my friend, who introduced me to cooltrade runs 8 cooltrade traders and has for a few years, has not seen it go down due to electrical outages.

    He says even if his cooltrade traders did not run for a day he would just miss opening or closing positions and more than likely he would get a chance to open or close at better prices later.

    So are I am just running the 2 dollar and lower strategy and it takes a profit about every other day. I don’t think stopping it for a day would hurt.

    Just my thoughts.

    Carol

    Being that CT is running on our computer and is dependent on our computer to be on and connected to the internet it will be affected if you lose power or say for instance your router conflicts your modem. So I’m not sure what you meant by "....who introduced me to cooltrade runs 8 cooltrade traders and has for a few years, has not seen it go down due to electrical outages.

    Maybe it’s better to have the computer hardwired to the modem.

    Anyway, if you buy a stock and you lose your connection and the stock ends up trending down and not up, and then when you’ve regained your connection you are 4-5% past your stop loss well then you’ve lost more money than you had planned on.

    This is all assuming a strategy with a stop loss, as I understand there are strategies that simply hold and actually add positions as the price drops.

    Conrad,

    You are 100% correct. If the internet goes away while you are in a position, then you are a buy-and-holder until the computer comes back on. Sometimes you will be happy that you did not get out because the stock ran up and allowed you to take more profits than you would have if the power did not got out, and sometimes you will ride a stock lower than you wanted to and realized a larger loss.

    When I started with CT a few years ago I started with a UPS connected to my computer, modem, and router. Then I started adding CT traders / more accounts and more computers and my UPS batterys died and didn’t bother to replace them and used to pray the power stayed on. Now after watching the way the stocks trade I don’t much care if the traders did not run for a day. I really don’t think it would hurt me either way.

    That being said though, I agree with you that if you are a hardcore day trader and depend heavily on your stop losses then a power outage could hurt.

    Enlightened

    I am renting a computer instance from Amazon Web Services and running CT on it. Works great and it’s cheap and it has 99.9999%-sh uptime advertised. I see the other side of the argument when it comes to rent/buy. But I am a computer professional who wants no part of managing a farm of machines at my home or office. I don’t want to deal with all the equipment, the electricity, the maintenance or the planned obsolescence endemic to running Windoze. My home internet connection sucks and I don’t think my employer would like me running CT at my office.

    So, I chose AWS and I love it so far. I can remote desktop into my instance from wherever. I run Linux exclusively and it was nice to just fire up Windoze at AWS and remote into it from my Linux machines, whether at home or at work. AWS is going to run me around $25 a month which is below the noise financially and I just personally find it a neater and cleaner solution for my life.

    To each his/her own!

    @Steve

    Thanks for the info and sharing your experience using EC2. I have CoolTrade on an Amazon EC2 ’small’ windows instance now ... does the CoolTrade program stay running after you log-off remote desktop... or does it matter?

    I used RDP to many of my servers that run Automated Traders and they absolutely keep running after I log off.

    The software must keep running in order for it to evaluate rules and make trades.

    Ed

    You can also set up

    Thanks, Ed...

    Great tips / info.

    @glen, Ed is correct, everything stays running when rdp is disconnected.

    I use a linux machine that is running 24/7 to execute a cron job to start my EC2 instance every trading day at 9:12A. Then the instance itself is set to shutdown every afternoon at 4:04P. If I want to connect to the instance w/ rdp then I do, but the watched pot doesn’t seem to boil so I’ve been doing that less lately...

    Steve

    Stepwise/Multiple Profit Goals
    I think it would be cool to have multiple profit goals coupled with multiple profit pullbacks. I like the profit protection but it is too tight. I’d like to be able to have the opportunity to ride a stock up further. I meet profit protection value and one little blip down and it sells, only to watch the stock climb further.

    Consider 3 profit goals, and 3 associated pull backs. For example:

    Profit Goal 1: 2% Pullback 1: 1%
    Profit Goal 2: 4% Pullback 2: 1.5%
    Profit Goal 3: 6% Pullback 3: 2%

    I think by stepping in some fashion as above one could really ride a profit up better, but still protect himself and come out profitable.

    Let me know what you think.

    Thanks.
    Conrad

    "sellect all" blocklist option
    consider making a button to "Clear all blocklist Symbols" or a "sellect all" option prior to login in the same way you created the new "Refresh to close trades and reset account value". This option could be placed on the broker selector screen. This would save an enormous amount of time. as it stands I spend abount 10 minuts clearing equity symbols from my blocklist when switching from forex to equities

    stop loss vs. exit rule
    Hi,

    Since I can’t day trade I have the trader set for no round trips if Day Trades Left is < 999.

    I could use a little help working out how to fix a problem with my stop loss. Consider OPWV which I shorted on 2/3/2011 at 9:58A for 2.08. The position worked against me for most of the day but gapped lower on 2/4/2011 and then dropped like a stone. But the autotrader closed my position right at the opening bell and didn’t give the position a chance to run for a little while longer. What I think happened is that my stop loss triggered on 2/3/2011, but since the position was in Manual mode, it simply logged the event. And then promptly at market open on Day 2 when Stealth mode was entered, the trader automatically closed the position even though it was already in the black.

    If I were day trading then I understand that I would have already taken my medicine, the stop loss would have taken me out of the trade. But it’s a new day so I wish the stop loss would be reevaluated. I don’t want to loosen my stop loss and I have read the debate on stop loss vs. no stop loss. For my strategy, a stop loss is needed.

    Here is my question: Can I simply move the stop loss into the Exit Rules? Will the AutoTrader ignore Exit Rules during Manual mode on Day 1, or just not record them if they would be true? On Day 2 of my position will the AutoTrader let the position run and process my Exit Rules as per normal?

    The reason this is an important question is because I also have another independent Exit Rule that I want to keep. I can have them both if I set to Exit if ANY are true. However, if the AutoTrader will record an Exit Rule having been met on Day 1 and automatically bail when Day 2 starts, then I will have to also enter something like My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Days > 1 or something like that. Then I only want to Exit if ALL are true and I will have to just delete my independent rule since we can’t do compound logic.

    Thanks,

    Steve

    I think the DAY TRADES LEFT needs to be < 1000, since it will be 999 if you have over $25k in the account.

    My guess is that the close went in right at the close of the market and since it was a market order and the market was closed then the broker saved it to execute it first thing after the market opened the next morning.

    Enlightened

    Multiple CT Accounts and 1 Data Feed to simulate possible?
    I’m looking to add at least 1 and maybe 2 CT accounts to my current account. My question is if I’m just simulating on these accounts to start out with can I use my one brokerage account data feed for all 2 or 3 at once? Or do I have to create multiple brokerage accounts simply to simulate. Obviously once I go live, I’ll have to have the accounts if I want to run multple CT accounts/strategies at once, but I’ll set those up when I’m ready to go live.

    Thanks,
    Conrad

    I use multiple simulators with multiple cooltrade subscriptions but only 1 Ameritrade account and it works fine.

    Don’t know about other brokers, but I don’t think you can do it with TWS or MB.

    Enlightened

    Good deal. I’ll be using TD.

    Thank you.

    AutoTrader Slipup?
    Hi,

    CT made a couple trades today that were not at all in keeping w/ my strategy. Here are the details of one from the TradeStatsLog file:


    2/25/2011 9:50:17 AM
    *****************************************************
    Buy 200 HDY (5.3900)
    *****************************************************
    Open Position Rules Passed For: HDY
    ADD TO POSITION RULES


    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,0 ) is at least 1.3 Percent Greater Than Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,-5 )
    MinuteSimpleMa (1 , 3 , 0) : 5.3833
    MinuteSimpleMa (1 , 3 , -5) : 0.0000

    Dynamic WILLIAMS %R ( 14 ) > 12 Dollars
    DYNAMIC_WILLIAMSR (14) : 43.2292


    EXIT POSITION RULES

    Todays Current Price is at least 4 Percent Less Than My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price
    TodayCurrent: 5.4100
    MyHighestTradePrice: 0.0000

    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Days >= to 1
    MyLowestTradeDays: -1.0000


    *****************************************************

    Two problems:

    1) Why at 9:50:17AM was MinuteSimpleMa (1 , 3 , -5) : 0.0000 ????
    2) If the data isn’t there, shouldn’t the rule evaluate to FALSE and prevent opening a position?

    Yes, the strategy is set for ALL rules to pass before opening a position.

    Thanks,

    Steve

    Steve,

    The OFFSET value should be 5 (NOT -5).

    The Minus values for the OFFSET are reserved for accessing the values that were used at the time the position was opened. So if you had an open position, offset of -5 would reflect 5 bars back from the opening bar.

    Minus offsets should only be used in Add to Position and Exit rules.

    I think if you change the offset to 5, it will show -1 (or failure) if the data is not present.

    Hedge

    Hedge,

    Thank you so much!

    I was floored when I read your reply, because I have been glued to the Rules window in the past week or more that I’ve been running this rule. There were no 0’s and in fact for the most part it seemed to be running as I intended. I had a few questions, but not until this morning did I begin to see 0’s and weird Opens.

    But your correction seemed right so I edited my strategy and restarted CT. It fired off a string of Open Positions, again by comparing against 0’s. See this one for reference:

    2/25/2011 11:47:22 AM
    *****************************************************
    Buy 200 DCTH (6.3300)
    *****************************************************
    Open Position Rules Passed For: DCTH
    ADD TO POSITION RULES


    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Dynamic WILLIAMS %R ( 14 ) > 12 Dollars
    DYNAMIC_WILLIAMSR (14) : 94.4880

    Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,0 ) is at least 1.3 Percent Greater Than Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,5 )
    MinuteSimpleMa (1 , 3 , 0) : 6.3410
    MinuteSimpleMa (1 , 3 , 5) : 0.0000


    EXIT POSITION RULES

    Todays Current Price is at least 4 Percent Less Than My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price
    TodayCurrent: 6.3430
    MyHighestTradePrice: 0.0000

    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Days >= to 1
    MyLowestTradeDays: -1.0000


    Any ideas?

    Thanks,

    Steve

    You should send that to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com so they can devise a solution.

    As far as I always knew, if the minute bars indicator reports (not enough data), it returns a -1 which means "failure".

    In the meantime, as a solution so you can continue with your strategy, just add a rule so the minute bars indicator is > 0.

    Example Rules:

    Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,0 ) is at least 1.3 Percent Greater Than Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,-5 )
    Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,0 ) > 0
    Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,5 ) > 0

    That should help until they figure out why it is not returning -1.

    Enlightened

    I meant:

    Example Rules:

    Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,0 ) is at least 1.3 Percent Greater Than Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,5 )
    Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,0 ) > 0
    Intraday Simple MA ( 1,3,5 ) > 0

    inaccurate price data
    Has anyone experienced inaccurate price data and if so, any suggestions for fix? Some time the price data is accurate but most of the time it is not. Thanks!

    Entry rule:
    Intraday close (1,1,0) > Intraday close (1,1,1)

    It sounds like you are having problems with your data provider since all data comes from the broker.

    That intraday rule is just saying that the last 1 minute bar closed at a higher price than the previous 1 minute bar.

    If you click the RULES button in your automated trader it will show you what the values of those indicators are. However, please note that the prices are constantly changing, even though the values on the Rules screen do not update as fast, so they may look wrong, even though they are actually correct inside the program.

    Ed

    Collective2 Signals
    I am having trouble getting my trade signals to collective2. I have collective2 checked on within the auto trader and verified my email address in the box is the same as my collective2 account name. Has anyone successfully sent signals to collective2?

    Hi Greg,

    I don’t think the email address is what it needs.

    I just tested it with my Collective2 STRATEGY ID and Collective2 PASSWORD and the trade successfully went to my Collective2 account.

    Ed

    Ok I didnt see anything on the C2 site that explains how the signal gets from cooltrade. I set up my c2 account 2 days ago and still no signals. Note that I am running in simulation mode.

    Did you put the C2 Strategy ID, like 47587584 and the C2 password on the Preferences screen in the Automated Trader?

    If so, the automated trader should be sending the trades to that specific C2 strategy.

    Ed

    OK my Bad. I was putting my email address in this field rather that the strategy id. I’m surprised that something like that is not specified predominantly on their site. Thanks Ed

    Sell, and immediate buy order and cancelled orders with IB
    Hello,

    Two issues/questions:

    1) I was watching the CT today and my charts, and noticed odd occurrences where CT closed a trade and reopened within seconds. This happened twice this afternoon, but has been fine all week.

    It stated one of my exit rules was the reason: “Intraday Exp MA ( 5,5,0 ) is Less Than Intraday Exp MA ( 5,10,0 )”. However, that was not correct, as the 5 EMA was about $0.15-$0.15 ABOVE the 10 EMA.

    Then within 15-20 seconds, it reopened the position. One of the open rules is that the Intraday Exp MA ( 5,5,0 ) is at least $0.02 greater Than Intraday Exp MA ( 5,10,0 )”, which it was (and why I had a previous open trade). See below:


    12:24 BUY 200 TNA (87.9600)
    12:23 SELL 200 TNA (87.9300) (Exit Reason: Intraday Exp MA ( 5,5,0 ) is Less Than Intraday Exp MA ( 5,10,0 ) )
    11:29 BUY 200 TNA (87.9100)
    11:29 SELL 200 TNA (87.8900) (Exit Reason: Intraday Exp MA ( 5,5,0 ) is Less Than Intraday Exp MA ( 5,10,0 ) )
    11:24 BUY 200 TNA (87.7100)


    Maybe these things happen when there is a short data loss with the broker (IB)? Thoughts? How can I prevent that?

    2) Also, I set CT to close all positions at 12:57PM (PT), CT sends the sell order to IB, and IB closes. But then CT reports a “Cancelled Order” that keeps it in the open positions. But IB has already (correctly) executed the position (zero shares). To correct, every night I have to put the symbol in blocked, and then remove it. Is this a known issue? Is there something I am doing wrong? I am trying to make this as hands-off as possible, as I am going out of town soon, and wanted CT to trade without any my interaction.


    12:59 Cancelled TNA Order
    12:57 SELL 200 TNA (88.5000) (Exit Reason: Close All Positions)

    Thanks for your continued assistance.

    I can’t tell you why #1 would happen but I suggest you add a value to ensure value1 is at least x greater than value2.

    Regarding #2, it appears that TWS is not sending a trade confirmation back to your trader. That is why CoolTrade is flagging the order as Cancelled 2 minutes after the order was submitted.

    If you are trading against a TWS Demo account then that would explain it, as the TWS Demo account is not very reliable and I wouldn’t trust the data either.

    If you are running with a LIVE TWS account then I suggest changing the CLOSE ALL command to 2 minute earlier, like 12:55

    Enlightened

    Wanted do a follow up on this, regarding CT reporting a "Cancelled Order" when I have "Close All Position". I am trading live with IB.

    As EL suggested, I did different times for the close all position. But same thing happens.

    Also, had the same happen when I manually click the close all long/short positions. This is also on two different PC systems.

    Anyone else encounter the same issue?

    Thanks!

    I suggest you click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION to make sure you are running the most recent version of the software.

    Also, when you do the update, that will reinstall the IB controls used by the program.

    If that does not fix it then send email to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com and see if they can assist.

    I run a few IB/TWS accounts and do not have the problem that you are describing.

    Enlightened

    is it possible to import a watchlist from my etrade account
    is it possible to import a watchlist from my etrade account

    No. Automatic importing of a watchlist from ETRADE has not been added to the CoolTrade system.

    However, if you export the watchlist from ETRADE to a file, then you can set up your strategy to build the CoolTrade watchlist from that file.

    Ed

    i am new to this
    is there any videos showing how this works or at least can i backtest this?

    There is no backtester. But you can forward-test in Simulator mode.

    There are videos at the top of the Automated Trader and the Strategy Wizard.

    You can also find the videos on the CoolTrade website here:



    same problem
    My 2 stocks was sold today with loss and I do not have stop loss protections.
    After 2 minutes this stocks was purchase.
    Thanks
    Iza

    Iza,

    The stock market is not even open yet, so they could not have been closed today.
    You should shutdown the software and reboot the computer, as you may have a corrupted Windows session.

    The CoolTrade software cannot close positions in the pre or after market.

    If the positions were closed then the broker would have closed them for some reason.

    Enlightened

    how often does cooltrade execute
    Does cooltrade execute upon receipt of each tick in the datafeed, like say every second for instance?

    The CoolTrade software is running/checking rules continuously and separately / simultaneously the data is streaming in.

    However, it is not likely that every rule is checked with each piece of tick data as it comes in.

    Ed

    multiple cooltrades on same brokerage acct
    Can multiple instances of cooltrades operate on the same online brokerage account, using the same datafeed? If so, would they have to run on the same computer? I ask this because it would be beneficial to have one account that stays over $25k to meet the SEC’s day trader requirement, and be able to run different potentially day-trading strategies simultaneously.

    You can use the same brokerage with most brokers for Simulating within CoolTrade because CoolTrade only uses the datafeed from the broker. However, for Live trading, since the buys/sell and positions are in the brokerage account, you CANNOT run multiple LIVE traders with the same brokerage account.

    Ed

    Can you run multiple subaccounts in one trader?

    Example, a retirement portfolio and an investment portfolio within same brokerage account or do I need 2 autotraders to do that? I have had multiple requests from potential users asking this same question. ($3500 vs $7000 to get there funds managed is an initial turnoff to some)

    Thanks!!

    Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve seen elsewhere in this forum that your 2nd license would cost $1500 per year maintenance fee, and when the coding is in place that will change to be $125 monthly instead. In other words, it does not cost $3500 per license.

    The 2nd license is $1500/year (at the time of this writing) and it could change later.

    We do not have the $125/mo in place. Just a flat (up-front) payment of $1500. If you want to do that, then send email to cary@cooltraderpro.com

    Backtesting
    TD used to offer backtesting, but then it disappeared a couple years ago.
    Is there anyway to backtest with Cool-Trade?

    The CoolTrade backter was also removed a couple years ago as the historical data provided by the brokers was not good enough.

    Forward-testing with CoolTrade Simulation mode (and the brokers real-time data) is as close to real-time as you can get. The software doesn’t even know that it is simulating until it goes to submit an order.

    CT

    Trade Rule History
    Is there a way to see a report of what rules triggered to open a position?

    There are files that show the value of the indicators at the time the indicators were checked before each trade. However, they are just text and not comma delmited for usage in Excel. You can find these files in the ...\CoolTrade Automated Trader\Logs directory.

    I assume that all of the rules on Tab3 (Open Position Rules) were true. I can only think that you want to see the specific indicator values. You can also see the Rules/Indicator Values on the Rules screen.

    CT

    Etrade API Login
    I have been using Cool-Trade for about a month and would like to know if there is a possibility that the ETrade API can log itself in and get the web code?

    I use a screen scraper script with some success, but there are times when it fails and if I am not present or away I have had to call someone to start it up for me.

    Thoughts?

    Lester John

    ETRADE is currently the only broker that requires a manual login. Unfortunately, for CoolTrade to perform the screen-scrape would be a violation of the CoolTrade / ETRADE service agreement.

    We will put in a request to ETRADE to extend the expiration of the code. It currently expires every 24 hours.

    Regards,

    Ed

    Account Value, Funds Available?
    Whats the three values and their meanings, Current Account Balance, Funds Allocated, Funds Available...

    say i have 5000 dollars in my brokarage account , and robotic trader does a trade of 100$ in the given day... can someone summarize these 3 values what they represent...

    Current Account Value: Comes from the broker and it is your Total Cash + Open Positions Value.

    Funds Allocated: That is the total amount that you paid for your open positions.

    Funds Available: That is the Current Account Value (times 2-1 or 4-1 margin if used) minus the Funds Allocated.

    For the $100 example that you requested.

    Assuming no margin:

    Current Account Value: 5000
    Funds Allocated: 100
    Funds Available: 4900

    Hedge

    Brokers
    Can anyone advise as to which brokers operate in canada and pro’s/cons to each?

    Regards

    I don’t think you can use TD Ameritrade in Canada but all of the ohter brokers are fair game.

    You should contract each of the brokers that CoolTrade lists on their subscribe page and ask them if they work for Canadian residents.

    Some additional info:

    Interactive Broker has a great data feed with historical minute bars provided and $1 per trade for 200 shares or less, and then .50 for each additional 100 shares. So 500 shares would cost $5.00
    Only caveat, is that you must run their TWS software at the same time as CoolTrade.

    MB Trading has a great data feed with historical minute bars also and charges a flat fee of $4.95 a trade, and does not require you to run their software at the same time as CoolTrade.

    The other brokers do not have historical minute bars but do have some low trading fees.

    You should contact each broker because they have specials for new accounts. For instance, I know someone who called ETRADE and got somethng like $5 trades. I believe some brokers will even give away free trades for 2 months. Definitely mention that you are using CoolTrade because they may have specials just for CoolTrade members only.

    Hedge

    Immediate Re-Entry on reaching profit goal
    Have an interesting issue occurring with my trading strategy. Wanted to see if anyone else had figured out a way to deal with this.

    I am working with intraday minute bars to determine entry points. I also have a very tight profit goal that at times can be met right after the trade is entered. If the trade is exited due to the profit goal before the minute bars are updated a new trade is opened. I believe this is due to the entry rules still being true. I realize that I could set the ReEntry Pullback amount to keep this from happening, but that isn’t cleared out until the end of the day. This keeps me from being able to re-enter for the entire day.

    Has anyone seen this issue with their strategy? Any suggested workarounds?

    I know this post is a bit old but I wanted to find out if you were able to get an answer to your question?

    If there is a way that you could tell us the specific indicators that you are using? Are you using a fixed amount or % of entry price for your profit requirements?

    If you are working with more than one stock in your watch list I would suggest moving your Profit Goal / Profit Protection to a percent and possibly setting it to react a little less strictly.

    Also if you are wanting to see how the software is reacting to the strategy you have setup, within the auto trader, click on the System Activity blue button and during the time that your trader makes the specific decision you will see what rules are being met and what it is specifically doing.

    The more I can know about the specifics about the strategy you are using, the better I can try to answer.

    I believe that you set the reentry pullback to 0 that why the new trade would open right after the first one is closed. Have you tried to set it back to 0.10 to see the difference?

    SL

    CT Portfolio
    Hi
    How does cool trade select the stocks to buy if there are several stocks in my portfolio. There are several stocks that met my criteria but were not traded. Does anyone know the order of selection for the algorithm.
    Rgds
    G

    On the right side of the Watch List at the bottom of the Automated Trader screen, across from each symbol, it shows the Rule Preventing Trade. That is the best way to know why a position is not opening.

    The trader opens the first position that it sees where all Open Position rules have passed. It opens the first one that it sees. Since the symbols are listed alphabetically, many times the opens will be in that order when multple symbols have all of the rules passing.

    Things to look at are, and these have been listed time and time again on this board:

    if you have less than $25k in your account then make sure the Day Trades Remaining is greater than 0.

    Check your Funds Available.
    Check your Start/Stop Opening positions times.

    If you are looking at some other charting software and guessing that some technical indicator is a "buy" then that is not good. You should click on the RULES button on the main menu at the top of the screen and look at the rules and indicator values to see what values the CoolTrade software is actually seeing.

    Hedge

    Does Auto Trader run when the computer is in switch user mode
    Hi

    I need some help here. Appreciate if any one could help me to understand what happened yesterday.

    On September 1, 2011 (Yesterday) I started the computer and opened CT around 6.30 in the morning and linked it to IB feed. Then I went out by using "switch user" function in Windows without logging off. So, CT autotrader was running wholeday and nobody touched the computer. There wasn’t any disturbance. When I came back after the market close still autotrader was runninig.


    But to my surprise, there wasn’t a single trade executed even though I had 7 positions at the opening and market was volatile enough to execute few trades as per the criteria mentioned above. Even it didn’t execute the end of the day trading rules like selling positions with a certain profit margin etc eventhough there were a few trades which met the criteria.

    I would like to know why if anybody experienced it before.

    Thanks
    Anoma

    I don’t know what "switch user mode" is, but if it is the equivilant of putting the machine in hibernate mode or the equivilant of logging off, then the software may not have been communicating with the internet and thus did not run.

    If it didn’t execute the trades then most likely the program just wan’t running while you were logged out of that user.

    If you logged out of the user account then the software cannot run while you are not logged in.

    You need to stay logged in so the software can keep accessing the necessary windows resources.

    Hedge

    Auto Trader Strategy Question
    Hello to All

    I have been testing CT for a while and put it into work through IB for the Canadian Market. I have a very simple strategy.

    My parameters are as follows.

    Profit target = 40 cents

    Pullback after reaching Profit Goal = 5 cents

    Profit Protection = 20 cents

    ReEntry Pullback = 15 cents

    No Stop Losses at all.


    Adding to Advancing positions at every 12 cents

    Adding to Declining positions at every 24 cents



    I only buy and sell HOU & HOD in TSE.



    Open new positions rules - Todays current bid price is greater than 0 dollars (I have this rule to make sure that I always have minimum 200 shares all the time)



    Adding to existing positions - Initally I didn’t have any rule here but subsequently (some where on 13th or 14th of Sep) the following rules were added.



    The current bid price is greater than 7 dollars or The current bid price is lower than 5.10 dollars. (The purpose of this was to not to add any more to existing HOU positions since oil went up a bit last week and to add more to HOD only)



    Today’s transactions (19th Sep) were as follows.

    BOT 200 HOD false Stock 8.030 CAD TSE 10:18:28 2.36 null
    SLD 200 HOD false Stock 7.980 CAD TSE 10:25:04 2.36 null
    BOT 200 HOU false Stock 5.030 CAD TSE 10:18:29 2.36 null
    SLD 400 HOU false Stock 5.125 CAD TSE 14:43:24 4.71 null


    If you analyse today’s transactions, I had 200 of HOU in the morning bought at 5.40 prior to Sep 13th and since price came down below 5.10, another 200 shares got added. But around 2.40 pm, all 400 shares got sold at 5.13. To me this is strange based on the rules and parameters that were given specially when no stop losses are given in the system. I would imagine that there was no reason to sell all 400 and also the lot bought at 5.40 couldn’t have been sold at 5.13 at any cost. I am confused and similar issues were there even last week.

    I really would appreciate if some one who has knowledge of CT reads my notes carefully and gives me some good advice on how to make this very simple strategy works.



    I really really appreciate your help since after spending a lot of money buying CT, I haven’t been able to earn money yet eventhough a month has alredy gone.


    Thanks

    Anoma

    When the position got closed, did the SHOW TRADES on the upper-right of the screen show any message telling the rule that caused the close?

    Also, was there a "P" or "Y" on the far right of the screen in the REACHED column. It is possible the position went up and came back down and cause profit protection to kick in.

    I also recommend you click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION to be sure you are running the most recent version of the software.

    CT

    Hello,

    Further to your reply, I would like to share what happened today. Overnight I had only HOD 200 shares and I didn’t have any of HOU. See below the transactions CT executed today. It went and bought 200 of HOU around 10.27am and another 200 of HOU around 14.45am. I can’t interprete these results with the given rules.

    I need some help from your side. Is it possible to access my system from your side and have a look and let me know where I am making the mistake.

    Thanks
    Anoma



    BOT 200 HOD FALSE Stock 7.72 CAD TSE 10:27:37
    SLD 200 HOD FALSE Stock 7.8 CAD TSE 15:58:38
    BOT 200 HOU FALSE Stock 5.23 CAD TSE 10:27:30
    BOT 200 HOU FALSE Stock 5.22 CAD TSE 14:45:22

    Hi Anoma,

    No one can see your Automated Trader accept you.
    The only way to know what the rules are at the time of the trade is to click on the RULES button in the Automated Trader and you can see the indicator values in the rules that it is following to make the BUY decision.

    If the rOpen Position ules pass then the position is opened. If the Add To Position rules pass then additional shares are added to the position.

    Also, as I suggested in my previous response, I recommend you click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION to be sure you are running the most recent version of the software.

    Thanks,

    CT

    Hi,

    Thanks for the reply. Yes. I downloaded the latest version. Will let you know if there are any issues again.


    In the mean time, I noticed one more issue. When the price goes down, as per my strategy, I buy more and more at regular intervals. I noticed recently that CT adjusts the costs of even the previous purchases (bought at higher prices) to the buying price of the latest lot and also with that CT adjusts the target price etc. I was expecting CT to keep the original costs and target prices even if I dd more to a particular position. Do you know the reason for this. Do I have to adjust some where in the program to avoid this happening.

    Thanks
    Anoma

    That should not happen. It indicates that the broker is sending zeros for the positions and then sending the shares so the program thinks the position was closed and opened again, and thus uses the new price.

    Downloading the latest version may help with this.

    Using Cramer and AAP with Optionhouse
    I have my subscription with Cramer AAP activate in Cooltrade Strategy Wizard. I got about 10 Action Alert Plus in my email so far but none of its appear in Cooltrade. I use Optionhouse stimulator. Thanks for your helps!

    In the Automated Trader, select File->Subscriptions and make sure you have your TheStreet.com username and password set. Otherwise the alerts will not come through to your Automated Trader.

    CT

    In the Automated Trader, File->Subscriptions I did have my username and password active and the alerts did not come through the Automated Trader. Thanks

    Only other thing needed is to follow the rules in the default Trade Alongside Cramer strategy.

    I deleted all the rules in the strategy wizard and I still did not get any trade. Thanks!

    The last BUY sent to CoolTrade from TheStreet.com (AAP Alerts) was on Monday for UN and EMC.

    None were logged on Tuesday or Wednesday.

    If you delete the rule that says to open positions from Cramer then the alerts will not come into your automated trader.

    I suggest that you copy the Jim Cramer Action Alerts strategy from the Strategies List in the Strategy Wizard so that you have everything that is needed to trade Jim’s Alerts.

    if you need someone from CoolTrade to remotely connect to your computer and give you assistance, please send email to TechnicalSupport@Cool-Trade.com

    Thank you,

    CT

    Intraday calculations
    I have a suggestion for how intraday calculations are done. For brokers where historical bars are available it would make sense to use historical bars for all calculations rather than by building the bars "on the fly" as it appears the software does.This causes the bars used by Cool-trade to vary from what is reported by the brokerage. I assume the bars are available since they are obtained at startup to calculate different intraday indicators.

    I see some advantages to this:
    - One would be able to exactly match their strategy to the brokerage’s charting - a picture is worth a thousand words.
    - Cool-trade’s decision making would match what others see visually in the brokerage’s charts thus matching what other people "see" and trade on.
    - Calculations of bars would not be impacted by issues with connectivity unless there was an extended period (more than a minute) of the connection being unavailable.

    Thanks.

    Simulator Account Balance Question
    I have only been using the cool-trade system in simulation mode for the past week and have experimented with a couple strategies only for a few days each. First i want to get a feel for the software and 2 I am trying to find a strategy that makes me money with only 25k invested or less.

    I have been testing the FAZ long and short, seems like the long makes me money and the short seems to loose it all.

    Anyways, my question is related to the account balance. I am using TD Ameritrade as the simulated account. Starting the balance at 25k.

    I showed a full day profit of $115 using the FAZ long/short strategy.
    I counted the amount of trades, buy/sell = 30 trades for the day.

    If I calculate my expected cost of trades, I would have actually lost money today. So I am wondering if the account balance is taking into consideration the costs associated with the trades in simulation mode? I would imagine in live trading the account balance is directly fed from the brokerage account.

    Thanks!

    Yes. The Account balance comes from your brokerage account when you are trading Live.

    The FAZ strategy works great wtih an Interactive Brokers account as the trading cost is $1 per trade for 200 shares or less. So $2 to open and close each position.

    Hedge

    Trades area Vs main position difference
    Hi,

    I am a newbie and doing the paper trade. There is a conflict of show in the upper right hand corner showing buy Vs under the Main Position’ area show sell.

    Also I calculate the net P/L does not agree with the system P/L figure.

    Can some one kindly explain to me or give me a call. Thanks

    Calvin Tseng
    626-444-3088

    The values on upper-right are when the order is submitted to the broker.

    Whereas the values down below are the based on the fill price. Very seldom will they ever match exactly.

    CT

    Adding to positions
    It would be great to have the ability to add to current positions using percentages instead of fixed $ cost per share in the predefined table. If trading stocks with relatively diverse prices within the same strategy the current predefined table causes higher priced stocks to add positions based off small percentage moves but requires big percentage moves on lesser priced stocks. Adding this feature would give more flexibility in strategies that rely on the ability to add to positions.

    I don’t use that feature anymore.

    I just add a rule on the ADD TO POSITONS SCREEN as follows to add on 15% drops:

    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price % ( 15 )

    Enlightened

    INTERACTIVE BROKERS LIVE
    I RAN INTERACTIVE BROKERS FOR 2 WEEKS IN SIM MODE AND NO PROBLEMS. TODAY, I WENT LIVE ON INTERACTIVE BROKERS AND THE "COOLTRADE PROGRAM SHUT DOWN 4 TIMES. NOW, I’M AFRAID TO LEAVE THE COMPUTER.
    ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS PROBLEM AND WERE YOU ABLE TO FIX IT? I’VE DONE EVERYTHING THAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO. GETTING VERY FRUSTRATED.

    Here is the response I got from Ed and it worked on my computer. Enlightened.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    We don’t know what causes the crashes on a few computers but not on most others. We have compiled the CoolTrade software to work with the latest TWSAPI version 965. So you need to update the TWSAPI, TWS, and the CoolTrade software.

    Here are the instructions:

    1. Launch the Strategy Wizard and click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION.

    2. Install the latest TWSAPI CODE:
    <a href="

    strategies
    1 am running 3 subscriptions of cooltrade. currently, I am using ’HAL’ long and short and ’DOW 30’ long and short and am looking for a 3rd strategy. Any ideas out there which might be best? I’m thinking of using the ’conservative’ long and short strategy or the ’$2 strategy’. Not sure which is best.

    There is another good one called "Dow 30 $1 Moves" that can be copied from Office8... This strategy is my favorite. It holds positions indifinitely and takes profits off the table nearly every day that the Dow index is positive.

    It is only Long and as the name states, has very few rules, and just takes profits if the stock price increases by $1 and buys more on $1 drops. You feel a little burn when the market drops, but on days when the Dow is up 100+, you take huge profits.

    Good luck!

    Jerry

    THANK YOU- I’LL GIVE IT A TRY

    Does Auto Trader run when the computer is in lock mode
    Hi, I have question regarding the auto trader run.

    I need to go to work in the daytime, I keep the software running. Then, I make the computer in lock mode (not switch user, log off, sleep or hibernate mode). I opened a account with TD Ameritrade. I run live trade mode in CT.

    Does Auto Trader run when the computer is in lock mode (start-->lock)?

    Does Auto Trader can do the sell or buy under lock mode?

    Thanks for your help.

    Yes. All of the programs running in Windows will continue to run in Lock mode.

    Hedge

    We have never tried to use lock mode in the CoolTrade offices.

    However, as a test, I click on the Strategy Wizard shortcut to start loading the Wizard and then quickly went into lock mode, and then upon logging back into Windows, I saw that the Strategy Wizard had completely loaded. Therefore, it was running while in lock mode.

    The best way for you to know for sure is to just do it for a day.

    CT

    MULTIPLE AUTO TRADERS ON ONE MACHINE
    IS THERE A WAY TO RUN MULTIPLE AUTO TRADERS ON 1 MACHINE? OR IS IT BETTER TO HAVE A COMPUTER FOR EACH AUTO TRADER?
    THANK YOU

    You can run multiple traders (with multiple subscriptions) on a single machine, by installing them into different directories:

    Example:

    c:\trader1
    c:\trader2
    c:\trader3
    etc.

    Each trader requires at least 1gb of ram and windows7 requires 2+gb of ram.

    We usually recommend 1 trader per "normal" pc for best performance.

    We run 5 traders per server in our office (running on machines with 16gb of ram.

    CT

    SORRY TO SOUND SO DUMB, BUT I’M NOT SURE HOW TO ADD NEW DIRECTORIES.
    THANKS

    When you download the software from the CoolTrade website, just save it to a different directory.

    The default path will be:

    c:\program files\cooltrade automated trader

    However, you can just change it to:

    c:\program files\cooltrade automated trader2

    During the setup, you can click the option in windows to create a new directory:

    You can also search Google or Microsoft Bing for:

    "how to create a new directory in windows"

    And it will show many pages of examples.

    CT

    THANK YOU FOR THE HELP

    WHEN I TRY TO LOAD "COOLTRADE" FOR A SECOND AUTO TRADER, IT DOES NOT ASK FOR A LOCATION. IT JUST ASKS IF I WANT TO "REPAIR , MODIFY OR DELETE" THE COOLTRADE PROGRAM. WHEN DOES THE INSTALLATION ASK FOR A DIRECTORY LOCATION?
    THANK YOU

    If it is doing that then the best way may be to create a folder on your c drive, like c:\trader1 and then copy the files from the currently installed CoolTrade directory into the new folder.

    You can create folders and copy the files from the My Computer shortcut on either your desktop or from the Windows -> Start menu.

    Users on NSE exchange
    I wanted to find anyone who was using Cool Trade in India trading on the NSE exchange. I have a couple questions.

    Did you find anyone trading the NSE? I also am looking for anyone using the NSE as I have someone that is interested in trading this market but wants to know how its working with the software.

    Reason for Opening/Closing a Postion
    Does anyone know how to check why a position is opened/closed?

    Thanks.

    Postions open because the Open positions rules passed (tab3) or Add To Position rules passed (tab4).
    If it closed, it either closed because the Exit rules passed (tab5) or the Rules set on tab6 passed.

    If you click on Show Trades on the upper-right of the Automated Trader, it may show the reason.

    There are many rules in the Tabs and the Show Trade does not show which rule(s) triggers a trade. I want to find out the particular reason of opening/closing a position in order to fine tune a strategy. Any other way to find it out?

    Because there are many rules for opening a position, and the ALL must be true, there is no "one rule" that passed.

    I suggest sending email to TechnicalSupport@Cool-Trade.com and someone will call you and they can remotely connect to your computer and walk through the strategy and the system.

    Usually, it’s easy to figure out why a trade occurred, if you know the places to look in the system. Once you get a walkthrough, it will quickly become second nature.

    CT

    Goldman Sachs employee comments
    This was a quote from an ex Goldman Sachs employee, Greg Smith, who was just published in an article this morning.

    Article title: A Public Exit From Goldman Sachs Hits a Wounded Wall Street

    At meetings at Goldman, on the other hand, “not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients,” Mr. Smith wrote. “It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.”

    Here is the article:


    I’m glad its coming out. I’ve been hearing about this greedy mentally from my father since I was a kid!

    new to Cool Trade, need results
    Can’t seem to find anything with positive results in simulator mode. can any help me?

    I can give suggestions if I know a little about what you have tried.
    Perhaps we can fix what you have without throwing away the proverbial baby with the bath water.

    Almost any short strategy would not have been able to take many profits starting in the last qtr of last year and the first qtr of this year, but closing then out as losers now seems unrealistic unless you have someplace better to place the funds.

    I would not be all-in (long or short) now. I am more heavily weighted on the short side and reserved all margin for when the correction occurs so I will have funds available to buy-low.

    Hedge

    I’m having the same problem.
    How long have you had the program?
    I’ve been running is simulation mode for 3 weeks
    gage

    I think all strategies are different.
    Office1 has a day trading strategy that happens to be up today. Though I don’t look at it very often.

    Everyone has their own preferences but I like Dow 30 strategies that many have discussed on these boards. It seems to take profits nearly every day, long or short, and sometimes it takes long and short profits on the same day. Others have said they have seen it rake up profits consistently for a few years, and I have had the benefit to witness its consistency myself.

    Enlight

    Buy/Sell to Open and Buy/Sell to Close info on Reports
    Presently the CoolTrade program displays just Buy or Sell for symbols that are traded. I would like to have these changed to Buy to Open and Sell to Close for long positions and Sell to Open and Buy to Close for short positions. It would make the displayed and printed reports easier to read and to determine if a new position was just opened or if the position was being closed. Thank you for considering my suggestion.
    Chris

    Ability to evaluate a rule expression
    Given a stock, I would like to evaluate the value of a rule expression. That will help a lot in rule building in the strategy wizard.

    As of now, we are building rules for entry / exit, etc without knowing what the values of certain indicators will be, The only way to find out the value will be to add the rule to the appropriate entry/exit criteria, save the strategy, restart the application. Let all stocks load up if Market is open. Once the stocks show up, click on the Rules menu item. Its definitely possible some times when the market is open. But takes in excess of 15 minutes to just look up a value.

    We need some way of looking up the value of an expression right from the strategy wizard where we build the rules. I would specify the expression and also the stock symbol I am interested in. For example: Intraday RSI (1,14, 0) for stock MSFT

    Thanks!

    Better charting option
    The charts available in Cool trade are very basic as of today. As a result, I am switching between Cool-trade and other charting software like freestockcharts.com or think or swim console to lookup a symbol. Instead if would be great if a complete charting package were included inside of cool trade.

    Perhaps you could license it from freestockcharts.com?

    This is low priority. No big deal.

    Thanks!

    HAD A GREAT LESSON YESTERDAY
    I LEFT FOR A FIVE DAY VACATION AND LEFT THE COOLTRADE AUTO TRADER RUNNING. WHEN I RETURNED, A SHORTED STOCK HAD GONE FROM $2.70 TO OVER $6. COOL TRADER HAD SHORTED 1000 SHARES WITH 3000 MAX SHARES OF THE STOCK.

    TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT- THAT STOCK WAS DOWN OVER $12,000. I’M NOT SURE ABOUT THE (NO STOP LOSS) STRATEGIES.

    . THIS POST IS FOR THE NEW COOLTRADERS OUT THERE. BE VERY CAREFUL.- RUN IN THE SIM MODE AT LEAST 3 MONTHS. THINGS THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT WOULD HAPPEN- WILL!!!!!

    Ron, I just saw your post. Wow. Too bad that wasn’t a long position, it would have been a great short-term return. I’m underwater on my FAZ for the last 4 months but it seems to have stabalized over the last few weeks and I’m taking profits every few days so I don’t think I will be under water for too much longer.

    Would you mind sharing the stock symbol that went from 2.70 to 6.00?
    Is it a standard/shareable strategy or one of your own?

    And, if you are trading in 1000 share lots, would you mind listing how much you paid to short each 1000 share lot. I can’t see how you could be down $12,000 if the 3 lot purchases were made at different prices. If they were spread by $1 apart, you would only be down $6,000. Even if all were bought at the same time, that would be $9,000.

    I’m just wondering how the DOW 30 short strategy would have done if that stock was in the Short list, trading 100 share lots.

    I absolutely never short stocks under $5 because there is disproportianal upside to downside risk.

    I admit it is a lesson for us to be sure we are making defensive trades. i.e. thinking about what happens if the stock price goes the wrong way...

    Thanks for heads up, Lee.

    Enlightened

    ENLIGHTENED

    THE STOCK THAT WAS SHORTED WAS "ARNA"
    COOLTRADER SOLD:
    1000 SHARES @ 2.09 AND BOUGHT BACK @ 6.10 LOSS (-$4010)
    1000 SHARES @2.35 AND BOUGHT BACK @ 6.10 LOSS (-$3750)
    1000 SHARES @ 2.61 AND BOUGHT BACK @6.10 LOSS (-$3490)
    TOTAL LOSS (-$11,230)[

    THE STRATEGIES WERE COPIED FROM:
    HENRY@ROBOTICTRADINGSYSTEMS.COM
    BG BB LONG 01-25-12B
    BG BB SHORT 01-25-12B

    THE ONLY CHANGE THAT I MADE WAS TO CHANGE THE STRATEGY FROM A $10-$20 STRATEGY TO $1-$4 STRATEGY.

    THE STRATEGY WORKED JUST FINE FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS- THEN I GOT MY SURPRISE- ANOTHER VARIABLE THAT I WAS NOT EXPECTING.

    . THE ONLY THING THAT I CAN THINK OF TO DO IS -PUT A 75% OR 100% STOP LOSS ON ALL SHORT TRANSACTIONS. TO LIMIT MY RISK.

    IT MAY BE TIME FOR ME TO FOLD AND GET OUT- I’M AFRAID TO LEAVE THE COOLTRADER UNATTENDED. IN THE LIVE MODE. THE COST FOR COOLTRADER IS TOO EXPENSIVE TO JUST OPERATE IN THE SIM MODE.

    I’VE ALWAYS APPRECIATED YOUR HELP
    RON

    Ron, Henry is the support guy at RTS. I question how experienced he is at created short-term - Intraday strategies. I definitely would not be running that strategy in live mode. As I understand it, he has only been working at RTS for a few months.

    I’ve been trading with the cooltrade system for about 4 years and still only run long term strategies and trade in 100 share lot sizes. I would never add to my position on .20 - .25 cent moves.

    A simple rule that I have when trading short positions is that I only short the Dow stocks and add in, 100 share lots, to my losers if the stock price goes up 15% from my last shorted trade. The reason I am willing to short the stocks on the Dow is because I don’t expect them to double overnight. I can’t imagine microsoft is going to go from 30 to 60 or from 30 to 15 too quickly.

    More and more people are saying they only trade the Dow stocks and I have been watching them closely and can see the reasoning as those stocks just keep going up and down. So far, I have not been caught on the wrong side with any of the Dow stocks. I also only trade the Dow stocks under 35 a share. I would prefer to lower that to $30 and below but I make so much by trading MSFT that I try to keep the price above that company’s price so it stays in my watch list.

    If funds are limited, you can always just select a few of the Dow stocks to trade.

    HI Ron,

    I checked the database, and to my happiness, you were SIMULATING when you made the above1000 lot trades. Whew, that is a relief.

    You pointed out that you changed the SHORT strategy from $10-$20 stocks to $1-$4 stocks. That explains a lot. Simply, it is much more likely that a $2 stock will go to $6 overnight,( I run the "$2 and Below strategy" and that happens a few times a year), as opposed to a $20 stock going to $60 overnight (which I cannot recall that ever even happening. Another good example of this is when AIG was selling for $1.50 and below, it was moving 25% to 50%+ a day. But when they did the 1-20 reverse split and put the price over $20 a share, that killed the big moves.

    The CoolTrade system makes it easy to copy strategies from other’s who are willing to share, and luckly for us, many have opted to share. You can either use strategies (copied as is) from those who have been using the system for years, or modify them, or completely invent your own. But as many have said, and I reiterate, definitely run in Simulator mode until you iron out the bad behavior the market can throw at you. Ron, you’ve done the right thing!! My feeling is that the stock market is going to be here long after we are all gone, so I am not in too much of a hurry to conquer it. As long as I am making progress by modifying my strategies to deal with any situation the market throws at me, I’m happy. I’m glad ARNA did that. It gives us all a chance to review our strategies and add rules to handle it, BEFORE we run live.

    I, like others, have heard about the Investment Club running just the Dow stocks with $1M+ in their account for the last 3 years, and how successful they have been. So, seeing is believing, and it really has proven itself over the last few years. I really like that strategy too. As someone else once put it, "a casino takes $1 out of every poker pot, and ultimately, the house is the big winner". So the secret is to just keep taking profits with safe stocks. And I can’t think of more safe stocks than the companies listed on the DOW.

