Demo Connectivity Update 12-10-09

[brownsfan019 17]

A few have mentioned that the OEC demo environment lately has been hit and miss with it working. I emailed a contact over there and was basically told that there has been a big surge in demo requests recently and it was overloading the servers. Starting tomorrow, it should be more reliable as more resources are being put here.

[Tams 20]

hook line and sinker

[brownsfan019 17]

hook line and sinker

 

Meaning what Tams? It's the demo.

[Dinerotrader 10]

A few have mentioned that the OEC demo environment lately has been hit and miss with it working. I emailed a contact over there and was basically told that there has been a big surge in demo requests recently and it was overloading the servers. Starting tomorrow, it should be more reliable as more resources are being put here.

 

That would be great. The way you sell most traders on your service is through the Demo so I do hope they get it working consistently. If OEC can get their demo service reliable, begin their access to equities trading and provide a way for me to pay for lots of historical data to plug into my charts (still need to call them about the esignal plugin) I will be a very happy customer.

 

Thanks for looking into this for us BF.

[Tams 20]

a big surge in demo request ???

 

over loaded the server ?

 

the demo has always been a hit and miss... for God knows how long.

just check the various web forums and you get the time stamped complaints.

 

and they are still working on the volume data after XXX months ?

 

 

they talk as if it takes a rocket scientist to code the volume routine...

the simple fact is, the data feed format from the exchange is published information.

every broker/supplier gets the same data in the same format...

how long does it take, and how many programmer it needs, to figure out how to parse the data?

you tell me.

 

 

OEC offers a fantastic "package"... EasyLanguage compatibility and all.

I think they have potential...

I would have opened an account with them too.

 

 

but I think people got to stop dreaming and know what is a put off, and what is a real legitimate reason.

[brownsfan019 17]

I disagree 100%. Their software is reliable and if the demo suffers at times, so be it. When there is issues they are usually worked on within reason.

 

So while you try to imply things with 'hook line sinker' coming from someone that does not trade (with them) and is making an opinion from forums doesn't mean much.

 

It's very similar to those that offer trading advice around here yet are 'unable' to post any proof of actually trading. It's one thing for someone that uses a software to make comments on the product or someone offering advice that has shown the ability to trade vs the pretenders.

[Dinerotrader 10]

A few have mentioned that the OEC demo environment lately has been hit and miss with it working. I emailed a contact over there and was basically told that there has been a big surge in demo requests recently and it was overloading the servers. Starting tomorrow, it should be more reliable as more resources are being put here.

 

Ever since your update I haven't had any freezing problems and the like.

[garak 10]

Ever since your update I haven't had any freezing problems and the like.

I don't care about connectivity issues with the Demo as long as their live feed is reliable.

Btw: Their TF (RLM-MZ9) intraday chart looks really funny. Never seen time gaps in charts.

[Akrav 10]

Yep IMHO Demo OEC is perfecto

[sevensa 10]

I don't care about connectivity issues with the Demo as long as their live feed is reliable.

Btw: Their TF (RLM-MZ9) intraday chart looks really funny. Never seen time gaps in charts.

 

Roll-over to the March '10 contract occured last week and the December contract you look at, expires this week.

[garak 10]

Roll-over to the March '10 contract occured last week and the December contract you look at, expires this week.

I know but does this cause time gaps when using a time based chart? As far as I know bars/candles don't vanish due to lower trading activity.

[sevensa 10]

I know but does this cause time gaps when using a time based chart? As far as I know bars/candles don't vanish due to lower trading activity.

 

How can be there a bar if there is no activity during that time frame?

[garak 10]

How can be there a bar if there is no activity during that time frame?

If a 5-min chart is a function of price and time. There should be a bar every 5 minutes disregarding trading activity. If no trade happened during one period, an OHLC bar would be just flat with Open and Close being the same.

This doesn't apply for a tick chart of course where trading activity is one of two components of the chart.

