04/28/03 04/23/03 04/22/03 04/15/03 04/11/03 04/09/03 04/04/03 04/03/03 04/02/03 04/01/03
Version 1.16e is now available. I removed the Cancel Open Order button. This button seems to be the most misused button in the program and is causing a lot more problems than it is worth. AutoTrader philosophy is to always have a protected position so this button is really not needed, as it will cancel your position exit orders and leave your position unprotected. And to make things worse, the next step some people do is to close the open position using a "Position Entry" order. Or some people will close the position in TWS. So now instead of making Qty open from 1 to 0, it now becomes 2, and so on. AutoTrader program works best if you do not have any existing open position on the symbol you are going to trade, and you should have no open position when a position is closed in AutoTrader, and do not make adjustments to your position in TWS while using AutoTrader. If for some reason the Qty Open value is unsynchronized, you will need to restart AutoTrader, and also closing the open position in TWS.
There seems to be a problem with YM reporting a fill price of 0 on market orders. So if you are trading YM, just use all limit orders for now until I can look into this problem some more. As a side note, this problem does not occur on the demo system (at least the last time I checked).
I added support for FOP (option on futures) in this version. Also added exchanges trading Single Stock Futures.
Version 1.16d is now available. Read the release notes to find out what changed. Then download the program to use this version.
Bug fixed in 1.16c, profit value is now calculated correctly when closing a position in simulation mode. The bug reports coming in are now fewer and far between, so I am currently working on new features, check the site frequently for updates.
Releasing version 1.16b. The total profit value is now updated after a position is closed. Fixed a duplicated Ticker ID bug.
Version 1.16a is now available. For some symbols and exchanges, a market order will report a fill price of zero. Also order status are sometimes returned twice. When a market order is filled with a price of zero, the last price will now be used to estimate the actual fill price, so that the exit orders can be submitted. Duplicate order status reports are now ignored. Note that these problems do not occur on the TWS Demo system, and only happen on a live trade.
When a TWS API client program encounters a runtime error, TWS will disconnect the client program from the server. I have added a routine to catch any runtime exeception in the code and will inform the user that a runtime error occured. This will prevent the program from getting disconnected from TWS. Most runtime errors are completely recoverable but IB TWS policy is to disconnect when an error occurs. What you need to do when you get the message is to close any position you have open, exit the program, and email me the AT.log file immediately. The log file will contain all the details I need to determine the cause of the error.
A word about using the simulator. Most of the bugs I have fixed recently are in the simulator. The simulator code is quite complex, and is similar to having 15 or more programs running at the same time. Use the simulator as if you are trading live. You may not be getting any benefit from usng the simulator if your trading using the simulator is not what you are going to do in actual trading. I put a lot of work in writing the simulator, use it properly in order to get the most benefit out of it.
Version 1.16 is out. The disconnection problem in simulation mode is now fixed, thanks to those who diligently use the program in simulation mode, I finally was able to reproduce the problem and fix it. The disconnection problem occurs only if you are running in Simulation mode using live market data and you make many trades.
If you selected use market to close, a market order to close your position is submitted, then the stop/target order pair is cancelled. Previously, the target order is modified to a market order to close the position, but TWS API now rejects orders submitted that modifies the order type from limit to market. Only the price and Qty of a submitted order can be modified. On some symbols, using market to close will guarantee your order has priority, as market orders have a higher priority than a limit order, no matter how much a limit order is over bid or under ask.
A new feature I added for this version is a timer box that will indicate how long your position has been open.
The Price data entry bugs are now fixed. In case you don't know, there are several ways to enter a price value to a price box (stop offset, target offset, etc.) and are as follows:
I got a lot of requests to add more buttons for increasing / decreasing the stop and/or target values. I think the addition of the KeyPad entry (another new feature brought to you first by AutoTrader), provides you with total flexibility without cluttering the limited window space with extra buttons. Try it out and email me your comments.
Update at 7:30 EST. I just updated the program to 1.15f. Apparently, some ESTX50 traders are running into some severe problems like order price and qty are submitted incorrectly, and the problem is caused by using an old version of TWS. So starting with 1.15f, if AutoTrader receives an error 503 at startup (TWS server version is incompatible), the program will quit, and will work only when you upgrade your TWS. If you are already using the latest TWS (the AutoTrader message log at startup shows Server version 7), then the change for this version will not affect you. Again, I emphasize the importance of sending me the log file when you report a problem, 99% of the time I can tell right away what caused the problem by looking at the log.
Releasing 1.15e. Bug fixed on order simulation order fill logic. Fixed order id sequencing if you disconnect and reconnect to TWS. Fixed in 1.15d. Fixed stop limit orders so orders do not get rejected. Safety ticks for limit close order choice now goes up to 5 ticks. I plan to add option to submit exit as stop limit order. Also plan to change Qty Open to use negative number for short position, remove use mkt to close option. I will also rearrange the preferences a little bit to make it easier to use.
No new updates today. 1.15c is stable with the following known issues you need to be aware of. Do not select use Market to Close option. The reason is, the Stop/Target exit orders are submitted as limit orders, and only the price and quantity of an open order is allowed to be modified, so changing the target order to a market order to close the position will return a Rejected Order error. I might take out the Use Market to Close option, and just leave the option to specify the limit order Ticks Safety (the number of ticks to add or subtract to the current ask or bid price) to close a position, since changing an existing limit order to market is not allowed anyway.
The other thing to remember is, currently the Quantity Open is always specified as a positive number, whether you are long or short. So for example if you cancelled your exit orders and is left with an open long position of 1 contract, and you try to close it by submitting a sell order of 1 contract with AutoSend Exit order unchecked, your position will get closed, but AutoTrader will show the wrong Quantity Open as Short 2 contracts instead of 0. So the planned change here is to use positive Qty for long position, and negative Qty for short position, so you can close a position from within AutoTrader without getting the wrong value in Qty Open. I also plan to remove the Cancel Open Order button, you can still use the Cancel Selected Order button to cancel unfilled entry orders, and Close Position to cancel unfilled exit orders and close the open position.
The file for 1.15c I uploaded last night did not upload correctly. So if you downloaded 1.15c before 7AM EST today, please redownload the file. The file version is still 1.15c. Next time I upload I will test download it to make sure the server got the correct file. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Please download version 1.15c, there is a bug in the previous version where the values on the main screen are reset everytime you switch to a different window then back. Also now closing a position will close all your additional unfilled orders. A duplicate order id error is also fixed when you are connected to the TWS Demo System. The TWS Demo System assigns order id from a common pool to everybody connected to the demo system, this is not a problem when using your own account. I now check if both legs of a breakout order are valid before submitting the orders.
Regarding Stop and Target Offset. Stop Offset is always computed as an offset from the Best Price, whether you are trailing stop or not, and Target Offset is always computed as an offset from the Entry Price or Average Entry Price if you have multiple entries. So for stop offset, if you originally have a stop on a long position of 2 pts, with AutoTrail turned off, and the position is now +1, your stop will be at -3 from the best price. If you change the stop offset to be 1.5, your stop price will not be -1.5 from the entry price, but instead it is -1.5 from the Best Price. If you are scaling out, each time the Target offset is reached, a new Target and Stop order is submitted, and the offset is calculated from that last target price that was reached. In the future, I will add a way for you to enter Stop and Target values in Price, in addition to the current offset value.