    Alcoa (AA) (not recommended)
    Altria (MO) - Sell - P/E - 11.6 - Dividend - 4.8%
    American International (AIG) - Buy - P/E - 16.1 - Dividend - .04%
    American Express (AXP) (not recommended)
    Boeing (BA) -Hold - P/E - 19.5 - Dividend - 1.8%
    Caterpillar (CAT) - Hold - P/E - 14.9 - Dividend - 1.9%
    Citigroup (C) - Buy - P/E - 12.5 - Dividend - 3.3%
    Coca Cola (KO) - Buy - P/E 23.7 - Dividend - 2.0%
    Dupont (DD) - Hold - P/E - 19.6 - Dividend - 3.2%
    Disney (DIS) - Buy - P/E - 25.1 - Dividend - .09%
    Exxon-Mobil (XOM) - Buy - P/E - 19.8 - Dividend - 2.5%
    GE (GE) - Hold - P/E - 19.4 - Dividend - 2.6%
    GM (GM) - Sell - P/E - 6.8 - Dividend - 4.1%
    Home Depot (HD) - Buy - P/E - 16.9 - Dividend - .08%
    Honeywell (HON) - Buy - P/E - 21.7 - Dividend - 2.6%
    Hewlett Packard (HPQ) - Buy - P/E - 13.7 - Dividend - 1.6%
    IBM (IBM) - Hold - P/E - 18.1 - Dividend - .08%
    Intel (INTL) - Buy - P/E - 21.9 - Dividend - .06%
    Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Buy - P/E - 18.2 - Dividend - 2.1%
    J.P. Morgan (JPM) - Hold - P/E - 10.8 - Dividend - 3.6%
    3 M (MMM) - Hold - P/E - 23.5 - Dividend - 1.7%
    McDonalds (MCD) - Hold - P/E - 16.5 - Dividend - 1.4%
    Merck (MRK) - Hold - P/E - 15.2 - Dividend - 3.1%
    Microsoft (MSFT) - Buy - P/E - 20.6 - Dividend - .06%
    Pfizer (PFE) - Buy - P/E - 16.9 - Dividend - 1.9%
    Procter & Gamble (PG) - Buy - P/E - 23.5 - Dividend - 1.9%
    SBC Communications (SBC) - Hold - P/E - 15.9 - Dividend - 5.0%
    United Technologies (UTX) - Buy - P/E - 16.6 - Dividend - 1.6%
    Verizon (VZ) - Hold - P/E - 15.4 - Dividend - 4.1%
    Wal Mart (WMT) - Buy - P/E - 24.6 - Dividend - .09%

    I’m not a gambler and I don’t need my robotic traders gambling either.
    I don’t mind letting the Dow 30 Long/Short strategies run LONG TERM as they take profits almost every day and that really adds up.

    But, like you, I believe in running NEW strategies in simulator mode for months until all the kinks have been worked on.

    Well done, Ron! Thanks for sharing your experience. CoolTrade gets new subscribers every day and I appreciate the veterans sharing their expertise.

    Ed

    HEDGE AND ED, THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED AND HOW TO MAYBE CORRECT WHAT I AM DOING WRONG.

    ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MIGHT HELP ME AND ESPECIALLY NEW COOLTRADERS IS HAVING A WEEKLY RECAP EMAIL OR SOME KIND OF COMMUNICATION AS TO WHICH STRATEGIES WERE WORKING THAT WEEK AND ANY CORRECTIONS OR ADDITIONS THAT WERE MADE TO HELP REFINE THE DIFFERENT STRATEGIES AND ALSO TO GIVE US A PEP TALK.
    AGAIN THANK YOU
    RON

    Add True or False behind each Rule
    To make it easier to determine which rules are allowing a trade and which rules that are preventing a trade, could you please consider adding True or False behind each rules in the Rules Menu?
    Thanks you,
    Gage

    Add a Pic to last post

    How do you add an attachment? I’ve clicked on the browse icon and selected the file, but each time the file doesn’t appear with the posting.
    Gage

    I just tried it too and apparently images don’t work.
    We’ll send your message to the developers of the Community board, since CoolTrade did not create it.
    In all of these years, no one has ever pointed out that attachments don’t work.

    Thanks,

    Ed

    TD Ameritrade issues
    Is anyone trading live on TD Ameritrade? I can’t get the system to logon in live mode just simulation. Same account and password so I’m at a loss as to why it does not work. Is there an API issue with TD in live mode?

    Con, the TD Login within CoolTrade is exactly the same whether you are logging in Live or Simulator. So, if you can log into the Simulator with the TD datafeed, then you should be able to login Live mode with TD.

    We have not received any reports of TD login issues from anyone and we run multiple TD live accounts in our office.

    CT

    TOTAL P&L vs NET P&L
    Can someone correct me if I am wrong...

    Net P&L should reflect what your open and closed positions total

    Total P&L should reflect only your open positions.

    I want to put in an exit rule that says if my P&L reaches X dollars, it closes all my positions.

    If I do this I still want the trader to reenter trades that qualify afterwards, however I don’t want then to close right away if my P&L is above that total...

    Can anyone help please.

    Net P&L reflects all of your open and closed positions (shown on the screen), SINCE YOU OPENED THE POSITIONS.

    Total P&L reflects all of your open and closed positions (shown on the screen), SINCE YESTERDAY’S CLOSE.

    There is currently no total P&L indicator that reflects only currently opened positions.

    CT

    Size of Automated Trader
    Are there any plans in the future for allowing the CT software to expand to the size of the screen so that I can see more than 5 stocks that are trading without having to scroll down. Being able to see see more sure would be nice for those of us that are in more than 5 stocks at a time.

    Yes. Currently if you were to go to full screen, it would only make the outer shell of the program bigger and not let you see any more lines of the Active Trades or the Watch List.

    However, we are working on a new release that will bring the software up to 2012’s software look and feel.

    CT

    Exit Rule
    Could someone please tell me the proper "Exit Rule" for getting out of all trades if my P&L hits a certain $$$ amount and being sure it stops trading for the day after that..basically not re-entering any more trades for the day.

    Thanks

    Assuming you want to stop trading after you make 1000, you will :

    add an "open position rule" to only open a new position if you’ve not made 1000.

    add an "add to position rule" to only add to your positions if you’ve not made 1000.

    add an "exit rule" to close all positions if you’ve made 1000 or more.

    Open Position Rule: Total Net PL < 1000
    Add Position Rule: Total Net PL < 1000
    Exit Rule: Total Net PL >= 1000

    Enlightened

    Awesome, thank you!

    Intraday ATR
    Could someone please tell me if there is a way to create an open rule that states the distance from high to low is less that 3%.

    Basically this is for stocks that have an ATR 14 (%) that move more than 3% in a day and I want to be sure when I am entering that they have not moved that entire 3%

    Thanks!

    In the open position rules (tab3) use the "Todays Average True Range%" indicator.

    You can do it different ways.

    Todays Average True Range% is less than 3

    or

    "Todays Average True Range% is less than Average True Range%(14)

    Hedge

    Thank you very much!!!

    Why do symbols go into the Exceptions Folder?
    If a symbol is stuck in the exceptions folder, it is usually because there is no streaming data coming in for it.

    You can try to add the symbol to the blocked list and then restart the trader. Then remove the symbol from the block list and then add the symbol to the watch list by entering it in the middle of the screen.

    The way the system works though is that if you do not have a price quote for a symbol in 30 seconds, it will re-request data for that symbol from the broker.

    If it is an open position at the broker and it will not load into CoolTrade, then it could be because the lot size set in the strategy is different from the share size of the open position. For example, if the open position has 100 shares and your strategy is set to 200 shares, then the program is waiting for the other 100 share to arrive from the broker.
    In that case, just temporarily change the lot size on the FILE->STRATEGY PREFERENCES screen to 100 shares to match the size of teh open position and then it will go into your active list. Then you can go back to FILE->STRATEGY PREFERENCES and change share lot size back to 200.

    A symbol can also get booted to the exceptions list if the order was rejected by the broker. The software kicks the symbol out to prevent too many rejected orders.

    CT

    Thank you customer support. All of my positions from Friday went into the execeptions folder on Saturday. One thing I didn’t notice was that i mistakenly deactivated the strategy that opened those positions with something else. I don’t know if that did it. But I doubt it because I had long and short positions and only the long strategy got replaced. But long and short positions show up in the exceptions folder. Any insight?
    BTW, this is in simulator mode and I am a new subscriber.

    DameonProctor,

    Try this and it should work.

    You can try to add the symbol to the blocked list and then restart the trader. Then remove the symbol from the block list and then add the symbol to the watch list by entering it in the middle of the screen.

    If that doesn’t work, let me know. I have a tech support friend who can give further advice.

    Carol

    Also, since you are a new subscriber, have you updated your auto trader to the developer version? Most problems are fixed when this is done.

    Here is how to do that: https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/update-cooltrade

    Thank you Carol. I tried it. And it put all of the symbols back into the exceptions folder after they were blocked, restarted and unblocked and added to watch list.

    The other thing i noticed was the options for lot size kept changing and for several, I could set the share lot size based on what was already open.

    All symbols go to the Exception folder whenever the automated trader starts up and they remain their until their is streaming data. Since it is the weekend, there is no streaming data.

    When you turn your trader on Tuesday morning after the market opens (since the market is closed for Memorial day on Monday), everything will come out of the Exceptions folder and either go to the Active list (open positions) or to the appropriate Long or Short Watch List.

    Hedge

    hedge, that is exactly what happened. thank you.

    How to Clear Wizard and change to different stratergy
    I am new to CT I have been in simulator trying one strategy for a week. How do I clear the wizard of the stocks and start fresh with another strategy?

    To start with a new strategy:

    In the Strategy Wizard, make sure your new strategy is selected/checked on the main screen that shows the 5 Long and 5 Short strategies.

    In the Automated Trader, you need to log in manually, so that you can get to the LOGIN screen. Before leaving that screen, click the FILE menu and select "REFRESH FOR NEW STRATEGY". Then when the trader starts up, it will give you a chance to do the following:

    1. Clear all open positions
    2. Clear the reports database
    3. Set a new startup account balance.

    Enlightened

    Need Feedback because I got nowhere
    I am seeking feedback regarding the following:

    Scenario: I have had subscription since last Dec. Tried creating few rules to test. Since the limit is 1 strategy per trend which does not give much leverage to truly test different approaches & the fact that I have been messing with rules to trade , the net result is that I have got nowhere.

    So I do not mind using strategies that others have successfully utilized. Should have done that rather than try to be too smart :(

    Key question: Are the top downloadable strategies valid in terms of the mret comment & stats displayed ? Reason I ask is because the comment that calls out the max investment & mret have been static. If so, I can then select n use one each so I can get the ball rolling..

    All I am seeking is a confirmation regarding successful strategy to use.

    Thanks in advance for any feedback & input.

    Sean

    Hi Sean,

    I think the Dow 30 Long and Short are great strategies. I am net positive using both of those strategies. From what I have read on these boards, I hear many others reporting positive with those strategies too.

    The top strategies are accurate. The only problem with them that I can see is they may have had a great run 1-2 months ago and generated all of those great results, but the market changes all the time. That is why I like the Dow strategies because they build a portfolio and take profits all of the time so the changing markets don’t hurt the strategies.

    Enlightened

    Wiki
    It seems like you have a pretty open userbase and active forum moderators. Also, alot of repeat issues brought up through the forums. It might be a good opportunity to use a Wiki.

    Max Trades Per Symbol
    I need way more than 10 max trades per symbol. Is there a way to get around that? Why the limitation?

    I add to my positions on 5% drops. So, if a position drops 50%, I will have 10 lots.
    Then I have a 2nd account/subscription were I open the position at 5% below my lowest trade (from the first account) and then continue to add on 5% drops.
    With the 2 accounts, I can add on 5% drops and worse case scenerio I will end up with 20 lots max. Not likely that INTEL is going to drop 100% though.

    In all fo the years that I have been using this system I think only 2 times I had to use the 2nd account to extend the lots.

    Enlightened

    Just frustrated because I have had to change my strategy at least 5 times, not because the strategy doesn’t work, but because of some arbitrary limitation that Cool-Trade has. A few examples:

    First, I need to be able to set a minimum decrease followed by a technical purchase signal IN TANDEM with a minimum increase followed by a technical sell signal. You can buy based on technical indicators but you can’t sell lots using them.

    This created the problem of buying at bottoms, but selling only halfway up increases rather than riding a trend.

    So I decide that I can get around this by just buying at smaller and smaller increments (as my captial builds), so that you always ride the complete wave instead of selling out halfway up. Think of it like tracing the price with a pencil and trying to stay as close to the swings as possible. In my case, I want to be able to cover a $15 large cycle swing, in $0.25 increments. But Cool-Trade will only let me cover a $15 swing in $1.50 increments. You might think that you can just do $1 trades and lop off the bottom $5. But, with leveraged ETF’s you can’t afford to not continue buying into drops and taking profits off of short term swings. If the price drops below your 10th trade, and stays low, then you will start losing money from compounding. You need to keep churning a profit to cover this loss.

    I also would to build a short strategy out of shorted ETFs rather than borrowing on margin directly, but I can’t do that because the system only allows one "long" strategy. And my short strategy would use more conservative indicators so it won’t work in the same strategy.

    It would also be nice to be able to trade less than 100 share lots. I know that some brokers place limitations etc, but that is between me and my broker.

    I wouldn’t be frustrated, if it wasn’t for the fact that these limitations are seemingly arbitrary. Am I wrong about this? Everytime I ask about a fuction or make a recommendation the answer seems to be "buy another system" Is that what these limitations are for? To push me to buy another system?

    Maybe what is happening, from a high level point of view, is that ETF’s are a game changer to retail investors. They can have high volatilty and have diversified risks. From what I can tell, Cool-Trade has been in business longer than any other Robotic Trader. However, I suggest Cool-Trade adapt to the new rules of the game or lose out to the many competitors that are continually popping up.

    I’m just a ct user for 4 years so I know quite a bit about how to get a lot out of the software and in reading your comments it sounds like you want to do multiple long strategies at the same time. Like you want to drive to san francisco and new york at the same time. IMO that would require 2 cars.

    I’ve seen the software enhancements over the years and they have been very good at giving us the requested features that are doable (and more). I doubt they are holding back on key features with the intent to get you to buy more systems.

    I think the biggest problem today is market related. For instance if the market is not going down the short strategies will not work no matter what you try. My short strategies are still occasionally opening new shorts and holding them as we await the inevitable downturn in the market. There is nothing that can be done in any strategy to FORCE the market to go down. And yesterday’s trade range was so tight it was near imposible to take profits on the long or short side.

    Because you want to run long and short etf with the long strategy only, you are asking the same strategy to do opposite things depending on the symbol it is looking at. If you could short then you would be able to run 2 separate strategies (1 long and 1 short) at the same time. So the limitation (that you cannot short in an IRA) is a limitation set by the law enforcers. I wonder why they made that dumb rule. I hate to think they only did it so millions of people will get hammered in their IRA accounts when the market goes down.

    H2

    The long and the short I can semi-understand, because the changes would require some significant coding. Although, newer robotic traders that are popping up are starting to allow for multiple strategies run at the same time.

    But if there is a fix to the maximum number of lots per symbol limiation, that would be great. It’s not something I would want now, because of capital limitations, but definitely something I will want by the end of next year.

    Some issues
    Had some issues on Friday. I am live trading only one stock through IB right now. It, at the time, had an open position. About halfway through the day, in Cool-Trade, it showed a buy and then a sell a few seconds later for a $0.07/share loss. But this trade never showed up in my brokerage. But what it did do, was sort of "branch off" my symbol into two different chains of symbols. When the price dropped, it bought TWICE (2 seperate lots) when my signals were hit.

    So when the price went up, I put in limit orders (through the brokerage), and sold them, then "cleared my strategy".

    I still own the original long. This morning when I logged in I noticed two symbols in my watch list. One called "Loan" and one called "A". Are these what was causing the problem? Do they have something to do with trading on Margin?

    I removed both from my watchlist, because I am not trading on Margin nor do I want the problem again if they are the cause.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    It sounds like the broker opened positions in multiple symbols and then the CoolTrade software saw the positions at the broker and therefore loaded them into the CoolTrade system.

    I’ve never owned a position that split into 2 symbols like that. That kind of thing does not happen with widely held stocks like the DOW stocks.

    If you get a chance, please list the initial symbol and then the symbol that it created.

    I wouldn’t trade that particular stock because the CoolTrade software will load open positions that it sees at the broker, unless you add those symbols to the BLOCKED list. That will prevent them from loading into CoolTrade but it won’t prevent the broker from opening the positions and they will sit in your brokerage account indefinitely.

    Also, if the symbol is not blocked and the broker is holding shares that are not divisible by 100 and / or not divisible by the share lot size you have set in your strategy, that will cause a problem with your software as it will thing there is an order out there there is not getting filled, and therefore will slow your system down as it keeps going back and forth with the broker to find the missing shares.

    CT

    Ok, I am at work right now and I got a Cool-Trade Robotic Trader Alert indicating that it purchased the symbol ’GET’, which I never had on my watchlist. I checked the brokerage and it did in fact purchase it, which I then had to sell at a loss.

    The symbol that I am trying to trade is UGAZ. It has pretty good volumes now.

    Also, the original purchase of UGAZ, was sold today at the correct profit target.

    I just have no idea why it is adding random symbols to my watchlists and then buying them.

    If the sell order was originating from the broker rather than cool-trade, would cool-trade have sent the e-mail?

    Maybe there is a bug in the API, and the two aren’t communicating well?

    Somehow it made it to your watch list and thus got purchased.
    I recommend you shutdown your trader and reboot to clear memory.
    Then restart your trader and see what symbols show up in the watch list.

    If the symbols reappear in your watchlist, please send email to Support@RoboticTradingSystems.com so someone can remotely connect to your computer and see why that is happening.

    CT

    Request to be able to manually override and specify a new TIMED_PRICE
    This is a request to add a feature in the Automated Trader to enable manually overriding TIMED_PRICE for a given symbol with a user specified price. Since the timed price is simply snapshotting a value at a particular time and storing that price in the TIMED_PRICE variable, it would be useful to manually set a new price for the TIMED_PRICE variable for a given symbol if desired. i.e. If it turns out that the timed price being snapshotted for one of my symbols is not a good one, I want to change it on the fly. I want to have this flexibility within the auto trader because it means a world of difference with potential profit/loss.

    Share Latest Strategy Results
    I hope we can share reports of successful strategies here in this thread.

    Cool Trade allows you to generate reports. These can be printed to a PDF file using free CutePDF writer & then shared. So this will help in validating the results & give all of us a better idea.

    Thanks

    Direct Access Platform
    Does anyone know of the best direct access trading platform that works with Cool-trade.

    I have traded in prop houses so I know what you are trying to do.
    However, I believe the brokers connected to CoolTrade scan the level 2 screen and find the best price. CoolTrade just submits the orders as "SMART" and the broker handles where the order goes to get filled. The broker is supposed to send it based on the best price, for you, the client, and not just where they get better kickbacks.

    I am not aware of any other software that is does what the CoolTrade software does (fully automated, requiring no programming), so I wouldn’t know where else to send you.

    Enlightened

    Help! Order cancelled: Please contact customer service
    Hello,

    I have been trading in live mode for a few months with no problem. About few weeks ago all my trades did not get executed. I talk to three people at optionshouse and they said they could not find any problems. They said I should contact cooltade. I am able to make trades on optionshose site with no problems. Thanks


    [TODAY’S TRADES]
    10:35 Order Cancelled: NFLX You can’t place this order at this time, please contact Customer Service at 1-877-653-2500. (Optionshouse)
    10:35 SELL 100 NFLX (77.7800)
    10:32 Order Cancelled: NFLX You can’t place this order at this time, please contact Customer Service at 1-877-653-2500.
    10:32 BUY 100 NFLX (78.2500)
    10:32 Order Cancelled: VXX You can’t place this order at this time, please contact Customer Service at 1-877-653-2500.
    10:32 SELL 300 VXX (35.6000)
    10:32 Order Cancelled: UVXY You can’t place this order at this time, please contact Customer Service at 1-877-653-2500.
    10:32 SELL 300 UVXY (29.6000)

    That message is coming from OptionsHouse and that is their phone number.
    Unfortunately they are not saying what the problem is, other than to call them.
    Then, when you call them, they say they don’t see anything wrong.
    They need to look into their system and see why they are sending that message instead of filling the order.

    If they will not fill the order and will not tell you why, then the only solution is to change to a broker that will fill your orders.

    Enlightened

    Thank You Enlightened!

    Contact optionshouse again and they are still unable to help me after talking to them for about an hour. They still think it is cooltrade issue. I don’t know what to do. i like to stay with optionshouse because they only charge me $2.95 to trade.

    If CoolTrade submits an order to OptionsHouse and they send a message that says:

    "You can’t place this order at this time, please contact Customer Service at 1-877-653-2500",

    how exactly does that make it a CoolTrade issue?

    FYI,

    Hello,have been tading live using cool-trade automating program for over a year with no problem until a month ago. talk with many rep. who are unable to helps. Contact api@optionshouse many time with no reply. Please forward my case to a manager.

    Tom: One moment while I take a look at your account.

    Tom: There is nothing further for us to research on this issue. We do not support the use of access to your account being granted to a third party. And the connection to Cool Trade is a violation on the Limitations of Use as disclosed in the API agreement.

    John: i will be transfering my account to another brokerage that will support cool-trade automating program. Very appointed that I will have to leave OH!

    Tom: We recently formed a partnership with Prodigio RTS to incorporate their Robotic Trading System within our accounts. Currently we do not have a set date for it to be released but are planning to release this enhancement by the end of the first quarter this year. You can open a virtual account to view and test the Prodigio RTS system at:

    Something is going on at OptionsHouse. They sound very disorganized. We just received an inquiry from OptionsHouse indicating a desire to connect (something that was done years ago). So it sounds like they have new management and are somewhat lost.

    Based on the feedback we are receiving from our clients, we will be discontinuing the OptionsHouse relationship. They have dropped the ball on many of their responsibilities and also never completed the addition of historical minutes bars data (which in our opinion is a requirement for successful automated trading).

    My suggestion is to move to one of the other supported brokers, who will not give you a runaround when support is needed.

    CT

    What is broker you recommendations?

    I use mb trading. 4.95 trades for unlimited shares.

    Here is a link that shows which countries they can open accounts:



    Interactive brokers only charges $1 per trade!

    Thanks for your help , I just open Interactive brokers account.

    Why is optionshouse still listed as a supported broker on the trading partners page when based on the discussion here in this forum the relationship is clearly over?

    Management is still trying to work with them. Apparently people are still connected and working.

    Funds Available and Current Account Value
    Current Account Value and Funds Available are not matching my brokerage. Any idea why?

    Funds Allocated does match. Nothing is checked under the "Funds Allocation" section of the settings and the "Regardles of account value..." setting is set to $2,000,000.

    If you are live those numbers come from the broker, then it probably has to do with stock prices changing in the aftermarket.

    Open Positions
    I have noticed on the occasional day, when one of the watch list is more then 40, Open Positions can take a long time to load and will not react to the market until most of the watch list has finished initializing. Or in some cases do not load/list all of the open positions until most of the watch list is initialized.

    I have some intraday triggers that can take a while to build do to time related components. I would like to see a priority adjustment until after the watch list has been initialized. Right now it seems Open positions has the same priority as the watch list, and this works just fine after the watch list has finished initializing.

    The problem I see is, Open Positions are something that I have, and can become lost opportunities, where I can end up taking a loss, or forced to hold the position for longer than needed unnecessarily tying up funds. It’s a position that is already owned, thus I am only waiting for exit rules/Profit rules, and in almost all cases just Profit rules, which is mostly just Market Price > Purchase Price by ‘y’ amount. This doesn’t really have a time lag component like waiting for intraday calculations to build.

    If the open positions are waiting 30-45min before they can start reacting to the market, this is a problem. On the other hand symbols in the watch list are just simply miss opportunities, and can’t necessarily cause me to take a loss.

    A solution would be to allow account information to temporally have a higher priority; maybe even just for the first 5min after starting the trader would probably be sufficient to resolve the issue.

    The only thing holding a symbol in the Exceptions folder is the streaming quotes from the broker. Once the software sees streaming quotes then the position is moved to the watch list and active list.

    While streaming quotes are not present, all rules for opening, adding to, and closing positions is set to return FALSE.

    It is possible that the check for no streaming quotes process could be separated from the rules checking and then moved up in priority to prevent the checking of all rules.

    That is a good idea. I’ll put it on the to-do list.

    Thank you.

    CT

    Simulator Take Profits
    At the end of the day is the simulator suppose to take profits like the live account? I don’t get anything when I run a report. Today it opened new trades, but the profit from yesterday is still there. It is set to take profit if the $ amount is 50 or more.

    If Close Profitable Positions at xx:xx pm time with profit of $50
    is checked on tab1 of the strategy wizard then it should have taken the profit if the profit exceeded that amount, and the trader was running.

    You can also click FILE->Strategy Preferences, in the Automated Trader and make sure it is checked there.

    Also make sure the A.M. and P.M. is correct.

    If you launch the Strategy Wizard and edit the strategy, then you can click VERIFY START / STOP TIMES to verify that there are no problems with the times.

    EI

    Thank you , I will look at that.

    Manual for Trading Station
    Is there a manual telling users what is what on the trading stations and explain what they are for? I am finding the video’s are an older version and what I am looking for isn’t there. I think it would be helpful for new users.

    Welcome leathal.

    I have been a cooltrade user for years and have watched the robotic traders evolve. In this case the enhancements outpaced the videos.

    If there is something in the software that you have a question about, please feel free to post it here and I or someone else can probably give you a detailed explanation.

    Enlightened

    Ok, here it goes...lol

    1. I am using the Dow 30 Long strategy, but it looks like it did a sell and not a long. The stats are in the Sell line not the Long line.

    2. Sometimes I see red amounts in the Net P/L column, but blue in the Today’s P/L column. Also I see blue in the Net and red in the Today’s. Can someone explain? I will not go live until the first of December, so the Simulator may be different??

    3. If Iwant to close a trade, right click on ’stealth’, under change status and sell?

    I want to make sure I understand what I am seeing before going live.

    Thanks,
    Leatha

    Leatha,

    These are good questions. I can answer them for you.

    1. I am using the Dow 30 Long strategy, but it looks like it did a sell and not a long. The stats are in the Sell line not the Long line.

    WHEN YOU OPEN A LONG POSITION, TO CLOSE IT, YOU MUST SELL IT.
    SO EACH LINE IS SHOWING THE ENTRY PRICE AND THE TARGET CLOSE OR SELL PRICE.

    2a. Sometimes I see red amounts in the Net P/L column, but blue in the Today’s P/L column. Also I see blue in the Net and red in the Today’s. Can someone explain?

    RED MEANS THE POSITION IS LOSING AND BLUE MEANS THE POSITION IS PROFITABLE.

    NET P/L IS THE P/L SINCE YOU OPENED THE POSITION. THIS IS THE ONE THAT MUST BE POSITIVE TO CLOSE IT AT A PROFIT.

    TODAYS P/L IS ONLY HOW MUCH PROFIT OR LOSS YOUR OPEN POSITION DID TODAY OR SINCE YESTERDAY’S CLOSE IF YOU OPENED IT BEFORE TODAY. IT IS ONLY THERE SO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE HAVING A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE DAY. YOU DO NOT WANT TO CLOSE BASED ON THE VALUE IN THIS COLUMN.

    2b. I will not go live until the first of December.

    I WOULD NOT BE IN TOO MUCH OF A HURRY TO TRADE LIVE UNTIL YOU ARE REALLY COMFORTABLE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTING ON THE SCREEN. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GLANCE AT THE MAIN SCREEN AND THERE SHOULD BE NO MYSTERY.

    WHEN I SIGNED ON A FEW YEARS AGO I STARTED MONITORING THE COMMUNITY BOARD AND ANSWERING OTHERS QUESTIONS, HELPED ME TO KNOW ALL THAT THERE IS IN THE SOFTWARE.

    2c. so the Simulator may be different??

    EVERYTHING IS EXACTLY THE SAME REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU ARE TRADING LIVE OR SIMULATOR.

    AT THE VERY TOP OF THE SCREEN IT WILL SAY THINGS LIKE:

    LIVE TRADES ENABLED
    LIVE TRADES DISABLED
    DATA FEED ONLY

    3. If Iwant to close a trade, right click on ’stealth’, under change status and sell?

    YOU CAN LEFT OR RIGHT CLICK ANYWHERE ON THAT SELL LINE AND A MENU WILL POP UP WITH OPTIONS THAT YOU CAN DO. NOTE THAT WHEN THE MENU POPS UP MAKE SURE IT SHOWS THE SAME SYMBOL THAT YOU CLICKED ON. BECAUSE THAT GRID IS CHANGING SO FAST IT COULD COME UP WITH A DIFFERENT SYMBOL. IF THAT HAPPENS JUST CLICK ON THE LINE AGAIN.

    I HOPE THAT MAKES THINGS MORE CLEARLY FOR YOU.

    ENLIGHTENED

    thanks enlightened! It is making lots more sense now.

    Max Range to Spread Trades Across
    What is the setting ’Max Range to Spread Trades Across"? It’s set to $10 on the DOW 30 Long, but I’m not sure what exactly it does. Can someone explain this and let me know how it affects what CTP does when trading.
    Thanks

    Jim,

    Max Range To Spread Trade Across, is used to create the Predefined Spread that you see on the "Add To Losing & Add To Profitable Trade" menu items.

    It gives you the ability to add to losers (or winners) at predefined intervals up to $10 from the initial entry price.

    So, until the stock price has gone down by the predefined interval, the Add To Position Rules will not be looked at. In the case of the Dow 30 strategy, the Predefined Table is not used. Instead, the fixed amount .25 is used. That means, until the stock price has dropped by .25 between each lot bought, it will not look at the Add To Position Rules.

    In the case of the Dow 30 strategy, the Add to Position rules also have a rule that states that the stock must also drop by x amount before the Add To Position rules pass.

    After you watch the trades in action, it will all become more clear.

    Enlightened

    Report should include number of trades
    The report should also report the total number of trades at the bottom. It would be very useful in allowing someone to quickly calculate commissions and thus calculate the true p/l of the strategy

    running multiple accounts
    Hello I have just joined the Cooltrader group. I would like to know how to have the system trade three accounts I have separately.

    I have one account for myself
    one for my daughter as her future college fund
    and one for building a nest egg which i wont touch for a long time.

    Can cool trader do multi accounts like trade copy does on Mt4 platform? If not this would be a impressive and great feature. If its already there, please tell me how to utilize it.

    thanks

    James.

    Hi James,

    Each CoolTrade account needs to point to a separate brokerage account.

    You can run them all on the same computer, but for best results, run them on separate computers.

    If you do run multiple automated traders on the same computer, then you need to install them into separate directories.

    Example:

    c:\Traders\A
    c:\Traders\B
    c:\Traders\C

    CoolTrade support can help you set that up if you like. Just send email to support@cooltraderpro

    CT

    No longer able to make trades with Optionhouse
    My recent contact with Optionhouse:

    John: Hello,have been tading live using cool-trade automating program for over a year with no problem until a month ago. talk with many rep. who are unable to helps. Contact api@optionshouse many time with no reply. Please forward my case to a manager.

    Tom: One moment while I take a look at your account.

    Tom: There is nothing further for us to research on this issue. We do not support the use of access to your account being granted to a third party. And the connection to Cool Trade is a violation on the Limitations of Use as disclosed in the API agreement.

    John: i will be transfering my account to another brokerage that will support cool-trade automating program. Very appointed that I will have to leave OH!

    Tom: We recently formed a partnership with Prodigio RTS to incorporate their Robotic Trading System within our accounts. Currently we do not have a set date for it to be released but are planning to release this enhancement by the end of the first quarter this year. You can open a virtual account to view and test the Prodigio RTS system at:

    I stopped using OH when I discovered they didn’t have historical minute bars data.
    Now I use IB and love the 1.00 trades + historical minute bars data.

    I highly recommend IB. It’s the only broker I will every use.

    Jerry

    Please include strategy name on report
    As a new CoolTrade user I’m evaluating multiple strategies and over time have changed both the long and short strategies. When I run the report I’ve no way of knowing what trades where with which strategy unless I record the dates separately.

    Including the strategy name would be very helpful.

    Thanks

    As this was requested 16 months ago, I figured it would not be done, and made a workaround using watermarks. A watermark (grey text in the page’s background) can identify the strategy and computer where it’s running. It shows up on every page thereafter, until you shut it off.

    Note that there are two possible strategy names for the report: the Long and the Short strategy.

    Enabling a Watermark on the printed Report:
      In Windows, click the [Start button], then Devices and Printers.
      Right-click on your printer’s icon, and select Printing Preferences.
      Click the Advanced tab.
      There should be an option named [_] Use Watermark. Click it.
      Click the Settings button to the right of it.
      Click Add to create a new watermark.

    Creating a Watermark:
      Type your strategy name in the Title and Text boxes.
      Add in the computer name after, if you can. This will make it easy to figure out which computer generated the report.
      You will see the text appear diagonally in the small page representation to the left.
      You might have to abbreviate the Text or lower the font size to fit it all on the printed page.
      Click OK, click OK, click Apply.
    Watermark examples for two different computers during simulations or live trading:
    • Conserv Long-Short Sims/ONE
    • Aggressive Sims/TWO
    • $1-2 Long/Conserv Short Live/ONE
    • DOW 30 Long-Short Live/TWO.


    Remember that the watermark will show up on everything you print after that, unless, just before you print, you click Preferences button, and disable the watermark.

    Progress report on Strategies
    <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie12.gif’’ border=’’0’’> <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie12.gif’’ border=’’0’’>
    Running the "Agressive Long " strategy and and "jimostiek, fund" short strategy which showed on the preview the best results over the last 200 days.

    Account value $95k
    start of simulated trading account 12/17/12
    long trades 25
    short trades 13
    total trades 28
    highest loss $231
    highest profit $176
    total profit/loss per 1/31/13 on closed trades $872
    open trade value per 1/31/13 -$2054

    What is intersting to me is that despite uptrends in the last 4 weeks has only 1 long trade but 12 short trades open.

    Hope for more people posting their results on the different strategie they are using

    I am not a big fan of that strategy. I’ve seen it make a lot, but also lose a lot.

    I like the dow strategies because I have seen it consistently close profitable trades. Whereas the aggressive closes too many losing positions before they have a chance to go positive.

    what strategies are you usin and where can I find it for dowbload.? I have no Dow strategies in my Strategy Wizzard?

    Minimum shares per trade
    My request is to lower the minimum number of shares in the "minimum shares per trade" menus so that individuals with less $ in their accounts can have access to the higher priced stocks.

    For example, take an individual with a $50,000 account who wants to include purchases of HNZ. This person would be unable to do so because HNZ is currently trading at around $800. With the 100 share minimum, the total purchase price of one buy would be $80,000. Some other stocks that would be inaccessible in this example would include ISRG, BMY, MA and GOOG.

    There are of course many $2 shares that can be accessed with an account such as the one in the above example, but the hope here is that an individual who wants to make a $2400 buy can choose freely between buying 1200 shares of a $2 stock or 3 shares of a $800 stock.


    Would it be possible to decrease the lower the limit in the "minimum shares per trade" menus?

    What is so special about HNZ? Is it extremely volatile, more so than many stocks under $60 or $70?

    HZN was used as an example of a well known stock that some might want to use in a watchlist.

    The point of the request/post was not to assign value or make a recommendation for a given stock, but rather to request that the lower limit in the minimum shares function be changed to allow for people with less capital to use higher priced stocks without having to use all their capital to do so.

    I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.

    Thanks danielahjellen,

    I have been thinking about / wanting this for some time, and wonder why this 100 share min. was even put in here.

    This would be a considerable help / improvement.

    CT crashing at night
    I have not been able to keep the program running for a 24 hour period. I leave it on at night before I go to bed and when I wake up it is no longer running.

    I have a windows 8 laptop. It is essentially a new computer, so there is no other software on it other than realplayer & antivirus (it is not scheduled to start at night).

    Intel i5-3210M CPU @ 2.5ghz
    8GB RAM
    64-bit operating system

    With this happening, I am having to get up to make sure CT is on every morning. Not a huge deal except for the fact that I live in Alaska so the market opens for me at 6am.

    Any thoughts?

    I am not familiar with windows 8.

    But I did find this.



    The trader automcatically shutsdown every night so that it can pick up all new indicator values.

    I posted a link in my previous post and it didn’t show up. I will go find it and post it again.

    Sorry.

    Did you figure out the issue?

    The software goes off everynight so that it can load the new/updated indicators.

    You can have it automaticallly restart in the morning by using the Windows Task Scheduler.

    If you need assistance setting up the task scheduler job, please send email to support@cooltraderpro.com

    CT

    $2.00 and under
    Hi Everyone.
    I’m new here and a new Cooltrader user, first off it should be understood that I kno nothing!
    I’m using simulator mode at present and trading the $2. supplied stratergy, I have left it alone apart from setting to take profit at $50. or close at end of day if $30. profit is available.
    Only been running a couple of days, yesterday it took a couple of profits a $50 and a $300.
    Is anyone using this strat with up to $30,000 and found any tweaks that make a positive difference to their trading?
    I was a little surprised to find it bought on stock with a downward trend and at the top of a spike. I think all the trades it made except a couple immediately headed South.
    Most of these buys if not in profit have narrowed or closed the gap to profit, I’m not saying it’s got it wrong, just curious if others have improved results with their own twist.

    Thanks

    Kevin.

    No one then.
    I think it needs tweaking, it’s $1k down net P&L, or whatever it picks I could spread bet it to short. I could of made a tidy sum doing that this week:-)

    Kevin,

    That is a long term strategy.
    Many don’t come to the community board so I wouldn’t discount the strategy because of a lack of response.
    I talk to many and that strategy is a favorite of many.

    Are they using it in the off the shelf settings do you know?
    I look to be locked into stock that has a long term steep downward trend.
    Kevin.

    Automated Trader reports
    When looking at a report of the short sells from the day’s trading, what do the columns "bought" and "sold" refer to? I know this is a ’duh’ question, so feel free to judge my intelligence poorly.

    For short selling trades does the column "bought" refer to the CT order that first opened the trade (i.e. the point at which CT ordered a short sell), or is it when the previously short sold stock was bought back?

    For a short:

    SoldPrice = Sell to Open Short
    BoughtPrice = Buy To Close

    Live trading missing live data
    Has anyone else experienced this issue? I’ve put it before tech support and had no response that corrects it yet.

    In my live trading, several, up to 4 or 5 of my trading positions show up without any data except current bid and ask figures.

    In other words, data is not showing up in position quantity, entry price, lot shares, limit price, price to go, change$, change%, net P&L, or today’s P&L.

    This has been happening 5 out of the last 6 days.
    This did not happen with simulation. It happened on day 2 of live trading.


    I am trading with Interactive Brokers.
    I am using the cythialamore2 strategy. (was very successful in simulation)

    I wonder if this means these trades are being monitored or not. The other day, while one of these stocks was doing this, it added two additional positions, a total of three, where I have a limit of two. It also overextended my Funds Allowed by $7500.

    If anyone has a solution/fix for this, I would appreciate your help.

    Thank you!

    Would customersupport please address this issue?

    This has not been fixed yet, caused more problems this morning (it is not performing trades on these stocks that are blank), and it requires that I must watch trades all day to make them manually. Not exactly what I had in mind for my vacation and time with my new granddaughter.

    If you would email me the fix, I can probably do it myself. I cannot be reached by phone at this time.

    Thanks in advance.

    As far as I know this was resolved by clicking FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION. That will give you the latest version of the software.

    Thanks for the feedback, but that has been done almost daily, on three different computers.
    This happens on all three. (only one active at a time, of course)

    Next idea?

    I’m running version 7.4.331 and 7.4.332 on 2 computers and don’t have that problem.

    If you are running one of those versions and it is not filling in the screen, then something else is amiss. Please send email to support@cooltraderpro.com so someone can connect to your computer and see what is going wrong.

    CT

    My version is 7.4.333

    I have sent 5-6 emails over the past week. In one response Ryan said "see attached", but nothing was attached. I’ve sent three more emails to him asking for the attachment mid-last week. No response.

    I am a Regional Director, in Brazil now to demonstrate the software to some influential business owners, and I cannot show it like this.

    My start director has sent one.
    This morning Ken sent one to support.

    So far no response.

    The community seemed like my last chance.

    My version is 7.4.333

    I have sent 5-6 emails over the past week. In one response Ryan said "see attached", but nothing was attached. I’ve sent three more emails to him asking for the attachment mid-last week. No response.

    I am a Regional Director, in Brazil now to demonstrate the software to some influential business owners, and I cannot show it like this.

    My start director has sent one.
    This morning Ken sent one to support.

    So far no response.

    The community seemed like my last chance.

    My version is 7.4.333

    I have sent 5-6 emails over the past week. In one response Ryan said "see attached", but nothing was attached. I’ve sent three more emails to him asking for the attachment mid-last week. No response.

    I am a Regional Director, in Brazil now to demonstrate the software to some influential business owners, and I cannot show it like this.

    My start director has sent one.
    This morning Ken sent one to support.

    So far no response.

    The community seemed like my last chance.

    Comparison shopping
    Where can I find a basic synopsis of the available strategies so that I can better determine which ones meet my investment criteria, ie. risk tolerance, investment capital, etc. ?

    I recall seeing a post with a description of the different strategies a few years ago. But because everyone can configure the strategies to suit their own needs, almost all of the strategies can be used to meet anyone’s requirements. For instance, the newuser2@cool-trade.com account has the Dow 30 strategies already optimized for all different account balances ($5000, $10000, $25000, $50000, $100,000). That is easily done by adjusting the share lot size, max shares, and max concurrent open positions, and then even hand picking a few symbols.

    So, other than the strategies listed in the newuser2 account, all other strategies can be configured to your liking.

    The $2 and Below strategy was designed by an investment club for account sizes $5000 and under, but people with much larger account sizes also use it.

    CT

    How long do you give a Strategy?
    How long do I simulate a strategy for before trying something else? I’ve been running the $2 strategy for a few weeks and it’s all headed South since day one and a long long way off picking off any profit from the ten selected.
    If this had been a short strategy I would be laughing,.I’m not sure where to go from here wether to stick with the $2. and see if it all turns around or try something else.
    It’s a shame you can’t test two or three strategies at once, it takes a long time to see if it works or not..

    I use the $2 strategy and have seen it go red for a few months but miraculously every once in a while one of the stocks always makes a run and the software cashes out. I’ve seen stocks jump $3 in a day for a fast $3000 profit. I also think that you need to run strategies for a few months to give the stocks a chance to really move. If the stocks aren’t moving there’s no way for anyone to take profits. No one can make the market move fast.

    Thanks I will stick with it then a bit longer
    Do you run it as supplied? And if you cashed up today would you have more than you started with?

    Intraday MACD Histogram settings not trading
    I have not had any trades for several days while using the Intraday MACD Histogram to trigger a buy. Here are the only rules I have...

    (all conditions must be true)
    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Intraday MACD Histogram ( 12,26,9,2,2 ) < 0 Dollars

    Intraday MACD Histogram ( 12,26,9,2,0 ) > 0 Dollars



    EXIT POSITION RULES

    Intraday MACD Histogram ( 12,26,9,3,0 ) <= to 0 Dollars



    In the column "Rule Preventing Next Trade" it says the first rule is preventing the trade - Intraday MACD Histogram ( 12,26,9,2,2 ) < 0 Dollars

    The rules effectively say to buy when the 2 minute Intraday MACD value crosses above than the Intraday MACD Signal Line and then sell when it drops below the signal line.

    The charts show that there are MANY times that the 2 minute Intraday MACD Value crossed the signal line, yet no trades are taking place.

    I cannot identify anything on any of the other tabs that would account for the lack of buys and I cannot make the rules any simpler.

    I could use some help here.

    automatic start up
    I have been using a Mac but got a windows 7 notebook for CT.

    I set it to start up automatically. Yesterday morning, I think I clicked on the user icon, so I could see the desktop... but I did nothing else, and it started up (sim mode) at 710am ... perfect!
    Today, I simply opened the notebook screen, to the upright position, the screen was still black ... and it did not start up.
    So if I am not at home at the start of the market, how do I get it to start up each morning?

    Pointkowski,

    I believe you may not have your Task Scheduler setup. You can follow the below video that explains how to setup the Task Scheduler.

    Also you will want to make sure your system does not go into Sleep Mode during the day as I know this will cause CoolTrader to stop working.



    I am going to repost my link and hopefully it sticks this time.



    automatic start up
    I have been using a Mac but got a windows 7 notebook for CT.

    I set it to start up automatically. Yesterday morning, I think I clicked on the user icon, so I could see the desktop... but I did nothing else, and it started up (sim mode) at 710am ... perfect!
    Today, I simply opened the notebook screen, to the upright position, the screen was still black ... and it did not start up.
    So if I am not at home at the start of the market, how do I get it to start up each morning?

    It sounds like you are describing a situation where your notebook is turning off at night.

    You will need to adjust the power settings to prevent the system from turning off at night.

    Trading costs
    As a newbie I’m trying to wrap my head around the actual cost of trading. I know there is a fee to buy or sell, and that amount depends on what broker we use, but are there any other costs?

    I’m guessing there is some sort of carrying cost for holding open positions? Is it the same for both long & short positions that remain open? How much?

    I’m th8inking this ongoing carrying cost would be important since by design we will constantly carry a bunch of losing trades. Am I wrong on this point?

    Carrying cost = Opportunity cost, or could I be doing something else with my money that will give me a bigger percentage return.

    That is up to each individual.

    no trades?
    I have not been getting any trades for a few days. I now looked at the ETFs in the watch list (in green) at the bottom of CT. If I select one, it turns blue, then I click on the "Rules" button at the top of CT.

    It shows :
    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) > Intraday MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,10,0)
    minutemacdvalue (12,26,9,10,0): 0.000
    minutemacdsignalline (12,26,9,10,0): 0.000

    And the values never change from 0.000

    what is up?

    Rick

    Rick, a zero indicates that the trader does not have enough historical minute bars data to make the calculation.

    You must be connected to a broker that provides that data:

    TD Ameritrade
    Interactive Brokres
    MB Trading

    Only those broker provide the data needed. The CoolTrade datafeed alone does not have the historical minute ars needed to perform the intraday indicators calculations.

    Starting Automaticaly
    My Cooltrader has stopped starting automatically.
    I get an error message about Task Schedular (I’m using Windows 8, the computer is only used for Cooltrade. I know Mac but not Windows).
    I located the Task Schedular and proceeded to setup a task to open Cooltrade daily at a set time.
    I got an error message telling me there is already a scheduled task to do this.
    I’ve looked in Cooltrade prefs and the times are set and checked as they should be.
    I don’t touch the running of the computer customer service set it up for me.
    The computer keeps changing things, one day it works the next nothing works because it decided to download something.
    How do I set this to start on time please?