[brownsfan019 17]

If a 5-min chart is a function of price and time. There should be a bar every 5 minutes disregarding trading activity. If no trade happened during one period, an OHLC bar would be just flat with Open and Close being the same.

This doesn't apply for a tick chart of course where trading activity is one of two components of the chart.

 

Not necessarily - you are making the assumption that there is an open and close. If nothing trades, there is literally no open, close, high or low. Nothing.

[sevensa 10]

If a 5-min chart is a function of price and time. There should be a bar every 5 minutes disregarding trading activity. If no trade happened during one period, an OHLC bar would be just flat with Open and Close being the same.

This doesn't apply for a tick chart of course where trading activity is one of two components of the chart.

 

You are correct. It is a function of time and price. In this case price is missing, so how do you want to draw a bar then? What price level would the open and close be of the "flat" bar if there is no price?

 

This is like saying that you want to plot the speed per lap of a car doing laps where Speed is a function of Distance/Time, but when time is missing on some laps, you should just make up a value for speed and plot that.

 

Do you think drawing "made-up" bars not based on any activity, would be better than showing gaps?

[brownsfan019 17]

I decided to test out the OEC demo later in the afternoon to test the theory that you get automatic fills and their demo is not realistic.

 

Here's what I saw:

 

 

 

I put a 10 lot order on the RLM @ 606.2. At 1533 and 1534 EST on a 1 minute chart, you will see that 606.2 is the low of both candles. I got ZERO fills even though price was hitting my entry limit order TWICE. I was only able to get a fill once price touched 606.1.

 

So while the OEC demo may not be perfect, it's far from just giving you automatic fills when your price level is touched. It is a decent representation of what it's like trading in real-time. I did not say perfect or exact, but it's much better than other demo's out there.

[brownsfan019 17]

You are correct. It is a function of time and price. In this case price is missing, so how do you want to draw a bar then? What price level would the open and close be of the "flat" bar if there is no price?

 

This is like saying that you want to plot the speed per lap of a car doing laps where Speed is a function of Distance/Time, but when time is missing on some laps, you should just make up a value for speed and plot that.

 

Do you think drawing "made-up" bars not based on any activity, would be better than showing gaps?

 

And the fact is that if you trade the highest volume contract this is a non-issue. Just trade the highest volume contract. I don't know how many times I need to say this on this forum. So many problems are solved/avoided if you just trade the contract with the highest volume.

[garak 10]

You are correct. It is a function of time and price. In this case price is missing, so how do you want to draw a bar then? What price level would the open and close be of the "flat" bar if there is no price?

 

Do you think drawing "made-up" bars not based on any activity, would be better than showing gaps?

Ok, from my experience of trading spot FX, in the case of inactivity the Open of a bar would be the Close of the last one and so on till there is a change in price. This seems to be common in a market making environment. To some extent I understand that this can't be done in futures trading because it would distort the true market activity. BUT time is not alterable when I chose a fixed time period. So any compression - like the one that is to be seen on my RLM chart - is not correct as well. Perhaps we can agree on that.

 

When I want a flexible time scale I'd chose a tick chart or sth. akin.

[garak 10]

I put a 10 lot order on the RLM @ 606.2. At 1533 and 1534 EST on a 1 minute chart, you will see that 606.2 is the low of both candles. I got ZERO fills even though price was hitting my entry limit order TWICE. I was only able to get a fill once price touched 606.1

If this is the case, they did some changes to their demo which is very nice. Last time I used it is about 9 months ago. You could make money by simply trading the bid/ask spread.

[Dinerotrader 10]

If this is the case, they did some changes to their demo which is very nice. Last time I used it is about 9 months ago. You could make money by simply trading the bid/ask spread.

 

I trade the Demo everyday and you definitely don't simply get filled if your order is the same as the current price. I miss fills all the time when price quickly hits my order price and reverses.