    Kevin_Allen,

    Is your CoolTrader Software not automatically running or when you try to launch it using the "Launch CoolTrade" icon on your desktop does it also not start? There was a Shockwave update that went out while back that was keeping CoolTrade from launching due to the Windows shockwave update.

    You can locate this update by going to your Control Panel then clicking Programs and Features and choosing View installed updates. Scroll through the updates as it may take a little bit and there is an update under Microsoft Windows section that is for shockwave. As there should only be one update for this. Choose this update and click the Uninstall button at the top. You will have to reboot your computer after this.

    As a follow-up you might want to disable your windows updates so it doesn’t pick that update up again. You can follow the link below on how to locate this and choose the best option for you.



    I just copied the link from above and put it without the http so you can just copy and paste it into your browsers address bar. I did this because lately the links have been disappearsing from the forum software.

    It may be a good idea to list the links both ways so we can be sure they are always there. Like this:



    Current Account Value Seems Way Off
    I’ve been using CT in a simulation and have noticed that it closes an average of a couple hundred dollars per day in trades, the net p/l drops by a similar amount, but the overall account value sometimes increases by thousands per day. How is this possible, and how do I get the account value to work properly?

    Grant,

    Your "Current Account Value" is not just calculating your closed transactions but the value of "if" you sold all of your open positions, this would be ending value of the account at that time including all incurred Profits / Losses. What you are describing seems like you have multiple positions open, of which are taking profit but have yet to sell.

    Carol

    The account value is fluctuating with the closed position profits but also with the movements of the open positions.

    I suggest only running the software during open market hours because I think the simulator is looking at the Bid/Ask prices to determine the value of your positions after after-market prices can affect it even though they are way off.

    When simulating I only go by the closed p/l in the reports and my open position p/l on the screen and calculate how well I am doing. Then after I am live the account value comes from the broker.

    Yes, of course I get that the account value should float when considering the net of open positions but that’s not what is happening at all. The account value was too high by thousands of dollars. I think I’ve isolated the issue though.... the problem is I have CT running on a computer I don’t use much but I sometimes log in to my account via CT on the computer I always use just to check to see what’s happening. That is obviously a no-no because it is inflating the base account value which is stamped in the database.

    Connors RSI Code
    Hello,

    There are a few swing trade strategies posted in other locations. Has anyone coded in either the Connors RSI2 or the ConnorsRSI Strategy.

    Amibroker has them published as donated by Larry Connors so they appear to be public domain.


    This forum will not let me post the algorithm, so I put it into a .txt file and attached it. Sorry. Stupid forum SW isn’t taking it.
    ===============

    So does anyone know how to code these up?

    Rob

    Here is the ConnorsRSI:
    ---------------
    Formula name: ConnorsRSI


    Description:

    Connors RSI is a composite indicator consisting of the mathematical summation of 3 components:

    1. Price Momentum: By default, ConnorsRSI uses a standard 3 period Wilder RSI for the 1st component.

    2. Duration of Up Trend vs. Down Trend ;Streak; days: Connors research shows that the longer the number of consecutive days up or down, the more likely the security is likely to bounce when it reverts to the mean. Likewise, the *magnitude* of the mean reversion snap-back is correlated with the streak length. The 2nd indicator uses integer values to quantify the number of streak days, and applies a default 2 day Wilder RSI to this integer series.

    3. Relative Magnitude of Price Change: This 3rd component uses the PercentRank function over a default value of 100 days (approx. 5 months) to measure price change as a percentage of the previous days price, and rank the current value over the lookback period. Large positive returns will have a rank closer to 100, large negative returns will have a percent rank closer to 0.
    The final oscillator takes this form (default values):

    ConnorsRSI(3,2,100) = [RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100)] / 3
    Connors Research purports this robust indicator is more effective than any of the three components use individually, and in fact the blended effect of the mathematical summation allows the strong value from one indicator to compensate for a slightly weaker value from another, in a way yielding superior results than a voting system between the 3.


    Formula:
    //Connor’s RSI (Larry Connors). Code for function provided by Connors Research

    paramLenRSI = Param("RSI Closes Length", 3, 2, 100, 1);
    paramLenUD = Param("RSI UpClose Length", 2, 2, 100, 1);
    paramLenRank = Param("PerecentRank Length", 100, 10, 200, 1);

    function ConnorsRSI(lenRSI, lenUD, lenROC)
    {
    upDays = BarsSince(C <= Ref(C,-1));
    downDays = BarsSince(C >= Ref(C,-1));
    updownDays = IIf(upDays > 0, upDays, IIf(downDays > 0, -downDays, 0));
    crsi = ( PercentRank(ROC(C,1), lenROC) + RSIa(updownDays,lenUD) +
    RSI(lenRSI))/3;
    return crsi;
    }

    Plot( ConnorsRSI(paramLenRSI,paramLenUD,paramLenRank)
    , "ConnorsRSI("+paramLenRSI+","+paramLenUD+","+paramLenRank+")"
    , colorBlue, styleLine, 0, 100);


    1. Price Momentum: By default, ConnorsRSI uses a standard 3 period Wilder RSI
    for the 1st component.

    2. Duration of Up Trend vs. Down Trend "Streak" days: Connors research shows
    that the longer the number
    of consecutive days up OR down, the more likely the security is likely to
    bounce when it reverts to the mean.
    Likewise, the *magnitude* of the mean reversion snap-back is correlated with
    the streak length.
    The 2nd indicator uses integer values to quantify the number of streak days,
    AND applies a default

    2 Day Wilder RSI to this integer series.

    3. Relative Magnitude of Price Change: This 3rd component uses the PercentRank
    function over a
    default value of 100 days (approx. 5 months) to measure price change as a
    percentage of the
    previous Day’s price, AND rank the current value over the lookback period.
    Large positive returns
    will have a rank closer to 100, large negative returns will have a percent
    rank closer to 0.

    The final oscillator takes this form (default values):
    ConnorsRSI(3,2,100) = [RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100)] / 3
    Connor’s Research purports this robust indicator is more effective than any of
    the three components use
    individually, AND in fact the blended effect of the mathematical summation
    allows the strong value from
    one indicator to compensate for a slightly weaker value from another, in a way
    yielding superior results
    than a voting system between the 3.
    /*

    ===========


    The RSI2 follows


    from Stockcharts.com

    RSI(2) Buy Signal:


    [type = stock]
    and [today’s sma(20,volume) > 40000]
    and [today’s sma(60,close) > 20]
    and [today’s close > today’s sma(200,close)]
    and [5 x today’s rsi(2)]
    RSI(2) Sell Signal:


    [type = stock]
    and [today’s sma(20,volume) > 40000]
    and [today’s sma(60,close) > 20]
    and [today’s close < today’s sma(200,close)]
    and [today’s rsi(2) x 95]

    Here is the ConnorsRSI:
    ---------------
    Formula name: ConnorsRSI


    Description:

    Connors RSI is a composite indicator consisting of the mathematical summation of 3 components:

    1. Price Momentum: By default, ConnorsRSI uses a standard 3 period Wilder RSI for the 1st component.

    2. Duration of Up Trend vs. Down Trend ;Streak; days: Connors research shows that the longer the number of consecutive days up or down, the more likely the security is likely to bounce when it reverts to the mean. Likewise, the *magnitude* of the mean reversion snap-back is correlated with the streak length. The 2nd indicator uses integer values to quantify the number of streak days, and applies a default 2 day Wilder RSI to this integer series.

    3. Relative Magnitude of Price Change: This 3rd component uses the PercentRank function over a default value of 100 days (approx. 5 months) to measure price change as a percentage of the previous days price, and rank the current value over the lookback period. Large positive returns will have a rank closer to 100, large negative returns will have a percent rank closer to 0.
    The final oscillator takes this form (default values):

    ConnorsRSI(3,2,100) = [RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100)] / 3
    Connors Research purports this robust indicator is more effective than any of the three components use individually, and in fact the blended effect of the mathematical summation allows the strong value from one indicator to compensate for a slightly weaker value from another, in a way yielding superior results than a voting system between the 3.


    Formula:
    //Connor’s RSI (Larry Connors). Code for function provided by Connors Research

    paramLenRSI = Param("RSI Closes Length", 3, 2, 100, 1);
    paramLenUD = Param("RSI UpClose Length", 2, 2, 100, 1);
    paramLenRank = Param("PerecentRank Length", 100, 10, 200, 1);

    function ConnorsRSI(lenRSI, lenUD, lenROC)
    {
    upDays = BarsSince(C <= Ref(C,-1));
    downDays = BarsSince(C >= Ref(C,-1));
    updownDays = IIf(upDays > 0, upDays, IIf(downDays > 0, -downDays, 0));
    crsi = ( PercentRank(ROC(C,1), lenROC) + RSIa(updownDays,lenUD) +
    RSI(lenRSI))/3;
    return crsi;
    }

    Plot( ConnorsRSI(paramLenRSI,paramLenUD,paramLenRank)
    , "ConnorsRSI("+paramLenRSI+","+paramLenUD+","+paramLenRank+")"
    , colorBlue, styleLine, 0, 100);


    1. Price Momentum: By default, ConnorsRSI uses a standard 3 period Wilder RSI
    for the 1st component.

    2. Duration of Up Trend vs. Down Trend "Streak" days: Connors research shows
    that the longer the number
    of consecutive days up OR down, the more likely the security is likely to
    bounce when it reverts to the mean.
    Likewise, the *magnitude* of the mean reversion snap-back is correlated with
    the streak length.
    The 2nd indicator uses integer values to quantify the number of streak days,
    AND applies a default

    2 Day Wilder RSI to this integer series.

    3. Relative Magnitude of Price Change: This 3rd component uses the PercentRank
    function over a
    default value of 100 days (approx. 5 months) to measure price change as a
    percentage of the
    previous Day’s price, AND rank the current value over the lookback period.
    Large positive returns
    will have a rank closer to 100, large negative returns will have a percent
    rank closer to 0.

    The final oscillator takes this form (default values):
    ConnorsRSI(3,2,100) = [RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100)] / 3
    Connor’s Research purports this robust indicator is more effective than any of
    the three components use
    individually, AND in fact the blended effect of the mathematical summation
    allows the strong value from
    one indicator to compensate for a slightly weaker value from another, in a way
    yielding superior results
    than a voting system between the 3.
    /*

    ===========


    The RSI2 follows


    from Stockcharts.com

    RSI(2) Buy Signal:


    [type = stock]
    and [today’s sma(20,volume) > 40000]
    and [today’s sma(60,close) > 20]
    and [today’s close > today’s sma(200,close)]
    and [5 x today’s rsi(2)]
    RSI(2) Sell Signal:


    [type = stock]
    and [today’s sma(20,volume) > 40000]
    and [today’s sma(60,close) > 20]
    and [today’s close < today’s sma(200,close)]
    and [today’s rsi(2) x 95]

    Here is the ConnorsRSI:
    ---------------
    Formula name: ConnorsRSI


    Description:

    Connors RSI is a composite indicator consisting of the mathematical summation of 3 components:

    1. Price Momentum: By default, ConnorsRSI uses a standard 3 period Wilder RSI for the 1st component.

    2. Duration of Up Trend vs. Down Trend ;Streak; days: Connors research shows that the longer the number of consecutive days up or down, the more likely the security is likely to bounce when it reverts to the mean. Likewise, the *magnitude* of the mean reversion snap-back is correlated with the streak length. The 2nd indicator uses integer values to quantify the number of streak days, and applies a default 2 day Wilder RSI to this integer series.

    3. Relative Magnitude of Price Change: This 3rd component uses the PercentRank function over a default value of 100 days (approx. 5 months) to measure price change as a percentage of the previous days price, and rank the current value over the lookback period. Large positive returns will have a rank closer to 100, large negative returns will have a percent rank closer to 0.
    The final oscillator takes this form (default values):

    ConnorsRSI(3,2,100) = [RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100)] / 3
    Connors Research purports this robust indicator is more effective than any of the three components use individually, and in fact the blended effect of the mathematical summation allows the strong value from one indicator to compensate for a slightly weaker value from another, in a way yielding superior results than a voting system between the 3.


    Formula:
    //Connor’s RSI (Larry Connors). Code for function provided by Connors Research

    paramLenRSI = Param("RSI Closes Length", 3, 2, 100, 1);
    paramLenUD = Param("RSI UpClose Length", 2, 2, 100, 1);
    paramLenRank = Param("PerecentRank Length", 100, 10, 200, 1);

    function ConnorsRSI(lenRSI, lenUD, lenROC)
    {
    upDays = BarsSince(C <= Ref(C,-1));
    downDays = BarsSince(C >= Ref(C,-1));
    updownDays = IIf(upDays > 0, upDays, IIf(downDays > 0, -downDays, 0));
    crsi = ( PercentRank(ROC(C,1), lenROC) + RSIa(updownDays,lenUD) +
    RSI(lenRSI))/3;
    return crsi;
    }

    Plot( ConnorsRSI(paramLenRSI,paramLenUD,paramLenRank)
    , "ConnorsRSI("+paramLenRSI+","+paramLenUD+","+paramLenRank+")"
    , colorBlue, styleLine, 0, 100);


    1. Price Momentum: By default, ConnorsRSI uses a standard 3 period Wilder RSI
    for the 1st component.

    2. Duration of Up Trend vs. Down Trend "Streak" days: Connors research shows
    that the longer the number
    of consecutive days up OR down, the more likely the security is likely to
    bounce when it reverts to the mean.
    Likewise, the *magnitude* of the mean reversion snap-back is correlated with
    the streak length.
    The 2nd indicator uses integer values to quantify the number of streak days,
    AND applies a default

    2 Day Wilder RSI to this integer series.

    3. Relative Magnitude of Price Change: This 3rd component uses the PercentRank
    function over a
    default value of 100 days (approx. 5 months) to measure price change as a
    percentage of the
    previous Day’s price, AND rank the current value over the lookback period.
    Large positive returns
    will have a rank closer to 100, large negative returns will have a percent
    rank closer to 0.

    The final oscillator takes this form (default values):
    ConnorsRSI(3,2,100) = [RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100)] / 3
    Connor’s Research purports this robust indicator is more effective than any of
    the three components use
    individually, AND in fact the blended effect of the mathematical summation
    allows the strong value from
    one indicator to compensate for a slightly weaker value from another, in a way
    yielding superior results
    than a voting system between the 3.
    /*

    ===========


    The RSI2 follows


    from Stockcharts.com

    RSI(2) Buy Signal:


    [type = stock]
    and [today’s sma(20,volume) > 40000]
    and [today’s sma(60,close) > 20]
    and [today’s close > today’s sma(200,close)]
    and [5 x today’s rsi(2)]
    RSI(2) Sell Signal:


    [type = stock]
    and [today’s sma(20,volume) > 40000]
    and [today’s sma(60,close) > 20]
    and [today’s close < today’s sma(200,close)]
    and [today’s rsi(2) x 95]

    Here is the ConnorsRSI:
    ---------------
    Formula name: ConnorsRSI


    Description:

    Connors RSI is a composite indicator consisting of the mathematical summation of 3 components:

    1. Price Momentum: By default, ConnorsRSI uses a standard 3 period Wilder RSI for the 1st component.

    2. Duration of Up Trend vs. Down Trend ;Streak; days: Connors research shows that the longer the number of consecutive days up or down, the more likely the security is likely to bounce when it reverts to the mean. Likewise, the *magnitude* of the mean reversion snap-back is correlated with the streak length. The 2nd indicator uses integer values to quantify the number of streak days, and applies a default 2 day Wilder RSI to this integer series.

    3. Relative Magnitude of Price Change: This 3rd component uses the PercentRank function over a default value of 100 days (approx. 5 months) to measure price change as a percentage of the previous days price, and rank the current value over the lookback period. Large positive returns will have a rank closer to 100, large negative returns will have a percent rank closer to 0.
    The final oscillator takes this form (default values):

    ConnorsRSI(3,2,100) = [RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100)] / 3
    Connors Research purports this robust indicator is more effective than any of the three components use individually, and in fact the blended effect of the mathematical summation allows the strong value from one indicator to compensate for a slightly weaker value from another, in a way yielding superior results than a voting system between the 3.


    Formula:
    //Connor’s RSI (Larry Connors). Code for function provided by Connors Research

    paramLenRSI = Param("RSI Closes Length", 3, 2, 100, 1);
    paramLenUD = Param("RSI UpClose Length", 2, 2, 100, 1);
    paramLenRank = Param("PerecentRank Length", 100, 10, 200, 1);

    function ConnorsRSI(lenRSI, lenUD, lenROC)
    {
    upDays = BarsSince(C <= Ref(C,-1));
    downDays = BarsSince(C >= Ref(C,-1));
    updownDays = IIf(upDays > 0, upDays, IIf(downDays > 0, -downDays, 0));
    crsi = ( PercentRank(ROC(C,1), lenROC) + RSIa(updownDays,lenUD) +
    RSI(lenRSI))/3;
    return crsi;
    }

    Plot( ConnorsRSI(paramLenRSI,paramLenUD,paramLenRank)
    , "ConnorsRSI("+paramLenRSI+","+paramLenUD+","+paramLenRank+")"
    , colorBlue, styleLine, 0, 100);


    1. Price Momentum: By default, ConnorsRSI uses a standard 3 period Wilder RSI
    for the 1st component.

    2. Duration of Up Trend vs. Down Trend "Streak" days: Connors research shows
    that the longer the number
    of consecutive days up OR down, the more likely the security is likely to
    bounce when it reverts to the mean.
    Likewise, the *magnitude* of the mean reversion snap-back is correlated with
    the streak length.
    The 2nd indicator uses integer values to quantify the number of streak days,
    AND applies a default

    2 Day Wilder RSI to this integer series.

    3. Relative Magnitude of Price Change: This 3rd component uses the PercentRank
    function over a
    default value of 100 days (approx. 5 months) to measure price change as a
    percentage of the
    previous Day’s price, AND rank the current value over the lookback period.
    Large positive returns
    will have a rank closer to 100, large negative returns will have a percent
    rank closer to 0.

    The final oscillator takes this form (default values):
    ConnorsRSI(3,2,100) = [RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100)] / 3
    Connor’s Research purports this robust indicator is more effective than any of
    the three components use
    individually, AND in fact the blended effect of the mathematical summation
    allows the strong value from
    one indicator to compensate for a slightly weaker value from another, in a way
    yielding superior results
    than a voting system between the 3.
    /*

    ===========


    The RSI2 follows


    from Stockcharts.com

    RSI(2) Buy Signal:


    [type = stock]
    and [today’s sma(20,volume) > 40000]
    and [today’s sma(60,close) > 20]
    and [today’s close > today’s sma(200,close)]
    and [5 x today’s rsi(2)]
    RSI(2) Sell Signal:


    [type = stock]
    and [today’s sma(20,volume) > 40000]
    and [today’s sma(60,close) > 20]
    and [today’s close < today’s sma(200,close)]
    and [today’s rsi(2) x 95]

    Price Discrepencies - Reports VS Dashboard
    I get significant differences from the daily Net P&L on the dashboard VS the daily reports. Support has not responded for a week?

    The reports are usually just closed trades, while the dashboard or trader main screen includes the open positions.

    You probably need to send email to support@cooltraderpro.com so someone can look at your trader.

    Hedge

    Jones,


    You will see a difference at all times between the CoolTrader Dashboard P&L for (NET / TODAY) sections and the daily or other reports.

    The reason is that the Net P&L is the your current Profit / Loss of all open positions from the point you opened the positions.

    Today’s P&L is the current Profit / Loss of all open positions from the start of the current day’s market.

    Within the reports you are only going to see one of two options.
    1) Show Closed Trades (Detail) - Choices being (Today/Week/Month/Year or a specified Date Range) this report is only showing Closed P&L transactions for the specified date range.

    2) Show Open Trades (Detail) - Choices being (Today/Week/Month/Year or a specified Date Range) this report is only showing Open positions for the specified date range.

    As you can see the reports and the CoolTrade Dashboard are pulling different data meaning they will always be different.

    I hope this helps!

    Let me be absolutely specific here. I’m not talking about past trades or open trades. I’m talking about ONE POSITION, OPENED AND CLOSED ON SAME DAY, that individual trade post different profit/exit price than the report. These should be exactly the same. I did send screenshots to cust/support with NO response.

    The numbers you are looking at in the trader are based on the prices that they were when various decisions were made by the trader. For example, the SHOW TRADES window will show the price at the time the decision to execute the trade was made, and the closed price is usually the price after the trade was executed. The report should show the final fill price. It’s more involved than it would appear, but it is not usually off by more an .01 or .02 (up or down).

    Note: The reports are primarily used for simulating. After you go live you should use the brokers reports as that is what is sent to the IRS.

    CT

    Anyone Have A Better Strategy?
    I am running a strategy which closes trades every day so I can see action (which I prefer over strategies that don’t generate action). It looks like it will close somewhere around 40% of account value per year while allocating roughly 40% of available funds. This all seems profitable and conservative, to me at least, and I’m wondering if anyone is running a better (more profitable and yet still conservative) strategy.

    That sounds like a pretty good strategy! I like that, profitable and conversative.

    Does your strategy only close profitable trades?

    I run a dow30 strategy that never closes losers.

    My strategy is similar. The only reason it would close a losing trade is if the institutional owners bailed out (dropped from over 10% to less than 5%) although I could be convinced to remove that rule if the logic were sound. The thing I don’t like about the DOW strategy is smaller investors would be betting on too few symbols. I see that as few closed trades and increased risk.

    Do you have the strategy available for others to work with on CT? If you make it available, then you may find others have ideas for adjustments that make it more profitable for you.

    Alternatively, you could post the rules and obtain feedback that way.

    Thanks so much for the offer. I accept! It is the long strategy called Small Cap Compounder found when copying from grant@webloot.net

    What is you average monthly return? I see your last post was in April. Have you made changes that produce better returns?

    Internet Connection Lost
    I am using DSL and have noticed that I am getting an internet connection lost message about every one or two minutes and every now and then I will have a steady connection for four or five minutes.

    What exactly is the software seeing when it says the connection is lost. I have had problems with the service in the past so I am wondering if I should start complaining about the service.

    I believe the cooltrader message since during the times it shows a lost connection my internet seems slower, but I do not see a failure on the modem.

    I think you are seeing the Transaction server down warning.
    That is just an informational message and does not affect your trader.
    That is for office use only.
    You would see lots of connections failing if the internet was completely gone.

    CT

    Purchasing CT in an IRA
    Can someone give me some suggestions on where to go for information on buying Cool Trade software through my IRA account at IB?

    What that means is that you want to pay for the CoolTrade software with your IRA money but not be taxed on the withdrawal.

    Please send email to CustomerSupport@Cool-Trade.com and they will direct you to a professional who specializes in the process.

    CT

    manual exit
    If the automated trader has put on a position, and then I separately (not within CT) close that position (in my own, separate account window), then can I or how do I close the trade within CT (so that it won’t sell the position that I no longer own)?

    Your automated trader is constantly polling the broker to see the open positions.
    When your software sees that the position is gone then it will close it in your trader.

    If it doesn’t close it in the trader, then just add the symbol to the blocked list and then it will get closed in the software. That can happen if you close it at the broker while the software is off.

    Also, remember that the software trades in shares that must be divisible by 100 and it also trades based on the share size specified on Tab1 of the strategy wizard. You can also change the shares in the Automated Trader without having to restart the trader on FILE->Strategy Preferences.

    Enlightened

    thanks...

    You said:
    Your automated trader is constantly polling the broker to see the open positions.
    When your software sees that the position is gone then it will close it in your trader.

    Yes, but when it closes it in my trader, will it send a "sell" order to my brokerage account, too? Obviously, I do not want it to do that.

    No. When you add a symbol to the BLOCKED list in the ct software it will only remove the system from the active list in your trader. The open position will remain at the broker.

    Enlightened

    I experienced that when you move symbols to block list during open market time, it then will initiate broker account to close those symbols. But if you do move symbols to block list after market close, then you will not see broker account close them out. Let me know what your experience.

    Regards,

    SL

    Start up problems
    CTP is starting and running fine in early AM. At 9:30, CTP does a shut down and restart and requires me to sign in to my brokerage account before it will begin trading. I am simulating and using TD Ameritrade. Any suggestions?

    BTW the posted links do not appear to be holding. I read a couple of threads that referenced links and they were not there.

    Thanks!

    It sounds like the internal setting to start the trader might be overwriting CTP. In CoolTrader after you log into the trader go to File --> Trader Preferences and in the second top box on the left and make sure that the two check boxes are unchecked, "Halt Trading Upon Application Startup" and "Schedule Trader To Start Each Day".

    Also if you are wanting to start CoolTrader without having to login to CTP or broker you can do this:

    Open up Control Panel and in search field to the right search for Schedule Tasks .

    Click on Administrative Tools
    Right click Task Scheduler --> Send To --> Desktop (create shortcut)
    This will create a shortcut icon on the desktop that you can click to launch. Choose the Task Scheduler Libary and you will see in the top middle pane a schedule task for CoolTrader Pro. If you right click and choose run it will automatically launch CoolTrader and log in to both CoolTrader Pro and your broker.

    And your second question about the links not showing up. Try posting it without the http and the

    Carol,

    Thanks. I will give that a try.

    Worked with Tim at CTP support. He has taken care of problem.

    Thanks again.

    Carl

    MACD
    I am familiar with the parameter of the MACD i.e. (12,26,9). I am not familiar with the last two parameters that CTP uses i.e. (12,26,9,10,1). Could someone help me with this?

    Thanks

    MsKitty,

    So the specific MACD you are referencing is the Intraday MACD* indicators. The last two parameters are Interval, Offset .

    Offset - Allows the trader to compare the the current ShortEma/LongEma/SingLine with the previous one’s. The default settings are 1 meaning to look at the current and next *Ema/SingLine.

    Interval - (Uncertain as to how this affects the MACD Short/Long/Long as these would be setup as an interval going back)

    Thanks again Carol!!!!!!!!!!

    For the intraday MACD the "interval" represents the length of each bar.

    For the above example, the system will look at a price in 10 minute intervals. It will go back 12 bars for the short EMA (looking back 120 minutes while marking the, price every 10 minutes), 26 bars for the long EMA (260 minutes) and 9 bars for the signal line (90 minutes). This will produce the MACD lines using a 10 minute "interval".

    The final number, "offset", as noted elsewhere, is the specific bar that the indicator is using for the rule.

    So, the Intraday MACD ( 12,26,9,10,1 ) will note the intraday MACD value from one bar ago (10 minutes ago) whereas Intraday MACD ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) looks a the most recent intraday MACD value.

    A rule like ’buy when Intraday MACD ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) > Intraday MACD ( 12,26,9,10,1 )’ means the a buy will happen when the current Intraday MACD value (using a 10 minute bar) is greater than the intraday MACD value from one bar (10 minutes) ago.

    Hope this helps

    Daniel,

    Much better explanation than mine. Thank you!

    Thanks to both of you Daniel and Carol. Great explanations.

    Why did it close all my trades?
    For the past month+ I have been testing what I thought was a good strategy. Today though, for a reason I cannot even begin to imagine, the software closed all my trades even though I do not have any rules to close trades. The only change I made yesterday that would come into effect today was to set the profit protection to be identical to the profit target. Does anyone have any feedback?

    Hi Grant,

    Since the auto trader only does what its told to do, and that was the only change you made, I believe that is why it closed out of all your trades.

    Let me ask what was the reason you changed your strategy so that your Profit Goal and Profit Protection where the same? If you do not want Profit Protection you can just set it above the Profit Goal. Having them the same doesnt make much sense to me. But maybe you are seeing something I am not. I still have a lot to learn.

    Carol

    I guess I could have set it to above the profit goal. I didn’t think about that. I just didn’t want it to interfere with the profit goal so I set it to be the same. I’m not sure what happened but my demo account now feels worthless to me.

    Its not worthless!

    Just change it so the profit protection is above the profit goal and things should go back to normal.

    I have been speaking with the office about my situation. The software closed all the trades because the trailing stop loss on the profit requirements page was set to be 5 cents, which is far too low and is a little understood (to me anyway) reason trades will close. It is now set to be $300 so it won’t happen again. Thanks for your inputs.

    Ok, I’m glad you got it figured out!

    Grant, the Pullback After Reaching Profit Goal only kicks in AFTER you have reached your goal. So that would not have closed your positions at a loss. I would change that back to .05

    There must be another reason your positions closed at a loss.

    CT

    maximizeing the main positions screen
    Does any one know how to epand the screen . the maximize button does not work . Only 75% of the screen is used ?

    I don’t think there is a way.

    I made the screen resolution on my computer smaller so that the auto trader fit my screen better.

    Windows 8 compatability
    I am looking at another (new) computer to run CTP. How is CTP running on Windows 8? This has probably been asked previously but I looked through a number of threads and could not find information.

    Thanks in advance.

    Carl

    I am running it on windows 8 and it runs great. Just make sure you have at least 4gb of ram.

    Carol, as usual thanks for your quick responses to these posts. I/we are grateful.

    Carl

    You’re welcome Carl! I’m happy to help!

    It only runs after customer service performs many work-arounds in Windows 8. I am hoping they will update the CT program to be compatible with current technology.

    CoolTrade SW behaves really weird when dealing with IB live!
    Hi,
    I had been running CT simulation with TD Ameritrade, Option House, IB paper live trading. When running in simulation with TD Ameritrade, Option House, CT behaved seem alright, especially, I ran strategy to close all position by 10 minutes before market close, it then closed all openned position by the setting time, and showing an update values for fund allocated as well as fund available. Reports all showed correctly. But when I connected to run with IB live paper trading account, CT showed a weird thing. All openned position did not show closing by setting time. The reports of course did not show those position because they were still showing in the SW. I called technical support and they tried to uninstall and reinstall my CT, proceeding update the SW, but the issue was still the same. Email to Ed, he said IB live paper trading did not perform well. I went live today with IB real money account, and it was the same issue, all openned positions were still showing. Does anyone else have the same issue? I want to share this to everyone in here so that if you guys, gals guide me to avoid this situation.

    Thanks,

    SL

    Sale,

    Can you confirm that your IB is setup the same way as in this how-to? There might be a setting that is not communicating with the API for IB correctly.

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/ib_ctp_setup

    https:// sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/ib_ctp_setup

    Hi carolnetzer27,
    The first link is ok to access but not for the second one. I believe that all my setup is correctly as the first link you provided, and this have been setting up 3 times by technical support (uninstalled and reinstalled). I don’t know why CT did not behave correctly to show all positions which were supposed to be closed by the setting time. I would like to know whether CT had been tested through a live account with all brokers or not. Because of dealing with real money, so I am very careful to exam the SW. One more thing I want to bring here is the the data signal from CT is often lagging to the broker data signal.

    Thanks,

    SL

    SL, I have been running with TD and IB for years. The IB paper account has not worked since many years. I have seen ct send orders to the paper account and watched the broker not fill for the order. I would not use it.

    If you were using the paper account and then switch to a real live account then the software would not know that the paper account and the live account were different because both are viewed as live accounts to the software. to do that swich, you needed to completely close all of the paper positions before changing to a live broker account otherwise the live and paper positions would conflict with each other.

    Enlightened

    enlightened.investor
    I chose live to go with my paper trading account, not simulation. The live paper trading account is identical to the real live money in IB. I did go live with my real money in IB and CT SW still showed the same issue. I also experienced that the data for DJ, Nasdaq, S&P in CT are alway lagging to the IB data at least 2 minutes eventhough I always turn on CT one hour before of market opening time.

    SL

    I don’t know what is happening with the indexes because I don’t use intraday movements of the indexes in my strategies but for me up 100 or 101 or 102 is all the same.

    When I switch from the paper account to the live account I did it in this order:

    1. Closed all of the open positions in the paper account (using the CoolTrade software). That way both CoolTrade and IB (paper account) agreed there were no open positions.

    2. Closed all open positions in my IB (Live account).

    3. Turned on CoolTrade in IB (Live) mode with the IB Live Account.

    I’m not having any problems. All of the prices and fills are working fine.

    Hedge

    I know how to refresh CT to go live. The issue is all opened positions which are supposed to be closed by setting time still showing on the CT main page. In order to starting for the next day running, I have to put those positions in the blocked list and restart the CT. And this is not a robot or automatic SW anymore as it’s supposed to be.

    CoolTrade Really Weird This Morning.. :(
    What’s wrong with CT this moring? It has been 20 minutes since market open but DJ, Nasdaq, S&P value did not calculate to display. And positions were still not openning yet.????

    The indexes come from the brokers and even though the broker is showing the data on their screens does not always mean that they are sending it to the automated traders through their API. They could have been having problems.

    My MB Trading machine had a data and my IB machines did not.
    But then a few minutes later the data was showing up on all of the machines from all of the brokers.

    Enlightened

    I have 2 accounts, TDA and IB, but they are showing the same issue. I checked the sectors in CT and it showed 1 min, 5 min, but not in main page where all the rules related on DJ, Nasdaq, and S&P to open positions.

    SL

    I had issues this morning also. I opened Connectivity tab on CTP and it said something about server problems. I shut CTP down and did a restart seems ok now but it lost info for trades before shut down.

    I’ve never seen my system lose trades and the connectivity is only showing a transaction server that is down for maintenance. There are other tran servers so that doesn’t affect your trader.

    The only problem this morning is that one or more of the brokers were not feeding a few indexes for 15 or 20 minutes this morning. That doesn’t even affect most of the strategies as most don’t look at the indexes to make buy/sell decisions.

    Enlightened

    It’s been half an hour since market open, CT did not calculate to show up data in DJ, Nasdaq, S&P again Does anyone have the same?

    Sale,

    Are you running your CoolTrade in Simulator Mode or Live?

    Have you confirmed that you have the latest developer version? If not, here is a link on How-to do this:

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/update-cooltrade

    sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/update-cooltrade

    I posted it twice. Once without the https in case the first one disappears.

    carolnetzer27,
    I am running live CT with IB, and the version of CT is 7.4.390. In addition, I get connection failed every morning when CT starts by itself. But when I reconnect, it is working. Don’t know why I can not log in unattended. I checked my task schedule, and everything seemed alright.

    SL

    Sale,

    Can you make sure that your Java is up to date? Also you might also add a Scheduled Task to automatically start Trader Workstation about 2 min after CoolTrade is set to launch. Here is also a quick link on how IB’s Trader Workstation should be setup to connect with CT. You could double check the settings as well.

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/ib_ctp_setup

    Best brokerage account and strategy with $10k?
    Hi,

    I am new to this and would like to know what type brokerage account is recommended (cash or margin) if i’m just starting out with $10k? Also what strategy would you recommend with good avg returns starting out with $10k?

    I like Interactive Brokers for their $1 per trade fees (for 200 shares or less).

    My favorite strategy is the "Dow 30 for $20,000 accounts" that you can copy from NewUser2@Cool-Trade.com

    That would work since you can use 2-1 margin. It will also not allocate all of the funds to start anyway. The funds would only be needed if the stocks dropped 90% in value.

    Jerry

    eayala604,

    MB Trading is $5 per trade and IB is ($1 per trade of of up to 200 lot shares after that it is $5 per trade).

    I’ve heard good things about the BAC Long for Simulating $10,000 strategy located under NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM.

    What I meant to say was that anything more than 200 share lots with IB is $5 per trade. I don’t think i wrote that clearly.

    I have noticed there are special instructions or help in getting hooked up with IB. Is it really that difficult to do?

    Thanks for any response.

    No, once I had my account open with IB the cooltrade support center did everything for me. I am now simulating thru IB.

    So once I have an IB account i just log into my cool trade software and connect it to IB in simulation mode ( if I want to ) and the software connects to it or do I need to then contact Technical support?

    So once I have an IB account i just log into my cool trade software and connect it to IB in simulation mode ( if I want to ) and the software connects to it or do I need to then contact Technical support?

    I recommend you contact support center and they will make sure you are properly set up and download the IB trading platform that CT requires to link to.

    Here are step by step instructions on how to do it.

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/ib_ctp_setup

    sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/ib_ctp_setup

    I posted the same link again without the https:// in case the first one disappears.

    These are the instructions that I followed and I didn’t need help from support. But of course, if you run into any problems, they are there to help.

    Eternal posted about how is strategy did after 1 month in simulation mode on a 10k account. Looks like a great strategy for a 10k account!

    Here is his thread. I’m posting the link several times. It seems links vanish when posted with the http and www in the front. So add those in if the first 2 disappear.



    Thank you both! I’ll give it a try on my own first and see how it goes!

    eayala604 said "I recommend you contact support center and they will make sure you are properly set up and download the IB trading platform that CT requires to link to."

    Your comment was written several months ago. Tech support does not seem to be offering this sort of support any longer. Has anyone found alternatives?

    I’ve been running $2. and below. Ran it for a couple of months with $20k in simulator, most of the time it was down $2-$3k then it added $10k in one trade.
    I am now running it live and started with $12.5k it’s added $800 - $900 to the account in just under a month.
    It’s done a few odd things recently operational wise i’m still trying to figure how, why what. IB was not an easy set up for me either, I got support to do it in the end, I got 90% there on my own, being in the UK doesn’t help. I still have a glitch in that on auto startup it fails to log into the brokre, if I click start CT myself it does auto log into the broker.
    I’d like to think it can add $800 to $900 a month every month, I doubt that it can and no doubt a line of losing months are just around the corner -)
    But so far so good with $2 and below with a $12.5k start.

    Current account value vs P/L
    Hi, I have been running this software for over a week and decided to reset and start a new strategy in simulation with $25,500. My question: Why is my "Current account value" different than my P/L value?
    For example:
    Current account value is $25,641 which to means I am up $141 (from my original $25,500)
    My Net and Today’s and P/L is +$74

    Shouldn’t these two numbers be the same??

    eayala604,

    Your "Current Account Value" is not just calculating your closed transactions but the value of "if" you sold all of your open positions, this would be ending value of the account at that time including all incurred Profits / Losses. These calculations should be made off of your Net P/L. Today’s P/L is just the the calculations based off of the the stock’s current days open price.

    Thanks for the explanation.

    Program Hosting?
    Has anyone tried hosting a server or website with a CT program running? Instead of having this program run on a personal home computer I was thinking of having it run on a secure hosted server that I can access from anywhere and would be more reliable than my home internet connection. I have never tried anything like this so I wouldn’t know where to start but hoping someone has...
    thanks

    eayala604,

    I’ve been researching this a bit myself and I know there are others out there who have the same question. I think its a great idea. There are some affordable ones out there. Rackspace.com is one company that I know of but there are plenty of others. The requirements are OS Windows XP or above, 2.5 Ghz Processor or above, 3-4 Gig of RAM and at least 10-20 Gig of free space for Cooltrade, and a stable DSL or above internet connection.

    I personally have set up my Cooltrade on a VPS with 1 & 1. Make sure you get a windows based server and not linux. This should work for you if you are using a VPS provider. Have them assist you with the set up and use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to that server.

    I personally have set up my Cooltrade on a VPS with 1 & 1. Make sure you get a windows based server and not linux. This should work for you if you are using a VPS provider. Have them assist you with the set up and use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to that server.

    What VPS provider are you using? How is the monthly price?

    X axis on CTP Charts
    The dates on my charts on the X axis are cut in half by the bottom of the window and I cannot read them.
    I have tried
    - changing window size
    - changing font size
    - shrinking the window to 75% and expanding to 200%

    Nothing has worked. Help

    Since CT doesn’t use the charts, I think those are an add-on not quite there yet.
    I would use FreeStockCharts.com

    I don’t know anyone using the big charts in CT.

    Enlightened

    Report to include last price changes +/-
    Would like to see the report I print out at the end of the day indicate the last 5 points it moved, either it increased or pulled back that caused the trader to sell the position so an adjustment could be made to the pullback number in the strategy wizard. I currently use a pullback of 5 but would like to know if I could adjust accordingly to how my positions are selling.

    Running multiple traders?
    Does anyone run multiple CT programs on one computer or more than one computer? Wondering if anyone has a creative way of doing this besides having multiple computers for multiple CT software. Server hosting is one way but it’s expensive at $100’s a month. Wondering is there is a home server capable of running multiple programs?

    NM, I did a search again and found the answer to my question!

    Latest version of CT
    I currently have version 7.4.390 and when I try to update, no update occurs. In fact the only thing that happens, is the system crashes.

    Is it possible that the system us crashing because there is no update to obtain?

    Is there a way to tell what the latest version of CT is?

    7.4.390 is the latest version. However, you have other issues going on, and you may have corrupted files with those crashes.

    I would do a chkdsk /f from DOS and reboot.

    Then I would launch the strategy wizard and do another dev version update.

    Enlightened

    Thanks for the info.

    I’ll do that.

    How is it that you know the latest version is 7.4.390? Is that posted somewhere?

    It’s not posted anywhere. I just downloaded it onto a new computer on Friday.

    Enlightened

    How to clear the hitory on reports
    Is there a way of clearing the history on reports? I wish to go live and get rid of the historical demo data. Thanks

    Click on the File menu on the Automated Trader Login screen, and select "Refresh For new strategy". That will clear the reports.

    Enlightened

    UK - CT Traders
    Hi

    I have been told there are may UK users of CT .

    I am New to this community and I from Norfolk -UK .
    I would like to get in touch with UK traders so we could exchange some ideas on CT.

    Thanks
    Regards

    I know that we have some UK users here guys!

    Where is everyone!

    Hi there

    I am based in the UK and NL.
    Please get in touch with me on keith.c.davidson@gmail.com and I would be happy to assist you with any questions you may have.

    Keith

    I’m in the UK and I’m in Norfolk too, I know of one other UK user.

    Closed Negative Trade not showing up in my report
    Hi, I was wondering if anyone has experienced seeing missing trades in their reports, especially negative one. Today, I had a position that opened this morning and closed later in the morning for a loss of -$21.00. I had four other positions that closed with a profit. When I ran the daily report at different times during the day, including after the market closed, the report did not show the closed trade with the loss. I am only running a Long Strategy in Simulation and in fact the reports only show profits, they never show a loss.

    Is this a glitch?

    BTW, I emailed two request for help with the Support Desk and they have scheduled a time to help me 9 business days after my request was sent in. Very, very slow. Thank God I am only running in Simulation right now. Imaging being down for 9 business days because your software is having a problem and you can’t get any help to fix it. Terrible after sales service.

    I wish my reports didn’t show losses. LOL.

    I haven’t experienced that. I don’t the reports are discriminating against your losing trades.

    I recommend you click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION to be sure you are running the latest update of the software.

    I got multiple years for the cost of 1 year so I am not complaining about having to wait a little bit for support. But most of my questions have been answered by this board.

    Hedge

    Since I have booked a time with CTP Support, I am going to wait to get their answers first and see what they do for me. Hopefully my issue will be resolved and I will learn something from them so that I can troubleshoot better myself in the future and not need their help as much, because I am pretty sure I don’t want to depend on help that is this late when I am trading live. I trade live FX right now and when I have a question, other companies are very quick to respond. Usually within 24 hours.

    Did you receive a reply and were you able to fix the problem? I am having the same issue.

    If updating to the developer version doesn’t work, try uninstalling and re installing the software. Then update to the developer version again.

    I can’t imagine why the reports wouldn’t be accurate. I have never seen that before.

    When you do trade live, you will be able to generate a report with whatever broker you choose. So at least when you are dealing with real money you will be able to generate an accurate report that way.

    Closing... EOD
    What is happening?

    Yesterday, I had a 600 share TZA position:
    In the Auto Trader Preferene(1) tab, I had the 3 close positions boxes checked:
    Start Closing all open positions ... 1:51 PM
    Close Open if Reached Goal ... 1:50 PM
    Close Open Positions with $20 Profit ... 1:50 PM

    It closed and then went additionally short:
    1:51 SELL 600 TZA (exit reason: Close all Positions)
    1:53 SELL 600 TZA (exit reason: User Exit)

    I did not manually close anything.

    What happened?

    So I unchecked the last 2 "close Positions" and left only this rule:

    Start closing all open postions at 1:52 PM

    This is what happened today:

    I had a 600 share RUSS postion, then at

    13:53 SELL 600 RUSS (exit reason: Close all Positions)
    then 2 minutes later it did this:
    13:55 SELL 600 RUSS (exit reason: User Exit)

    Anybody know what is going on?

    RIck

    it sounds like teh broker is not responding to the close orders.
    you’re not using the IB Paper Trading Account are you? That doesn’t work because too many times the broker does not fill the positions.

    I would also click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION so your software updates to the latest version.

    The "User Exit" is just the message sent when it says to close all positions at a certain time (regardless of rules). It doesn’t mean that you manually placed the order.

    Hedge

    Market Data feed
    Does anyone use IQ Feed for live market data updates? Just wondering how this compares to the paid market data updates offered thru Interactive Brokers?
    According to several sources IQ Feed is the fastest available at 500 updates per second.

    eayala604,

    I know that the IQ Feed is a faster feed but I have signed up for it. I also would like to know how it compares to other data feeds from other brokers as well.

    Edit: I have not signed up for it.*

    New Strategy w/open Positions
    Hello,

    I am wondering what happens when you have open positions under one strategy (whether long or short) then you activate new strategy. Do the open positions continue to execute under the old strategy or will the rules change to close under the new strategy?

    Hello,

    When you start a new strategy all open positions will execute with the rules of the new strategy.

    Carol

    Thank you carol. That is what I thought. I am glad I am simulating. The GUI needs to be modified to make it more intuitive to check out a strategy without accidentally changing what is being executed. If nothing else, there should be a warning that asks if you want to change your strategy given there are open positions using that strategy.

    Market Info Ticker
    Can someone tell me what each block represents in the market info section in the trader main display (Dow, Nasdaq, SP100, emini) Is it 1min or 5 minutes? Particularly interested in the emini.

    Each box represents a 1 minute move (from left to right) with the farthest 1 on the left being the minute that just ended and the next one on the right being 2 minutes ago, etc.

    The first 2 indicators (Dow & Nasd) will light Red or Green if the price when down or up $1 during that minute.

    The next 2 indicators (S&P100 & Emini) will light or green based on .25 moves during that minute.

    Hedge

    eayala604,

    From left to right this is what each block represents in the market sector window. 1 min -- 5 min -- 10 min -- 15 min -- 30 min.

    Also if you want to see a larger breakdown of the sector ticker click on Sectors menu within CoolTrade.

    I hope this helps!

    Ok I am a bit off. Hedge is actually got more insight then I do so his is correct.

    Dewey, we are both right.

    I described the red/green blocks on the MAIN screen.
    You described teh red/green blocks on the SECTORS screen

    Hedge

    Thanks!
    I will add a rule to my strategy: Emini Consecutive Minutes Up is greater or equal to 2 to my strategy for long trades.

    Long and Short options
    Would like the option to select whether to run a short or along instead of having to only run 1 long and 1 short. Would like to run 2 long or 2 short on one trader if possible.

    I agree!!!!!!

    Yes, for the cost of the software I’d like to be able to run 2 long and/or 2 short strategies simultaneously from one copy of the software.

    Add to position question
    I am running a simulation without a broker. I have the strategy set to add to current position at 5% decline. I have one stock that has crossed that threshold and it bought a second lot. I declined to 10% and bought a third. It increased and took profits on both the 10% add and the 5% add. The stock then declined below 5% and added again. This morning, it increased and took profit on that 5% add. The stock declined again past the 5% threshold, but this time it did not add again. It bounced above and below 5% a couple of times but never added. Is the program designed so that it will not add another lot on the same day that it sold the first added lot?

    The software is designed to do only what the strategy tells it to do. So there has to be a reason in the strategy that did not allow it to add another lot.

    How much are the simulating with? If under $25k, it will only do 3 intra-day trades in a 5 day period.

    I am simulating with $35,000. The add to current position is: ABS (My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price Percent (5). There is plenty of money available in the account. I am baffled. In the watch list, the program lists the reasons why it does not add a position. Is there a similar indicator somewhere as to why it does not add to current position?

    During the trading day, click on the "System Activity" button on the top right and copy what the is happening. Post that here so we can take a look at whats going on.

    Also, there was a system update. If you haven’t done that, make sure update first.

    Nasdaq data not showing!!!
    Nasdaq data has not been showing recently even after upgrading CT to point to the new server.....

    Data for the simulators was still pointing to one of the old servers. That has just been corrected, so the automated trader’s running in simulator mode should see the streaming data updates now. Please restart your CoolTrade Software and you should be good.

    I am running live CT with IB, and I have restarted CT many times.

    I have had my trader running all day and have seen data from NASDAQ. If you click on the Sectors menu are you seeing data for All the Sectors including NASD100?

    CT utilized more than the set amount!!!
    After upgrading CT utilized more than the set amount that it is not supposed to be used. I got violation margin call and sold lost positions automatically without warning from broker. So what is going on here??? Anyone has the same issue?

    New error message
    Since the update I’m getting a new error message from Watchdog.

    "LoadAllVideos Error: -2147467259 [DBNETLIB][Connection Open (Connect()).]SQL
    Server does not exist or access denied."

    Pressing "OK" closes the error message and CT continues to run.

    Should I be worried about this?

    You can fix that by clicking FILE->DOWNLOAD NEW SOFTWARE.

    That is a fix they had to add over the weekend so it wasn’t in the update from last week.

    Enlightened

    Very quick - thanks!

    Dynamic MACD issue after update
    Since the update the Dynamic MACD has been acting funny. Prior to the update it seemed to be working fine, but sine then it is not triggering buys/sells.

    Here is what I see when I open the "rules" window.

    -----------------"quote"------------------
    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Dynamic MACD Value ( 12,26,9 ) > Dynamic MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9 )
    DYNAMIC_MACDVALUE (12 , 26 , 9) : -1.0000
    DYNAMIC_MACDSIGNALLINE (12 , 26 , 9) : -1.0000
    -----------------"quote"------------------


    That value of -1.0000 means that it is not receiving data right?

    I have other MACD rules (non dynamic) that I am using at the same time that are showing correct values.

    All dynamic MACD values for all symbols on my watchlist show the same -1.0000 value.

    What should I do?

    I would remove that rule and just use MACD (12, 26, 9).
    I think it uses too much data and the dynamic value is not going to be much different than the EOD value generated by MACD that uses yesterdays close price in the calculation.

    IMO, the other Dynamic indicators are worthwhile, but the DMACD isn’t as valuable.

    Enlightened

    I had similar problem here’s what I did to fix it. This came from CS : Please do the following to update to the latest version as there have been updates over the weekend.

    Go to your CoolTrade directory on your computer and launch NSLIVEUPDATE.EXE

    That will update your software to the latest version.

    For Windows XP the directory/file is usually:

    c:\program files\cooltrade automated trader\nsliveupdate.exe

    For Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, the directory/file is usually:

    c:\program files (x86)\cooltrade automated trader\nsliveupdate.exe

    Please let us know if we can provide further assistance.

    Steven
    CoolTrade support

    Large watchlist causing restarts ??
    My autotrader restarted 14 times yesterday!! I noticed after watching the screen that the number of symbols on my short watchlist grew from about 30 to over 60. As the trader was loading data at startup I was getting an error #162 from IB. I later tracked this down as requesting too much historical data in a 10 minute period. I have upgraded to the "developer version" so I know I’m running the most up to date software. Even before this I was getting a couple of restarts every day.

    My question is - Did anyone else experience this problem yesterday ? Is there a maximum number of symbols the trader can handle and be stable ? My computer is only running cooltrade and teamviewer so I can watch from work, Windows Vista ultimate - all up to date. I even turned off antivirus so it doesn’t slow things down. Would faster hardware matter ?

    Thanks,
    Mark

    I didn’t have any problems. However I think I may know what caused your trader stop/restarts.
    The trader may have had a problem communicating with the watchdog, so the watchdog kept killing and restarting the trader. That can happen if you have a large watchlist that is taking too long to load.

    In the watchdog file menu, uncheck "restart automated trader on unscheduled exit".

    That will fix your problem.

    Next you should consider adding additional watchlist rules to lower the number of symbols in your watchlist. But that’s a different issue...

    Enlightened

    Mark,

    CoolTrade is limited based on what your computer specs are. One thing that CoolTrade does is builds a minute bar database and stores them in your memory. Over a length of time, the memory could run out and windows will shut down the trader. CoolTrade also utilizes a lot of CPU with a lot of symbols. You have to think about how CoolTrade works, it is basically a really smart calculator doing math during market hours. If you are trading 5,6 maybe 10 stocks, then that can be handled on pretty much any computer. Depending on the specs of your computer, you could be running into memory or processing problems. By reducing the amount of symbols you are watching, this should keep the trader from getting shut down.

    Could you post your computer specs here? You can get to those by hitting Windows Key+Pause Break on your keyboard. Maybe if I can see your specs we could find out why you are having this issue.

    I use a general rule and CT will also use the rule of no more than 35 stocks. Almost any computer can handle 35 stocks. Some computers out there could probably run 1000 stocks with no problem as long as it has the power to do so.

    Online index of error ,essages and features
    The cooltrader downloaded manual is a rough outline of the program and features. Is there no online or printed manual with index and with descriptions of error messages, ie. "stop time / close up tis amount time error, and similar error messages and use / features of each function. Not the tech indicators as those can be researched on line, but the basic function in the program are not searchable and are not described in detail in the manual. Or did I miss something? Might free up tech from answering a million easy questions in this forum.

    Here is a knowledge base that how a lot of info. It is a work in progress. But you can take a look.

    I’m posting the link twice in case one vanishes.

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/

    sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/ (add https:// to the front of this one.

    Online index of error ,essages and features
    The cooltrader downloaded manual is a rough outline of the program and features. Is there no online or printed manual with index and with descriptions of error messages, ie. "stop time / close up tis amount time error, and similar error messages and use / features of each function. Not the tech indicators as those can be researched on line, but the basic function in the program are not searchable and are not described in detail in the manual. Or did I miss something? Might free up tech from answering a million easy questions in this forum.

    One trade in month of June
    I am in simulation mode with the Dow 30 strategy. In the month of May it made a lot of trades but this month it’s only made one for $71. Is this normal or is there something I can do?

    morgans77,

    Yes this can be normal. If you have a Long strategy and the DOW is down for the month the auto trader might buy in as the stocks are going down and wait until the stock turns back around to take a profit. I know the DOW strategy is more of a long term strategy. If you want turn a profit faster, you could try tweaking your "Profit Requirements" tab. But really, if its not entering into any trades it is because the conditions just aren’t right. Perhaps a more aggressive strategy is what you are looking for.

    I think the DOW strategy is a good long term strategy that you can just turn on, walk away and let it make profits for you month after month.

    One trade in month of June
    I am in simulation mode with the Dow 30 strategy. In the month of May it made a lot of trades but this month it’s only made one for $71. Is this normal or is there something I can do?

    You could always try to take profits a little earlier if that is what you want to do. Go into your strategy by opening the strategy wizard then click on the strategy name. This will pull up the back end of the strategy itself and under the tab "Profit Requirements (6)" you can adjust your profit protections and profit goals to lower numbers to see more trades. Of course this all relies on the stock actually going up, but at least you can adjust how fast CT takes the profit off the table.

    account funds questions
    suppose I have a 200k acct, but am only allowing ct software to trade 100k of it by having the max funds allowed to utilize set at 100k. If ct is using the full 100k, When I buy from the broker side, say 50k, what will happen on the ct software side? will it just show as a negative? it won’t start closing positions or anything will it? or is there a different way I need to do this? I know it won’t allow me to manually make the purchase from the ct side, but if I am in my broker acct and make the purchase, what happens ct side/

    second, often my p&l for the day doesn’t seem to match the account value at the end of the day, what am I missing? example...my current account value for the beginning of the day may read 100k. at end of day the p&l for the day is $2000. the acct value at the end of the day, now reads $101,895. I am confused by this because I assume it would be $102,000? what am I missing? It is often off by $50-$100 on an acct of about 250k, this is in simulation mode (maybe this is why?)

    That is correct. It will never close positions just because too many funds are allocated. it will just stop opening new positions.

    The P&L is based on the bid/ask prices. AT the end fo the day the bid/ask prices get wide and that changes what you see.

    CT

    Market Data Feed
    Hi,
    Today my trader opened a position for $12.40 and should’ve placed profit protection at $12.59 (1.5%) as the price went up to $12.77 and came down below what I bought for.
    Just wondering if data feed had anything to with the trader not recognizing the quick price move since it spiked up fast and then came down. I am using the IB regular data feed (non-subscription). The symbol it bought was CYTK. Any ideas why profit protection was not placed?

    I should mention that I also had 6 other positions opened and that profit protection was activated for several but for some reason it missed the only one that counted before taking a massive dive -10%...

    eayala604,

    Open your strategy preferences under FILE -> Strategy Preferences and make sure in the field for "Start Closing Positions" is set to within 5 min of market open.

    When I looked at CYTK I saw that it reached $12.77 around 9:50 AM EST. So it should have put the Profit Protection on but it seems it didn’t.

    Thanks Dewey! I can’t believe I missed that.

    When you say that you have 1.5% profit protection, can you describe all of the settings on Tab6:

    Profit goal?
    Pullback after reaching profit goal?
    Profit Protection?

    Stop Loss?
    Trailing stop Loss?
    ReEntry Pullback?

    Then on Tab1:

    Take profits that have reached their goal at this time xx:xx?
    Take profits up by this amount ### at this time xx"xx?

    I call these my bread-and-butter settings. If I know what yours are set at, I can give you better feedback.

    Enlightened

    Tab 6
    Profit goal: 3% ($0.18min)
    Pullback: 0.5% ($0.05 min)
    Profit protection: 1.5% ($0.09min)

    Stop loss and trailing stop loss are both set at $300/share

    Re-entry pullback: 10% per share ($0.99 min)

    Tab 1
    Close open positions that have reached their goal 12:55 pm
    Close open positions that have made this much profit 12:55pm, Profit amount $50

    Thanks Enlightened, your feedback is much appreciated...

    Also, if you have a rule that would prevent buying any kind of stock spits or reverse splits I have been trying to add one.
    would this work:
    today’s open price is at least 100% less than yesterdays close price?? (prevent reverse splits) not sure about stock splits...

    I doubt profit protection will work for small number like 10 cents.

    As I recall it was designed for larger numbers like:

    Profit Goal: .80
    Profit Protection .40

    I think the innerworkings of the function uses the correlation between the Profit goal and Profit protection and the pullback after reaching goal.

    I just know it is optimzed for 1/2 of the Profit Goal.

    Enlightened

    Rule Overview in trader
    Would like the rule tab located on the trader that displays rules for for a specific stock show the rules that were true for the position at the time it opened the stock and not the most current stats. This would enable users to check the conditions when the trader opened a specific position.

    Yes, That would be very useful!

    Also the "RULES" report run from the menu bar should indicate whether a rule is currently true or false.

    After a while of analysis, it gets a little hard to see that 26.1264 is less than 23.1624. A simple T/F would be very convenient (and save on eyestrain)..

    This feature is currently in CoolTrade, you just have to dig a little to find it.

    In your CoolTrade directory, there is a "Logs" file. Inside of that file, there is something called a "TradeStatsLog". This log will show every rule that was passed to make the trade in detail.

    Phil, Would you give us detailed instructions on how to, for your above post? Also maybe they should make it part of the RULES window for easy access? Thanks Mike

    Closing position too quick
    I am using the basic Dow long strategy. I have my Pullback After Reaching Proft Goal set at $.04. Profit goal is 4%, profit protection is 2%. My stocks are hitting the profit protection and are selling on a $.01 pullback. They then continue to climb higher but I am out. Is there some way to adjust the pullback in the profit protection mode?

    The profit protection uses a dynamic pullback that will adjust itself based on where the stock goes. One thing I have learned is the lower the price of the stock, the smaller that pullback is. When the stock hits your 2% profit protect, it will give it a lot of room to wiggle at first, then the closer it gets to your 4% profit goal, the faster it will sell out. What are the percentage increase of those stocks you are looking at that are selling? Are they just selling right away as soon as they hit profit protection? What are the price of the stocks you are seeing this on? Is it just AA (Alcoa) which is around $8 or is it also doing this on stocks like HPQ, MSFT and INTC?

    This on all of them, including HPQ today. It hit a high of 24.87 and sold immediately when it dropped to 24.86. It has done it on others, both higher and lower priced stocks. I understand completely what the software does. I just don’t know why it is giving only $.01 pullbacks now.

    I would remove the Profit Protection and just let the Pullback after reaching goal take over. If you really only want 2% then set the profit goal to 2%. That’s what I would do.

    I only use Profit Protection when my profit goal is 10% and profit protection is 5%. I don’t think that feature works too well with the smaller goals.

    Enlightened

    That is really interesting. Maybe try rebuilding the directory by going to File > Download New Software and see if that fixes anything.

    Reinstalling the software is not going to change the way the software handles profit goals.

    There is no need to reinstall the software.

    CT

    software on Manual Mode
    I just brought the software and installed it yesterday, This morning was running fine and now it is is switch on the manual mode I tried to re install the CTP and still the same issue Please assist

    If the trader has been trading stealth all week. There is a chance you could be out of day trades. You might want to also check the top bar and see if it say "Trading in Stealth Mode".

    Probably market closed...

    I have the same issue. Do you have any solution on this matter Phil?

    Discovered that the problem was that the Short strategy was not selected in the Strategy Wizard, so all of the open short positions went to Manual mode.

    CT

    Sector Graphs
    I have noticed the last few days that my sector graph is not working. It wont show any information, just zeros. Does anyone else have the same problem or is it just me?
    It’s affecting me as one of my rules referenced this sectors thus is currently preventing any positions to open.

    I have not noticed the sector data missing until after the market closes. Are you seeing this issue during market hours?

    Yes, sometimes it takes a while to come on (like a few hours sometimes) but a few days ago it didnt come on at all. I will pay close attention to it and call support if it persists.

    Help, my autotrader isnt closing my positions & I have to manually log on
    Im using sim mode on IB for Lindaharkavys strategy (66,+++ and 12+++m/return) and it was doing pretty well last week & on Monday but Tues & Wed. it hasn’t been closing my positions. I have 5 long & 1 short open positions. Im down $400 on one & $700+ on another which it should have sold at a loss way be4 that. I noticed that on the system activity it says at the start "set limit orders" then below it it says says "set active symbol data" then sever times below that it says "TWS requested market data is not subscribed Error&BEST/STK/top&BEST/stk/top Pause before TWS call.tws.1reqMKdata2"".
    Does anyone know what this means & what can I do to fix this so I can start trading again.. Should I just close all positions & try another stragegy? I have the 7.5 strategy wizard loaded & I have windows 8 & TWS 4.0 loaded & last week I had my security card removed from the TWS but left it on my account management screen but it was working fine for a couple days after that (logging in automatically & trading) so Im at a loss..
    Also when I tested my task scheduler today I had to manually type in my password on the screen with all the brokers to choose from. Im in sim mode for IB. Ive never had to do this before so I don’t know how have it automacially log me in anymore.. If anyone can advise me on these 2 issues Id appreciate it.
    thanks,’
    Pete

    You need to reach out to IB and make sure you have signed your Broker Feed contract.

    its working better now. Im using a different strategy & it closed a lot of positons (not all good-lol) but at least it closed them. cant explain why it wouldnt before. I dont think im going to use lindaykarhahys system anytime soon even though it % wise it did well. has anyone else tried this stategy?

    Information not showing
    I have just gone live with the $2 and under strategy.
    The last two days it has failed to download all the information for one stock each day.
    It lists the symbol and touch prices plus volume but nothing about how many I hold at what price etc.
    My broker shows them listed as bought etc. It’s been a different stock missing information each day.
    I’ve tried clicking on it but nothing adds the data.
    Suggestions please.

    1. look at the top of your automated trader and make sure it says that you are logged in LIVE with the broker.

    2. check the broker’s open position on THEIR screen and make sure that you actually own the symbol that you specifying.

    If you are logged into the broker LIVE and you own that exact symbol in your brokerage account then it cannot be in your watchlist only. It must be showing in the Active List (above the watch list).

    Yes Live, yes it’s at the Broker account as bought.
    The Active list just to make sure we are talking about the same thing is the screen with all the action on, buys live price etc?
    Yes the symbol is there, the live price is there. It just shows no shares and zero profit and loss. Yesterday it did it with a different one which today it is showing no problem.
    Yesterday it showed this one no problem.

    I suggest you click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION so you can be sure your software is running with the latest updates.

    Information not showing
    I have just gone live with the $2 and under strategy.
    The last two days it has failed to download all the information for one stock each day.
    It lists the symbol and touch prices plus volume but nothing about how many I hold at what price etc.
    My broker shows them listed as bought etc. It’s been a different stock missing information each day.
    I’ve tried clicking on it but nothing adds the data.
    Suggestions please.

    "Close All Long" dashboard button
    On the dashboard, where it says CLOSE ALL LONG, does "ALL" mean:

    1) All the symbols in my open positions?
    2) All the symbols in my dashboard drop-down window?
    3) The symbol that is "up" on my dashboard "box"?

    I am new, and would greatly appreciate clarification of CLOSE ALL LONG on the dashboard.

    Thanks,
    Carol

    Close All Long means to close all open long positions.

    Cool Trade Is Shutting Down
    Im new to Cool Trade and running a demo account. I purchased a second desk top to run Cool Trade undisturbed.

    The desk top is set to not sleep or hibernate so I turn it on in the morning and shut it down in the evening.

    Problem is that Cool Trade keeps signing off on this computer. It seem to still be trading and I have it set to turn on again automatically if it shuts down.

    Does anyone know what may be the problem here?

    Many Thanks
    Ed Wilde
    wwildeeeee@comcast.net

    Ed -

    Did you ever get this resolved? Have you checked for connection problems (internet interruptions)?

    - Dave
    dave.ranck@gmail.com

    Ed,

    When is CoolTrade turning off? Have you made sure that you have a task scheduler task setup to start CoolTrade in the morning? When you say that it still may be trading. Does the CoolTrade Dashboard state "Market Closed"?

    I would also make sure that you are up to date with the CoolTrade software. Click FILE -> Download New Software.

    Prioritize the symbols in watchlist
    Not sure if this has been requested yet but I would like my trader to prioritize the symbols in the queue instead of just opening the next one in line once more than 1 meet the Open Position rules.
    Would be nice that if more than 1 symbol meets the open position rules then they are prioritized based on gains that day or other parameters.

    This feature is already implemented. The solution is more indicators doing what you have described. If multiple symbols pass the same set of rules, there is only one logical way to purchase those symbols and that is alphabetically. If you want the trader to be more picky about which stocks it chooses, then you will have to put in more indicators to do so.

    Profit Protection Question
    Today’s trading, ACAD was purchased at 18.78 and sold for 18.86 an .08 cent profit. At 11:30am it bought it and around 11:45am EST time it sold it. The question is , I have profit set at .50 cents and pullback set at .08 cents and floating pullback set at .35 cents. It showed profit protect with a P at the .35 cents on 100 shares. WHY did it only show 8.00 dollars profit with the protection on, the profit should have been around 35.00 dollars ? Thanks so much. Is their a timing issue with the trades? It did drop fast within 10-12 minutes between the above times.
    Thanks
    Paul and Marilyn Solamito

    The Profit Protection feature has a large floating trailing stop loss attached to it as it is designed to give you somethink (anything) is case of a sharp pullback in price.

    If you want lock in .35 profit then change your Profit Goal to .35

    Hedge

    Thank you for your response, my concern is the timing of 13 minutes to sell and protect my .35 cents was to long when it was going down like a rocket. I suppose the question should be , how much time does it take to complete the sell order from Cool Trade to (IB) Interactive Brokers and to the floor ?? :)

    Paul and Marilyn

    Thank you for your response, my concern is the timing of 13 minutes to sell and protect my .35 cents was to long when it was going down like a rocket. I suppose the question should be , how much time does it take to complete the sell order from Cool Trade to (IB) Interactive Brokers and to the floor ?? :)

    Paul and Marilyn

    I think it only takes a few seconds to execute a trade. I wouldn’t make changes over 1 trade. that is just chasing the market.

    also the profit protection starts with a large floating trailing stop loss. therefore it could have deliberately waited for the stock to drop .30 and only protect .05.
    That will happen if the price hits your .35 profit and then does an immediate drop.

    it sounds like the software performed brilliantly and as designed.

    Hedge

    Puzzled
    Cooltrader just tried to sell a position, 1000 shares from the $2. and below strategy.
    I got a message saying order cancelled this account can not hold a short position.
    In my broker account it shows I’m holding 100 shares, no trades so 900 have vanished somewhere. Cooltrader thinks it still has them.
    Any ideas good people what has gone on?

    OK it was a patially filled order, only 900 got sold.
    Cooltrader still thought it was holding 1000 and kept trying to sell them, I had to restart Cooltrader, it then showed the position was closed, but had no reference to the 100 still held.
    My account values in Cooltrader are completely different to the values at the broker, by a few thousand dollars.
    All very strange.

    That explains it.
    The software is expecting that the 1000 shares will be bought/sold as market orders are supposed to just get filled. I’ve never seen a partial fill in my system and I have been running it for years.

    You should click the BLOCKED button at the top of the screen and add that symbol to the list so the 100 shares will be removed from the ct system and only remain at the broker. You can manually close it directly at the broker.

    At least that will fix the account balances and get your system working normally again.

    You should also call the broker and ask them how you got partially filled on a MARKET order?

    Enlightened

    I had a long long not particularly successful talk with the broker.
    He also convinced me to work on a margin as cash takes 3 days to clear. So I did.
    Today has gone all strange. Cooltrade sold 3 positions at a loss and has opened one more position than the number I have set for it to open.
    Not impressed with 3 popsitions taking $130. off my profit. Whar’s that about? not a margin call I hope.

    Kevin,

    If you went into margin, then there is a chance it could have possibly been margin called and that is something you will have to contact IB about.

    There is an indicator inside the $2 and under strategy under the Exit Trade Rules which reads "Institutional Ownership is Less Than 5". This means that if that particular stocks institutional ownership drops below 5%, it will sell the stock no matter if it is at a loss or profit. You could always remove that indicator if you like and that would not happen again. Either way, I would check my broker reports to see if they also reflect the same trade.

    NEED BACKTESTING
    Think a back testing feature is useful. If you are working on a group of strategies
    for various market conditions but back testing would speed things up.

    It would save a lot of time

    I have thought about this also. Then I REALLY started to think about it.

    No matter how much back testing you do, that particular strategy that was proven great in the back test, could be terrible in the market to come. I have seen strategies that perform really well in a month and then do nothing for the next two.

    I also thought about how much data would be required to do this and how much computing power it would take to actually have a solid back test. Some computers out there can barely run windows, how are they expected to run a complicated, CPU intensive backtest? I guess this could be performed server side, but it would take up so much bandwidth to download the necessary datasets and so much CPU that everyone using CoolTrade would be affected.

    I agree it would be an awesome feature. I just don’t think it is possible on the standard computers that most users have.

    Just my opinion.

    I agree back-testing would be a nice idea but as Phil stated above just because the market did something in the past does not mean it will do it in the future. That is why I think simulating for a time until you feel you are comfortable with how the strategy is reacting to the live market I would be more comfortable with.

    Just me though.

    CTP should absolutely have a back testing feature. This is a standard tool included with other auto trading/charting platforms out there which are less expensive (e.g. Trade Station, Trade Navigator, MultiCharts, Ninja Trader, Sierra Chart). Most allow EOD and intraday back testing periods and the amount of data available varies with each platform (at least 10 years of EOD data for most of them). Even if the back testing capability was for EOD only, as long as there was 10 years or more of historical data available and the testing start and stop periods could be user-defined it would still be
    very useful.

    The argument that no amount of back testing will guarantee future results applies equally to forward testing. Proper strategy testing involves forward testing and back testing not just one or the other. One of the purposes of back testing is to filter out trading strategies that have a poor chance of ever working and eliminate the need to forward test anything that doesn’t start off with good results. Depending on the capabilities of the back tester (can account for slippage, commissions or intraday price movements) and the sophistication of the rules used to test a strategy, it can do a very good job of identifying a good strategy from a bad one. Back testing can also be useful in identifying under which market conditions certain strategies and indicators will and won’t work.

    The historical data and back test processing should reside on the local computer and not on a CTP server (likely too resource intensive to handle all users). How long the back testing will take depends on the local hardware being used, the length of the back testing period, the complexity of the strategy, the kind of data being tested (EOD or intraday) and the architecture of the back testing software itself. Trade Station and Sierra Chart are examples of auto trading software that are plenty fast enough for back testing even using intraday data so it’s something that’s already being done by competing products. It would be a useful feature in CTP when used properly.

    Everyone that agrees that the program needs Back Testing should post that they also want it. The only way that they will make changes is if enough of us ask for it. Strength in numbers.

    ditto

    I also desire back testing. I’d rather stay within the CoolTrader program than have to reach out to other software packages. Backtesting is a must and can quickly help rough out a strategy in a few minutes to hours vs. running forward testing for a few weeks. The plan would be to backtest refine your strategy and then forward test then go Live!

    Need Backtesting, so that you can develop a strategy while the market is closed.

    Backtesting is essential in tailoring a strategy. Else the risk is great to test in live.

    I would like backtesting for three reasons:

    1. To save time* testing a new or existing strategy.
    2. To test a simulated strategy when the market is closed.
    3. To see how the strategy will perform under certain market conditions (up, down, sideways).

    *These points in time can be identified by the user, and the strategy set to run--real-time, 2x-time, 4x-time, 8x-time, etc. so we do not need to wait for that amount of real-time to pass. Like we do now for forward-testing.


    Some people pooh-pooh backtesting because they say that backtesting cannot predict future results. Well, duh! Neither can a monkey with a dartboard.

    We don’t want to use backtesting as a Ouija board. We want it to stress-test our strategies.

    Regarding Client or Server backtesting?
    Each CoolTrader that wants to use backtesting shouldn’t have to download ALL the market data for ALL the years every time they want to use it. That makes NO sense, storage-wise, bandwidth-wise, or time-wise. It should be run on CoolTrade’s servers.

    I agree we do need backtesting

    Back testing is ridiculous...

    I don’t wash my car today because it didn’t rain last week.

    Hi Folks:

    Back testing I believe to be a complete waste of time. It’s old news. I have fooled with Trade Station and Sierra Chart and found the back testing to be like trying to catch smoke. Just when you think you have it, it is gone.

    The CoolTrade simulator works fine. You can tweak your strategies all you want. Try using an IB data feed for your simulation and you will be have real time market data to see how your strategy will work.

    Remember if your strategy is not profitable in simulation it is not likely to be so going live.

    good luck

    opie

    I would like to see Cool Trade develop a website where CT users could go to back test a strategy and see if it performs as expected. up markets, down markets and sideways markets It would be nice to be able to see how it may perform under those conditions.
    You would want to start a new strategy without first testing it would you?

    I am sure someone at Cool trade monitors the form. But if you realy want to put pressure on Cooltrade to create a BackTrading strategy testing site then please copy these comments and email them to tech support.
    technicalsupport@cool-trade.com

    Squeaky wheel gets the oil.

    Everyone that agrees that the program needs Back Testing should post that they also want it. The only way that they will make changes is if enough of us ask for it. Strength in numbers.

    Also, there is no such thing as forward testing. You can’t test the future. By running a strategy for 30 days the best you can get is a back test for the last 30 days. And it took 30 days to create that report. However, a properly designed Back Testing routine for strategies could provide results in a matter is seconds and could go back over several years. Back testing strategies is a must for all serious investors. Other auto trading software such as TradeStation allow for Back testing of trading strategies.

    Cool-Trade needs to get this feature implemented ASAP.

    I agree that a way of back testing a strategy is a necessary feature. As pointed out by someone else, almost every major trading software has back testing capabilities, and even other auto trading platforms have it too. It would potentially save lot of time forward testing a strategy that in the past (especially a recent past) did not produce good results. That is not to say it couldn’t produce good results but I would rather spend my time working with a strategy that did have good results, at least given whatever the constraints of back testing might be, .

    For strategy development I would personal use the process of:

    1. back test
    2. forward test
    3. go live

    Any changes to a strategy would require going back to the starting point.

    I wonder, given the date of the initial request, it appears that for some reason the CT developer(s) do not agree, or it is very difficult to implement, or it’s coming but not announced as of yet..

    It would be nice to know.

    trade alert problem?
    I have the trade alert checked on my trader but it only sends me the first trade and then empty trade information on top of the first alert and no link other than the first trade link to the trade. Why? I want to get each trade when it is made, not just the first one.

    Position Amount Mismatch
    Today is the first day I’ve allowed CT to make live trades. Right off the bat, it has shorted five positions at the same time. One of the five is slightly off in that CT has a different price than what is reflected in my broker’s on-line portal (TDA). I’m using DOW-30 short strategy and the position in question is $0.02 lower than broker shows. Is there a way to update the inventory position without simply closing it out? Anything I can do to prevent this in the future?

    Thanks.

    -John

    John,

    Congrats on going live!

    To understand this $0.02 discrepancy that you see, you have to understand how computers talk and how many computers are involved in making the trade. These trades can happen in milliseconds or in a few seconds. There are many factors that can contribute to a delay in a trade being accepted such as bandwidth, computer speed, execution of trade computers and type of internet connection.

    The three computers that talk to each other to execute a trade are your computer with CoolTrade, the brokers computer receiving and requesting the purchase order and the exchange. The order goes from your computer, to your broker, to the exchange, back to your broker and back to your computer. You can see how this communication can take just a few seconds at times and that stock could move a little bit in the time it takes to get a return message. In this case it moved $0.02 which is common. If you said this was $0.50 discrepancy, then I would be a little worried.

    There is no solution to this and it’s limitations are based on all of the computers that talk to each other. At least it is faster than a human right?

    If you would like to change your entry price in CoolTrade to match what your broker shows, you can right click on the position and click "Bought Price (click to edit)" in the window that comes up. You will be prompted for your password, once entered, you will have a drop down window where you can adjust your entry price for that position.

    Hope this helps and Happy Trading!

    Is TD Ameritrade as slow to accept buy and sell orders as the others? I use them and yesterday I noticed that some trades were 10-20 cents off from what CT was showing. Price difference seems to always be in their favor. I have been trading for about a month now but just started checking the specific prices. Cort

    I have seen prices off by .01 or .02 and in my experience the diff has been in my favor. If your prices are off by .10 or more then you should check with the broker and ensure that you are subscribed for real-time data.

    Enlightened

    Lost a few lots
    Today has already been an active day of buying and selling and overall, things are nice and profitable, so I’m happy. The one thing that seems to be concerning me is that a couple of lots that were shorted were not appearing on in the inventory list. I see them at TDA on their website as symbols I shorted, but CoolTrade doesn’t seem to have any record of them. I see in the trade history where I sold them short, but that symbol isn’t appearing on the list. Any ideas what causes this? Should I manually sell them at the broker’s website to true up the list?

    Thanks.

    -John

    make sure the broker has shorted the full lot as the software will not load a partial fill until it is completed filled.

    Hedge

    In the CoolTrade log, it shows a short of 200 for that symbol. In the TDA orders screen, I see a single order selling that short at 200 as "filled" at it looks normal like the rest of the orders for the day. I also checked CoolTrade’s exceptions area and that symbol isn’t hiding in there either. No sure what to think.

    Thanks.

    -John

    Hong Kong
    Just wondering if anyone is successfully trading the HKEX market in Hong Kong? I have a friend who is interested in purchasing but wants to know if he can use CT to trade in this market.

    eayala604,

    I don’t currently trade the HKX market but I do know it is offered through CoolTrade if you use Interactive Brokers as your broker.

    I know there are users that trade that market.

    Anyone who does trade that market want to give their thoughts into this?

    please let me know how did the HK trades go...

    I felt that the mechanics is designed around US market "behavior" and thus did not consider the HK market. - i might be totally off on this

    also, fx charges both ways does not seem to be a good idea unless (does IB offer HK$ trading account???)

    I am not sure I do know they accept currencies from them. Your best bet would be to reach out to the IB support to confirm your best approach.

    Full of traps setting it up:

    1. CT does not allow your computer to have date formats other than US. Make sure you use 10/2/2013 instead of Asian 2/10/2013

    2. Watchlist not loading - used the numeric format recommended by support...still does not load. waiting for more support

    3. No simulation data from IB even thought I clicked on it. CT just show Market Closed. Live feed is available. This means I am unable to test out my startegy.

    4. Live feed is down sometimes after auto startup of CT

    Is anyone trading HKX? I cannot get CT to load the symbols and it has been 2 weeks waiting for support feedback.

    Would like to connect with anyone who is currently trading HKX. PM me - jackyhlfeng@gmail.com

    Thanks!

    I was never able to get the Australian market working. CTP always said Market Closed even though it was open. I also tried changing the computer time to Australian time, but no difference.

    Any suggestions are appreciated. thanks

    I know we have multiple users that trade the Australian market. Are you simulating the or using a broker or simulating with CoolTrade feed?

    Interactive Brokers is the only broker that has the ASX data feed.

    Using margin
    I need a little help on how to get CoolTrade using margin. I’m live trading now and do have margin available in my TDA account. I checked the box on CoolTrade to use 2-1 margin, but it does not seem to purchase past only 1:1 (or, only what I have available in my account). TDA does show that I have more buying power available, but not sure how to get CoolTrade to use it.

    Thanks.

    -John

    John,

    I would check the setting for "Regardless of account balance, CoolTrade should never utilize more than...". This could just be set for the 1:1 restriction and you can increase that number to what your 2:1 equals and it should pull in the funds available. That option can be found in File > Trader Preferences.

    Data feed dropping off
    I just got an account from Interactive Brokers but have not funded the account yet.

    Running simulation mode using data feed from IB for the first time.

    Problem I encountered is that the data feed is not stable, goes into yellow and red periodically (green is good)

    Checked my home broadband and it is good during these chopping moments.

    Anyone has the same experience? Any advice?

    Thanks!!!
    Jacky

    why showing today's trades but i have no postions
    on my dashboard , top right it ways ’’todays trades...
    I click on that and it shows 5 stocks ...

    yet I have no postitions and nothing bought ...

    can anyone help ?

    Try clicking on the button to the left labeled CONNECTIVITY and see if it is telling you why the trades were rejected.

    Also, click on EXCEPTIONS and see if the rejected symbols were moved into there.

    Hedge

    Stop loss
    Anyone using a stop loss?
    I’m on the $2. strategy.
    I’m wondering if a stop loss might speed things up or just lose money. if Cooltrader buys long but it goes against you, their could be an argument for getting out and looking for something that does go up in the short term rather than waiting and adding to a losing position in the hope it will recover. Money in a share going down is not working for you. If you sold at a 15% drop and it kept declining to 20% there would be nothing stopping CT from buying in again on signs of recovery with a better chance of making a profit.
    Anyone tried both methods with Cooltrader?

    Been using the system for years. Everyone started with stop losses then in 2009 an investment club created a strategy that manages losers by taking away the stop losses and instead adding to losers. That changed everything. I haven’t used a stop loss since then. Everyone I know has pulled the stop losses. My buy and sell every stock many many times and keep taking profits. Only occasionally a stock will go down and out like enron or worldcom but that is usually associate with corruption. Good companies tend to go up and down indefinitely.

    Enlightened

    Ok thanks. I suppose I should just leave it alone, you don’t change a winning game, right.

    I don’t think it’s good to just accept no-stop-loss without understanding the protections that are built in. Without managing your funds and adding to losers appropriately and taking profits along the way, all in place, IMO trading without stop loss protection can wipe you out. The only thing that makes CoolTrade unique is that all of the protections (specified above) are built in which enables no-stop-loss trading to work. I would not try no-stop-loss trading without this system.

    Hedge

    Manually adding a position
    Here is something I regard as a tip others may think of a good reason not to, I’m prepared to be enlightened.
    I’m working the $2. strategy, I started a month ago with $12665. and it’s added about $1000.net profit
    I have it set to open 5 positions, if I see it has added the profit protect symbol I add a new position before it closes out, so I could have say 8 open positions because I know 3 positions are going to get closed out. It gives me more open positions without stretching the account.
    If I could see away to add it as a rule I would. "Open new position if a position is meeting minimum profit goal".

    That’s an interesting idea. Here’s how I would do it:

    On the Add To Advancing Preference Menu option, check the box to enable it.
    Then set the fixed amount to the same value as your Profit Protection amount.
    Now when the profit protection puts a P on your screen, it should also add the new lot, as long as the ADD TO POSITION RULES do not interfere.

    You many need to remove the Add To Position Rules and change the Add To Declining Preferences to add on a fixed amount also to be able to eliminate the Add To Position Rules.

    Enlightened

    Running more than one CT
    Is there any reason I can’t run two CT with different strategies from the same broker account?

    I don’t think ct stops you. but think of what happens.

    When the traders go on they retrieve he account balance from broker and all of your open positions from the database and from the broker and reconcile them.

    The problem with running the same trader twice is they will step all over each other. You will only jump through he manual hoops for a short time and finally give in and get a 2nd trader. Life is a lot easier with multiple traders.

    Enlightened

    Lag
    I understand that there is a lag between when the trader sends an order and when the order is filled. Why can’t CTP account for this in showing the results on the screen? Further, what appears on my main screen does not match the P&L Report. I am running a day trade simulation and EVERY transaction is different on the Report from what shows as a closed P&L on the main CTP screen. Over the course of the day, the main screen is differing by up to $200. When I have set session gains/losses and trailing stops, what is CTP using to determine these numbers? The actual closed positions or the ones reflected on the main screen?

    The orders are sent when the prices and rules are right on the main screen, then the report logs what happens after the order is filled and reported by the broker.

    Enlightened

    jbryan2, I have the same problem and it happens all the time and I am running the latest version 7.5.35 . For example this morning it bought 300 shares at 73.18 and sold at 73.38 and it recorded all that correct on the main screen. So that is a .20 gain X 300 = $60 but under P&L it shows $30 and in the rules window it shows $30. Now if I open a report for today it shows right at $60. Does anyone know how to correct this? Or what is going on? And as far as what CTP is using to determine the numbers it is what is on the main screen.

    There is a Net P/L and a Today’s P/L on the main screen and both of those can be different depending on whether you opened the position today or a previous day.

    The main screen shows prices as the software saw things, while the database shows what the broker sends (if they send it).

    CT reports are for simulating only to give you ballpark results as live resuts could be slightly off as slippage can go either way when trading live. If you are live trading at the broker you should always go by the broker’s reports as they are providing the reports for your taxes.

    Hedge

    Thanks hedge I understand all that but that doesn’t account for the programs math errors like in my above example. The weird thing is that while the trade is open the program has it right, it is not until it closes the trade that it does not add it up right. Ok since my last post it opened a trade for 500 shares at 48.54 and closed at 48.58 for a.04 profit. And this is live. So 500 X .04 = $20. The main screen shows all the numbers correct but the P&L both Net and Todays shows $25. That does not add up. Looks like a glitch in the program to me.

    I’m not defending the programming as I didn’t write it but I have been using it a long time and have a do see what you are seeing. What I have observed is that the software makes price determinations based on the bid/ask prices that are constantly changing. Then when it sees that the orders are filled it has to count on the broker to send the fill information and i’ve see multiple posts where ct corp has said the broker response isn’t always immediate and sometimes doesn’t come at all (could be an internet thing). if the fill comes late then the screen fields are not updated but the p/l may be and also the database is updated. Apparently it;s not an exact science but it hasn’t cost me any money as I go by the broker reports.

    Hedge

    mbulluss, I’m glad it’s not just me.

    I am trying to run a strategy that includes daily goals and daily stop losses. If CTP uses what we see on the main screen for executing those rules instead of the filled orders, then I will definitely lose money when they differ by hundreds of dollars.

    I’ve been baby-sitting my CoolTrade pretty heavy and regularly update the price the position was purchased at according to my brokers records. It usually varies by up to a few cents. That can mean the difference between profit and not in certain circumstances, so it pays to go ahead and manually update each position in CoolTrade with the exactly amount the position was purchased at so that the rules can operate on the right data.

    As someone else told me here in the boards, you can right click each lot and "edit" the purchase price to make those minor corrections. While it would be nice to have this done for us, perhaps that isn’t shared in the API to make that work.

    -John

    Auto exit
    My cooltraderpro automatically closed itself in 15 mins of trading. What’s wrong? I tried to download developer version, the program just froze there and nothing...

    it is supposed to close and reinstall, but it just froze. now i feel so insecure walking away from trading.

    someone enlighten me please!

    solved in finally...took a long tour

    i actually reinstalled my entire windows system and everything...didnt work

    but,

    there is a nsliveupdate.exe file in the cooltrade folder. just update and the system is stable.

    solved in finally...took a long tour

    i actually reinstalled my entire windows system and everything...didnt work

    but,

    there is a nsliveupdate.exe file in the cooltrade folder. just update and the system is stable.

    trade log summary
    Is there a trade log summary saved that I can go to in the evening and see the reason each trade was exited? SL hit, trailing stop hit ... profit protection ... etc
    Rick

    No. I have never seen exit reasons other than what is on the SHOW Trades list on the top right of the automated trader.

    I suggest you set your trader (on the Preferences screen) to shutdown at 11:55pm. That way you can look at it at night before it shutsdown.

    Enlightened

    Sort of, In your CoolTrade directory, there is a "Logs" file. Inside of that file, there is something called a "TradeStatsLog". This log will show every rule that was passed to make the trade in detail.

    "P" in Volume Reached Column
    CT cuts off my "Change Status" column so it is too narrow. I can not expand it. I noticed the Volume Reached column from time to time gets a "P" in it.... what does that mean? "Profit Protection" rule triggered as an exit rule?

    Can’t we make the Change Status column wider?

    Windows is cutting it off. Plugging it into a larger monitor may fix it.

    The "P" is profit protection. That means it reached your Profit Protection goal on Tab6 of the strategy. Then it is a floating trailing stop loss that locks in more of the profits the higher the price goes. But if it hits the Profit Protection amount anad immediately goes straight down it will only protect a little.

    Searching for Profit Protection will show many more detailed explainations.

    Enlightened

    Main page should be updated
    The main page should be updated to show the actual trade value reported by the broker. If the report uses the actual transaction reported by the broker, why can’t the main page be updated, too?

    CTP uses the main page to execute the strategy, but when the numbers on the main page do not accurately reflect the final transaction, the strategy is not being executed as designed. I am running a strategy with a session stop loss of -$200. During active trading, the main page is showing closed trades of -$106. The actual transactions are only -$60. That can make a huge difference in whether my session shuts down for the day or keeps going and might make a comeback.

    Also, a prior suggestion of showing number of trades on the Report is a great idea.

    This is still an issue for me in version 7.5.50 of CTP.

    The closing* prices (Limit, Show Trades, Report) randomly just don’t match. On the main Trader page, the Net P&L showed -699.00; the CoolTrade Report showed -119.00 for the same trade.

    The closing price was $61.0100 (Show Trades, main CTP) or possibly $66.81 (CoolTrade Report).

    Which should I believe?


    Agreed, subtotals for the number of shorts and longs would be helpful, in addition to the total number of trades (short + long).

    *Attachment: screenshot showing ENDP, 100 shares, sold at 08:30 on 5/7/14 at two different prices (Show Trades v.s. Report). Note that I was not allowed to upload this attachment, got an "500 - Internal server error."

    Thanks. --pilgrim1620

    Session goal with trailing stop
    In the latest release, there were indicators for a session goal with a trailing stop. I would like to have indicators for a session goal with a trailing stop that allows your strategy to keep buying according to the strategy and shut down on a trailing stop from the session high p/l after you reach your session goal.

    Thanks,

    referrals
    Hello seasoned users, Do you have a couple of years experience using the trader and would you be willing to chat with an interested buyer? Adela

    What information are you wanting to know?

    I have an interested buyer and he would like to chat with someone about their experience as my, and most people I know, have been relatively short. Since he is not a "member" yet, he doesn’t have the clearance to join this conversation himself. Interested or suggestions?

    Eric@cooltraderpro.net gives daily webinars about the software. I’ve heard his walkthrough is pretty thorough, though I haven’t seen it myself

    Hedge

    Corrections. It’s eric@cooltraderpro.com

    Yes, Eric does a great job on his webinar--he’s been there. He would like to talk to an experienced user of the software--any of the original 14,000 users available to talk to this person?

    If no folks are available or willing, does anyone know when the Video FAQ’s are coming back online? Adela

    The video FAQ’s are still online. If you go to www[dot]cooltraderpro[dot]com and click SOFTWARE -> FAQ Videos they are all there.

    They’re there but the videos don’t play--check it out, are they working for you? A

    They all play for me. Maybe make sure that your adobe flash is updated.

    Go to adobe[dot]com/flashplayer and download the most recent version.

    Really? I’ve got 3 computers and they are not playing on any, neither are the software training videos or others on the website, except for the backoffice University--I am getting those. Anyone else having this issue?

    I just checked the FAQ videos and other videos on the main site and they are all working for me.

    Enlightened

    Yeah, I had other people check and they can see them too. Thanks for the tip on the flashplayer update--I’ll try that, its just odd that all 3 computers (pc’s and mac) would net the same result at the same time. Thanks for your help.

    Positions that never open
    I seem to be experiencing a bit of an issue regarding adding to a position. In many cases, CoolTrade will add a new line to my inventory screen indicating a new position in a losing trade. The new line appears closed right off the bat. There is no indication in the "todays trades" log of adding the position nor any record of it at my broker’s trade log either. In some cases, CoolTrade will just keep adding them over and over again, making for a page or more of closed positions that were never actually opened.

    Buying power expressed both with CoolTrade and my broker both indicate I have the ability to buy that amount of the security, so I don’t think that is the problem.

    Any thoughts on what might cause this?

    Thanks.

    -John

    This ended up being a problem with the version of CoolTrade I was running (bleeding edge development version). Support worked with me to downgrade to a more stable version and it now properly opens subsequent trades on declining positions.

    -John

    Execution rule triggerd report.
    I would like to be able to generate a report showing the rule that was triggered for each buy and sell.

    wrmellor,

    One of the ways I am comfortable with a lower priced stock is making sure that the below rules are setup:

    Current Assets is Greater than Current Liabilities
    Institutional Ownership is Greater than 10
    Yesterdays Average Volume is Greater than 250000 Shares
    30-Day Average Volume is Greater than 250000 Shares

    Sorry I replied with the wrong information. That is good idea to have this information.

    you just have to dig a little to find it.

    In your CoolTrade directory, there is a "Logs" file. Inside of that file, there is something called a "TradeStatsLog". This log will show every rule that was passed to make the trade in detail.

    thank you mbulluss.

    thank you mbulluss.

    Trading in Manual Mode
    For some reason all of my new positions started trading in Manual Mode this morning (existing positions are still tradin in Stealth mode)... Can anyone shed light on how what I need to do to get everything trading in Stealth Mode?

    Thanks

    That usually means your Day Trades Remaining is at 0 so all positions opened today cannot be closed today without violating the SEC Day Trader rule.

    Tomorrow those positions will go to Stealth Mode.

    Hedge

    Averages stopped
    why has dow nasdaq etc stopped showing live feed ...all squares are blacked out...stuck at Dow 62.20 @ 2;19 EST strealth trading is on

    I was seeing my feed all day. You might want to check to make sure you didn’t loose your internet connection at some point.

    Average Returns on Dow Long $20k strategy?
    Hi! I am new to Cool Trade & am not too happy with my account right now. I’m wondering if I’ve done something wrong in the set up. Can anyone tell me what their average return has been for the Dow Long $20k strategy, or $50k or $100k?

    I’m running the set 3 stocks now with $10k & I’m wondering if I need to add more stocks or more money to make this profitable. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

    Average Returns on Dow Long $20k strategy?
    Hi! I am new to Cool Trade & am not too happy with my account right now. I’m wondering if I’ve done something wrong in the set up. Can anyone tell me what their average return has been for the Dow Long $20k strategy, or $50k or $100k?

    I’m running the set 3 stocks now with $10k & I’m wondering if I need to add more stocks or more money to make this profitable. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

    Which strategy are you working with right now?

    If you have around $10K you are simulating with you can choose the BAC Long under the NEWUSER account. I also may consider maybe the $2 stocks under that account. The strategies under the NEWUSER and DEMOTRDADER seem to react very well and I have been happy with these.

    When I first signed up it was recommended to me to use the $20k Dow long strategy, but I have not had success with it. I will take your suggestions, thanks! What is your average monthly return for the past 90 days using the BAC for $10K?

    It this time I am not sure the return I had at $10K as I am running a strategy now with $55K that is modified from the BAC strategy. But I did have good returns when I did the other strategies. I would stick with Long strategies until you reach over $30K. Just so that you don’t have funds sitting.

    Not All Symbols Showing on Watch List
    I have 30 symbols I have uploaded to my strategy, and indeed my strategy wizard says "30 symbols--Good".

    When I launch the Trader, it has 30 Symbols in the top left corner but at the bottom under the "Long Watch List", it only shows 24. I do not have any watch list rules that prevent any from showing up as I just upload my list of stocks without any other criteria.

    Any ideas on why this might be happening?

    All symbols go to the EXCEPTIONS folder until streaming data shows up in the Automated Trader and that doesn’t happen until the market opens. Check your EXCEPTIONS folder at the top of the screen.

    Enlightened

    CTP randomly adding a position
    I am simulating a strategy with NO add additional position rules. Once yesterday and once this morning, CTP just added an additional position on one of my symbols. Has anyone else experienced this?

    I have not had that happen.

    If you do not want to add to positions then I suggest these changes to the strategy.

    Tab1:

    make the max shares the same value as trade shares.

    Example: Trade Shares: 100
    Example: Max Shares: 100

    change the add to position times to a time outside of market hours.

    Example: start adding time: 1:00am
    Example: stop adding time: 1:00am

    Add To Position Rules (Tab4):
    Add this rule:
    CurrentBidPrice > 9999

    On the Advancing Preferences Menu, select DO NOT ADD ADDITIONAL SHARES TO PROFITABLE POSITIONS.

    On the Declining Preferences Menu, select DO NOT ADD ADDITIONAL SHARES TO LOSING POSITIONS.

    That should ensure all of your bases are covered to prevent adding to positions.

    Hedge

    Thanks for the suggestions, hedge.

    2$&underSotck Strat.ForSim.With5grands
    Hello.
    - I’m a new CT robotic trader user and had 0 issue in setting up my robotic traders. -The CT robot trader has been running ok so far and has made tree very profitable trades so far last week using a version of the 2$ and under stock that i modified myself to suit my goals. - However, i believed that it’s been simulating with an account value of 50 grands using the CT data feed. - I would like to set it/configure it as if it were simulating trades with an interactive broker account with an account value of 5000$. - Where and what modification do i have to make on the strategy wizard in order to simulate trades with a 5000$ initial account value say with IBroker?

    Kind regards
    Jocelyn.
    ______

    Jocelyn,

    Maybe consider coping the strategy "$1 to $2 Long for Simulating $5000" under the NEWUSER@Cool-Trade.com account.

    After that I would refresh your strategy and when you get the option to put in the amount you are simulating with you can change the the amount to $5000.

    Refresh Strategy
    After changing strategies there are a few steps in order to clear your reporting information and restart CoolTrade using the new parameters of the new strategies.


    Steps to Refresh CoolTrade Strategy:

    1. Exit out of the Strategy Wizard.

    2. Within CoolTrade click File -> Logoff (Clear All Passwords) this will clear all saved password information and require the user to go to the login screen upon restart of CoolTrade.

    3. Click the icon to log into CoolTrade and you will get the CoolTrade Login screen. Before logging in Click File->Refresh For New Strategy.

    4. Log into CoolTrade.
    5. You will get a screen asking if want to clear reporting data and if you are in simulation mode you will have to enter the amount you want to simulate with.
    * You will notice that the Current Account Value, Funds Allocated, and Funds Available will have reset.
    * Your new strategy will continue trading from this point forward.

    This is exactly the strategy I was looking for. If you make any changes to the suggested strategy please post it here. Also anything you learn to do or not do. It would be great to see what you learn.

    I think there are many individuals that are in this category when they start out. Some of the posts I have been reading it appears that $5,000 is really the lowest dollar amount to get CT to perform more often in a positive way. It is like $5,000 is the lowest horsepower.

    HI there! I agree that many of us either choose to or have to (underfinanced Lol) start with this strategy. Personally I was able to scrape up 10K to start live trading, however CT only averages 6-7k of use.
    I started off with the default strategy, but quickly realized I needed to lower the number of positions to 5, or it put me "all-in". I have averaged 250 per week in trades, Easter spring break was very slow and things just mostly idled (didn’t loose a dime tho, Thanks Eric for pounding the "guaranteed loss" theory!_) However this week I made $462 to be exact.

    Let’s get this discussion board more active and help each other out!!
    Jeff

    One of my trading accounts has $10,000 in it and I only trade NEM with 100 share lots and it grinds out $500 to $1000 a month. That is the default DOW 30 FOR $10,000 accounts under NEWUSER@COOL-TRADE.COM.

    I think that default strategy starts with BAC but I changed the symbol to NEM because I think NEM moves up and down more than BAC. I like NEM because it is way off its historical high price.

    Enlightened

    Hi Jeff, what is the "guaranteed loss" theory ?

    I just got my Auto Trader last week and set up the SIM to do $10000 account. I have also opened my TD Ameritrade account with 10k. I will be running the sim for one month before I go live and will post results once I get started. I am really excited and impressed. I started the SIM on 12/22 and made $328 profit on 12/23. So far so good.

    Warning: Changing Strategies & Lot Sizes when trading LIVE
    I have been trading UCO Long and USO Short and am transitioning to UCO Long and SCO Long. During May - July when I let the trader work I did well until Crude Oil (WTI - West Texas Intermediate Futures) began to trade above $100.00. When I moved into manual trading I made some money at first and than began to lose when I traded manually. I simply got impatient when I saw the market first trade from once a day to three times a week to trading only once a week.
    At first I made 8% the first month and about 12% the next month. Mind you I was trading with 300 lot sizes and very close to my margin of a 25k account margined 2-1. This worked fine when Oil was trading below 100k. However when it broke through its normal ATR ( Average Trading Range) then things worked differently where funds I had in USO were tied up and I did not have funds available to purchase new positions.
    The bottom line is, is not to use all your funds in case your stock or stocks you trade move outside of the normal trading range. For CTP to trade again you either have to wait for the stock to come down to sell those positions which means waiting for the market to correct or put new money into your account for trading or sell positions at a loss which you want to avoid if possible.

    Warning:
    In any case when you change your strategy be very careful. If you purchased lots of 100 and say move to 200 or 300 lot sizes if CTP can’t match them up it may trade your positions inadvertently. Unfortunately I lost several $100’s of dollars this way.

    1) Make sure that the pricing or least the average price of your stocks match what you paid for them when you change your lot sizes.
    2) If your trading even lots of say 200 and move 300 make sure they match up.
    In this case you may need to go back to 100 share lots which in most cases will line up if you purchased a 300 share lot.
    3) When trading live and you change strategies and still hold some positions in the previous strategy;contact the support department to help you to transition.
    Phil in CTP Support is good at assisting in this.
    4) When adjusting your lots or changes to your strategies make changes when the market is either closed or you set your trader to manual before making changes.

    Hope this helps

    Happy Trading

    Warning: Changing Strategies & Lot Sizes when trading LIVE
    I have been trading UCO Long and USO Short and am transitioning to UCO Long and SCO Long. During May - July when I let the trader work I did well until Crude Oil (WTI - West Texas Intermediate Futures) began to trade above $100.00. When I moved into manual trading I made some money at first and than began to lose when I traded manually. I simply got impatient when I saw the market first trade from once a day to three times a week to trading only once a week.
    At first I made 8% the first month and about 12% the next month. Mind you I was trading with 300 lot sizes and very close to my margin of a 25k account margined 2-1. This worked fine when Oil was trading below 100k. However when it broke through its normal ATR ( Average Trading Range) then things worked differently where funds I had in USO were tied up and I did not have funds available to purchase new positions.
    The bottom line is, is not to use all your funds in case your stock or stocks you trade move outside of the normal trading range. For CTP to trade again you either have to wait for the stock to come down to sell those positions which means waiting for the market to correct or put new money into your account for trading or sell positions at a loss which you want to avoid if possible.

    Warning:
    In any case when you change your strategy be very careful. If you purchased lots of 100 and say move to 200 or 300 lot sizes if CTP can’t match them up it may trade your positions inadvertently. Unfortunately I lost several $100’s of dollars this way.

    1) Make sure that the pricing or least the average price of your stocks match what you paid for them when you change your lot sizes.
    2) If your trading even lots of say 200 and move 300 make sure they match up.
    In this case you may need to go back to 100 share lots which in most cases will line up if you purchased a 300 share lot.
    3) When trading live and you change strategies and still hold some positions in the previous strategy; contact the support department to help you to transition.
    Phil in CTP Support is good at assisting in this.
    4) When adjusting your lots or changes to your strategies make changes when the market is either closed or you set your trader to manual before making changes.

    Hope this helps

    Happy Trading

    May have to quit
    It is looking more and more like I’m going to have to hang up my "trial" of CoolTrade pretty soon if my account continues to trend into the negative capital. In the last month of trading (and my first month of using CoolTrade), I have lost almost 10% of my original capital (some realized and a lot unrealized). Outside of some technical errors with the trading software I had (and am still having), it seems mostly related to getting into trades that turn against me in more cases than work in my favor. While I’ve had some short lived good days, more bad days are racking up than good days. Eventually, I started holding my losing positions, hoping for better days instead of taking those realized losses so quick, but that ended up tying up most of my capital in losing positions that just seemed to get worse and worse...eventually, I had to bite it and just take the loss to try and get into some better positions.

    Most of my funding is a loan from my workplace 401K (plus a little extra I had handy), so If I lose another couple of percent, I’ll be back to what I owe on that loan and be forced to return that to pay back the loan. I figured using the strategies and CoolTrade could easily overcome the 4.5% APR on the loan, but not seeing any light at the end of this tunnel.

    So, outside of finding some miraculous strategy to turn the tide in the next few weeks, I’ll be left with a 22 month subscription to CoolTrade that I don’t have much use for. I suppose I could continue limping in a long painful loss of my capital too.

    Most of my activity has been centered around trading the DOW-30 short strategy. I have tried a few different stabs at long strategies from the well established $2 and Under to my own crafted strategies, but none of those did anything but suck up more money than they generated.

    So, after the long sob story, anybody have any advice to either fix me up or have a use for a 22 month CoolTrade license to a person who doesn’t have the capital to trade with? I have not read the fine print if this is transferable or rent-able...

    I think your problem comes down to one thing and that is your are running the Dow 30 Short strategy in a wildly bullish market.

    The second problem is that you are trading live during the first month with the software. IMO you need to simulate with a strategy until you understand the software and the strategy and know how it will behave before going live.

    It doesn’t take a miraculous strategy as you may already have that in place. The market could take a turn tomorrow and you will look like a champ. I don’t think you can truly measure a strategy’s performance in such a short period of time.

    Enlightened

    Thanks for the reply and advice. I’ve been looking for another short strategy, but every time I go to download one of the top performers from the website, they all look exactly the same as the DOW-30 with the same intra-day MACD entry signals. Is this right or is there something wrong that it shows me the same exact strategy every time, but the name just changes? I figured that it just was indicating that this is pretty much the same strategy that everyone runs since they all look exactly the same. I’ve never seen another short strategy other than one structured like the DOW-30.

    I’ve moved to another long strategy today, but with most of my capital tied up in the DOW short positions, It’ll be a while before it unwinds and lets the long strategy pick-up much traction.

    I’ll keep at it for now. And yes, I certainly jumped right in early without much in the way of simulation. I guess I’m learning the hard way and perhaps this is the cost of learning. I just hope I’m able to get back on my feet soon before my adventure comes to an end. I’ve really enjoyed it so far, other than the not making money part.

    -John

    I feel your pain. I have been running a Dow 30 long & short strategy at the recommendation of others & have had no success. Just continued losses. Just about ready to give up on Cool Trade as well.

    I run the dow 30 and have closed every position multiple times at a profit. Unless you have added a stop loss or have bought too many positions and don’t have enough funds to add to the positions when they have dropped, I cannot imagine why you are not successful running the same strategies that I am running. If you are running the Dow 30 for $100,000 account but only have $20,000 in your account, that would be a problem because it will open too many positions and prevent the trader from doing what it was programmed to do. There’s nothing wrong with the strategy.

    Enlightened

    I would like to assist you ! I have built a strategy that’s making at least $100 a day. But because of the cost of the stock, I can’t afford to put it into play.
    I’m not giving it to everyone.
    These "stock" strategies don’t work 100% of the time, that come with the trader. Some of them ,it also depends on when you started it.
    The market is always changing and what works now might not next month, then 2 months from now it might be the best thing going.
    One thing that has people not see profits with the Dow 30 is their profit Req, is too high.
    The market is hanging right around 15,000 and what’s up today is down tomorrow. And if you expand a chart you will see they are really moving.

    Contact me at 419 732 3789
    moneymakermike@roadrunner.com

    I would like to assist you ! I have built a strategy that’s making at least $100 a day. But because of the cost of the stock, I can’t afford to put it into play.
    I’m not giving it to everyone.
    These "stock" strategies don’t work 100% of the time, that come with the trader. Some of them ,it also depends on when you started it.
    The market is always changing and what works now might not next month, then 2 months from now it might be the best thing going.
    One thing that has people not see profits with the Dow 30 is their profit Req, is too high.
    The market is hanging right around 15,000 and what’s up today is down tomorrow. And if you expand a chart you will see they are really moving.

    Contact me at 419 732 3789
    moneymakermike@roadrunner.com

    For now, I’m sticking with the program on my $50K account. With the margin extended from TDA, I’m in command of about $100K. I still am racking up additional unrealized loses on the Dow-30 shorts I have and as I get some little tid bits of capital freed up here and there, I’m supporting these positions with additional backing. As I’ve read in a few places here in the forums, it may take a few months of patience to really realize the value of the seeds planted today. I have crafted my own long strategy that is very picky in only trading a couple of times a week on positions that have been pretty successful to make a profit on a daytrade so far. That will let me focus more time in unwinding some of these Dow-30 shorts and get a little more balanced out. I got a bit ahead of myself and ended up shorting every single symbol on the Dow-30 list and getting too much of a good thing, thus tying up too much capital to support them properly. I’m betting on the theory that what goes up must come down, so these short positions will just need to wait patiently until that coming down part happens. Until then capital will be limited, but that is OK. I’ll hang in there and wait to see how it this pans out.

    Thanks again for the insight you have offered.

    -John

    Worrying event ......... $2. below strat.
    I checked my report today after being out all of yesterday.
    To my horror it had sold VGZ of which I had 3 popsitions of 1000 shares each.
    It said it sold them at a huge loss.
    I checked my Broker account and nothing had been sold.
    When CT started up it registered that all 3000 are still there, but it now has that I bought them at todays price, which is considerable less than I paid. So if it hits my 5% profit target it would sell and at a great loss to me.
    I’ve swithched auto traderoff for this share, I’m hoping for someone to tell me how to fix it. It’s not the first time CT has said it’s sold at a loss when it hasn’t sold anything.
    Any ideas anyone?

    click on each of the symbols in there is an option on the pop-up that says "edit entry price". Click that and change each lot to the actual price paid. Do this while in manual mode.

    Then when you are done, you can switch it back to auto-mode.

    Enlightened

    And that’s Automated Trading???

    It’s making me money every month.
    So I can forgive it.
    It does constantly remind me everytime I turn on the PC and have Windows 8 stick it’s nose in and the UI and 90’s style clunkiness of CT, as to why I do everything else on a Mac.
    I would not leave it alone for any great length of time, because it does things like this.I keep an eye on it.
    My honest opinion is it needs a complete redesign, then again it makes money which is the most important function.
    There is nothing else I can see out there that will work for you at making money like CT.

    I run 4 automated traders for years pretty much ERROR-FREE and talk to lots of others who have the same experience. So if weird things are happening for you, that is not the norm. I said pretty much error-free because my experience with setting up and keeping everything good with IB was/is a challenge becuase they are constantly changing things on the broker side. While the trader connected to MB has been solid as a rock.

    Enlightened

    It gets worse.
    It’s just logged a sale at a $10 loss of something that’s never been bought.!

    Kevin, I recommend that you click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION

    The latest update is 7.5.44

    How is a person to know when they put out the latest update? It needs to be posted here under new Releases or somewhere, so we know to update.

    major updates are announced in your email and in the new releases section on this board.

    Minor fixes for individual issues (as all computers are slightly different) are done on an as-needed basis.

    I don’t work for the company but I have a friend in support (Henry) who shares a lot. I also learn a lot by watching the board.

    I also never make snide (not sure that’s spelled right) comments because I know there are a thousand moving parts and when running on thousands of computers a problem 1 person is having doesn’t mean it is happening to anyone else. Big companies with billions of dollars like the nasdaq, the brokers, and amazon go down so I know ct can’t control everything. I know like all those companies the folks at ct give 100% to restore things when something does happen.

    Enlightened

    Updated now.
    That was scarry, when it opened it said I had double the number of positions and double the investment.
    I quickly shut it down again, checked the positions at the broker, before relaunching.
    It now shows the correct positions, but it’s shaken my confidence in the system.
    If it makes false sales at a loss then why can’t it make real sales at a loss?
    Not as robust a system as it should be.
    My computer is dedicated to CT, I have no other or run anyother programs on it, so no conflict or me accidently changing something, it gets left well alone.

    In all the years I’ve been using this system with multiple traders running live I’ve never seen it do the things that you describe. My traders are running in the other room in my house and I am 100% confident. I would like to think that you will get there too over time, but your machine or internet keeps throwing you these curves.

    But since we are both running 7.5.44 let’s see what happens.

    Good luck.

    Enlightened

    Lets see indeed.
    I can’t understand why CT shows sales that have never happened. It shows sales in the report for zero profit and sales for a loss, but they never happened. Honestly I don’t fiddle with settings etc I just let it run.
    I will contact support at sometime but the time difference (I’m UK) can make it awkward for me.
    I will say support has been very helpful, despite the fact after several attempts and assurnces it will start automatically now, I have to launch it every morning.
    Fingers crossed now.
    I’m on Windows 8 by the way.

    Strategy Chart - Ranked
    Should we not have a Chart here (perhaps in its own category) where anyone / everyone could post strategies with their results / gains -- where they would be ranked by how they have done - what the percentage gain was for the most recent month, (and then going back as well). So that anyone, especially new people could quickly / easily see what is available and working the best (up to date). Perhaps there could be a little description - Long / Short, Rising, Flat, or Falling market, ETFs, or best used with certain sectors / industries, some of the risks, and anything important, etc.

    Would this not be a huge, time saving benefit??

    Stop Loss Issues
    I’m having some troubles with the Stop Loss feature in the Profit Requirements screen of the strategy wizard on a long position. When I had a a position drop below the set threshold, expressed as a percentage, it didn’t exit that position as I was expecting.

    I’m going to try this rule as a work-around:
    My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price Move is at least 1.5 Percent Less than Todays Current Price

    I’m using this to manage my losers. I’d rather get that money back to invest elsewhere and lose a little than double down on an already losing position. I’ve got a few that just keep losing and losing more and get to the point where I’ve lost as much as 50% of the original investment. I’ll probably be well into next year before I see some of those think about coming back around.

    Anyone see any issues with this work-around to provide the same functionality? Of course, I’d like to see the issue fixed instead of a work-around though.

    Thanks.

    -John

    I think I found the source of my problems with this one as a misconfiguration. I had the minimum dollar amount set at $0.50. In doing the math, a drop of that magnitude did not achieve that minimum amount. I’ve set this to $0.05 this and I’ll wait until next time to see if the stop loss kicks in next time.

    Incidentally, the work-around did not work as intended. It setup a buying and selling loop that bought and sold the same symbol in four iterations in just about a minute of time passing.

    -John

    I am having problems with the stop loss feature too. I have set my stop loss at 3.5% of the entry price and regularly see my positions pass below 3.5% loss and continue downward without stopping out.

    I asked tech support for help, telling them that the stop loss feature in the software was not working. The response from Jared is laughable -

    "With help on your strategy you will need to contact www.roboticadvisors.com additional contact info is on the website.

    Sincerely,
    Jared"

    Is there an escalation point at Tech Support when the answers the provide are not satisfactory?

    Is there another rule I can use as a stop loss without triggering the looping buy-sell action referred to by John above?

    It is possible Jared interpreted your question as investment advice.

    Support consists of PC Mechanics tasked with ensuring the software runs on your computer and is barred from discussing strategies.

    In any case, I have reviewed tab6 of your long and short strategy and do not see any stop loss and your strategies have not changed for multiple days so this didn’t just happen.

    Many times there are other reasons a position does not close when you think that it should. For example, someone said that his positions did not close at the end of the day even though he was up $50 and it was checked on Tab1 to close positions that are up $50. It turned out his account had under $25,000 and he was out of day trades (based on the SEC rule) and those positions were opened on the same day.

    Another common reason positions do not close is the strategy close position times have past.

    With thousands of traders using these features, if something is not working in the software, we generally get many emails, so the first place to look is on the client’s computer. If there is a problem that cannot be resolved then it is escalated to Development for review.

    Thank you,

    Customer Support

    I too am having problems with the stop loss feature. I can’t get it to work. I’m waiting for a reply from the tech support team to address this. I think the system has a serious flaw and Cool Trader needs to admit it and correct it. The system was marketed to me as having a stop loss feature which I routinely use in my stock trading. If anyone else is having problems with this please call me at 281-298-2904.

    As a follow-up to this message, the stop loss is now working as expected. Now that it does work, I’ve found it is doing too good of a job for my investing style. The second a position crosses over the stop loss line, it sure enough sells it right away. I’ve been noticing that in most cases, the position reverses course shortly after the sale and I’m kicking myself in solidifying a loss on a temporary condition. So, for now I’ll decide manually when something just needs to be sold while I can watch it. If I plan a trip out of town and need a more hands-off approach, I’ll turn the stop loss back on.

    -John

    Trader Alerts
    Hello. I have recieved two trade alerts from my rabotic trader on my yahoo email inbox that it has made profits from two symbol NYB and NAK on the 24th sept. but the profits were never updated on the report list when i went to check them last week. Why? - Does it take while for the profits to to get updated on the report list?

    Belleyjocelyn,

    When you open the reports make sure that the drop down is set to Show Closed Trades and then the next drop down for the "Within" field and choose "Past Week" or "Past Month" and you should see all closed trades during that time.

    I hope this helps.

    Funds Allocated changes
    Hi,
    I have noted that my funds allocated amount keeps changing throughout without and the trader has not sold or bought anything. Is there a reason for this?? Earlier today it was at $35k and now it’s at $41k??? This has happened for a while now.

    eayala604,

    I know that the Funds Allocated is the combination of the price paid for any Long / Short positions and the price to bring any open position up to the maximum shares.

    That is what I understand too. It should be the total price I have paid for all my open positions at the price purchased but I have not bought or added to any positions and my number changes daily for some reason.

    So now that I am trading live I was able to understand the funds allocated better being able to compare it to my actual IB account. The funds allocated will constantly change as this is the $ amount of all the open positions. If their value increase the funds allocated increase and vice versa if their value decrease.
    Not sure I like this as it makes it difficult to calculate how much I initially invested for all open positions.

    Cooltraders quit working
    Hi
    My Cooltraders have quit working. I sent an email to CT technical support but have not heard back.
    I would call in but I dont see a phone number to call. Any help will be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Owen

    Owen,

    Have you heard back from support yet? What is your specific issue that you are having?

    Hi Guest:

    I haven’t heard back from support.

    This add to current long position rule isn’t working:

    ABS(My same symbol lowest trade price move) is greater than value of my same symbol highest trade price %(5)

    Also I would like to know in plain english what the rule means.

    Thanks

    Owen

    opie99,

    ABS(My same symbol lowest trade price move) is greater than value of my same symbol highest trade price %(5)

    Basically meaning if the price drops or goes up 5% it will add to the position.

    If you are only doing BAC you could remove that rule and adjust the settings for the Advancing / Declining Preferences to add using the table or even set the specific amount you want to add to the position say +/- .20.

    I hope this helps.

    Thanks JoeBob

    I did hear from support and now have my traders working well. My problem was I was having trouble upgrading the Cooltrade software. The upgrade worked after I first reinstalled a previous version.

    Owen

    How to edit strategy. 50Day EMA/100Day EMA
    Is there a way to edit my strategy to find a confirmed uptrend with a cross of the 50 Day EMA above the 100 Day EMA in the Watch list?

    Unfortunately, no!!!

    I don’t know about just crossing over, but you can create a watch list rule:

    50 Day EMA > 100 DAY EMA

    Hedge

    For a 50/100 EMA cross you need the 50 EMA to be sloping up (50 EMA > 50 EMA "n" days ago). If you just use the 50 EMA > 100 EMA both MA’s could be in a downtrend with the 50 above the 100 and you might not want that condition.

    The complete solution is to provide more parameter values for the EOD EMA indicator. All there is at the moment is a 14 EMA for either current day or 1 and 2 days ago and no look back period at all for the SMA indicator. The long term solution would be to eliminate the duplicate EOD indicator entries for different indicator values and just have one entry for every indicator with complete control over the indicator values - similar to the format for the intraday indicators but with the option to have a wide range of look back periods as well.

    Profit Requirements
    Hi Everyone!

    First off I want to say a BIG THANK YOU for the Cool Trade Staff, and all the Team for
    their help in resolving issues!
    I am working on a Long Strategy. The Profit Requirements, I have set the profit goal (per share) for 00.10000. The pullback after reaching a profit is set at 00.03000. Start profit protection is set at 00.00000, The stop loss is set at 00.20000

    Today I started this strategy, and none of these above settings worked.

    My goal is to profit at .10 a share, and a pullback at .03 a share, and a stop loss at .20 per share.

    Can anyone advise me what I need to do to make these functions work??

    Thank you,
    Arlyn

    So you are saying that you had open positions and none of them closed at either a profit of .10 or a loss of .20.

    There could be a host of reasons that none of the positions closed today.
    Things like:

    1. none of the positions were up .10
    2. none of the positions were down .20
    3. you are out of day trades and you opened the positions today.

    That’s all I can think of, based on the information that you provided.

    Thanks Jerry,

    I was simulating a day trade strategy at about 75,000. The position went up over .10 then the priced dropped back, .05 and the stock did not sell. The same thing happened when the position dropped below .20, it did not sell.


    Thanks,
    Arlyn

    Did it again
    Cooltrader on occaisn sells postions that never happen. If I check my broker aqccount nothing has happened. The real problem is CT then thinks it’s bought them at the current price, so now it really does sell them when the price goes up thinking it’s made a profit, but is actually selling at a loss.
    I’ve caught it before and switched to manual and reentered the real original buy price. But not this time it just sold two positions in one company for a loss. I’ve put a stop on a further two positions it’s gone through the same phantom buy and sell routine.
    Yes I have uploaded the latest software version.
    i’m using the $2.00 strat.

    I would make sure that your trader updated to the latest version.

    FILE -> Download New Software

    Did it again
    Cooltrader on occaisn sells postions that never happen. If I check my broker aqccount nothing has happened. The real problem is CT then thinks it’s bought them at the current price, so now it really does sell them when the price goes up thinking it’s made a profit, but is actually selling at a loss.
    I’ve caught it before and switched to manual and reentered the real original buy price. But not this time it just sold two positions in one company for a loss. I’ve put a stop on a further two positions it’s gone through the same phantom buy and sell routine.
    Yes I have uploaded the latest software version.
    i’m using the $2.00 strat.

    kevin,

    Which broker are you using?

    IB.
    But the broker is not the problem, CT makes trades that never appear at the Broker, It sells for no profit and buys back at the price it just sold for. Then of course it thinks it’s bought at the new price and sells when it rises above the new price, this sell does go through the broker. So CT then records it as a profit but it’s actually a pretty sizeable loss. It keeps happening, all I want to do is set it and let it go without me having to check it all the time.
    I was making decent profit for the first few months, now I’m worse off than when I started. Not very impressed , to be honest I would rather they spend less time preaching the CT gospel around the US and get the software up to date regarding function, usability, reliability and a half decent intaface, not the Windows 95 shareware look it has.

    Something matters. either the broker matters, your internet connection matters, our your computer matters. it sounds like the software saw zero shares from the broker so the software closed the positions, then it saw the shares again reappear to it added the shares back (at the current price) and then when the stock price went up it sold them thinking it had a profit.

    my only suggestion is that you make sure you are running at least version 7.5.44. If not then download the developer version.

    Hedge

    Hi Kevin i have read your post with interest as my system is doing exactly the same thing as yours but im wondering did you ever get it working ok . cheers Chris

    If the software is seeing zero shares, then the problem sounds like a communication issue between CTP and the broker or in this case IB which really means the CTP software is likely part of the problem. I’d like to know if these phantom transactions are occurring at various times during the day or only at market open. If only at market open is it possible an error results from not having any executed trades for a security right at the market open which triggers phantom trades. Or do the stocks that are causing phantom trades have intraday gaps or extended periods of time where no shares are being traded? .

    Perhaps a detailed activity log in CTP for troubleshooting purposes can be implemented that could be sent to CTP support to try to narrow down the cause of this kind of behavior. I’ve talked to enough other CTP users who have experienced these phantom trades that I’m not convinced the problem lies solely with the broker, internet connection or PC.

    I had the same problem of a phantom buy and sell routine.
    I contacted the Cool Trader support team and found out what was the issue in my case!

    I sent my log file to support and they told me that I needed to remove Malwarebytes, since Malwarebytes was interfering with the Cool Trader application. I removed the Malwarebytes application and everything in Cool Trader seems back to normal this morning. Also, I downloaded the latest developer version before removing the offending application.

    I then found out how to change the original purchase price for a stock. To change the purchase price of a stock, you will need to left click on the row below the stock where it says "sell". Once you click, then you will need to select the "Bought Price: x.xx (click to edit)" option. In the next screen, you will be able to change the purchased price of the stock.

    Hope this helps out other people in the Cool Trader Community!

    Kevin
    Has your problem been fixed yet? I am considering going live with IB and am concerned by your experience and few others. Was tech support able to help you resolve this issue? Please post a follow up if you will; sounds like a serious issue. Thanks.

    Support All Indicators to be Plotted on Chart
    One thing missing from the platform that would help in strategy creation and verification is the ability to plot every indicator used in a strategy. This would eliminate a lot of forum questions about what a particular indicator is doing in a strategy and whether it’s actually useful. It’s also a quick means of troubleshooting a strategy that isn’t working and more useful than just a numerical value. The current chart feature doesn’t contain most of the indicators supported for strategy creation.

    I BIG bump to this one!! I was thinking about this just a few days ago. Would really be nice to click a security and be able to plot bars with all the open position rule indicators plotted along with it!

    IRA Stipulations/regulations
    Hello Community! I am new on the boards and been surfing the forum. I wanted to compile a list of issues that pertain to IRA’s. I wanted to see if someone can confirm the list. I would appreciate it! Thanks!

    -- IRA can only do Long position strategies

    -- IRA cannot use margins

    -- MB has a three day freeze on stocks that are sold--so you would have a 3 day freeze of that cash flow

    --IB has a 25k minimum account balance for IRA

    -- TD Ameritrade is most friendliest as to no freezing and less bugs with IRA accounts

    --------------------------

    Also if these rules are true-- could someone share what would be a good beginner strategy to use for simulation purpose on a 20k account?

    Thanks!

    This is some great information you have provided.

    The only thing I would like to add is about the margins. If you are using IB or TD, they will allow an IRA to have a "Reg T Margin" which still allows the funds to be released immediately rather than waiting for the 3 day settlement period.

    The BAC strategy is a good, IRA-safe strategy. You could technically use any strategy that is adjusted for $10k, you would just need to take a good look at your profit goals. For instance, if you are looking for $0.10 gains on a $15 stock, that is going to happen frequently, which in turn does not allow your funds to settle, and label you as a day trader.

    Thanks Phil for the added information.

    Phil or anyone-- can they confirm that we can only for Long position strategies?

    --Also if I am flagged as a day trader-- is that not allowed in an IRA? or is that you must have 25k in you account in order for you to "day trade"

    --And with the "Reg T" status-- what is the definition? is this an account that is under $25k that is able to do 3 trades per day?


    -- Phil you stated this:
    The BAC strategy is a good, IRA-safe strategy. You could technically use any strategy that is adjusted for $10k, you would just need to take a good look at your profit goals. For instance, if you are looking for $0.10 gains on a $15 stock, that is going to happen frequently, which in turn does not allow your funds to settle, and label you as a day trader.

    -- How do I go about adjusting a strategy in dollar amount. For example if I use the $1 to $2 long 5k strategy where in the UI do I increase the strategy to 10k 20k or another number? Which video am I looking at in the tutorials.


    Thanks

    Tony,

    There are a few things to consider when adjusting your strategies with regards to increasing your strategy amount. First you might want to change your "Trading Shares" to a higher amount of shares per trade. As well as increasing your "maximum symbols to purchase" all within Tab 1.

    The key adjustment that you would need to look at is adjusting your "Profit goal" and "Profit protection" to fit your trading profit. All under tab 6.

    You should make sure to go through the platform training section within the www[dot]

    ENTRY PRICE was listed in CT INCORRECTLY..SOLD the position at a sizeable
    Problem concerns the attached (sold position) report . . this stocks’ ENTRY PRICE was listed in CT INCORRECTLY... way too low, and before I could change it or ’stop trading’, it SOLD the position at a sizeable
    ($1800+) Loss!?!
    The entry price was $34.49... Why would this happen?.. and is it a preventable occurance?

    Thinking about using IB.....did you get a response and get it resolved?

    I have found that sometimes if CTP crashes during the trading day when it starts the next time it gets the wrong value for the price that p stock one or more positions were purchased at. If it crashes I always halt trading and check all the numbers before I let it trade again.

    I have found that sometimes if CTP crashes during the trading day when it starts the next time it gets the wrong value for the price that p stock one or more positions were purchased at. If it crashes I always halt trading and check all the numbers before I let it trade again.

    Some times when CTP Crashes during the training day I find it them opens with the wrong entry Price for some positions. I always halt trading and check the numbers after a crash.

    Some times when CTP Crashes during the training day I find it them opens with the wrong entry Price for some positions. I always halt trading and check the numbers after a crash.

    Shawn, it takes about a minute for the CoolTrade system to post your reply, so please wait for it, otherwise you will get a duplicate posting, like your four previous entries, which should be only two.

    And I’ve seen strange things that CoolTrade does, like selling off a position for no reason, at a loss, only to buy it right back at the same price! Of course, this triggers the IRS Wash Sale rules, so the loss is then not deductible. Thanks, CoolTrade.

    LIFO?
    This is more of an ’info’ question than a ’support issue’, but when i add a position in cooltrade, the position shows as a seperate position at a seperate price, and can presumably trade LIFO... BUT, at the IB site, the stock positions seem to be ’combined’ and the entry prices ’averaged’... and selling the cheaper position (as i bought on the drop), doesn’t ’show, seperately’, but is ’booked as a loss, using the ’combined price’ as the entry price, instead of the lower ’drop price’, as intended?... This means that i can’t ’book a profit on the sold position until the first position also sells at a profit..?? or?
    What can you (or someone) tell me about this and how to address it, if possible?

    Were you able to get this resolved? Would be good info for all to know?

    nope...no answer(s) yet...

    Right. That is a good thing. You know you sold the last position bought at a profit, but they match it with the first position bought so for taxes you show a loss. Nothing illegal about that, since you are closing a position that was opened before you did the sell. That is because the broker is reporting as FIFO (First In - First Out).

    If you are eager to pay taxes early, on your gains, while you still carry the losing position that was opened first, you can go to the broker and ask them to change their reporting to LIFO (Last In - First Out). I wouldn’t do it, but you certainly can.

    Enlightened

    Re: LIFO @ eritt. I’m assuming this is a cash account? Good advise given on how a trade executes in IB assuming it is a cash account to avert paying taxes with FIFO vs LIFO at that time.

    If one has his account setup as an IRA, wouldn’t he/she want the trades to be executed as a LIFO since the tax is deferred?

    spokanebroker

    Hello Erritt,

    Much like Enlightened explained, you could stick with FIFO as your tax decision.

    If you would still like to go LIFO, log in to your Interactive Brokers account online. Go to Reports > Tax > Tax. In this area you should see a button for "Tax Optimizer". Click the button and a new application will open. Change both options from FIFO to LIFO and click save. You are good to go.

    Just an FYI, if you ever have questions as it pertains to taxes or dealing with real money, contact the broker directly. If you call IB, as enlightened also outlined, they can help you change your tax setting from FIFO to LIFO.

    But Enlightened, what about the Wash Sale Rules?

    If you think you are selling the most recent position (LIFO) for a profit, but the IRS thinks it’s the first position opened (FIFO), which is a loss, the Wash Sale rules come into play. Then you have to be sure that the time between the first position and the current (latest) position opening isn’t less than 30 days, otherwise the supposed FIFO loss is disallowed.

    For day or swing traders with long positions, this is a problem.

    Don’t take anything I say as financial advice, but I know people who do over 100 trades a day and only gross p/l is looked at for tax purposes.

    Enlightened

    Margin issue
    I am simulating a long and short simultaneously with a $30,000 account. I have CTP set for 2-1 margin. I have the never utilize more than set for $55,000. I have each strategy set to open a position using the full amount of money and margin available ($55,000). It should open one position, long or short, and that is all, using as much of the $55,000 as it can.

    This morning it opened one long and one short, utilizing nearly twice as much as the $55,000 it was set for -- over $100,000.

    Do I not understand how this is supposed to work with margin or did CTP do something it is not supposed to do?

    Hmm... So this was just one position that opened up, how many shares did is purchase and what was the entry price?

    I figured out the problem. I had it set to never utilize more than $120,000. Once it was back at $55,000, it stayed within the limits. However, what’s the point of checking the 2-1 margin box if it just ignores that limit?

    Error on Optionshouse logon
    Hello, I am having trouble trying to access an options house account. Each time I get to the name and password it simply closes the cool trader program. I don’t seethis problem with the other trading programs. I see that there was some talk about this in an earlier post but didn’t see a solution that worked for me. I am using windows 7 (64 bit). One of the suggestions was to to switch to dos when in the program and type regsvr32 optionshouse.ocx. I did that and I received a message that said failed error code 0x80004005. I tried to log on as an administrator but apparently I don’t know how to do that. Can you help?
    Thank You!

    chaszevitas,

    First I would suggest making sure that your CoolTrade is up to date. You can do this logging into the CoolTrade software in Simulator Mode with your CoolTrade account. The going to FILE-> Download New Software.

    Second I would make sure that you are running the software as administrator when you try to log in using your Options House account. Hold SHIFT+Right Click on "Launch CoolTrade" and choose "Run as Administrator."

    CoolTrade doesn’t work with optionshouse anymore and hasn’t for months.
    As I understand it, problems occurred on the optionshouse side that CoolTrade could not resolve on the software side. So optionshouse is gone.

    Hedge

    RSI(2) (-1 Day)???
    Does RSI(2) (-1Day) represent the RSI(2) value one day back from current day RSI(2)?

    Yeah that is pretty much it.

    How do I stop Cooltrade from automatically buying stock?
    Ok, I’ve de-selected all strategies, and it even tells me that "Automated trader will not run", then I go into Cooltrade and "Close all Long" and "Close all Short" and eventually, all the shares are traded and closed. However, when I come back a few minutes later, more stocks are purchased (all long) and trading has re-started. How do I stop it so I can start with a clean slate and a new strategy? Thanks in advance!

    Jim,

    Start by selecting the strategy that you want in the Strategy Wizard. Then close that.

    Next fire off the COOLTRADE trader and on the login screen where you enter your email/pass, before you do the login, click FILE->REFRESH FOR NEW STRATEGY. That will give you a chance to start fresh with the new strategy. It should clear the active trades, clear the reports database, and set the starting account balance.

    Jerry

    Thank you Jerry!

    to prevent cooltrade from purchasing any stocks I set two conflicting rules which have impossible possibilities. IE; todays open price is 1,000,000 less than yesterdays open price. todays open price is 1,000,000 less than 0. nothing get purchased ever.

    tax reporting
    If using CT with after tax dollars, that is a taxable personal saving account, reporting the volume of transactions in Turbo Tax would be a very long tedious job. I realize some brokerage firms can download directly their 1099B transactions into the Schedule D of their 1040. Your thoughts are welcome.

    Thanks,
    jcv

    This can be a gray field. I would double check with a financial adviser.

    Hi Val

    I use TradeLog. It does a fine job for tax reporting.

    Owen

    Changes in Strategies Wizard
    During the trade when markets are on and you change certain rules in your strategy wizard and save it and return. How to see those changes on your software? do you have to shut down the CTP software and re-start again or is there any feature that we need to click to update the changes? let me know thanks.

    Sincerely,
    Mihir J Sangani
    New York

    Rule of thumb on when you update your current strategy to exit out of CoolTrade and restart it. Changes will take affect after the restart.

    Yep, Just another handy feature.

    Multiple Enhancements to Improve Demonstrations and Marketing
    1. Use different icons for CTP and the Strategy Wizard. People with reduced eyesight or those with less computer experience are easily confused when the same icon is used for multiple different programs.

    2. Create a standalone report generator. It is nuts that we have to start CTP just to get the report of daily activity. Maybe this would mean locally storing the data at the close of day.

    3. Allow the window size of CTP to be variable. Smaller laptops (now) and tablets in the future (maybe even now) are or will be capable of running CTP yet the display is too big to fit the screen.

    4. For start and stop times on the Preferences screen, include a time zone so that people outside of daylight savings zones don’t have to change their times 2x a year.

    5. SEC Pattern Day Trader rules only apply to MARGIN accounts. The Day Trader rule check should default to off (no checking done) if NO margins are chosen for the account or at least have a check box to indicate that the user is using a CASH account. I get more questions about this from new users and prospects. Even the simulation invokes the day trader check if no margins are checked. Very confusing for many people.

    6. Fix the miscalculation of ACCOUNT VALUE, FUNDS ALLOCATED, and FUNDS AVAILABLE in simulation mode. Negative numbers should never occur unless margins are checked ON. This error is a big problem in marketing the CTP software as people who are thinking about buying can’t trust the display.

    7. Similar to #6 above, fix the interaction of "UTILIZE THIS AMOUNT" with ACCOUNT VALUE, FUNDS ALLOCATED, and FUNDS AVAILABLE in simulation mode. The UTILIZE value seems to be ignored or overrun in simulation mode.

    People are always looking for reasons NOT to trust the software when they are prospects. Don’t give them any reasons in simulation mode to lose trust. It just makes marketing CTP that much harder.

    ***Continued from original post***

    8. Enable the use of the mouse wheel for scrolling the positions table.

    9. In simulation mode, CTP will exceed the max trades allowed. For instance, setting a max of 30 trades is ignored with 36 trades actually posting.

    P.S. We are running 4 copies of CTP so we see a lot of these fixes/enhancements being needed.

    #1 is fixed with version 7.5.45.

    #1 is fixed with version 7.5.45.

    #1 is fixed with version 7.5.45.

    Re: #1 Icons: Jon, I find that CoolTrade 7.5.50 still has the duplicate "green chart" icons for both programs. The mouse-over description for the Trader is "LaunchStartCoolTrade.exe" and the Strategy Wizard is "Launch Ct Strategy Wizard".

    What does LaunchStartCoolTrade.exe mean to a newbie? What is Launch Start? It’s confusing to non-techies. Why is the mouse-over description for the Trader not human-readable, yet the Strategy Wizard is fine? They should both be human-readable. Use English, not Windows filenames.


    Re: #2 Reports: I wholeheartedly agree. It takes several minutes for the Trader to start responding to mouse clicks, so I leave it running until about 11pm just in case I want to look at the day’s or week’s reports, without having to wait to re-launch the Trader.


    Re: #8 Scroll wheel: Add in 8a. Enable the use of the mouse wheel for scrolling the Reports.


    When I see inaccurate numbers, obvious typos, and experience unresponsive GUIs, I’m disinclined to recommend the software to others (or I to attempt to gloss over the problems).
    --PT

    Anyone know if this system will get up on the cloud - internet based?

    allow multiple strategies at same time
    Currently you can run a long and a short strategy at the same time. I would like to be able to be able
    to:
    1) change the Short strategy to a second LONG strategy.
    2) run a LONG live while running a second LONG strategy in test mode
    3) be able to run two strategies at once
    LONG and SHORT strategy both live (currently possible)
    two LONG Strategies both live or both test mode or mixed Live and Test mode
    two SHORT Strategies both live or both test mode or mixed Live and Test mode

    Correct me if I am wrong, but currently if you are running a LONG strategy live you can not
    at the same time run a different strategy in Test Mode. So, if you are actively trading and want
    to test a different strategy you must stop your active trading and go into a test mode. Normally
    you would want to test a strategy for at least a month to determine if it will perform as you are expecting. But that would mean you would have to be out of the market for a month while you are testing a new strategy. That doesn’t sound like a good thing.

    I would like to see Cool-Trade develop a strategy test mode that can be run concurrently with the Live Trading. Any one else in favor of this idea?

    Enhance the Reports Generator. I would like:

    1) to have a report that would list both open and complete trades on the same report.

    2) have a report that indicates which Strategy was used in opening that trade

    3) have a report that would list all trades opened by a particular strategy

    4) have a report that would list all trades that were missed due to insufficient funds

    Bailing out of a stock
    How do I sell or get rid of a non performing stock.......possibly never to be purchased again....is it the same as blocking a stock...if a block is used ...will the system cash out back to my broker account ? .JT

    whistle007,

    I would manually close out the position. Click (Highlight) position you want to sell/buy and choose to close the position.

    After that you would add the the stock to the blocked list.

    With this theme, I have a stock that is way up after it was way down. I want to take the gains off the table now because I feel my settings in CTP are such that it will lose the gains and only hit my target. I want to close the position from my broker account in TD Ameritrade. If I do that, will CTP stay up to date? Or is that not recommended?

    you can click on it in the software and select the option to close the position, or you can do it from the broker and the software will see that it is closed and it will close it in the software.

    Hedge

    Bailing out of a stock
    How do I sell or get rid of a non performing stock.......possibly never to be purchased again....is it the same as blocking a stock...if a block is used ...will the system cash out back to my broker account ? .JT

    Saving cool trade report
    I am doing simulated trading. I have been doing cool trade for 10 days. How do I protect my profits on the report so that they do not disappear when refreshing strategies or turning off computer.

    brucehaskins321@gmail.com

    Bruce, I believe the only protection on the reports is to print them out or save them to a file. Those options are at the bottom of each report.

    If you refresh for new strategy, you will wipe the report clean and if you keep running without refreshing for new strategy then the report will continue to add new trade results.

    Closing A Position from the Broker Site
    With this theme, I have a stock that is way up after it was way down. I want to take the gains off the table now because I feel my settings in CTP are such that it will lose the gains and only hit my target. I want to close the position from my broker account in TD Ameritrade. If I do that, will CTP stay up to date? Or is that not recommended?

    Yes. CoolTrade will stay up to date.

    You can click on it in the software and select the option to close the position, or you can do it from the broker and the software will see that it is closed and it will close it in the software.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge!

    Thanks Hedge!

    Accurate Reports
    Can you fix the reports to pull in the actual buy and sell prices and calculate P/L? My P/L reports are off because for some reason CTP does not pull in the actual buy and sell price. Some times its off by 2 cents. In once case its off by 10 cents. I want to use my report as a way to sell the software, but I don’t want to know because I know its wrong.

    Also, Can CTP pull in your commissions into the report and give adjusted P/L?

    I agree. After our first month of trading, we show a $1200 profit on our CT report, but when we double check in our IB side, it’s really only $800 or so in real profit. In fact, some of the "profitable" trades, granted some as little as $15 (according to CT) were not at all in reality when we checked in IB. Some even were actually losses. I understand there may be a slight delay in execution of the trades, but some of our prices in the entry and exit prices (between what reports in CT and IB) differ as much as .40 !

    The 2 causes that I have seen that occur are if your times are set too close to 9:30am when the market opens and late pre-market data comes in and the software acts on it. The other reason I have seen is when the broker is logging closed trades as FIFO and the software is closing LIFO so the trades are not matching up and the broker is showing losses even the software made profitable trades.

    It’s also an IB software problem if you trade more than one lot of a symbol.

    While CTP is trading as though LIFO is in effect, you have to select LIFO at the broker’s end, though that only fixes part of the problem with Interactive Brokers. IB doesn’t treat LIFO the same on its web interface as it should on its application/API TraderWorkStation (TWS).

    Too many times, CoolTrade shows a profitable trade, say $52, then the TWS Activity list shows the exact same trade just lost $112. What? No it didn’t! TWS, is a flat-out liar! It’s worse for shorts, as they are ALWAYS losers. Why can’t TWS calculate these correctly? >:-(

    Here’s the crux of the problem: IB’s TWS cannot tell the difference between multiple-lot trades and single-lot trades, and simply does not honor LIFO--it always uses Average Cost. AFAIK, there’s no way to tell it anything different.

    Example of what IB’s TWS does with two lots:

    Lot#1: Buy 100 shares XYZ at $100. Price lowers. Lot #2: Buy another 100 shares at $95. Price rises.
    Sell Lot #2 at $100 (should be a $500 gain, right?)

    No, IB TWS says you only made $250. (100+95)/2=97.50 Average Cost open price, not $95 for Lot #2.
    When you sell the Lot #1, that result is correct, because the Average Cost IS your open price with one lot.

    If you go onto the IB website and look under Reports..Tax..Tax Optimizer, and pick either yesterday or today’s date, you can view or change the matching method (FIFO, LIFO, etc.) used to pair opening and closing trades.
    Unfortunately, the Trader WorkStation was never told about this. TWS always uses Average Cost, and so if you are holding more than one lot of a symbol opened at different prices, the Realized P/L calculation uses Average Cost, and will always be wrong, compared to LIFO: single open price, single close price, NO averaging!

    Pricing
  • If you want ballpark figures, look at the CoolTrade reports (that is, if CTP didn’t crash and restart and forget a trade or two--it happens). It’ll be off a few dollars, prices off a few cents. Eh, close enough for the IRS?

  • If you want sometimes-correct numbers (if you only buy/sell a single lot, no more), believe the TWS/TraderWorkStation Activity/Trades.

  • If you want correct numbers, use the Tax Advisor. But only if you check it every day or every other day, otherwise the data is gone.

  • Otherwise, look at the IB website’s Reports, Activity, Statements.


  • I only use the ct reports for simulating.
    Once live I only look at the broker reports, since that is what will get reported to the IRS.

    I like that IB tracks my positions FIFO so I get to report losses to the IRS. However, by the time you finish closing all of the lots, all buys and sells (profits) will be accounted for and so it all eventually comes out in the wash.

    If you really are that eager to report gains to the IRS then you can tell the broker to log/match the trades LIFO and they will change the reporting to LIFO. Why you would want to do that though is beyond my comprehension. For tax purposes you are allowed to match the SELL (lot) with any purchase (lot) that was done prior to the sell/close.

    Enlightened

    Enlightened,

    If that’s the case, then why did Ed Barsano recommend that we tell our broker to use LIFO?

    It seems as though when using FIFO, and buying multiple lots on a decline, the first few lot sales of a stock will always be "losers" until the sale price rises enough. If there are also new buys in there (Add to Position I mean) within 30 days, then the previous losses in this stock will be considered Wash Sales by the IRS and therefore non-deductible.

    How do you get around that IRS rule? Or are your strategy’s buy-sell timings so infrequent that they are outside the 30-day Wash Sale window, and therefore losses are deductible?

    Are you doing your trading as a business entity, or an individual? That might explain the difference in LIFO/FIFO settings.

    I was at the SCW Investment club presentation by Ed last Monday and I heard his specifically say that the brokers match up the trades FIFO by default and he DOES NOT say to change it to LIFO. Also I’ve been trading as a business / LLC for years. That may be why I have never run into wash sales. That may be worth discussing with your broker if they are not letting you take losses just because you sold a position at a loss. My consolidated trade reports show the gains and losses from every trade.

    <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie09.gif’’ border=’’0’’> Well, I see this is a longstanding issue...
    Now it’s affecting the new PROFITS tab I recently upgraded to as well as the CT reports.

    Reports has shown minor discrepancies in buy and sell prices since I started live trading last year but yesterday it didn’t just match the wrong lots when I closed a position,or show the wrong price in the trader, after CT closed the position it generated a totally fictitious buy price which causes a ~$75 gain (on the live page) to be reported as a ~$300 loss in the PROFITS tab ad the closed report.

    I trade in an IRA so I don’t have to mess with the tax reporting but when CT has erroneous buy/open price and trades based on it, it hurts my profits. I know that when I catch it before selling/closing, I can fix the entry price in the trader.

    So, is there any way to fix either the entry or exit price on a closed trade?

    Seems like a pretty simple thing for software to do - calculate accurate P&L!

    <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie09.gif’’ border=’’0’’> Well, I see this is a longstanding issue...
    Now it’s affecting the new PROFITS tab I recently upgraded to as well as the CT reports.

    Reports has shown minor discrepancies in buy and sell prices since I started live trading last year but yesterday it didn’t just match the wrong lots when I closed a position,or show the wrong price in the trader, after CT closed the position it generated a totally fictitious buy price which causes a ~$75 gain (on the live page) to be reported as a ~$300 loss in the PROFITS tab ad the closed report.

    I trade in an IRA so I don’t have to mess with the tax reporting but when CT has erroneous buy/open price and trades based on it, it hurts my profits. I know that when I catch it before selling/closing, I can fix the entry price in the trader.

    So, is there any way to fix either the entry or exit price on a closed trade?

    Seems like a pretty simple thing for software to do - calculate accurate P&L!

    Improved Release Management
    I love cool trade but the release management scares me to death. The most recent scare with the 7.5.5 upgrade is a prime example. I didn’t realize that CTP wasn’t working until I got home from work on 1/2/14 and saw the big launch error box. After hours of talking to my up lines to figure out how to fix it, I was finally able to install the upgrade.
    I have people that I am signing up that won’t be able to get home and do these upgrades in order to fix a problem an upgrade created. In some cases they are gone for a week. In that time frame, open trades can go south and they lose their whole investment, esp. using the $2 and below strategy.

    Being in the field of designing complex and very large software systems that cannot fail, ever, it seems to me that the issue is testing and release management. If CTP is interested, I can provide some advice/consulting on this.

    Is there a plan to improve this so that upgrades don’t break previous versions?

    Thanks,
    Dameon

    stop loss Re: multi level trades
    Wondering if stop loss protection hits at the average price and closes out the entire position or one level at a time?

    Great question. I don’t know. please do let me know if you get a reply. thank you.

    Stochastic is Bullish
    I have been trying "Stochastic is Bullish" and "Stochastic is Bearish" to buy and sell in simulated trading. A chart of TRV using Stochastic(14,3,3) looks like a buy should have been issued either yesterday or today, but nothing happened.
    Can anyone explain how these work in CoolTrader Pro?

    Thanks,
    John

    I received this from CT Technical Support:

    The easiest way to know if a rule has passed in the CoolTrade automated trader is to look on the far right of the screen on the Watch List (bottom of the screen) and it will tell you the RULE PREVENTING NEXT TRADE. If that rule is preventing the trade then it will show in that space.

    You can also click on the RULES menu item and a screen will pop up and show all of the open position rules and the indicator values.

    Checking the value of an indicator may not help if you don’t what the indicator is actually doing. The solution is to upgrade the documentation and provide a description of the formula used by CTP for each indicator that performs a calculation so you know what the indicator does and the expected value.

    Wrong Entry Price listed by CTP
    I had 4 open positions in stock and today my computer crashed and when I restarted it, all the other stocks in my dashboard were fine but this stock all had the same entry price which was the last buy-in price.

    I ran an "Open Trades" report and it showed 4 purchases today all at the same price which is not correct. How can I fix this and more importantly--how can I make sure this never happens again?

    I experienced the same problem today.
    Cooltrader shows that it sold 4 stocks today.
    I checked my broker account (TD Ameritrade) and it currently shows these positions in play. Also, the entry price is showing up wrong for 2 of the stocks I am currently in.

    Tried to do an update and it did not fix the issue.

    How can we resolve this issue?

    John

    Send email to tech support and they will connect to your computer and copy your support log files to send to development so they can see what is going wrong.

    EI

    Found out what the issue was in my case. After sending my log file to support, they told me that I needed to remove Malwarebytes, since this Malwarebytes was interfering with the Cool Trader application. I removed the Malwarebytes application and everything in Cool Trader seems back to normal this morning. Also, I downloaded the latest developer version before removing the offending application.

    Also, I found out how to change the original purchase price for a stock. To change the purchase price of a stock, you will need to left click on the row below the stock where it says "sell". Once you click, then you will need to select the "Bought Price: x.xx (click to edit)" option. In the next screen, you will be able to change the purchased price of the stock.

    Hope this helps other people in the Cool Trader Community!

    Are you using CTP on the Togglebox Cloud?
    Anyone out here using CTP on the Togglebox Cloud?

    Good experience?

    Easy to use?

    Worth it?

    Working consistently? Doesn’t shut down expectantly?

    Which Broker are you using in LIVE mode?

    Thanks
    SpokaneBroker

    YES I;M USING TOGGLEBOX CLOUD AND I AM SATISFIED WITH THE QUICK PERFORMANCE- GOING TO USE INT. BROKER BECAUSE OF THEIR FEE;S- TRYING TO TAKE A MINIMUM PROFIT ON AS MANY STOCKS AS I CAN A DAY- USING 25000- TODAY IT HAS ALREADY SOLD 115 WORTH AND POTENTIAL TO MAKE ANOTHER 100- WE WILL SEE AT THE END OF THE DAY- NOT SURE WHY IT SOLD THIS EARLY- YRSTERDAY IT DID NOT TAKE THE MIN. PROFITS- HAD 3 STOCKS IT SHOULD HAVE SOLD ??? SIMULATION IS GOOD FOR THE PRACTICE- GOOD LUCK

    YES I;M USING TOGGLEBOX CLOUD AND I AM SATISFIED WITH THE QUICK PERFORMANCE- GOING TO USE INT. BROKER BECAUSE OF THEIR FEE;S- TRYING TO TAKE A MINIMUM PROFIT ON AS MANY STOCKS AS I CAN A DAY- USING 25000- TODAY IT HAS ALREADY SOLD 115 WORTH AND POTENTIAL TO MAKE ANOTHER 100- WE WILL SEE AT THE END OF THE DAY- NOT SURE WHY IT SOLD THIS EARLY- YESTERDAY IT DID NOT TAKE THE MIN. PROFITS- HAD 3 STOCKS IT SHOULD HAVE SOLD ??? SIMULATION IS GOOD FOR THE PRACTICE- GOOD LUCK

    Stock splits in simulated trading
    I was showing some prospects the great profits shorting QID until it had a reverse split 1:4 in the simulating mode. After the split it instead showed large unrealized losses and I could not edit the price by multiplying it by 4. All of the prior gains needed to be removed when I had to refresh the strategy and delete all of the profits made previously by shorting the QID, SPXU, SH, and especially the VXX. We need a way to make adjustments to the stock entry price after a stock split when in the simulated mode. This is not a problem when in live trading.

    system closes out trades randomly
    i have been attempting to use cooltrade in Australia now for nearly 8 months and cannot string a few weeks together without this system failing in one way or another . My main concern isthat the system randomly sells stock for no apparent reason then reprices them and buys them back . It also sells stock that might have only gone up a few dollars and then buys it back minutes later . I am not looking for a cure for these problems because cooltrader support has been trying for months now without success although they dont really think they have a problem . This system does not work in Australia even though they say it does . Like i say im not looking for a cure im just tired of being dicked around by cooltrade and there ckunky outdated system .

    system closes out trades randomly
    i have been attempting to use cooltrade in Australia now for nearly 8 months and cannot string a few weeks together without this system failing in one way or another . My main concern isthat the system randomly sells stock for no apparent reason then reprices them and buys them back . It also sells stock that might have only gone up a few dollars and then buys it back minutes later . I am not looking for a cure for these problems because cooltrader support has been trying for months now without success although they dont really think they have a problem . This system does not work in Australia even though they say it does . Like i say im not looking for a cure im just tired of being dicked around by cooltrade and there ckunky outdated system .

    That was a occassionally happening with one of my traders last year and I switched to a high speed cable connection and it disappeared.

    Jerry, I changed brokers from ib to MB Trading and the problem went away so it appeared to me to be a problem with the linkage between the ct software and ib that was provided by ib (twsapi).

    MB Trading has accounts in many countries but I don’t know if mb trading works in Australia. Might be worth a try.

    Hedge

    Hi guys thanks for your input but in reply to you suggestions i can only trade with IB in australia because there is no one else . i have my system set up to high speed broadband connected by cable so i seem to have all the bases covered . This selling of stocks does not happen all the time but every month it will go into sell of mode but usally only some of my stocks . When the system is functioning normally it does many succesful trades . I could also imagine if i was running strategies that i had messed with but im simply running Dow 30 long and Dow 30 short . The beef i have with CT is the time it takes for them to respond and when they do they tell me the same things over and over again and it makes no difference . If it cant be fixed then i accept that but i would like my money back and the money i have lost through random selling of shares and i will walk away .I would like to know if there are other people experiencing the same thing as i cant imagine i am the only one . Kind regards Chris

    This link on the MB Trading site shows they can open accounts in Australia.

    www.mbtrading.com/stocksAccountRequirements.aspx

    Changing brokers can be a solution (albeit an extreme one) for US residents and others in certain countries, but for many countries IB is the only option. Not to mention the fact that it doesn’t address the primary problem which is the error handling in the CTP software after a position has been opened. Disconnections with IB or CTP crashes may be unavoidable, but trades that have had their original opening price corrupted should be avoidable. If the open price info is written to a file it should be unaffected by a CTP/TWSAPI crash or internet disconnection. The original open trade pricing info should remain unchanged (at least that’s how the CTP software should be written) after a disruption in CTP/IB operation. No trades should close at a loss because the original open price was incorrectly changed by CTP. I have used a couple of different trading platforms using IB as the data feed and although occasional disconnections do occur from time to time, once the connection was re-established re-synch always happens without additional problems being caused.

    Below is a description of the process another auto trader follows when there is a connection problem between the auto trader and the data feed:

    "When an event like this occurs, [auto trader] makes a continuous attempt to reestablish connection with the trading server, every 10 seconds, until it does reconnect. Then, it reconciles all trades and all orders, making sure that it is in fact in sync with the broker account... and, just in a rare case when the sync is off, the [auto trader] Account Monitoring kicks in -- alerting our staff to the problem, which we will then fix."

    While it’s possible to disable CTP from restarting on an unscheduled exit, thereby allowing you to check your open position values after manually restarting CTP, that requires you to be monitoring the auto trader intraday to check for disconnects. That’s OK for some people, but presumably the majority of users purchased the auto trader because they can’t be in front of a trading screen during regular trading hours. So having reliable error handling between the broker data feed and CTP is absolutely critical.

    How about an email when the trader restarts
    My trader stopped working today at 1.
    I did not notice until 2 (after 15 restart attempts)

    A recommendation:
    It may be a good idea to have the watchdog send an email when it has to restart.
    This could be similar to the cooltrader’s option to send you an email whenever it makes a trade.

    Furthermore, I have noticed that when it abruptly stops, and when I restart it in the middle of the trading day, it logs several of my open positions as closed (at the market price) and then resets the purchase price to that market price (a net/net 0 P/L). The problem is that I might have originally bought the stock days ago, at a different price, but now Cooltrader sees it at the new "bought" price for that same lot. In more than one instance, because of this, it has traded what it thought was for a profit, only to see in my brokerage that it was really for a loss!
    Please anyone help on this matter, this is very disconcerting. Do I need to have the "Halt Trading Upon Startup" box checked or unchecked? Also the "Close your brokers application upon program exit" box. What is suggested for these 2 boxes?

    Current Account Value Does not seem accurate
    $50K account. Made $738 in profit according to the closed trades report. Brokers fees to achieve that profit was $100 so net gain is $638. Net P&L from dashboard is -$413. So I would expect the current account value to be $50K pus the difference between the net gain and the net P&L, 50000 + 638 - 413 = $50,225 but it is not. Current account value from the dashboard is showing $49,962, roughly a $250 difference. What am I missing here? Shouldn’t those calculations match? Even if the software was taking into account the transaction fees to sell all my open positions it would only be another $30 say....

    I’m ahead in what I’ve made over the drop in open positions but why won’t it show that?

    Account is live using IB.

    Appreciate and answer. Thanks

    OK so i believe i have this sorted, so just to provide the feedback in case someone else finds the same issue.

    I had not been made aware of LIFO (Last In First Out) when i started trading live so for the first 2 weeks i was seeing a large difference between the CT reports, the IB statements and my current account value. Turns out that IB is set to FIFO (First In First Out) by default.

    LIFO is how CT is designed to work and that is what it’s reports represent - last stock bought (lowest price) is the first one sold (when the price increases). You can present this in the opposite fashion in IB for taxation purposes. The total profit amount will eventually be the same but until the first share lot is sold it can get rather confusing to see where you are at. Best to change the reporting in IB to LIFO so it matches CT reports.

    In order to change the setting in IB you go to account management - reports - tax - tax optimiser and after the little java application is running you can change the default setting at the top to LIFO instead of FIFO - and remember to save. It will take a while to get all the numbers jiving again (with CT reports) as it needs to sell all the current positions. You then should find that the CT reports are fairly close to the reality in your broker account.

    CT shutdown/restart and reporting glitch
    I’ve noticed that sometimes in the middle of the trading day, CT will shut down. Fair enough, but upon restart what happens is that some stocks will show up in the "closed" transaction report for the day with a zero P/L (same buy/sold price). What I’ve noticed is that the original buy/entry price is then changed to that new (false) transaction price. Checking with my broker, this zero P/L "glitch" trade never happened, and they did not charge me for it. BUT, in CT, the recorded entry price is now the new/false price and several of my "profitable" trades actually closed out for losses (because of the change in the entry price). Has ANYONE ever seen this happen? This is a big problem. What can I do!?

    I’ve not seen this happen myself, but the few times that others have mentioned it, it was always with IB. I suspect the crash is happening in thier API. since I cannot repeat the problem I can’t test it. I can only suggest either trying another broker. I like MB a lot and no problems with them. or go to the ib website and see if there is another TWSAPI that you can install.

    That happened two days ago to me on ver 7.5.50. IB reported the trade, but CoolTrade said it was a break-even $0 trade. It wasn’t.

    In addition, on a different recent day, CTP completely missed logging a trade. There was just no record of the position close at all, but the position was not listed as open--it was just GONE.

    So now the CTP report has two discrepancies that I cannot fix. That’s why I do not trust the CTP reports at all, and go to the IB website for accurate numbers. Can’t even trust IB’s TWC (TraderWorkStation), as it always uses Average Cost when making a Realized P/L calculation--which is OK for a single lot/position, but is always off if you are holding more than one lot in a symbol (short or long). TWC should use LIFO, not Average Cost, or at least let you make a choice.

    Send the details in email to CT support. I have the reporting problem also and sent details and they are currently working on the problem. I’m sure the would appreciate more info.

    Going live question
    I want to go live & Ive been simulating for 3 months.. Is all I have to do is click from the simulation mode to live trading(& refresh my strategy-which is sma swingtrade long) Is there anything else I have to do? Im using Interactive Brokers.
    thank you
    PS I’ve head that short strategies are complicated and aren’t recommended which is why Im using only the long.

    Nice. that is wise to wait until you are confident about the strategy.

    You don’t have to refresh the strategy as the software/database keeps the live and simulated trades separated.

    All you should have to do is change the login from simulate to live.

    Enlightened

    Ok thanks Enlightened for the fast response. Yeah, its doing really well so far. What about a short strategy? Ive heard it isn’t recommended unless you know what you’re doing.

    Do you know of anyone else that likes the sma swingtrade strategy? Has anyone used it live? Im curious how its doing for them live. thanks.

    I don’t like shorting because there is too much upside risk.
    As opposed to going long where there is only a finite amount that the stock can go down.

    Enlightened

    Do you know of anyone else that likes the sma swingtrade strategy? Has anyone used it live? Im curious how its doing for them live. thanks.

    Ok thanks Enlightened. That’s a good point. May I ask what strategy you’re currently using?

    Help, my Interactrive Broker totals dont match the Cool trade report totals.
    I went live yesterday & I had a good day with the sma swingtrade long strategy & it said on the report that I closed 3 trades for a total of $182 but when I checked them on IB it said the 3 trades only totaled $94. Why is this? That is a big difference! I also have 2 open positions. Please advise. Thank you.

    The reports are to give you a ballpark sample of what your simulated strategy will do. Once you go live you should be going by the broker reports only.

    If you look at the open/close prices in the report you can compare them to the broker logged prices and see what caused the discrepancy.

    Hedge

    ok thanks Hedge, I’ll do that The IB iste must be currently down now as Im having trouble logging on.. Do you usually have discreprences this big? What broker do you use btw if you dont mind me asking. Thanks.

    I have accounts with TD, MB, and IB.
    IB has the best fees for 100 and 200 share lots. But are the hardest to use and have the largest discrency. However, I don’t use the CT reports with my live accounts as there is no need. There is so much slippage in the market prices so as long as my strategies are very profitable that is all that matters. It would be more of a problem if I was just trying to make a couple pennys per trade but my profit goals are much higher.

    For 1000 share lots I like TD and MB better.

    Hedge

    Sounds like a FIFO LIFO issue. Be sure that under account management in IB under records - tax - tax optimiser that the default is set to LIFO as this reflects what the CT report represents.

    Thanks Longdale, it was set to fifo so I changed it to Lifo. What exactly will that do? I noticed that my trades are more accurate now (even before I changed this setting) & that all the trades close on IB the same as what they say on the CTP report. It was just that 1 stock that was bought at a higher price on IB than it said on CTP but the closing prices are the same for both. So will chinging this setting help with that? thanks...

    IMO changing to LIFO will make the ct reports match the ib reports but will also show all of the gains on their consolidated report for the profitable trades. I prefer to keep ib on fifo so they show losses on that report until my overall account has gone positive.

    Help, My IB account says I dont have enough funds to trade.
    Im trading live and when I got home to see how it did it didn’t trade anything new. It said on the account activity "order cancelled order rejected, cash available settled cash, cash needed for this order and other pending orders". I have 2 pending orders worth around $2500. When I checked on Interactive Brokers it said that I only have a little over $700 available to trade but my cash is over $7000. Why is it saying that and how can I move that cash over to make it available to trade?

    I think Ive figured it out. I have a cash account & my money is tied up for 3 days. I need to change that to a margin account right? Everyone who trades with cooltrade has a margin account don’t they?

    IB is the only broker that actually has an IRA-MARGIN account.
    It doesn’t mean you can trade more than what the cash balance allows.
    But it frees up the money after each trade so you can trade over and over again without having to wait T+3 days that is normally required with a cash account.

    Hedge

    Data feed for index values not showing up till late
    Hi, I have a strategy that would work great first thing in the morning when the markets open, but it doesn’t work a lot of the time. The reason is a trade will only be executed if the Dow/Nas/SnP are in positive territory. The reason it’s not working is the data feed for the indexes (the checkerboard green/red boxes at the top of the CoolTrade screen) is always showing 0. This shows 0 for five, ten, fifteen minutes or more, and by then the markets have moved too much for my strategy to be effective.
    I’m using TD Ameritrade as my broker, and have always used the latest software. Anyone else have this problem????
    Thanks
    Mark

    strategy
    I’m new and apparently I messed up and eliminated my strategy so I need to reset it so I can get back in the simulation game. When I try to click on anything it just reloads the cool trader program. Ideas? Thank you.

    I don’t understand.
    There are 2 programs. The automated trader and the strategy wizard and they both have separate shortcut / icons on your desktop.

    If you click on the shortcut / icon to launch the strategy wizard it loads the automated trader?

    I can only suggest right-clicking on the icon and make sure the one you are running has "nswizard.exe"

    enlightened

    Help all my trades were cancelled
    Im using the SMA swingtrage stratagy long with a 10,300 account on Interactive Brokers and I just switched to a margin account so my funds were all back in my account today & I thought it would trade instead all my buy orderes were cancelled saying "Order Cancelled: HDS Order rejected - reason:Potential Pattern Day Trade". So do I need $25,000 in my acct to trade with this strategy(or any strategy for that matter on IB with Cool trade)? Im so frustrated right now. Please advise as I would like to trade asap.........
    thank you,
    Pete

    Those cancellation messages indicate that they re coming from the broker.
    You must have made manual trades at the broker in the last 5 days, othrewise the automated trader would have prevented the orders from even going to the broker. Within 5 days the daytrades you made will clear out and you will then be able to do 3 round trips in a trailing 5 day period.

    The SEC rule is that if you have under $25,000 in your account you can only execute 3 round-trip trades in a 5 day period.

    Note you could open 10 stocks today and close them all tomorrow and you will not have executed a single round-trip trade since the closes executed on a different day. But if you want to make a bunch of intraday opens and closes of the same stocks then you will need $25,000 in your account.

    Enlightened

    help I need to use a new strategy. My IB acct was suspended for 5 days
    Hi, my sma swingtrade strategyopened & closed 3 positions last Friday but since they were day trades & my dollar amount for my acct. is only $10,500 my account was suspended 5 days. I don’t have the $ to increase it to $25,000. What strategy is good that doesn’t day trade for my account size? Is there anything that does a good return? Any input would be appreciated.
    take care,
    Pete
    PS Ive simulated the $2 and under but didn’t like it. It did well closing positions but It didn’t have any stop losses and one of my stocks was down over $500 for the 2 months I simulated plus it could day trade too on a volitale day like the swingtrade. thanks.

    Does anyone know how to change the "day trades left" setting on the automated trader?
    Hi, I really need to change the "day trades left" setting (at the top middle of the screen under the "toggle screen" icon) on the trader from 3 to 2. I’ve clicked on everything and cant figure out where it is to change it.If anyone knows how to do this Id really appreciate it.
    thanks,
    Pete

    That should be fully automated.
    If you open a position today and close it on the same day then it should go down by one.

    Hi Jerry, right it is fully automated but I want to change the # from 3 to 2. Do you know how to do that? Thanks.

    Basically, you are saying that you want to reserve 1 round-trip trade for yourself to do a maual trade (if necessary), instead of letting the system use all 3 of the allowed round-trip trades. So the system will stop doing round-trip trades after 2 instead of 3.

    On the Preferences screen in the automated trader you can set STOP DOING ROUND TRIP TRADES WHEN DAY TRADES REMAINING IS LESS THAN 2.
    That means it will stop automatically executing round-trip trades after it has done 2 and 1 will be left unused.

    Hedge

    E-Mail to Cool Trade Customer Support
    Hi guys and gals, I’ve been using CoolTrade for about five years now and recently I’ve noticed when I send an e-mail to CoolTrade Customer Support, they never respond anymore?
    In years past I would always get a response, but for well over a year now I dont?
    Have any of you had this same problem?
    I know it’s not an automated trader discussion, but this is as general a thread I see in here.
    thanks
    Mark

    Mark, I think I have been with CT for about as long as you. I don’t have many tech questions myself but when I see a question posted on these boards that I don’t know I email the question to technical support @ cool-trade.com and then post their answer here. I can honestly say that I cannot recall ever having a single question go unanswered, let alone a whole years worth of unanswered questions.

    Perhaps you have a question the board members can help with?

    Enlightened

    Thanks ei
    As you may have noticed, I started posting questions here, in the forum now.
    But in years past, CoolTrade would also chime in to this forum with answers to forum questions, I don’t even see that anymore.
    Its like they did away with the Customer Support all together?
    Maybe they are short staffed or something?
    Maybe you can send a random question to them and see if they still answer you?
    Thanks
    Mark

    Block new buys
    I would like to see the ability to STOP/BLOCK the further BUY orders for a specific stock. Right now, adding a stock symbol into the BLOCK box, stops all activity, including a SELL, and also removes that stock from the CTP display.

    Among other possible reasons, if I want to change to a new strategy, or simply stop operations with a particular stock, I need to be able to prevent future BUY orders on a selected stock.

    Thank you.
    Regards,
    Todd

    One crude workaround to block further buys on an existing symbol is to trade (temporarily or permanently) from a custom watch list of symbols rather than letting CTP continuously use the watch list tab. You can transfer the symbols initially created by the watch list into a custom watch list and then trade from the custom watch list. Then at any point you can add or remove any symbols as desired. This would allow you to block additional positions added for any given symbol by removing it from your custom watch list while at the same time still allowing you to close open positions on a symbol to be based on the rules used in your Exit Trade Rules tab and/or Profit Requirements tabs.

    But that’s a short term band-aid fix. Ultimately what would really improve the portfolio management aspect of the software would be to support the ability to apply global rules to a group of symbols on a watch list or open positions and symbol-specific rules as well. For example if you could add a rule such as IBM < 185 in the Open New Positions tab or Add to Positions tab while also applying a global set of rules to the other symbols in a watch list, then you’d have far more control over the number of positions you hold in any given symbol and the conditions over which any symbol is acquired. This refinement could help reduce the amount of inventory held (or holding time) on a basket of symbols by allowing more selective buying and short selling.

    I would add to this a slightly different, but similar request. I would like to see a switch or button that when selected would prevent all further open positions. This would allow the trader to finish closing open positions when conditions are met, but not open anything new.

    Would be nice and clean and more specific than "use my portfolio only" with an empty portfolio.

    I was very surprised that Cool Trade does not have the ability to help you exit a single stock in your portfolio. At the moment the only option seems to be to put it in your blocked list and then sell it manually. The ability to stop buying further positions but at the same time being able to have the program slowly sell off existing shares would be a valuable tool.

    Regards
    Steve

    I agree completely with this request (other than it should be "Block new Opens to accommodate short positions). I just raised this issue at a Saturday Q&A before I discovered it written up here. I found that the work-around’s were both clumsy, error prone, non-automatic, and using the potential solution of modifying the strategy, potentially disruptive.


    Should something be implemented it should also include the ability to:
    1. release any reserved funds (actually all of them for this symbol as no more Opening trades would be done.
    2. specify that the entire position be closed once the break-even point (the average price of all of the stocks owned) and even better be able to specify a profit amount above the average price.

    I agree completely with this request (other than it should be "Block new Opens to accommodate short positions). I just raised this issue at a Saturday Q&A before I discovered it written up here. I found that the work-around’s were both clumsy, error prone, non-automatic, and using the potential solution of modifying the strategy, potentially disruptive.


    Should something be implemented it should also include the ability to:
    1. release any reserved funds (actually all of them for this symbol as no more Opening trades would be done.
    2. specify that the entire position be closed once the break-even point (the average price of all of the stocks owned) and even better be able to specify a profit amount above the average price.

    I agree completely with this request (other than it should be "Block new Opens to accommodate short positions). I just raised this issue at a Saturday Q&A before I discovered it written up here. I found that the work-around’s were both clumsy, error prone, non-automatic, and using the potential solution of modifying the strategy, potentially disruptive.


    Should something be implemented it should also include the ability to:
    1. release any reserved funds (actually all of them for this symbol as no more Opening trades would be done.
    2. specify that the entire position be closed once the break-even point (the average price of all of the stocks owned) and even better be able to specify a profit amount above the average price.

    I agree completely with this request (other than it should be "Block new Opens to accommodate short positions). I just raised this issue at a Saturday Q&A before I discovered it written up here. I found that the work-around’s were both clumsy, error prone, non-automatic, and using the potential solution of modifying the strategy, potentially disruptive.


    Should something be implemented it should also include the ability to:
    1. release any reserved funds (actually all of them for this symbol as no more Opening trades would be done.
    2. specify that the entire position be closed once the break-even point (the average price of all of the stocks owned) and even better be able to specify a profit amount above the average price.

    I too would like to see the ability to stop adding to open positions without having to block the symbol and subsequently it being removed from the trader completely.

    I too would like to see the ability to stop adding to open positions without having to block the symbol and subsequently it being removed from the trader completely.

    Data Discrepancy
    I’ve encountered an event that seems to be a gross discrepancy between CoolTrade symbol data and actual data available from my stock broker research (TDAmeritrade). My strategy has watch list rules that require all members to have an RSI(14) of less than 28. My open position rules (3 in total) indicate that the stock must be below its SMA(200, 50 & 20 day) among other additional rules. Despite both metrics, one symbol got by and was ultimately purchased. When I look at the "Rules" area for that symbol, I see that CoolTrade believes that all of these are true, reporting an RSI(14) of less than 13, however, when I look at this on TDAmeritrade, the RSI(14) is actually an eye popping 64. I would never want to enter into a position with that high of an RSI(14).

    Does anyone else have similar situations where there is a huge difference in the CoolTrade data and actual market data? For reference, the symbol in question is ITC.

    Thanks.

    -John

    I think the ITC 3-1 stock split this month threw off the CT numbers.
    I just sent email to tech support and they said it will be correct this evening.

    Thanks for the assistance in understanding that and contacting support about it. Luckily, I was able to manually sell out of the position with only a very small transaction loss of just a few dollars.

    Unfortunately, this trend continues today with CoolTrade opening new positions that it should not based upon the data being incorrect. What can we do to make the data the decisions are based upon more accurate?

    Rules:

    RSI(14) less than 28 (Used in to make watch list)

    Current Price: (Used when opening new position)
    At least 4% less than SMA(200)
    At least 2.5% less than SMA(50)
    At least 2.5% less than SMA(20)

    It opened new positions on these today:
    WLK
    RSI(14): 63
    Above all three SMA rules

    CTSH
    RSI(14): 57
    Above all three SMA rules

    OTEX:
    RSI(14): 37
    Above SMA(200) line

    In all of your examples you referenced that the RSI (14) < SMA( ) in your open position rules. However, none of your rules (watchlist or open positions rules) compare the rsi to the sma.

    Since the EOD indicators do not change during the day, the rsi / sma check should be in the watch list rules.

    WATCHLIST RULES:

    RSI(14) less than 28
    RSI(14) less than SMA(200)
    RSI(14) less than SMA(50)
    RSI(14) less than SMA(20)

    RSI and SMA cannot be compared. They are like apples and oranges. What I’m seeing is that when a stock splits, the Cooltrade data gets skewed and is no longer accurate. The intent of my rule set is to "buy on the dips". To find those dips, the RSI(14) needs to be less than 28 and the stock trading below its 20, 50 & 200 day SMA metrics. I’m going to have to vet the data manually that comes up in the watch list each day to remove those that have recently split as the data will be completely unreliable. Now, if there was no recent split, Cooltrade does a fabulous job of finding those and gets me in to nice profitable positions.

    -John

    So, this is starting to get pretty crazy. On top of the splits causing data to be completely inaccurate, I was forced out of a position, solidifying my long paper losses on a rising security, when another end-of-day indicator was wrong. On all of my trades, I enter with the rule that the security must be at least 50% owned by institutions. I have a universal exit on all trades that if the institutional ownership falls below 25%, CoolTrade is to sell immediately. Today, QSII was dropped on opening as CoolTrade was led to believe that it has 0.00% institutional ownership. In checking with TD Ameritrade, it actually has 65.34% institutional ownership. How exactly are we supposed to make strategies that are effective if the underlying data from CoolTrade has so many pot holes in it causing poor decisions to be made?

    Ignoring Funds Available
    I have 9,460 account value, Funds Allocated 19,731, and Funds available -10,294. If I don’t have margin set (allowed), why am I buying with more money than I have?

    Make sure "reserve enough funds to purchase max shares in strategy" is not checked at the bottom of the Preferences screen. If it is, the system allocates a lot more funds than are actually used.

    Hedge

    exiting a strategy
    I am looking to exit my current strategy and would like to let the positions that I hold sell as the market moves, without opening any new strategies so that when they have all sold, I will then open a new strategy. Ideally, at this time I do not want to manually sell because some of the positions are down and I want to wait until they move into the positive.
    My question(s): How do I stop the strategy from opening new positions while continuing to trade the current open positions? I recall seeing a place where I can do this, and at this time I am unable to find it. Does anyone have any positive or negative experience with exiting strategies they might like to share?

    Thank you,

    Aaron

    The easiest solution to stop the trader from opening new positions or adding to existing positions, is to create a rule that can never be true and put it in the open position rules and add to position rules.

    Example:

    Today’s current price is greater than 9999.

    If you do that, then you will continue to close positions but not open new positions or add to existing positions.

    Enlightened

    2:1 Margin
    So I am relatively new to stock trading and just went live about 45 days ago. That said I am considering using the 2:1 margin option. So my concerns are it may put us in a bind if there is a "margin call". My question is how often does a "margin call" happen? Is 2:1 margins a normal course of business in stock trading? By increasing my buying power with the added funds I am sure it will increase my earning ability but just a bit unsure in an area I have never been.

    Margin is double edged sword. It can increase your return on capital invested but it can also increase your overall risk. 2:1 margin simply means that brokerage firm will give you $1 dollar of line of credit for each dollar that you put in your investment account.

    So, as an example, if you put in $10,000 in the account, brokerage firm will allow you to buy up to $20,000 worth of stock. They will of course charge you interest on the money that you will borrow which varies from broker to broker so you should check with your firm. Margin call simply means that if your account values declines below a certain amount based on your equity. you will be called upon to deposit the difference to bring up the account balance. Or else broker will on its own discretion sell some stock to raise cash and reduce margin.

    You should know that you may be in a situation such as needing to deposit more money and see if you are prepared to handle it. Also, if you just invest $10,000 in this example, and your account is down $1,000 you will be down by 10% and if you are using margin and are fully invested, you will be down $2,000 or 20% on your initial capital of $10,000. Just double whatever you think your account could be down by and see if you can mentally and financially handle it.

    As to how often it happens, I think it would depend upon how often you expect your account value to dip below the required margin i.e. how aggressive a strategy that you are trading.

    I would check with your brokerage firm for cost of borrowing and rules. Hope this helps!

    Need help as the trader isnt opening any positions
    Im simulating someones modified dow long 50,000 & he is doing well with it but it wont open a position when I simulate with it. It says on all 7 postions ""rule 14, out of open time trade range 2:30pm" for all the open stocks at the bottom of the screen. It must think that I want to open a position after 2:30 but I cant see where or why on my times. I have over $25,0000 in my account too & again Im only simulating but It always says this.
    Getting very frustrating. Any suggestions?
    thank you.

    Make sure your computer clock is set to the correct time.

    Anyone using any of JIMOSTDIEK strategies?
    I’ve been running his $52,572 mret $9,407 strategy for two days and it hasn’t opened any positions? Anyone have any success with any of his strategies? I know that right now one of his strategies is one of the top user downloaded right now.

    Thanks,

    Scott

    Mouse focus in Security Login pop-up
    In the Trader, when you click on something that subsequently requests your CoolTrade password, such as:

    • *Personal menu item,
    • Preferences menu item, or
    • the Edit button within the Account Values section,

    ...a "Security Login" pop-up window appears, and prompts you to "Enter Your CoolTrade Password". But you cannot just type it.

    The mouse cursor focus should be changed to the password input field in any of these cases, but it doesn’t.

    Here’s what should happen:

      1. Click on the menu item or Edit button, see the Security Login" pop-up box.
      2. Type in your password and press Enter. Done.

    Here’s what really happens:

      1. Click on the menu item or Edit button, see the Security Login" pop-up box.
      2. Type in your password and press Enter.
      3. Realize it didn’t work, and try typing the password again.
      4. See it STILL doesn’t work.
      5. Move the mouse and click on the "Security Login" window.
      6. Type in your password and press Enter.
      7. Realize that didn’t work EITHER, and click in the unlabeled gray field while growling.
      8. Type in your password a third time and press Enter. Done. Finally. What was I doing again?


    So the Trader software already knows where it wants the password typed. You cannot do or click anything else, because the pop-up window is on top.

    Why must we have to acknowledge to the software that "Yes, we agree, that’s where the password should be typed" by pointlessly clicking in the box? Just put the cursor there. Make input easy. Thanks.

    Awaiting Trade Grid Updates.
    Cooltrader was didn’t open postion because the message was "Awaiting Trade Grid Updates" Does anyone know what this means and how to avoid this condition.

    Thanks,
    Yarajes

    The software constantly compares the positions in the active grids on the screen with the open positions and with the open positions at the broker. if the numbers do not add up then it displays that message. It usually means that the positions at the broker are not matching what the software believe the numbers should be.

    After it reconciles with the broker, that message should clear itself.

    Enlightened

    Subsequent purchase of stock
    I’m buying on drops with stocks in a channel, but not always in an uptrend.
    Because some are in a down-trend, I’m finding that any initial purchase will probably never become a profit simply because the stock will probably never return to the point where I bought it. Or will take so long that the opportunity loss is high.
    I want to be able to set CT so that ALL initial purchases are done with a minimum of shares, and subsequent purchases done on drops (in my case) are a multiple: e.g.: When I first purchase ABC, I purchase only 100 shares, but when I do the next purchase on a drop, I purchase, say, 500 shares.
    Then, if the stock doesn’t return to give me a profit on my initial purchase, the amount I sacrifice will be minimized to the initial 100 shares.
    I’m making this work by making all initial purchases start at 100 shares, then manually purchasing a higher number of shares on drops - effectively defeating most of the roboticism of the program.
    This seems to be a relatively simple issue to solve for a programmer. (said by a person who couldn’t program a toaster)

    You could just set the strategy to make the initial purchase with a greater (percentage) dip in the price, then you would want the first buy to be bigger and the same as additional buys and this should reduce the risk in the strategy.

    Also add:

    Current Bid Price is at least X percent less than Highest Price in last Y days.

    That way you are not opening positions at their high.

    You can play with the X and Y values in the Strategy Wizard until you have the Watch List where you want it. Also look at the charts so you get stocks at the bottom of their ranges instead of at the top.

    I learned this from Nick at Robotic Advisors.

    Enlightened

    Position Cost in Trader is different than in IB
    I noticed one position in my Trader (EXC) is showing and average cost per share at $37.59 while in IB the position is showing an average cost of $35.98 yet the account value for IB and the Trader agree to the whole dollar. All other positions agree to within a few pennies for both the Trader and IB. Anybody know why this might be happening?

    No telling what caused it but I would click on the symbol and select the EDIT ENTRY PRICE option and change it to match what is at the broker.

    I get a form1 labeled window but changes don’t stick. Is there a video out there that shows how to edit an entry price?

    from my Trader friends the answer is

    Below are instructions on how you can edit the entry prices on the unblocked symbols:

    • Click on the position you would like to change.

    • Make sure the position is highlighted, and the correct symbol shows up at the top of the menu box.

    • Click “Bought Price (Click to Edit)”.

    • Enter your password if required.

    • Change the entry price in the dropdown menu and click “Save”

    Uncollected funds, 270 cancelled trades
    My CTP software was busy today. It sold several positions and began purchasing others. Since IB (probably every broker) waits a couple of days for the funds to be collected there were not funds available to trade. Unfortunately, CTP only sees the account balance and not the "funds available for trading", it kept trying to open positions. I received 540 emails that were buys, then cancels, again and again.

    It would be great if CTP took into account uncollected funds. The field is available in the TWS window.

    RexP

    Hi Rex,

    Can you tell us, do you have a CASH account or MARGIN account?
    I believe MARGIN accounts do not need to wait 3 days to free up the funds.

    Enlightened

    Does this happen to everyone ?
    I have recently started running the Cool Trade system --- I am constantly running into troubles - Wanted to see how the others are doing with the system

    1) I am running it on an i5 3.3 g Hz desktop system with 8GB RAM - and cool trade is the only software running on the desktop. ----

    My internet is comcast blast 50 MBPS

    I see the system keeps hanging too many times -- the cpu usage is about 80 to 90% when this software is running.

    2) I am currently using an IB account -- if I have about 30 symbols in my watchlist - the software takes atleast 15 to 20 minutes to load the data for the symbols and finally get into the trading mode.

    The constant troubles and the time it takes to load the system is very discouraging --- For those currently running the software can you please tell me what configuration you use to run the system smoothly and any suggestions on getting it to work smoothly ???

    Hi
    I use dedicated pc’s for my traders. No email, web surfing, etc. I autostart them at 9:10 a.m. EST so them have plenty of time to load up the symbols completely before the 9:30 open. Hang in there. You will get it.

    opie

    No kidding. Newbie gets frustrated...Im one of them..thought I don’t have the constant failure. Several things to keep it clean:

  • Don’t do any virus live-monitoring
    Don’t set your IE to "proxy auto detect"
    Don’t run any other apps
    make suer firewall &/or your router firewall isn’t blocking 443/80 ports.
    and if you can afford use SSD hard disk...mine is a demon speed. Helps a lot.


  • how to see WHY a trade executed?
    Hi, I am running a new strategy in simulation mode and want to know which of my buy and sell rules is triggering a trade. I saw in the Community Forum mention of looking in the "TradeStatsLog" file within the Logs Folder in the Cool Trade Directory, but alas such a file does not exist in my Logs Folder - or anywhere - as I did a Search in Windows to find "TradeStatsLog."

    Assistance greatly appreciated!

    Go to the folder you installed cool trade --

    "C:\Program Files (x86)\CoolTrade Automated Trader\" -- in my case (mine is 64 bit)

    Then go to the folder -- \Logs\TradeStatsLog

    there you will find the files -- 1 per day named by the date -- "14-08-28"

    that file has the details of the trades and the rules....

    Thanks for your reply, tradesrch2000. However, my problem is that I do not have a "TradeStatsLog" folder within the "Logs" folder.

    Perhaps this is a technical problem; I will contact tech support

    How to Set Exit Bid-Ask Spread Rule When Exiting Profitable Position
    Hi there,

    I was wondering if anyone has experienced times when an open position reached its profit goal ("Y") only to have it sell below the profit goal because the Bid-Ask spread went really wide and hit the pullback amount.

    For example, let’s say CT purchased ABC company for me at $10.00. My profit goal is set at one dollar ($1.00) and my retracement or pullback amount is set at twenty-five cents ($0.25). Now let’s say ABC company has reached my profit goal of $11.00. It won’t exit the position unless it drops below $10.75. That is, CT won’t sell the position unless the Bid price hits $10.75.

    There have been times when the stock’s Bid-Ask spread becomes volatile and is wide as two cents to say twenty-five cents only to have my profitable position exit early. I say early because the stock price would go higher and I would miss out on that trend.

    My question is, is there a way to set in the Exit Strategy tab such that CT won’t sell the profitable position unless the Bid-Ask spread is tighter say two cents?

    Thanks!

    The only way I can think to do that is to set the exit rules on tab5 instead of tab6.
    I think an easier solution is to add these suggestion for cooltrade to add a feature on tab6 that you can check that says USE MAX ASK-BID SPREAD WHEN EXITING.

    Add that suggestion to the suggestion at the bottom of this community board in the feature suggestion section and they may add it quickly since it appears to be a powerful yet simple to program solution.

    CT not following rules
    It’s Wednesday at 10:50 here in Denver and I’m watching CT not buy stocks that it should. One of my requirements to buy a stock is that the 20 period EMA is greater than the 40 period EMA. CT is telling me it can’t buy FEYE because of this rule, but the stock chart shows the 20EMA is much greater than the 40EMA. What’s going on and how can this be fixed?

    The software goes by the data provided by the data feed (usually the broker).
    Click on the RULES button and it will show the exact values the software is seeing for those indicators.

    FXjerry, thanks for the quick reply. I’m unable to go back to the FEYE play because I modified a few things and reset for a new strategy. I opened the Rules tab for RH, a stock I’m playing today and I see that my two rules required to buy the stock are there so that’s good. I assume the "Profit Requirements" are not supposed to show up on the rules tab.

    CT bought RH around 10:30 this morning at $78.55 and shortly after the stock ran up over $80. The stock quickly came back down and none of the Profit Requirements protection kicked in, so all of my profit vanished.

    Is there an order that the selections on the Profit Requirements page follows? It seems that the "Pullback After...." takes precedence over "Start Profit Protection...." because the stock went all the way back to where I bought it. The Start Profit Protection selection states that a floating stop loss will kick in to protect any gains, but this didn’t happen. I set my Protection at .40, my Profit Goal of .50, my Pullback at $50.00. Any ideas why the stock fell all they way back to the buy price?

    The funny thing is, CT never should have bought RH because I have a Watch List rule stating the potential stock picks will be below $40.

    It sounds like a position got closed and then following the open position rules it got reopened even though it didn’t pass the watchlist rules.
    Since the position was already in your system it does not check the watch list rules to get there.

    To resolved this, just copy the Watch List rules to the Open Position Rules.
    That way when a position gets closed it will not just get opened again without passing the open position rules (which will not contain the same rules as the watch list rules).

    EI

    Advancing Positions
    Is anyone here using "Advancing Positions" in their strategy? If so how do you set it up?

    Thanks,

    Steve

    It is the same as declining preferences but adds additional shares when the stock price goes up. Works the same as declining preferences.

    I don’t do it but I know someone who is a day trader so he adds to a position while it is going up and closes the the whole position at the end of the day.

    Enlightened

    Odd execution - limit price / condition avail?
    Hello.

    Does anyone or can someone tell me if CT’s actual execution is different when using simulation vs. real live trades? What I have experienced so far is not so good. When I place 1,000 short orders...I can see that on level II view there are plenty bid at say $6.10 but maybe lower in size. There are bigger bids at $6.02, for example, and CT will pickup the lower bigger size....as in Market Order type. I don’t know...is it simply that when an order is submitted within the condition rules it just sell/buy whatever? There’s no waiting for say the best price? well, I guess would be nice to have a condition that will check for spread change limit. Anyone can tell me I this is acting differently in live trades? Thanks.

    Theres no such thing as BEST PRICE as no one knows if the lowest low has been reached. The DOW is now down 450 and it 4 hours for it to get that low.
    My long trader has been trading all day, buying on lows and selling for profits, but it did not buy at the lowest low or sell at the highest high.

    You can use the Intraday indicators to compare the most recently closed bar (offset = 0) with the previous bar (offset = 1).

    In Simulator mode, cooltrade fills at the worse price, so if you can make money in simulator mode then live mode gives better fills as the broker finds the best price.

    Enlightened

    Thanks Enlight.

    Short sell shows 0 shares sold weird P/L
    Look at this screen shot >

    Your Profit Protection value is too small. I think that was designed to protect .05 as soon as it hits the profit protection target price and then the trailing stop loss declines as the price goes higher. If you start with .06 then it will take you out quickly.

    I think for the profit protection to be of any value it needs to be set to at least .10 and the profit goal needs to be twice as much, like .20

    Had to sell a position manually
    but CT account didn’t update positions.
    jbw

    IB Msg: 162: Historical Market Data Service error
    Hi All,

    Anyone seen an error message such as the following:

    IB Msg: 162: Historical Market Data Service error message: No market data permissions for "........".

    CootTrade crashes after several attempts of trying to get past these errors.

    Since it is an IB error message. My guess would be that you may not have signed your IB data feed docs or have not signed up for their level I data.

    Enlightened

    execution of indicators
    execution of the indicators
    I am trying a very very simple strategy just to see something work correctly on the automatic trader platform using only one stock. I am using TD real time data feed. "All Intraday"

    SMA 5 on a 5 min chart = (5,5,0). When the SMA 5 now (5,5,0) is greater than the SMA 5 one 5 min bar ago (5,5,1) than Buy Long,,,, and conversely to Sell Long.

    Used another Indicator, ’Intraday MACD VALUE’ in the same way to confirm the trend.

    Buy SMA (5,5,0) >> SMA (5,5,1) - and- MacValue (x,x,x,5,0)> > MacValue (x,x,x,5,1) then buy!

    Sell SMA (5,5,0) << SMA (5,5,1) -and- MacValue (x,x,x,5,0) << MacValue (x,x,x,5,1) then sell !
    And use the same strategy in reverse for a SHORT strategy

    Rebooted autotrader for the new strategy and it took a long time for it to get the data and then finally bought the stock.

    Now,,,, my indicators are showing a Sell, ’ SMA & Mac’ lower than previous 5min bar. I would assume that it won’t verify the movement of that current bar until after the close of that current 5 min bar, then make the execution on the next 5 min bar. It didn’t execute untill the second 5 min bar ( 10 min later)... That last bar cost me more than the profit I had on the previous bar where I think it should have traded at. It shouldn’t take 10 minutes ( two 5min bars) after the indicators are finished to make the execution especially when you need to short the stock as soon as possible. You loose money not getting in on the short sooner.

    Anybody have any insight on how to make this strategy execute quicker???

    Thanks, dz

    Your looking at 5 X 5 minute bars = 25 minutes and then when you add the 1 offiset your adding another 5 minutes.

    Since it is just a moving average you want, try 25 one minute bars so you don’t have to wait for the whole 5 minute bar to close.

    Enlightened

    CT with IB and existing Symbols
    Just wondering if CT will automatically add and trade existing symbols already held in an IB account? I had already owned a few symbols in an IB account I want to link with CT and wonder if CT will automatically add and trade the existing symbols in my IB account?

    CoolTrade will automatically load positions held at the broker as long as the share is divisible by the share lot sizes specified in the strategy.

    So, if you are trading in 200 share lots and you have 200, 400, etc at the broker, then it will load. But if you have 300 shares at the broker it will not load and will actually freeze up your system because the CT software will think there is another 100 shares pending.

    Enlightened

    Intraday Close Problem
    I am attempting to include in my "Open New Positions Rules" the following:
    I want the current intraday close to be greater than all three previous 15 minute bar closes. I am writing the rules as follows:

    Intraday close (15,1,0) is greater than intraday close (15,1,1)
    Intraday close (15,1 0) is greater than intraday close (15,1,2)
    Intraday close (15,1,0) is greater than intraday close (15,1,3)

    When an order is filled, I am frustrated to discover that the exact opposite has occurred and that the current close is less than the previous three closes and I find myself in a short rather than a long position! What am I doing wrong here?

    I would include:

    CurrentAskPrice is greater than intraday close (15,1,1)
    CurrentAskPrice is greater than intraday close (15,1,2)
    CurrentAskPrice is greater than intraday close (15,1,3)

    Enlightened

    Yes, that works better. But I think part of my problem was that I inadvertently had two long strategies checked in the Wizard at the same time. Can that create a problem?

    You shouldn’t have been able to select 2 long strategies because when you select one long, any other long that is checked automatically unchecks.

    allow multiple strategies at same time
    Currently you can run a long and a short strategy at the same time. I would like to be able to be able
    to:
    1) change the Short strategy to a second LONG strategy.
    2) run a LONG live while running a second LONG strategy in test mode
    3) be able to run two strategies at once
    LONG and SHORT strategy both live (currently possible)
    two LONG Strategies both live or both test mode or mixed Live and Test mode
    two SHORT Strategies both live or both test mode or mixed Live and Test mode

    Correct me if I am wrong, but currently if you are running a LONG strategy live you can not
    at the same time run a different strategy in Test Mode. So, if you are actively trading and want
    to test a different strategy you must stop your active trading and go into a test mode. Normally
    you would want to test a strategy for at least a month to determine if it will perform as you are expecting. But that would mean you would have to be out of the market for a month while you are testing a new strategy. That doesn’t sound like a good thing.

    I would like to see Cool-Trade develop a strategy test mode that can be run concurrently with the Live Trading. Any one else in favor of this idea?

    Here’s a email reply I got from Eric:

    Correct me if I am wrong, but currently if you are running a LONG strategy live you can not
    at the same time run a different strategy in Test Mode. "eric - Correct"
    So, if you are actively trading and want
    to test a different strategy you must stop your active trading and go into a test mode Solution: purchase a second subscription - we have a large majority of our clients with 2 CT traders and with a price point of a little over $100 month this is the reason. Normally
    you would want to test a strategy for at least a month to determine if it will perform as you are expecting. But that would mean you would have to be out of the market for a month while you are testing a new strategy. That doesn&#146;t sound like a good thing.

    Is there a way to "back test" a strategy?
    "eric - You can pay for another service but usual backtesting does not include intraday information - CT does not offer a backtesting feature - see attached as well. Keep in mind all of the strategies you have access to are contributed from other users so you can use them as a template. See disclaimer below."

    Currently you can run a long and a short strategy at the same time. I would like to be able to be able
    to:
    1) change the Short strategy to a second LONG strategy Is this possible, if not why not?
    "eric -Yes - check your orientation videos you would just need to make the changes to your specifications."

    It would be wonderful if CT could create a web site what CT users go to back test a strategy. I would save a lot of time and help the CT user find the best strategy for his situation.

    ....Marty

    Innaccurate account values
    I started a new simulated strategy with a 30000 limit. No trades are made because the account values show negative values on the funds available and funds allocated. This is the first trading day since resetting the strategy. No stocks are in the account. New trades are blocked because of insufficient funds

    Just click PREFERENCES and reset the account value to what you want it to be and the funds available will reset.

    Rules Dropdown Change
    Currently when you click on a stock in your watch list and then click on the "Rules" dropdown, the values for the stock in question are displayed for the the current strategy. The changes I would like to see are:

    1) The conditions that are true are either high lighted or check so that it is easy it is easy to spot what conditions are true for that stock.

    2) From the rules window, I would like to be able change the stock symbol.

    how long to accept IB Margin Acct
    I just changed IB to Margin acct from Cash - do I have to wait 3 days for cash to be available for trading?

    as long as you are not using funds beyond your original cash, the margin account allows you the credit to open new positions immediately after closing a position without waiting the 3 days. Watch your "buying power" in your account. it will fluctuate as you utilize the margin in this manner.

    New User Questions
    Can someone here tell me what the column values in the "Positions" area of the CT platform mean?

    "Lmt Price"

    "Price To Go"

    "Change" value

    These are discussed Monday - Thursday during a company provided Training/Sales webinar from 2-3 pm EDT or the very effective Live Workshop on Saturday from Noon-2:00 pm EDT. You can also get this information at your convenience online at the

    These are discussed Monday - Thursday during a company provided Training/Sales webinar from 2-3 pm EDT or the very effective Live Workshop on Saturday from Noon-2:00 pm EDT. You can also get this information at your convenience online at the

    Lmt Price is the goal price based on what you set in the strategy wizard for profit.

    Price to go is the difference between the bid price and limit price.

    Change value is difference between bid price and entry price.

    Interactive Brokers Market Data
    Happy New Years everybody.

    If you’re like me, you might have noticed you needed to change your market data Friday Jan 2nd. I guess I thought it would automatically update but that wasn’t the case. I spoke with Technical Support at CoolTrade and IB and here is what you need to do:

    You will need to log into your IB account on the web and set your market data subscriptions.

    What you’ll need to subscribe for is:

    US Value Bundle - $10.00
    AMEX Equities - $1.50
    NASDAQ Equities - $1.50
    NYSE Equities - $1.50

    The Value bundle fee will be credited back each month if you have more than $50.00 in trade commissions.

    You can find the market data section on their website by logging into Account Management -> Manage Account -> Trade Configuration -> Market Data.


    Bob

    Interactive Brokers Market Data
    Happy New Years everybody.

    If you’re like me, you might have noticed you needed to change your market data Friday Jan 2nd. I guess I thought it would automatically update but that wasn’t the case. I spoke with Technical Support at CoolTrade and IB and here is what you need to do:

    You will need to log into your IB account on the web and set your market data subscriptions.

    What you’ll need to subscribe for is:

    US Value Bundle - $10.00
    AMEX Equities - $1.50
    NASDAQ Equities - $1.50
    NYSE Equities - $1.50

    The Value bundle fee will be credited back each month if you have more than $50.00 in trade commissions.

    You can find the market data section on their website by logging into Account Management -> Manage Account -> Trade Configuration -> Market Data.


    Bob

    I have a no-brainer question. So, what gave you the indication that you have to do this? You never said what led you down the path to conclude your ’market data’ is out of date.

    IB sent email to everyone last month indicating that the US Markets data bundle was going away and so everyone had to update their data feeds to the new data offerings.

    CT

    i am curious if market data subscription is required for dow30 type strategies where there are very little to no rules or indicators required. Since the broker already provides free delayed data i think it should be good enough for most Dow30 strategies with the main rule is adding on drops since these stocks don’t move in big swings.

    You need the realtime data, not delayed.
    Even the dow stocks can move a lot in 20 minutes.
    I certainly do not want my live traders using delayed data.

    Also the strategies may be called "dow" but you can put any symbol in there you want. I trade NEM and BAC.

    hedge

    Groups or Teams
    Are there any groups or teams which work together towards optimization of the autotrader?

    I would love to hear about them, their focus, and their experiences.

    Sold at loss, but put "Y" (2 yrs. experience)
    I’ve been testing different strategies for 2 years. Still do not feel comfortable to go live (unless monitored closely). I just started a new strategy (looking good generally) but it bought a position and sold it 6 min. later at a slight loss (which I see no reason for, and I have not experienced before) AND it also entered a "Y" that it reached the profit goal (of 10%).

    ? ? ? ? ? Anyone

    It also bought another issue at 13.86 then sold it later at a price of - it shows on the line at 13.88 (light gain) but entered a "P" and shows a gain of over 9%. The sale price it shows in the "Show trades" tab is 15.20 which would give the 9% but then in the "Report" it shows it was sold at a slight loss at 13.85

    Also this etf (NUGT) has not traded up to 15 since it dropped below 14 to where it was bought.

    eeeeoooouuuwww ?????


    I have been trying to attach a docx file with a screen shot of the CT, but it would not submit my post with it.

    (tho it may be - was difficult to see the numbers.)

    Have you updated your trader recently? I got a message on mine to update it the other day.

    I can’t see it reaching a 10% profit goal and selling for a loss unless I had a 10% pullback.

    Bob

    Right, this is really baffling, disturbing, esp. as those etfs moved up over 20% today.

    I am not certain, but think my system did update recently.

    This is an awesome, sophisticated tool, but I cannot find a strategy that does well and is safe. To be worth it, it should average at least 5% a month, otherwise better to pay other services (if you do not have the time to research yourself). Many of the tech guys were trading just the oil ETFs and doing OK (about 2%/mo.) but if they did not adjust it, they must be getting killed now. If you guys are on here, it would be nice to hear from you.

    Start Stop times
    I was tinkering with my strategy last night and this morning one of my stocks had a pretty nice run up and should have reached my goal, well... I know it reached my goal but it didn’t say Y and didn’t sell.

    It was my only symbol profitable today (GPRO) so I opened my strategy wizard - everything seemed correct. Then I figured it out. Somehow - no idea how - I changed the time to start closing positions. Normally mine would say 8:30am, but it said 11:30am.

    I guess if you aren’t in the window to close positions it isn’t going to acknowledge your profit goal.

    Bob

    Bug: Automated trader made purchases using an unselected strategy
    This morning when CoolTrade started, it made several purchases of 1000 shares of stocks. These stocks do not meet the criteria of the strategy that was selected before start-up, and the strategy is supposed to only purchase in chunks of 200 shares (not 1000). Luckily this occurred in Simulation Mode. But this is a huge issue if this can occur.

    The stocks appear to be stocks that would match a previously used strategy, but I haven’t been simulating that strategy for over a week.

    Jared,

    I apologize for the inconvenience. It appears that when you updated your software, the strategy files did not get updated. I will have your old strategy moved over immediately.

    Ed

    When did position open?
    Other than the "Show Trades" tab, where does it show when a position opened that is currently open?

    If a position is currently open, select Reports from the top row menu items in the cooltrader and run an open positions report. If it’s a position that has since closed, run a closed positions report and it will show you the date/time of both the open and the close. There are some general date settings like today, this week, month, or year. You can also tell it a specific date range for the report.

    Bob

    new greater than less than options
    I would like to see two new options in the greater than/less than area. 1) not more than. 2) not less than. IE; todays lowest price is not more than 5 percent greater than the 20 day SMA. This allows me to prevent stocks which have had a 8 or greater dollar jump in price to be in the buy list. often a stock with a large gap in price will reverse and become a looser. it often needs a couple days to settle out before I would want the system to buy it.

    CT auto trader does not trade
    I have run in sim mode for about 2 months and had settles on a strategy that seems workable to me.

    I went live this morning after several struggles with the recent upgrade. I had some open trades in my live account which CT found and showed on screen just fine.

    After a few minutes it closed a position for reason 5 stop loss triggered. Except CT now shows the trade still open and when you click on the symbol that should have closed there are only two options left. Reset exit phase to 1, which doesn’t seem to do anything. And close this menu to update chart, which works.

    I checked my TDA account and sure enough, the trade is still an open position.

    Next, I have my strategy set to not open any new or add to positions. I must click on the symbol and click on Buy Long or Sell Short to open a new position. I made two purchases from the watchlist which sounded the bell and added a note to todays trades window.

    Again I checked my TDA account and no new trades had been opened.

    Am I doing something wrong?

    CT clearly has access to my account as it found my open positions. But so far this access appears to be read only...

    I agree. If the software is logged into the broker then the trade should go through.

    My first instinct when things like that happen is to think that Windows memory has an issue. Therefore I click FILE->CHECKDSK/REPAIR and then reboot Windows to let it do the checkdisk/repair.

    If that doesn’t resolve it then an email to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com is the best solution. Those guys are masters at resolving PC issues. Many issues they have seen over and over and already have a solution.

    Enlightened

    Profit Protection not activated
    My trader is set up to trade FB.

    My strategy is set with $0.15 profit protection.

    Yesterday 2 buy orders were filled at 77.47 and 77.43.
    Profit protection should have been established at 77.62 and 77.58 on these positions.

    This morning FB went to 77.75, but profit protection did not activate.
    There was a 3 minute window, from 9:34 - 9:36, when the price was above the PP values.

    Connectivity had this description at 9:35:
    ExecuteSP: SP_GetSectorStats [DBNETLIB][ConnectionWrite (send0).]General network error. Check your network documentation.

    Anyone know possible causes for the trader to not activate the PP?

    Thanks,
    Dennis

    Dennis, the PP function would put a "P" on the far right of the active position in the automated trader. I can’t imaging that part not happening.

    However, that alone does not cause the position to close. Close will only occur after the stock drops by at least the profit protection amount - .05 (in your case .15-.05=.10).

    Also remember PP is opmized for 1/2 of the profit goal amount.

    Enlightened

    Enlightened, thank you so much for taking your time to respond to my question. I appreciate the point regarding the optimization of the PP. I will adjust my strategy accordingly.

    FYI, the P did not show up in the Volume Reached column. I presume it had to do with the Connectivity as the price did drop all the way to 74.23 in less than 30 minutes.
    It did work like it was suppose to today. :)

    Wanted to make sure I understood how the PP is calculated. To make numbers easy, let’s say FB was bought at 77.45 and the PP is 0.15. FB climbs to a high of 77.75 and then drops back to 77.50. A "P" should show up at 77.60, correct?

    At what price would the trader execute a sell order as the price dropped?
    Would you please include your calculation in determining the sell order price.

    Thank you, Dennis

    Wanted to make sure I understood how the PP is calculated. To make numbers easy, let’s say FB was bought at 77.45 and the PP is 0.15. FB climbs to a high of 77.75 and then drops back to 77.50. A "P" should show up at 77.60, correct?

    BASED ON THE ABOVE TRADE, THE "P" WOULD SHOW UP AT 77.60.
    It’s hard to determine where the stock would sell on the drop because the floating trailing stop loss is a calculated correlation between the Pullback After Reaching Profit Goal and the distance between the current price and Profit Goal.

    The only thing that is certain is it will initially only protect .05 so the initial start stop loss price for the floating trailing stop loss would be .15 - .05 which is .10 below the 77.60. Therefore if the stock price went straight down it will close at 77.50. However, if the price went higher than 77.60 then the calculation for the floating trailing stop loss would kick in and close somewhere above 77.50 as the get out price ratchets higher as the stock price goes higher.

    I didn’t write the code so only Ed would be able to discuss the actual formula. However, I heard him say in a presentation that the computation was quite complicated.

    Hedge

    Enlightened/Hedge can you explain where the .05 is coming from. In your reply to Dennis you mention a formula (.15-.10=.05) How does the .05 factor into this.

    profit protection always looks to protect only .05 initially at the instant it hits the profit protection amount that you specify. then as the price goes higher it start protecting more and more of the gains. i.e. the hidden trailing stop loss that it generates shrinks the higher the price goes.

    Enlightened

    ReEntry Caluclation
    I presumed the ReEntry price would always be calculated off the latest sells price. That did not happen this morning, see below.

    This morning I was monitoring the trader on the FB strategy. It completed two successful trades. Hooray!

    However the ReEntry value remained the same. I thought it would change. Here are the details.

    The first trade was sold at 75.79 as shown on the Lmt Price. I then checked the drop down box for Rule Preventing Next Buy and it said ReEntry Price of 75.59. This is correct as the ReEntry is set at 20 cents.

    The second trade sold at 76.07, but the ReEntry still showed 75.59. I thought ReEntry would be 75.87.
    Does the trader not use the last sale to calculate the ReEntry?

    FB did drop down to 75.60, but it was not bought. Therefore, it must have been using the 75.59 ReEntry price.

    Thanks to anyone who can clear this up.

    Dennis

    HI Dennis, i don’t know either, but i would love to hear from someone who Does know as well !! i am puzzled about how reentry and declining preferences work together and posted a question today on that.

    Dennis you said (The second trade SOLD at 76.07).

    As I understand it the ReEntry Pullback feature affects when the next lot of stock is BOUGHT not SOLD.

    The ReEntry feature does not stop you from taking profits.

    CoolTrade Workshop on Saturdays
    Free Live Introductory and advanced workshop. CoolTrade is taking an extra step to educate our existing CoolTrade subscribers. Please no prospects. This is a live Q&A session where you ask the questions regarding portal software functionality.

    Time: 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time / 9:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific Standard Time

    You may register for this Saturday workshop, February 7th at:

    Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/783191953

    You can also see the full webinar schedule at

    CoolTrade Workshop on Saturdays
    CoolTrade Workshop on Saturdays

    Free Live Introductory and advanced workshop. CoolTrade is taking an extra step to educate our existing CoolTrade subscribers. Please no prospects. This is a live Q&A session where you ask the questions regarding portal software functionality.

    Time: 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time / 9:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific Standard Time

    You may register for this Saturday workshop, February 7th at:

    Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/783191953

    You can also see the full webinar schedule at

    re-occurring Error message
    anybody had an error message on watchdog " invalid picture" at opening i have many of these messages and they pop up often

    No. But I recommend you launch the Strategy Wizard first.
    Then kill the watchdog.exe with the Windows Task Manager and then
    click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOEPER VERSION in the Strategy Wizard to update your software.

    Hedge

    Mr. Rogers CT Tip of Week: CoolTradeUniversity
    Mr. Rogers CT Tip of Week: CoolTradeUniversity
    Did you know there is a an entire website for current CoolTrade subscribers that contains not only your portal software Orientation Videos but also Stock Market 101-105 videos including How To Build a Strategy and Adding Stocks To Your Strategy.

    View this easy to follow overview of what is available at

    Mr. Rogers CT Tip of Week: CoolTradeKB.com
    Mr. Rogers CT Tip of Week: CoolTradeKB.com
    Did you know that CoolTrade has an independent webpage that serves as an Easy Access page to our most frequently asked questions like ’how do I refresh for a new strategy’ or ’what if my computer is not launching CoolTrade in the morning - Task Scheduler isn’t working’?

    View the short 7 minute YouTube video highlighting the features of this very helpful webpage:

    Mr. Rogers Tip of the Week:

    Live account Trader orders not being filled
    Orders being placed by my trader are not being filled by TDAmeritrade in live account.
    Communication of type of order is being misconstrued.

    My trader placed 4 buy orders and one sell order this morning, none of which were filled by TD. Called TD and they found the orders but they were entered as Buy to close and Sell to close and were therefore not executed since there weren’t any open positions for the symbols.

    Does anyone know what I might try to correct this situation?

    I’m usually pretty good at answering most things, but a ordered not getting filled by TD is a new one for me. I’ve used TD for 9 years and don’t have that problem.

    Hedge, you’ve been around 7+ years too, have any ideas?

    I’m guessing trashed memory. My suggestion would be to click on the File menu in the automated trader and click on the CHKDSK option and then reboot your computer and let it the the chkdsk/repair.

    Then see if it continues to skip orders again.

    Enlightened

    Thanks Enlightened. I will give it a try.

    I completed the disk check/repair, but unfortunately my trader continues to place orders that are being rejected by TD.

    Talking with TD this morning they said the orders are coming in as Buy to Close, but since there aren’t any open positions to close, they are being rejected. The TD rep said the orders are not being coded properly.

    I have no idea how to change this coding or what to try.
    I did download the developer version over the weekend, but it didn’t solve the problem.

    Anyone have any ideas or who to talk to?

    I think I know what it is.

    Click on File->positions in the automated trader to see what positions the trader things are open. Enter those symbols in the BLOCKED list. Especially if you see any with a minus numbers.

    Once those are removed, you can unblock those symbols if you still want to trade them.

    After that they should go to the broker correctly.

    Hedge

    Thanks for the suggestion Hedge, but unfortunately none of the symbols were in the positions at broker window. Only symbols were my current active trades. There weren’t any with negative numbers.

    Again, thank you for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.

    Any other ideas anyone?

    Really baffling today. Trader placed 4 orders today.

    One to close a current position. Went through fine.
    One to open a new position on new symbol. Went through fine.

    One to open a new position on symbol purchased in past. Rejected by TD as it showed as a Buy to Close order and there were no open positions for this symbol.

    One to sell short BAC. Rejected by TD as it came through as a Sell to close and there weren’t any open positions.

    Go figure. Sometimes the orders process and sometimes not, even on the same day.

    Anybody else ever experience this?
    What did you do?

    I am new to trading, which on line broker is best
    I would like suggestions on your on line broker experiences to decide which one I should sign up with

    Thank you in advance for your feed back

    Bob



    Enlightened, saw your reply here in April 2015 wrt AutoShares as a broker. How have they performed for you since April?

    I am considering opening an account with them.

    Thanks!

    Any updates to this thread? Does anyone use TradeKing?

    Its April 2016, don’t open an account at Tradeking/MB Trading. You can’t get a data feed until the merger between the companies completes. Maybe by the end of the summer it will be working again.

    Subscription Renewal
    How do I get my subscription to automatically renew itself when it expires?
    How do I get the funds to renew my subscription to automatically be withdrawn from my checking account (like autopay)?

    We do not have automatic renewal at this time.
    Since the subscriptions are for one to three years, we send email reminders (with specials) for you to renew for multiple years.
    That way CoolTrade does not keep your credit card information and will never just charge a card without your knowledge.

    CT

    is there any way you guys can start doing that? or are you guys planning to do that at all in the future so I wouldn’t have worry about it too much? would you guys also accept payment through electronic check in the future?

    I paid for my subscription with an Echeck. I just sent email to customersupport@cool-trade.com and they sent me a custom screen that allowed me to fill in my check informaiton and then when the check cleared they sent me subscribe screen to complete the signup.

    RSI strategy usage problems
    When inserting a relative strength index value into my strategy Cool-trade inserts "dollars" after my inserted value. RSI is a dimensionless number and doesn’t have a dollar value,what gives?

    RSI strategy usage problems
    When inserting a relative strength index value into my strategy Cool-trade inserts "dollars" after my inserted value. RSI is a dimensionless number and doesn’t have a dollar value,what gives?

    I think the "Dollar" values are also used for the dimensionless values.

    That’s true. DOLLARS is just the same as VALUE.

    The only time you select PERCENT is if you want to compare one indicator from the left indicator list with an indicator in the right indicator list.

    Example:

    FROM LEFT LIST FROM RIGHT LIST
    Current Bid Price is 30 PERCENT above Yesterday’s Close Price

    Meaning of "Awaiting Trade Grid Updates"
    Does anyone know what this means "Awaiting Trade Grid Updates" when it shows up under the column Rule Preventing Next Trade on the dashboard?

    It means that an order was placed and it is awaiting the positions to show up from the broker. There’s no use submitting more orders to the broker if the responses are not coming back from the broker.

    Enlightened

    I have 2 traders, one live mode and the other in simulation.
    They are both running the same strategy with only a slight difference in profit expectations.
    The live trader is opening and closing positions.
    The simulated trader has gotten locked up with "awaiting trade grid updates" and missed several opportunities to trade.
    I am planning to go live with the current simulated trader next week.
    Should I be concerned about this situation or when it goes live is there less probability of this happening?

    Would appreciate any recommendations or experiences others have had.

    CT keeps crashing...Help
    Does anyone else have this problem? For the life of me, I cannot figure out what is going on. Here’s my config.

    Windows 7 (probably 2 months behind Hot Fixes...I don’t do unless I know I needed).
    •i7 quad core
    •8GB Ram
    •Hardwired to Comcast 100MB/20upload tested
    •MS Security Essential updated
    •Nothing else is installed besides the MS defaults + CoolTrade.
    •This is CT version 7.5.113


    See my screenshot error. This has been happened for sometime now at least 3 weeks now. Before that it had happen but less frequent.

    it’s either I’m missing something or this APP isn’t ready for Windows 7, buggy old code?

    ---------------
    Faulting application name: CoolTrade.exe, version: 7.5.0.113, time stamp: 0x5503b8ea
    Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.18247, time stamp: 0x521ea8e7
    Exception code: 0xc0150010
    Fault offset: 0x0008482b
    Faulting process id: 0xf5c
    Faulting application start time: 0x01d0688690dec4bc
    Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\CoolTrade Automated Trader\CoolTrade.exe
    Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
    Report Id: fc0bb228-d4a5-11e4-835b-001aa060a55f
    ------------

    It’s PC related. Doesn’t happen on my computers but I’ve seen it before and resolved it.

    1. Set your virtual memory to the maximum size, so that the current size = maximum size. Doing that is different on all Operating Systems but you should be able to google it or ask tech support to connect to your computer and do it.

    2. Don’t run StartCoolTrade.exe or StartWizard.exe.
    Instead run CoolTrade.exe and nsWizard.exe directly.

    3. Change the icon on CoolTrade.exe and nsWizard.exe to "Run as Administrator".

    I know it doesn’t sound like much but it makes a world of difference.

    Also a common error is if the broker is reporting more funds available than is actually allowed to be used for trading. This usually happens if you have an IRA account (and not an IRA MARGIN account) so the funds get frozen T+3.
    In that case the software will send orders to the broker that the broker will keep rejecting and the software will basically kill itself, many times, causing that message. Look at the trades on the top-right of the trader and see if that is what is happening. If so, either change the account to an IRA MARGIN account or put it in MANUAL mode for a few days since it can’t trade anyways.

    Enlightened

    CT keeps crashing...Help
    Does anyone else have this problem? For the life of me, I cannot figure out what is going on. Here’s my config.

    Windows 7 (probably 2 months behind Hot Fixes...I don’t do unless I know I needed).
    •i7 quad core
    •8GB Ram
    •Hardwired to Comcast 100MB/20upload tested
    •MS Security Essential updated
    •Nothing else is installed besides the MS defaults + CoolTrade.
    •This is CT version 7.5.113


    See my screenshot error. This has been happened for sometime now at least 3 weeks now. Before that it had happen but less frequent.

    it’s either I’m missing something or this APP isn’t ready for Windows 7, buggy old code?

    ---------------
    Faulting application name: CoolTrade.exe, version: 7.5.0.113, time stamp: 0x5503b8ea
    Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.18247, time stamp: 0x521ea8e7
    Exception code: 0xc0150010
    Fault offset: 0x0008482b
    Faulting process id: 0xf5c
    Faulting application start time: 0x01d0688690dec4bc
    Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\CoolTrade Automated Trader\CoolTrade.exe
    Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
    Report Id: fc0bb228-d4a5-11e4-835b-001aa060a55f
    ------------

    Trigger Trade at certain time of Day?
    Anyone know if poss. / and how to set a strategy to sell at a certain time of the day - like at about 15 minutes before close.

    Also to do this along with, and only if the issue is trading greater than the midpoint or higher than 50% or 70% up between the low and high for that day?

    Thanks.

    You can use the currentHour and currentMinute indicators to ensure the hour and minute are what you want and also use the Top 4/8 candle or Top 6/8 candle to ensure the price is above the 50% or 70% mid point. IF you are using these near the end of the trading day (1, 300, 0) would cover all but the first 30 minutes of the day.

    Enlightened

    Thanks,

    but now, there is "INTRADAY TOP 4/8 OR 5/8 OF CANDLE PRICE" - for the current day, but can we do that for "Yesterday" ? Is there a way to say, I want stocks that closed higher than 50% of their candle?

    Using Cool Trader
    My wife and I are retired. Approximately a year and 1/2 ago we were given a presentation on Cool Trader and decided to purchase it. Neither of us know much about the Stock Market. We have worked diligently to install it and to use a simple conservative strategy. We were advised to simulate until we were comfortable with what we were doing. In simulation, we are not making money! It is now over a year later, we are still in simulation mode and very anxious to put this program to work. Can anyone suggest what we should be doing to get things moving forward? Can you suggest firms that might help us?

    I have used this advisory for the last year and like their consistent returns even when the market has been all over the place. They also run my cooltrader every day. Ask for Cindy or O’Dell.

    Invest Smart USA, Inc.
    4835 E. Cactus Rd., Ste. 440
    Scottsdale, AZ 85254
    480-389-0111

    Another good choice is Robotic Trading Advisors www.roboticadvisors.com

    Demo big issues
    Weirdos stuff, no one can’t really explain...can almost give up...anyway...

    My account values keeps showing different numbers against what is actually traded. For example VGGL keep being shown as short sold over 20x even though clearly on the update table there’s only 1 x 1,000 shares traded. This is not a confidence for me to use in real money account. Crazy.

    Anyone seen this?

    This is what is under the "show trades"...non stop...and then my account value which was $30,000 become $868,355 !! WTF? in a loop?

    "TODAY’S TRADES]
    10:30 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:30 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.7000) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:29 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:29 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.6900) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:29 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:29 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.6900) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:29 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:29 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.7200) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:28 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:28 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.7300) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:28 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:28 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.7100) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:28 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:28 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.7100) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:27 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:27 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.7100) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:27 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7500) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:27 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.7000) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:27 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7500) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:27 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.7000) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:27 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7500) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:26 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.6700) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:26 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7500) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:26 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.6800) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:26 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7500) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:26 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.6800) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:26 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7500) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:26 Buy 1000 VGGL (2.6800) (Exit Reason: User Exit)
    10:25 Buy 1000 UEC (1.7500) (Exit Reason: User Exit)

    a whooping 333,000% gain...what a joke. This is after I rebooted. My $30K accnt value turned into $1 million...wouldn’t that be nice. a headache.




    Sharny. My guess is your computer memory is trashed or corrupted.
    I suggest you click the FILE menu in the automated trader and click on the option to do a CHECK DISK / REPAIR and then reboot your computer and let it do it.

    Enlightened

    phil
    I changed my strategy from max trades of 4 to 3. c.t. does not see the change what do I need to do? THANKS in advance. And by the way it sold off ticker alsk today for a 65.00 profit. I had change in the strategy max trades to a 3 last night and saved it. it shows 3 but still bought a 4th position help please.

    In most cases, when you make a change like that, you need to close and restart CT in order for it to take effect. Good Luck!
    J

    Recognize Trades rejected by Broker
    Recognize when a trade has been rejected by the broker and stop re-sending the trade after the first rejection. This happens with TD Ameritrade where the broker will reject the trade and CTP tries at least two more times to get the trade through.

    Know where there is no margin
    Recognize when the account doesn’t have margin privileges because it takes 3 days for a trade to settle and the money is then tied up. And can’t be used. CTP assumes the money is available as soon as a position is sold, which is not the case when margin is not enabled. Which is the case in this situation. That is why the trade is getting rejected. This is happening with TD Ameritrade.

    Not limiting funds allocation
    On 5-5-15 it shows that $7,747 funds are allocated. Yet right above that it shows the rule that says: “Regardless of account balance, Cooltrade should never utilize more than $5,000.

    So how is it that Cooltrade allocated $7,747? As you can see it now states that funds available is -$2,447.

    Why did Cooltrade allocate more than the $5,000 stated in the rule?
    The purpose of the rule is so that I limit how much of my funds is used for trading purposes. If this had been live I would have $2,447 more invested in stock than I wanted.

    Discussion board wont let me attach photo of trader.

    Field size and variable window size.
    Variable field size and variable window size would be a good feature. This would allow people/users with both small and large accounts to see all numbers in their fields. The truncation would be eliminated.

    I too would like CT to maximize to the screen size or resolution. Currently there is no way to maximize, stretch, or otherwise increase the over window size of CT. On a display running 1920x1080 there is a lot of extra room, and having the ability to maximize CT would/should eliminate/minimize the need to scroll the positions or watch list screens.

    I’m sure for an experienced programmer this would not take much effort to achieve.

    I too would like CT to maximize to the screen size or resolution. Currently there is no way to maximize, stretch, or otherwise increase the over window size of CT. On a display running 1920x1080 there is a lot of extra room, and having the ability to maximize CT would/should eliminate/minimize the need to scroll the positions or watch list screens.

    I’m sure for an experienced programmer this would not take much effort to achieve.

    How to
    Anyone know if there is a rule to pick stocks that CLOSED (YESTERDAY OR 2 OR 3 DAYS AGO) GREATER THAN THE MIDPOINT OF ITS TRADING DAY ?

    There is, "INTRADAY TOP 4/8 OR 5/8 etc., OF CANDLE PRICE" - for the current day, but can we do that for "Yesterday" ? Is there a way to say, I want stocks that closed higher than 50% of their candle?

    User Group in Ft. Worth, TX
    Are there any CoolTrade user groups in Ft. Worth, TX

    Reminder: Live Webinar Registration Link Change / Training
    Reminder: Live Webinar Registration Link Change / Training

    CoolTrade Sales/Training Webinar Registration Link

    Attention: NEW registration link required for Sales and Training webinar offered Monday - Thursday from 2:00 - 3:30 pm EDT. Please re-register for today’s webinar! The Bonus Training Portion starts at 3 pm EDT as we review the Strategy Wizard!

    CoolTrade Stock Trading Platform Training & Sales Webinar

    Join us for a webinar beginning on Jul 14, 2015 at 2:00 PM EDT.

    Register now (click on link or if not redirected Copy to internet browser!

    https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/292228568256566785

    After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

    View System Requirements


    more than 10 open positions per symbol
    Why should I be limited to 10 open positions per symbol?

    I should be able to ride a stock at every .25 cents or .20 cents until it reaches 0, and I can’t because my trader stops buying at 10 open positions. I wish I’d known this before I created my strategy.

    Technical support just confirmed that the trader won’t trade any stock with more than 10 open positions.

    It seems to me I should be able to open as many positions as I want within the confines of my strategy. At least a hundred.

    Please make the number of available open positions unlimited.

    Yes, this is a critical feature and a necessity for many starategies. Simply adding on anything less than 10% drops needs this.

    Does this still apply if/when you don’t use the pre-defined tables?

    I haven’t gone more than 5-6 deep on my lots, but with a new strategy I was working on starting soon, this could hamper my trades as well.

    Thanks!

    Does this still apply if/when you don’t use the pre-defined tables?

    I haven’t gone more than 5-6 deep on my lots, but with a new strategy I was working on starting soon, this could hamper my trades as well.

    Thanks!

    yes please Ed, this feature could dramatically increase profitability. The autotrader currently allows for 100 positions in total, but maximum 10 positions per symbol. If we could use these same 100 positions in total, but had the flexibility of adding more positions than 10 per symbol, e.g. could use say all the 100 positions on just 1 symbol. Many thanks

    check open position buy price with broker at startup
    Twice now, my autotrader has dumped all my open positions, and opened the same with the current stock price. So nothing was actually sold, but the stock was reopened with incorrect information, as if the trader dumped the stock and re-bought all the open positions at the current ticker price.

    The first time this happened, I changed my strategy from 100 shares to 200 shares, causing the error.

    The second time, it happened for no apparent reason. No change was made within the Wizard.

    I’m not a programming genius, but wouldn’t it be nice if an error like this could be solved by shutting down the autotrader, and restarting the program? At start up, the autotrader could double check it’s open positions against the buy price recorded at the broker, causing the autotrader’s information to be updated to the correct buy price.

    Just a thought, thank you.

    That was happening years ago and only came back with the addition of the new broker.
    If you click FILE->DOWNLOAD BETA VERSION that should prevent it from reoccurring.

    Hedge

    Rule Preventing Next Trade
    I’m kind of new to CT and am trying to figure out why I’m getting a "Rule Preventing Next Trade" on the right side green box saying "Max Trades (4) Reached", when I don’t remember, nor can find, where that may have been set in the Strategy Wizard. I’m thinking that the trader is now stuck and won’t make any trades for any of my open positions until this "rule" is fixed or removed.

    Anyone know what I did wrong or should be doing? Any input appreciated.

    Mike S.

    The maximum number of symbols that you can purchase is set on Tab 1 of the strategy.

    Also the RULE PREVENTING NEXT TRADE only affects the symbol in the watch list that the message is appearing on. It has no affect on the positions that you already own. They can still be added to and/or closed.

    I highly recommend you watch the daily webinars held by Eric Rogers at

    CT Not working
    I am running in simulator mode. But two days it has not been working. Not sure what happened. Can some one help. Thanks

    Send email to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com
    Those techs will be able to assist you.

    Thank you. Will do.

    Watchlist Limit Indicator
    Can you add a parameter to the Watch List to manage the number of entries to be loaded into the Watch List for processing. Given the volatility in the markets these days, you could have 25 symbols for a particular strategy loaded one day and then 69 symbols for the same strategy loaded the next day. In these instances, you are left with changing the Watch List strategy each day to get the symbol count correct. This is fine if you are home to watch it load but if you are traveling or can’t be there then the Trader won’t process correctly. If there is a way to accomplish this, I would appreciate someone responding.

    Thanks

    If you set your MaxTrades on Tab1 of the strategy, only that number of positions can get opened. So it doesn’t matter how many are in the watchlist.

    Thanks for the reply Hedge2. I realize that you can limit the number of positions that get opened by setting the the appropriate parameter. However, what I am experiencing is that when my watch list goes over 35 symbol entries, then my Cooltrader platform will consistently crash. I had tech support look at this for me and they recommended keeping the watch list count down. This is because the Cooltrader platform is constantly checking/processing the open symbols as well as the watch list symbols. I have lots of CPU memory and fast internet speeds but this was still causing issues. As I suggested in a previous post, given current market volatility, you could have 25 symbols in the watch list one day and the next have 69 which was a recent example I experienced running a short strategy over the last week.

    Watch List Question
    What do Min Price, Max Price and Price To Go in the Watch List refer to?

    When possible the program try’s to determine those values based on the rules.
    For example, if you close a position at $30 and have a .25 ReEntry Pullback, then

    MAX PRICE might show $29.75

    PRICE TO GO is how much the stock price has to move before meeting the Exit goal.

    When CT Executes Open/Exit, does it just execute a Market Order? Limit?
    Is CT set up to execute trades only at Market price?

    Is there a way to specify that if the Open Position indicators are triggered, to add Set Limit Order? For example, at Current Bid (if going long) ?

    This could eliminate the need to be dependent on the Current Ask/Bid range criteria and allow investors to ensure a better lock in price for the stock.

    I guess where this gets tricky is it may "hold/reserve" account assets for limit orders, which may make them unavailable for potential trades, but I think that may be a small drawback to ensure optimal pricing.

    ENH: Max Bid/Ask Range, add % capability?
    Instead of using a dollar amount (ie. 0.20), could it be possible to base max bid/ask range on % of bid or % of ask?

    A good usage example would be a watch list (that is based on non-price criteria) that may have stocks in the $1-$2 range, and in the $100-$200 range. Using a constant $0.20 range for both inexpensive and expensive stocks may not be best applicable.

    Perhaps a percentage, based on either ask/bid, or mean?, could yield a more desired result.

    Thanks for listening!

    ENH: Entry Reason - What were the indicator values when this stock was purchased?
    We see exit reason in Activity, but it would be nice to see somewhere (log?) what the values were for the Rules when a stock was opened (eg. Entry Reason(s)). Was E-Mini consecutive minutes =4.2? Was the Bid/Ask Range 0.05 ?

    If we can identify "losing" purchases and analyze the indicator values for that purchase, perhaps we can better tweak the strategies to hopefully exclude a purchase like this in the future.

    Ideally, capturing ALL indicators/metrics would be useful, but if that can’t be done, then perhaps just the value of the rules that triggered the open.

    Thanks!

    Refreshing CoolTrade with new Strategy Wizard data
    Anyone know how to update CoolTrade after updating strategies in Strategy Wizard? Currently, I just close out CoolTrade and re-open it. But if there was an easier way that I’m not aware of, it would be much appreciated.

    Thanks!

    Intraday RSI & Stochastics indicators not working
    Has anyone got Intraday RSI or Stochastics to work? When I add them to open/exit rules, I can only see them having a value of either -1.0000 or 0.0000 . Intraday for EMA and MACD and Momentum are working (they start to have values after a while)

    Also, I am using the default values for RSI/Stochastics. (5,14,1)

    Thanks!

    Today, I see RSI with values. I am going to add Stochastics to see if I can get it to work also.

    if an intraday indicator return -1 it means that is not enough intraday minute bars to make the calculation. You can calculation the required by that take the bar size X minutes per bar.

    For example:

    Intraday MACD (5, 14, 20, 10, 0)

    Would require 20 X 10 = 200.

    If that returns -1 then change the 10 minutes per bar to 5 and see if that works.

    Note: To use the Intraday indicators requires you use a broker that supplies historical minute bars (TD Ameritrade, IB, MB, AutoShares, TradeKing). ETrade does not supply historical minute bars.

    C:\cooltrade\monitor\vbs error message
    Error when starting program
    C:\cooltrade\monitor\vbs
    I am using a remote serve.
    I have only noticed this for about a week.

    That is not a CoolTrade error. That is a program that runs on the Cloud provided by 1R Cloud service. You should email them at support@thecloudserver.com.au and ask for help with that. Something may not be right.

    Bob

    Question about negative "Funds Available".
    I’m running in simulation mode with the standard strategy given in by the program for $5,000. It sometimes shows negative "Available Funds" by a lot, such as -1450 for example. The only thing I changed was for one day edited the "Current Account Value" down to $2,500 since that’s how much I was planning to trade when I began trading via a broker. $5,000 was the lowest amount strategy possible provided by the program so I thought that would fix the problem. It didn’t though, it actually started doing weird stuff like the "Funds Allocated" and "Funds Available" weren’t matching up with my "Current Account Value" anymore during market hours. It also would show negative funds, so i changed it back to $5,000 and it still shows negative funds available at times. Why is this happening? My concern is for when I put money into the stock market; I don’t think it would work out too well if I had negative numbers with real money. Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.

    Also, one other quick question. How do I restart the simulation? My thinking is if I restart the simulation and not mess with anything this time, would it be all fixed? Or perhaps it’s doing what it is supposed to and I simply don’t understand what is happening. I have watched hours of videos and searched the web and haven’t seen anyone ask or address this issue I seem to be having.

    Thanks, in advance, for your help.

    You cannot change the account value in the simulator without it messing up the funds allocated.

    You need to start new simulations in the automated trader fresh by selecting FILE->REFRESH FOR NEW STRATEGY on the login screen (before entering your password and logging in). That will clear all of your positions out and reset your starting account balance.

    Enlightened

    Thank you, that was very helpful. One other quick question.

    If I only have $4,500, I’m waiting on the the rest of the funds to reach 5k. If I wanted to get started now with a broker, despite $5,000 being the smallest strategy (at least in simulation mode that’s true), can I get that $4,500 trading for me, perhaps just using the 5k strategy with just a small limitation in trading due to a little less funds available? Would that work or should i wait for the whole $5,000? I’m just not sure if this program is meant to operate with less than 5k since that’s the lowest settings\strategy from what I could tell.

    Thanks again for your help, I see you around a lot on this board, seems you help a lot of people, it’s much appreciated.

    Thank you, that was very helpful. One last quick question.

    If I only have $4,500, I’m waiting on the the rest of the funds to reach 5k. If I wanted to get started now with a broker, despite $5,000 being the smallest strategy (at least in simulation mode that’s true), can I get that $4,500 trading for me, perhaps just using the 5k strategy with just a small limitation in trading due to a little less funds available? Would that work or should i wait for the whole $5,000? I’m just not sure if this program is meant to operate with less than 5k since that’s the lowest settings\strategy from what I could tell.

    Thanks again for your help, I see you around a lot on this board, seems you help a lot of people, it’s much appreciated.

    You can trade $1 and $2 stock strategies with $2000.

    If you are only paying $1 per 100 share lot with AutoShares.com, even a 10 cent move is $10. That leaves $2 for the broker and $8 net profit for you.

    Leave FB and the expensive stocks to people with $30,000.

    Enligntened

    I renamed the $10,000 simulator strategy, not realizing it would replace the original strategy. Can I get the original simulator strategy back and still have my personal strategy in live mode?

    MJF

    I renamed the $10,000 simulator strategy, not realizing it would replace the original strategy. Can I get the original simulator strategy back and still have my personal strategy in live mode?

    MJF

    You can find all of the default strategies by selecting NewUser@Cool-Trade.com on the top of the Copy Strategy screen.

    Enlightened

    Started Live Trading, quick question...
    I started Live Trading with Cooltrade yesterday with Autoshares as my brokerage. I have $2,500 in my account so my "Current Account Value" is, of course, $2,500 as expected. my questin is about my "Funds Available" says $4,625. why is this? I have no clue why its so high or where these numbers come from. It hasn’t bought any stocks yet on the first day, so shouldn’t "Funds Available" match "Current Account Value" of $2,500?

    I have looked everywhere for this answer without posting a topic, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Anyone who could help me understand this would be much appreciated.

    I apologize, I accidentally posted this topic twice. As I stated in the other topic, I received my answer, so no need to reply.

    Combining lots/shares
    Hi,
    I have been live trading for over a year now using the DOW 30 strategy and I am wondering if there is a way to combine lots?

    For example, lets say I have ten 100 share lots of one symbol...can I combine these and make five 200 share lots and continue trading 200 share lots? Is this done at the broker end? I am trading with IB.

    Thanks

    Yes, I know you can do this and you will do it within your CoolTrade platform. However, it has been some time since I have done such so I would suggest contacting technicalsupport@cool-trade.com for help from the office. I also trade with IB.

    Trade Closed at a Loss?
    Just had a trade close at a $5.00 Loss. Asked the question about this in Saturday’s webinar but wasn’t able to stick around for the answer due to being at work. I did catch something about the cause possibly being the stop loss?
    Should I reset the stop loss to 0 to avoid this?
    Any help, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated.

    Trade Closed at a Loss?
    Just had a trade close at a $5.00 Loss. Asked the question about this in Saturday’s webinar but wasn’t able to stick around for the answer due to being at work. I did catch something about the cause possibly being the stop loss?
    Should I reset the stop loss to 0 to avoid this?
    Any help, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated.

    User Group PA, Ohio, NY
    Looking to meet up with any users interested in Northwestern PA, Northeastern Ohio and Western New York State. Maybe getting together can help learning and improving the system.
    If anyone is interested, give me an email: rew213@roadrunner.com

    Unwanted Shutdown of CoolTrader
    Question: I’m having an issue with my trader closing unexpectedly, on a regular basis. It happens once or twice per day, always within the first hour of trading. I get a warning notice saying "Program Terminated Duplicate Log-in"
    I am running on a cloud server and the administrator told me it’s caused by "stack overflows" created by CoolTrade.
    Anyone else have this experience, or know anything about the problem? Supposed to be resolved 2 days ago, but still occurring.
    Any input is appreciated.
    Thanks

    Whomever said it was caused by stack overflows is completely wrong.
    It says there is a Duplcate Login because another automated trader is logging in with your email address.

    That usually means that the watchdog is starting CoolTrade and you also have a job in the Windows task scheduler starting CoolTrade too.

    Enlightened

    Thanks. I thought is sounded like a BS line. Now I have to figure out what’s going on and get it corrected.
    Thanks for the answer.

    Follow CoolTrade Tech Support on Twitter
    CoolTrade Technical Support is going to start doing daily tweets pertaining to technical trends that we are seeing, as well as other helpful bits of information that many users may be unaware of or unable to resolve on their own.

    If you have a twitter account, follow us @Robotic_Trader

    If you do not currently have a Twitter account, it is free to sign up and use - www.Twitter.com

    Cooltrade trading errors
    Wonder if anyone has seen this problem on cooltrade since I’ve seen it several times: I’m trading Dow30 short add on 3%. Today I sold short 5 lots of normal lot size of 100 shares per lot of symbol MRK instead of 1 lot of MRK. I confirmed these short sales in my brokerage account. However Cooltrade showed each of these as closed ("white colored") positions so the cooltrade software kept adding additional positions since the 3% add on condition was not met. It probably would have continued all the way to my maximum limit of 1000 shares per symbol had I not intervened. When I recycled Cooltrade it loaded showing correctly all of those closed short positions as open positions with all purchased lots within a penny of each other.

    So the way I see it Cooltrade interpreted the opened position as closed and posted it as such and the software kept trying to satisfy the 3% add on rule. As I stated earlier I’ve seen this same problem before and in talking with Technical support on a prior occurrence they observed that the particular symbol that was involved in that incidence had a particularly high level of volatility at the time of the errors.... Not a particularly satisfactory explanation in my opinion but I set cooltrade to start 9:45 instead of 9:30 trying to avoid the high startup volatility of market opening.

    Have any of you seen this problem and do you have any suggestions for a fix?

    Replacing a stock in my portfolio
    I would like to replace one of the stocks in my portfolio with another and was wondering what would be the best method to do this. I am using the “use portfolio or sym files” option and expected if the symbol was removed from the list Cool Trade would no longer buy additional shares. This does not seem to be the case. I would prefer not to manually sell them but rather not purchase any more and wait for all shares to be sold.

    Replacing a stock in my portfolio
    I would like to replace one of the stocks in my portfolio with another and was wondering what would be the best method to do this. I am using the “use portfolio or sym files” option and expected if the symbol was removed from the list Cool Trade would no longer buy additional shares. This does not seem to be the case. I would prefer not to manually sell them but rather not purchase any more and wait for all shares to be sold.

    Cloud Server
    Looking at cloud servers with a view to switching mine. Does anyone have suggestions about which ones are good, best, or reliable?
    Also, does anyone know anything about Cloud One Trading?
    Thanks

    I am using www.v2cloud.com to host my windows 10 box that I am using to run my trader. I have several computers and all but needed reliable service.

    max trades
    Can anyone help me with the trade rule per day with my trader it reached its 3 trade max with 10,000 dollars what is the max with 25,000 or more

    max trades
    Can anyone help me with the trade rule per day with my trader it reached its 3 trade max with 10,000 dollars what is the max with 25,000 or more

    ISIS Pharmaceutical Symbol Change
    If you hold/held positions in symbol ISIS in your CoolTrade platform, today they officially changed their name and stock symbol.

    Isis Pharmaceuticals has changed its name to Ionis Pharmaceuticals, and its ticker symbol on Nasdaq switched from ISIS to IONS, effective December 22, 2015.

    What you will need to do:

    When this change happened this morning, IONS was not yet in our symbol database. When your trader launched this morning the broker would have sent over your ISIS shares as IONS shares and CoolTrade would have blocked them out of your trader.

    You will need to unblock them in CoolTrade and restart your trader.

    Because they were blocked out of CoolTrade, you will also need to edit the entry price once they come back over as IONS positions, as when a symbol is blocked out of CoolTrade the entry price is gone and when they are removed from the blocked list they will re-enter CoolTrade with the current bid/ask price as the entry price.

    If you run a closed trade report for 12/22/15 you should see the symbols for IONS that were blocked out of CoolTrade - this should show your entry prices but feel free to confirm with your brokerage transaction report in your brokerage account.

    This video shows how to edit an entry price in CoolTrade:



    Cloud One Trading
    I posted a question earlier about VPS Cloud servers. At that time I was having problems with the one I was using, Cloud One Trading owned by Parker Hutchison. When I initially subscribed I was told that he had previously worked for CoolTrade and was pretty sharp for strategies, support, etc.
    Last week I found out the extent of the problem. Cloud One Trading disappeared, and left me (as well as all the other suckers- I mean customers-) holding the bag. The website associated with Cloud One expired 12/15, and the owner is unreachable.
    Actually doubt there is much that can be done, just blowing off steam and wondering how many others in this group were had?

    Funds Available
    Hello,

    I have my Trader set to ’Reserve enough funds to purchase Max shares set in Strategy’ and ’Regardless of Account balance Cool Trade should never utilize more than $45.000’.

    The Trader purchased 5 symbols of 100 stocks each and now the Dashboard shows:

    Current Account Value $44,984
    Funds Allocated $47,790
    Funds Available -$2,806

    Why does the Current Account Value go below $45,000 when I told it ’never to utilize more than $45,000?

    I thought the purpose of the ’Reserve enough funds’ statement was so that the Trader would not purchase more symbols than it has money to buy the maximum shares set in the strategy. In this case it apparently over allocated itself and went into a negative Funds available value. Am I looking at this correctly?

    Thank you for any help!

    I believe the current account value reflects and includes the current market value of your positions held in inventory which may account for this value below $45k

    profit
    has cooltrade been profitable for anyone?? I just paid 3500.00 bucks. now seeing half price offers...whats going on

    Congratulations. Yes, as far as I know everyone or most are profitable. I and many have used the software for years and it takes profits routinely.

    I haven’t seen the half price sales you are talking about. I doubt they really exist. Be carefull that someone isn’t selling you an old license with not much time on it.

    Also, CoolTrade tries to help existing clients by periodically giving us specials to either add additional licenses or extend our existing licenses at reduced prices. Some people load up on those specials and resell them at lower prices and still cut a profit. Some try to make a living doing that.

    There are others on the internet selling paid-support even though cooltrade has a support department that provides support for free. I even saw someone try to sell trading strategies that come free with cooltrade.

    I’ve been with cooltrade a lot of years and haven’t had any issues and can’t see why anyone would sell their trader unless they had extra ones.

    Hedge

    I have just started using cool trade in simulation mode and I have done nothing but lose money I’m still hoping Ed will be able to figure out why it’s losing money and no profits at this time. I have a friend who recommended this to me and he is having the same issue at this time along with another friend of his he is in losing mode too.

    What does it mean, "you have been losing money"? Does it mean that your trader has been selling stocks at a loss? or does it mean that the market has been going down and your open position have been declining in value. I don’t think cooltrade can control the stock market and make the stocks go up for you.

    There are many strategies available for you to use. Even strategies labeled as top strategies can’t control the direction of a stock or the stock market. The account value can go down if the stock prices are going down. The value of the software is that the profits can grow indefinitely, while the stock market cannot go to zero.

    I noticed that you posted about your friends results. Who is your friend? I have lots of friends that are making a fortune with this software. Perhaps your friend can post his own results and maybe look at his trader and see if he can observe anything wrong.
    The fact is if you and I are running the same strategy and trading the same stocks but mine trader is profitable and yours and your friends is not, maybe neither of you are giving the trader enough time or maybe you are having a computer issue that is not letting you take profits when they are there. how about you look at the screen and see if any of the positions are profitable. If they are all negative then the trader can’t take profits that are not there.

    I suggest you show some specifics about YOUR trader if you want anyone on this board to be able to assist you.

    I have seen only $500 profit since February and can’t seem to find help with my strategies. Did anyone help you out?

    Chris

    Log into your account at

    It is a little disconcerting to look over at the CT screen and almost always see RED!

    Then, you start to realize that since it closes out profitable positions automatically, that’s what you want to see.

    How long before you see profits? Totally depends on what strategies you choose and how they work in the current market environment. If you’re using a long only strategy in a bear market you’ll likely have to wait for a turnaround.

    The beauty of the automated trader is that it doesn’t get emotionally involved and bail out at the bottom like humans do.

    If you’re new to trading and CT, you’ll need to educate yourself and experiment with the software and strategies before you go live. Like any other money making opportunity, it requires your time and attention to payoff. Watch the premade videos, attend the live trainings, read some trading books if you need help with terms.

    Good Luck! Lee

    Modification to the Report
    I would like to see the report modified to include, on a new page, all of the information about the existing/open positions. As these open positions represent potential unrealized losses a net P&L should also be calculated.

    How do I sell a stock manually?
    Hi All,

    I’ve been running CT live since summer, just in time for the downturn :)

    At this point with some success and a few stocks that seriously tanked, am considering manually selling a few losers and continuing on with more trade positions available.

    I’m not sure how to manually sell. I see the buy long, sell short manual buttons, but not anything to close a trade manually.

    Can anyone clue me in?

    Thanks!

    Laura

    How do I close a trade manually?
    Hi All,

    I’ve been running CT live since summer, just in time for the downturn :)

    At this point with some success and a few stocks that seriously tanked, am considering manually selling a few losers and continuing on with more trade positions available.

    I’m not sure how to manually sell. I see the buy long, sell short manual buttons, but not anything to close a trade manually.

    Can anyone clue me in?

    Thanks!

    Laura

    Just click the row and there are several options, sell all or just a select 100

    Last rule satisfied before trade executed
    I would like to know, as I develop my strategy, what was the last rule satisfied before the trade execute.
    This is very help when cross checking technical indicators on charts.

    Thanks,

    Hybrid

    New Column For Indentifying Lot Numbers
    I have now had 3 trades in the past week execute without my knowledge/permission for $1,400.00 + in losses. I have not received any reason as to "why", but would like to have an additional column added to prevent the individual person and/or the software from selling the wrong line/lot of shares.

    In-between "Side Action" and Position Quantity" I would like to see a column called "Lot #" that lists the lots from 1-50 for example. This way when people go to manually sell/buy shares, cooltrade has another reference point to sell the exact lot/line you want to sell, which should show up in the gray pop-up box when you click on the line you want to sell. So in addition to the options of "sell selected shares" and "sell most profitable shares", it should reference "sell selected lot #3 of 100 shares", this prevents cooltrade from selling lot #1 or #2 at a loss, and will only sell lot #3 at a profit.

    This may not rectify the existing issue I am having with the software, but this should eliminate it in the future.

    Thank you.

    This is a great suggestion. I have experienced similar issues. Hopefully we can get this implemented ASAP.

    I am not with Cooltrade, just another user....

    Are you sure you want to do that? check this out...

    lot 1 purchase at $1.60 x 100 = $160.00
    lot 2 purchase at $1.50 x 100 = $150.00
    lot 3 purchase at $1.40 x 100 = $140.00


    Current price = $1.50

    sell lot 3 for profit = proceeds = 150.00, taxable profit = $10.00
    Sell lot 2 for breakeven = proceeds =150.00, taxable profit=$0.00
    Sell lot 1 for loss = proceeds = $150.00, tax deductible loss = $10.00

    It messes with your P/L but actually benefits you more to sell the lot with the greatest loss,

    The proceeds from the sale are the same, but the tax results are different.

    A cloud server
    Hi guys, has anyone found a cloud server that they really like. Please let me know ASAp My email is chirodf@gmail.com Dr. Dan

    Dollar cost average feature on Cool Trade
    A request is being brought up by our investment club to have a
    feature added to Cool Trade that will allow us to dollar cost
    average our inventory of shares.

    This way we can sell them ALL once price has gone up sufficiently
    enough so we may get rid of all the open orphan trades that are way
    up at the top of the range.

    A member of our investment club wanted me to add his request as well:

    Dear Ed & Mike,

    I strongly 2nd this request!

    If we have multiple positions on a given symbol at different entry levels,
    it would be an advantage to average out those position’s in order to bring
    down the average price. If it is at all possible to be able to right click on a
    position and then be able to group those prior multiple positions into one
    would be great!!

    Thanks in advance for looking into this possibility,

    Robert Fogel
    305-970-4658
    A Cool Trade User

    User Interface refresh rate
    The data in my "Positions" listing in the user interface only refreshes a couple of times per day. The trader is trading correctly based on the raw data, and if I click on a stock symbol it pulls up a pop-up window with all of the current data about the symbol. But the visible screen columns of Net P&L, Today’s P&L, Bid Price, Ask Price, Volume Reached, etc. have quite stale data.

    I am especially frustrated today because the system sold my complete position in a stock over two hours ago but the screen has not refreshed to show the position closed. The trade shows up in the "Show Trades" tab, and I can see it executed when I login to my brokerage account, but the row still shows old values and shows green (Stealth mode).

    I am running CoolTrade 7.5.305 on The Cloud Server (thecloudserver.com.au)

    Can you offer any advice on how to get the UI to refresh more often?

    Task scheduler error/corruption HELP!
    A few days back my computer downloaded Windows 10 automatically without my permission. After the fact I reverted back to Windows 7. The problem now is that the Task Scheduler’s files have been corrupted. This has resulted in CoolTrade not able to automatically startup in the mornings anymore. I’ve been searching the Internet for answers to this problem, but I haven’t figured it out yet. Apparently this is an error happening to people who revert back to Windows 7 or 8 though. I tried creating a new task for CoolTrade, the problem with that is there is already a file created for CoolTrade automatic startup. Could anyone here help me Repair these files and fix this problem?

    CoolTrade no longer uses the task Scheduler to start the software in the morning.

    You just set the start time on the Preferences screen in the Automated Trader and the Watchdog (that is always running in your system tray) will start CoolTrade in the morning.

    You can also send email to TechnicalSupport@Cool-Trade.com and they can assist.

    CT

    help my cooltrade amounts arent changing
    I’m using the dow 30 ver. 1112 sim and it was working fine now the todays p/l and the over profit/loss #s don’t move on my cooltrader. I know this because I watched it for over a half hour and the #s are supposed to move all the time and they don’t. They just stay the same. Any suggestions? I closed it out and rebooted it & the amounts did change at first but then they didn’t move again. I’m online because I can access the internet & I also downloaded the developer version & it said it downloaded it ok. I was thinking uninstalling & reinstalling the cooltrader if you could please give me the link to do that unleass you had another suggestion. thanks. Pete

    Reporting Glitch
    I am not sure if anyone else has seen this but I have 2 traders. One account is running live and the other is in sim mode. When i get a .CSV report on the sim account the sim data .csv comes from the account that is doing my live trading. I am not sure if i go in and purge the old sim data from the account that is now live trading if that will fix the problem. I will give that a try. but the funny thing is when i run the report normal the sim data is correct.

    Well an update. So i relaunched my live trader and selected sim mode for IB and Refresh for new strategy. That fixed the issue with pulling a .csv from the Cooltrade.org web portal but now no .csv will download from my second account. when i select .csv it just opens up in the normal page to show the open positions and closed positions. no .csv file is created for my second account that is running in sim mode. So purging the old sim data from my live trader fixed the .csv old data issue but now the new data from the New account running in sim mode does not work.

    Dewayne, I just found out the CSV as been fixed.
    It was tested on your account and it works now.

    disabling profit reuirements tab
    how do I turn off the profit requirements? I want my trades to close by technical indicator rules.

    CT startup notification
    In order to be sure CT is up and running it should, there shall be a way to optionally be able to configure CT to send an email (or text message) on one of the following conditions:

    1. that it has successfully started and has connected to the brokers site, or, (preferred)

    2. that it has not successfully started and/or connected to the broker’s site.


    This shall occur on a normal scheduled restart or in the event of a restart after a failure.

    The only other way(s) (that I know of) to detect if CT is running completely in automatic mode is:

    1. to physically check on it.
    2. request email messages for trades and have received one which is very annoying and is error prone if there wasn’t a trade, or,
    3. to be able to remotely logon to the hosting PC and check as if one were physically there.


    As a fully automated system, none of the above are conducive to knowing CT is running correctly, especially if one is not near the hosting PC.

    Thank you,

    Frank

    Yeah, I agree. The watchdog should sent alerts on trader running or trader stopped.

    Great idea and I agree. Hate coming home from work to find my CT had shut down early in the morning for whatever reason.

    This would be excellent

    Sorting watchlist by price instead of symbols aphabetically
    Would you please include an option to be able to sort the watchlist and have the CoolTrader go in that order?

    I was watching CT cycle through the symbols. The 4th one down was $4.25 and the top one was $11...I would rather have had CT buy more of the lower priced stocks instead of fewer more expensive ones. We could get more trades for the money.

    Thank you for your consideraton

    Sorting watchlist by price instead of symbols aphabetically
    Would you please include an option to be able to sort the watchlist and have the CoolTrader go in that order?

    I was watching CT cycle through the symbols. The 4th one down was $4.25 and the top one was $11...I would rather have had CT buy more of the lower priced stocks instead of fewer more expensive ones. We could get more trades for the money.

    Thank you for your consideration

    Sorting watchlist by price instead of symbols aphabetically
    Would you please include an option to be able to sort the watchlist and have the CoolTrader go in that order?

    I was watching CT cycle through the symbols. The 4th one down was $4.25 and the top one was $11...I would rather have had CT buy more of the lower priced stocks instead of fewer more expensive ones. We could get more trades for the money.

    Thank you for your consideration

    Profit in specified time
    What is the meaning of "profit taken specified time". In this case was a $20 profit today on 100 sh bought the previous day. Profit goal set at $40.

    Thanks

    "Single button" Today's profits
    If not too time consuming..... it would be nice to have a single button to select just to see that particular days Closed trades instead of the multi step process that we currently have to go through. I think many of us check our CT profits each day and this would make it much easier.

    proper code for freestockcharts.com
    FYI to make Freestockcharts.com bypass the beginning screen use:



    proper code for freestockcharts.com
    FYI to make Freestockcharts.com bypass the beginning screen use:



    Thank you. I updated the latest Strategy Wizard with the fix.

    Ed

    That fix is in the Beta and Dev versions.

    Postmaster messages
    It’s nice that optionally CT will notify you of a trade however, sending an email with a link to the actually seems a bit clumsy. Why not just send the trade information in the email itself. It would also be nice if the trade info was made available as an attachment in .CSV format.

    Justification:

    1.It saves time, no unnecessary mouse clicking or trying to hit the link in an email message on your phone.

    2. It’s a lot easier to read an email on a phone than it is to click on a link, open a browser and hope that it does get to the site.

    3. the Emails or text contained in it can be saved if an audit trail is desired. If a .CSV file were avail it could be imported into Excel

    I agree completely, the emails are virtually worthless if you have limited time or access.

    Simulating while trading Live
    SInce the majority of users I’ve spoken to will probably never use the "short" strategies would it be possible to instead simulate another Long strategy? The trader has the capacity to trade two strategies, one long and one short but it would be nice to allow the users to select and run another Long strategy.

    What a great idea! If you already have a successful strategy you could develop another one and buy another license once you a proven strategy. I am all for that.

    Eval Exit rules before Stock purchase
    After trying to figure out why the program was automatically selling off stocks with in seconds of me doing a manual purchase, I realized that my exit rule was causing the sell off. I do not have a problem with this as it was my mistake, however, would it be possible to have the program evaluate the purchase request and advise if the stock will match one or all of the exit conditions forcing it to be sold?

    Ethical reasons to avoid certain symbols
    There are people who have objections to trading in certain stocks for personal reasons. It would be helpful to be able to permanently block a symbol.

    You can add a symbol to the BLOCKED list at the top of the automated trader and it will never show up in the automated trader.

    CT

    Active Trader
    I read the email about the active trader, but I cannot seem to find where I go to make the changes. Can anyone help me out?

    Chris

    Hi Chris,

    I will go over the setup of the Active Trades strategy during the Q&A session at 8pm EST. If you miss the session it will be recorded and dated 8/23/2016.

    Thanks,
    Ed

    It has been frustrating because I have been running the long aggressive and short aggressive since February and have made about $500 (from $35,000) and I got a margin call to top it off. Haven’t been thrilled with the results, but I know that the system can work, I just can’t seem to get it to work in my favor...

    Those OLD strategies don’t take into consideration the new ACTIVE TRADES counts.
    The software can’t make a stock move if it isn’t going to move.
    My suggestion would be to either switch to the Top shared strategies that are showing in the list at the bottom of the strategy wizard or add an active trades count to your current strategies. I don’t short so I can’t comment on that.

    daily start up problems
    I’ve been having trouble with my cooltrade starting up in the mornings automatically. I used to have no problems with it, but most the time now i have to start it up manually and don’t know why. It started happening after my computer automatically upgraded to the microsoft 10. I was very upset about this happening because I’ve said no every time it asked me if i wanted to upgrade. thankfully i was able to downgrade back to microsoft 7, but have this problem now. I still have it set up to auto start every day, but for some bizarre reason it just wont do it. often times during the day the cool trader is up and logged in, but it says the market is closed with that red bar instead of the yellow with actively trading. But this is during the week not on holidays and happens too much for it to truly be closed. Also, if i log out and log back in, then it will start trading and show the yellow bar. Any help would be much appreciated. I figured I needed to update cooltrade, but it doesn’t seem to to have any updates....not to mention I believe I have it set up to automatically update.

    You should send email to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com and one of the techs will remotely connect to your computer and fix it.

    The will also update your software.

    optionsxpress
    i havent had my system running for quite a while and decided to start it again, did the update and now i cant get into my optionsxpress account through the trader,

    Profit-Protection timers
    Can anyone explain this?

    What do those Account Values mean?
    I’m totally new at this, having just set up my simulation model the I want it, after a few attempts. I started the first test run on Thu last week. It is has now been running for 5 days (Thu Fri Mon Tue Wed)

    With respect to the 6 values in the Account Values tab, I really really REALLY want to know what those 6 values mean... what things go on to make them change... how they add up... play off each other.

    Here’s the scenario...

    a)
    I started with 10k on Thu last week. I’ve made a profit of 1,550.87 in those 5 days. Wow! That’s a lot of money! Is there something wrong with the software or did my friend "undersell" the potential just in case it would be too good to be true and I’d not even consider buying it? I just used the default 10k long strategy that came with the software. That’s an average of 310.17 per day on 10k.

    b)
    My report shows that some trades today (Wed) were sold at a time BEFORE they were bought. Same day. Just an earlier time. Weird. It shows, for example,

    09/21/16 12:16 09/21/16 08:08 MRTX Long 5.19 5.238 100 13.80

    Of the 112 closed trades, there are 9 that show this, all on Wed 9/12/16

    I wonder if that glitch is an indicator that there is another glitch which is producing a astronomical high returns of 2.74% on the first day... and then 3.23%, 2.73%, 0.94% and 5.03% for the next 4 days, respectively.

    c)
    The report shows a profit of $1,550.87 but the Account Value shows only $11,084 for a gain over the original $10,000 of only $1,084.

    The difference between profit of $1,550.87 and the amount over the original 10k – the $1,550.87 is $466.87. Where is that 466.87?

    d)
    The average profit on an original 10k shows an average of $310.17 a day over the first 5 days of simulated trading. Is that for real???!!!!! It seems like a lot. The friend who introduced me to this CoolTrade said he’s happy to get $40 to $50 a day with his 10k strategy.

    e)
    If I put in 50k instead of the 10k, and USED THE SAME 10k strategy, would I get 5 TIMES the same results as if I put in 10k? Or would I get just the same result for having only put in the 10k to begin with?

    f)
    I analyzed my reports of closed trades from the start of the refresh, covering 5 days.

    I separated each record into two, one for the date and time of the buy and the date and time of the sell.

    I then added a running balance so that it shows a decline when stock is purchased and an increase when a stock is sold, kind of like a bank account that gets debits and deposits.

    I then re-sorted each of these actions by date and time.

    As expected, the first 30 actions were buys and I can see that as each buy was made, the running balance went down in value.

    However, it went down so far that it was in the negative. How is that possible? Where was the money to buy all this stock that would put my "bank account" into the red? I have not selected the option to buy on margin, so where did all this extra money to buy stock come from? Is this something that happened just because I don’t have any REAL money in a REAL brokerage? I’m sure a broker would say... "ahhhh, no... we cannot execute that buy because you do not have enough money in your account. What is the point of have an "Account Value" if it doesn’t show how much money my account is actually worth? (valued)

    What if I just went ahead and actually funded a real brokerage account over those last five days? Would I have REALLY got the same results? When I’m trying to using CoolTrade as a broker, Is there a glitch with that?

    g)
    Here is kinda the bottom line. I want to know what those 6 values mean so that I can see how they play off each other. I don’t like the idea of showing this to my friends and saying "I don’t know what it means or how it works but it just does." I haven’t gone through all of the video courses yet so I’m getting a bit anxious here, wanting to put some real money in but I don’t want to unless I can see how those numbers get changed as each trade is made. Does anyone know of any specific video that explains all of these 6 values and how they play off each other?

    Thank you to anyone who is able to answer these questions.

    Today
    Can someone please take a look at this? I’m not sure if I correctly understand what Today’s P&L actually means.

    The Profit / Loss amounts shown in my attached chart are taken from the Dashboard under the header "Today’s P&L"

    As you can see, today’s loss was 251

    I thought that profit means I’ve got money that comes as a profit and ADDS TO my CASH account, ie. I take that money off the table. It’s no longer being used for trading. But now that I’ve got a loss today, does that mean I am required to take that 251 out of that cash account and put it back on the table?

    Oh wait! I think I’ve got it.

    If I want to have my share value to come back up to the original 10,000 that I put in, then yes, I have to replenish it by putting some cash in. That would mean then, that the positive amount – the profit – that I got on all the other days was money I really did take off the table and allowed me to still have that original 10,000 being held in both shares and reserves. Is that right?

    Here is the chart. I don’t know why it wasn’t included

    Here is another attempt at posting a pic

    Here is another attempt at posting a pic

    Here is another attempt at posting a pic

    Here is another attempt at posting a pic

    Here is another attempt at posting a pic

    Here is another attempt at posting a pic

    Here is another attempt at posting a pic

    FIFO LIFO picture
    Testing links

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/bv6wrngwjscwxve/FIFO%20vs.%20LIFO.PNG?dl=0

    <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie07.gif’’ border=’’0’’> <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie02.gif’’ border=’’0’’>

    Picture

    Funds Available is What?
    Funds available seems to always be in the negative.

    Why is that?

    Should I do something about that? If so, what should I do?

    Thanks!

    Funds Available is What?
    Funds available seems to always be in the negative.

    Why is that?

    Should I do something about that? If so, what should I do?

    Thanks!

    Report application export support in .csf format
    It would be of benefit to be able export data from the report in .CSF format so that it can be imported to Excel or a work-a-like application. This would allow the trader to generate custom reports not current supported by the CT Report application.

    If this were done I would gladly create a base Excel report and post it so that other traders can use it as is or modify it to their liking.

    Modification of CT trade & status Email messages
    While CT does a nice job of auto trading it could use improvement in performing unattended auto trading. This would mean that the user not need to have physical proximity to their trading hardware and still know that (1.) the platform is operational and does not require attention, and (2) when trades are being made.

    Currently the email message sent by CT only contains a link to the actual trade. To access the actual trade the user must click on the link, which opens a browser if one is not already running and displays the actual trade. While this works it can be both optimized and provide more meaning full information that it current does.

    However, if running unattended the user may not be in physical proximity to the hardware running the CT application and be "monitoring" the CT activity from a phone or some other remote device. Using a browser on a phone or other like device is not an optimal use of these devices for this purpose.

    Enhancement: request for trades.

    1. instead of having the email contain a link to the trade, the trade information should be in the email. this would eliminate the need to use a browser to see the trade information, which if using a phone makes the entire process more efficient and friendly to the user.

    2. For closing trades, in addition to the most recent closed trade the message should contain previous closed trades (only for the day).


    Although CT is completely automated for trading and can run unattended in order for the user to know that CT is completely operational the user must, (1.) be able to have access (physical or remote) to their PC, or (2.) have received an email message of a completed trade. While it is not possible to have the ability to notify the user that CT has stopped operating (as in a power or system failure) it is possible to notify the user that CT is (or is not) operational at least at the scheduled startup time.

    Enhancement request for status.

    1. notify the user that CT has prepared to actively trade (it has successfully started, connected to the broker, and whatever else needs to be accomplished to auto trade).

    2. notify the user when failures occur that need user attention for resolution.

    3. SMS support for critical messages and notifications.

    Add to Current Position overriden by Advancing Preferences
    My strategy involves scaling/adding to my winners.

    The system only allows add based on a table or a fix price gain.

    My strategy adds based on percentage gain.

    In Tab 4 (Add to Current Position Rules)

    I have placed my rule:

    Today Current Ask Price is at least 5% greater than or equal to my same symbol highest trade price.

    I thought all was good at this point.

    It turns out that if I have, in my strategy settings, advancing preferences disable the trader will completely ignore my rule in Tab 4.

    If I turn on the advancing positions then those settings override my Tab 4 setup.

    I’ve attached a screenshot of the advancing preferences screen.

    Can we get a third option to follow Tab 4 rules?

    I think if we gave the Advancing Preferences menu the same features as the Declining Preferences I could solve my issue.

    Using Option 1 - Fixed interval based on % of entry price.

    Allow users to make changes to parameters for active stock list
    Would you be able to update the ’top stocks for cooltrade active traders’ to allow users to change the parameters used. Currently the settings generate list based on 100 share lots and a $.75+ profit goal and $1.00 pullback re-entry. For example, I would like to change these settings to $.50 profit goal and $.50 pullback re-entry. Another example could allow for 1% profit goal and .5% pullback re-entry.

    Thank you

    CT is putting all my profits into falling stocks
    The CT software is buying stocks that might be very active - BUT - a stock that once sold for $40 to $60, and now sells for $7 - though it has much activity - might not turn out very good - if CT started buying it at $12 (after falling out of the sky,) and again at $10, $8, etc. These are fictitious numbers to show approximately what has been happening repeatedly in my account. I had +$43000 originally, and now after almost a year I’ve got an acct value of $41655 and a portfolio of 10 stocks (3300 shares,) valued at $17740 and show a P/L of -$5145. Meanwhile according to CT’s closed trades report I have seen +$12000 in profitable trades!
    Please don’t tell me that the answer to my dilemma is to sell off my losers - so that CT can have more money to trade. I’ve tried that before - but the problem of purchasing fallen (active )stocks just happens again.
    I will not sell these losers until I have a solution for HOW I CAN MAKE SURE THAT THE STOCKS CT TRADES FROM ARE EITHER RAISING STOCKS, OR WITHIN A CERTAIN TRADING-ENVELOPE - THAT IS NOT TOO FAR OFF FROM THEIR NORMAL PRICE BOUNDS.
    Are there any suggestions as to how I could limit CT in its stock selection in the future?

    Restart simulation mode back to new account
    Running version 8.0.18....how do I restart with a new simulation and with a fresh account value? I’ve tried File -> Logoff(clears all passwords) which I thought was how to do it...but it doesn’t work.

    On the login screen, where you enter your email/password and select the brokers, click FILE->REFRESH FOR NEW STRATEGY.

    That will give you a chance to clear everything and enter a new starting balance.

    On the login screen, where you enter your email/password and select the brokers, click FILE->REFRESH FOR NEW STRATEGY.

    That will give you a chance to clear everything and enter a new starting balance.

    Add confirmation to exit button
    I’d like to see a popup after hitting the "exit" button to confirm the exit request on the CT trader before executing the exit. I accidentally hit the exit button while trying to hit the "Today’s Trade" button.

    Click on PREFERENCES in the robotic trader main menu.
    You can turn on the EXIT REMINDER on the lower-left of the Preferences screen.

    HELP PLEASE!
    Hello Ed, How are you?
    How is your daughter’s college cool trade acct doing?

    COULD YOU PLEASE ADVICE ME ON WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO STOP BUYING MORE STOCKS AND HOW TO SELL THE ONE’S I HAVE AT THE CORRECT TIME?

    THANKS FOR YOUR HELP,
    FRANCES SMITH
    615-969-9555

    To stop opening or adding to positions all you have to do is add this rule to both the open position rules and the add to position rules:

    CURRENT BID PRICE > 9999

    Since that rule will fail the software will never open new positions or add to existing positions.

    Keith

    HELP PLEASE!
    Hello Ed, How are you?
    How is your daughter’s college cool trade acct doing?

    COULD YOU PLEASE ADVICE ME ON WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO STOP BUYING MORE STOCKS AND HOW TO SELL THE ONE’S I HAVE AT THE CORRECT TIME?

    THANKS FOR YOUR HELP,
    FRANCES SMITH
    615-969-9555

    taxes and autoshares
    Help....Help....Help

    My tax guy says the data from autoshares is not what he needs. Autoshares is trying to help me out with IT doing some kind of a change.

    Is there anyone out there who has filed taxes and is using autoshares.

    Please send me your tax persons contact info. Would be best if in Arizona but will try elsewhere.

    Thanks,

    Joe H.

    jharaszko@gmail.com

    VIX Reinvestment of Profits Saved at Market Extremes
    Hi Fellow CoolTraders,

    I have an idea to help CoolTraders track and respond to Market Volatility on both a short and a long term basis, automatically. On the Auto trader desktop I would like Ed to replace S&P 100 with S&P 500 and to replace E-Mini with the daily VIX Index (we are not trading futures, what’s the purpose of S&P 100 or E-Mini?). To the far right of the VIX Index line in the empty space beneath (Day Trades Left:), please insert (VIX 52 Wk HI/LO), IE: have a drop down menu to the right that manually toggles either the VIX -(HI) or (LO)- values, or cycles between- VIX (HI/LO) values during the day, maybe on a 1 minute bar. Clicking the (Profits) tab, I would like Ed to add a radio button labeled [VIX Profit (next line) Reinvestment] in the empty space below (Today’s Profits). Clicking this V-P-R button will open a dialog box that is labeled [Reinvestment of Profits Saved When Daily VIX Settles To: (a drop down menu or box to enter XX.X digits to 1 decimal point)]. Ed said in at least one of his webinars that he wants to add (Profits Saved) to (Funds Available) at extreme market draw downs and a historically high automatic VIX trigger value would do this with little daily maintenance. The (Edit Reinvestment) radio button and dialog box would work normally with no changes necessary. The VIX value can be left at zero in the new box if this feature is not to be used. Let me know what you think?

    Have a Great day! - PRF

    Hi, it’s me again. I realized after the fact that I could increase the efficiency and profitability of the

    (VIX Profit Reinvestment) dialog box I had created by switching from a fixed VIX profit target

    value to a Trailing Stop style trigger value similar to an inverse of the (Start Profit Protection)

    system that we use to take profits in the Strategy Wizard’s (Profits Requirements), tab(6). Once a

    specific manually entered VIX value was touched (perhaps at 50% or more of the VIX 52 Week

    High), a tight trailing stop would start to follow the VIX value higher until the VIX topped out , it

    drops back to the trailing stop and the allocated (Profits Saved) dollars would be dumped

    automatically into the (Funds Available) file. The result would be that CoolTrade would be adding

    more saved funds to the total Funds Available near the bottom of a large draw down, increasing

    the chances of adding more stocks to the Watch List for trading at a much lower stock price. I hope

    this helps, thanks for your patience! PRF

    Dashboard Watch List Mod. for Lower Stock Prices
    Hi CoolTraders,

    Ed Barsano had commented several times during his webinars that he had wanted to force the

    watch list at the bottom of the auto trader dashboard to check for the least expensive stocks first for

    purchase before the most expensive stocks to allow more lower priced stocks to be purchased

    from the Funds Available. As I understand it, for a watch list of 30 stocks, the auto trader cycles from

    the least expensive to the most expensive stocks over and over again, IE: (#1 to #30), (#1 to #30),

    (#1 to #30), continuously during market trading hours. My modification to the algorithm would be:

    before the computer can advance to the next more expensive stock symbol in line, the computer

    must cycle back and re-check the first stock symbol #1 for purchase, then re-check the next more

    expensive symbol #2, then re-check symbol #3, and so forth until the most expensive symbol #30

    is checked. So instead of cycling (#1 to #30), the computer will cycle through: (first check symbol

    #1, then back to #1 and #2, then back to #1, #2 and #3, then back to #1, #2, #3, and #4 until finally

    checking the most expensive symbol #30). By the time the most expensive symbol #30 is checked

    once, the least expensive symbol #1 has been checked 30 times, the next more expensive symbol

    #2 has been checked 29 times, the next more expensive symbol #3 has been checked 28 times,

    and so forth until finally the most expensive symbol #30 has been checked just once to complete

    one mega-cycle. Then the auto trader would start over cycling from the beginning with symbol #1.


    ADVANTAGES:

    1) Not re-inventing the wheel, hopefully this approach is just an internal algorithm programming

    modification that does not require new real estate to be found on the dashboard to accommodate

    it.

    2) No need for a timer any more, and this approach can also be combined with a "Top Actively

    Traded Stocks" filter as Ed had suggested in one of his webinars.

    3) The computer cycling by my approach will use almost one-half less system cycle time and band

    width resources allowing the program to run more efficiently. I can show you the math if you are

    interested.

    4) Purchasing the least expensive stocks will allow us to add many more stocks to the watch list

    allowing us to try to max out the streaming limit of 96 symbols, thus increasing the chance for more

    stocks to hit the 2-cent bid-ask spread for purchase, (the biggest limiting factor to new stocks

    actively trading in the auto trader).


    DISADVANTAGES: None that I can see?


    Let me know what you think, have a profitable week CoolTrading! PRF

    Not updating through day
    Running the trader. Starts ok but through day don’t update. All the way. If I manually restart it updates all the positions correctly. I checked to make sure had subscriptions ordered for data. I do, Not sure what more to do.

    Suggest you send email to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com and they will be able to review your system.

    LIMIT ORDERS
    Please add the ability for users to utilize Limit Orders within their CoolTrade strategy. It would be very helpful.. Thank you..

    LIMIT ORDERS
    Please add the ability for users to utilize Limit Orders within their CoolTrade strategy. It would be very helpful.. Thank you..

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