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Date/Time: Sat, 30 Nov 2024 02:55:40 +0000



SIM TRADING not working custom symbols

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[2022-01-27 23:37:15]
User220914 - Posts: 239
Hello,

I posted a similar post a month ago with no response so i thought i would try again.

If I am using your custom symbols and I am charting a custom symbol and i want to open
a trading dorm for a custom symbol and make sim trades then the program does not work.

I have tried different symbols (synthetic) that chart properly but do not sim trade properly.

the dom will open and populate correctly and the prices will move in real time correctly but the
sim trades always default to the price of when the DOM was opened. Instead of the actual fill price for the custom
symbol.

If you have time could you look into a solution and it is possible that it is on my end.

If i open an implied symbol the dom and trading work properly and if I open a regular futures symbol
the dom and sim trading work fine also.

if you need an example i wil use the one from your site that uses nasdaq vs dow under custom symbols.
if you make that exact custom symbol then try to trade it the sim system does not average prices or even on a 1 lot
give you the correct price.

Thank you for your time.
keep up the great work ! excellent product
[2022-02-01 04:29:47]
User220914 - Posts: 239
When sierra Chart re did the format for custom symbols it was noted that the custom symbols will populate the DOM correctly and
that these symbols can be SIM traded but they cannot be traded thru a dom if synthetic. I was able to sim trade custom symbols
a year ago but for some reason they do not sim trade properly with any averaging or even the correct price when filled, and i am not
talking about a point or based on the bid ask it is defaulting after numerous lots added and subtracted to the price that the custom symbol
was when the chart dom was opened.

I was really hoping for some help with this because I am not sure if it is something on my settings or if it is something to do with
Sierra Chart.

Thank you.
[2022-02-01 06:16:26]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We still need time to look this over. We have not yet gotten to it yet.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2022-02-01 06:18:28]
User220914 - Posts: 239
it seems that it works a little better if you use limit orders only but that is still not always correct and teh custom symbol dom really has
problems with mkt orders.
[2022-02-01 22:48:53]
User220914 - Posts: 239
I have been messing around with it today trying to figure out a work around that is somewhat doable. I think the issue is that unlike calendar symbols in the same commodity or symbol which usually have the same tick value and they seem to work;however, the custom symbols that use 2 different commodities with different tick values do not seem to work so I am thinking it is the tick value setting that is causing most of the problems.

i subscribe to denali and CME data but the data i subscribe to only has top of book (only the best bid and ask i.e. 1 level above and 1 level below last trade match), not 10 levels or deeper which is available for an added cost. I am wondering if this could be an issue however If i just do 1 lots as a test then it should still work because there is enough depth to cover a 1 lot on both symbols or both commodities. so maybe this is not the problem.

Tick size and multipliers may also be the issue so I defaulted to using notional multipliers

Tick size could very well be the main issue. In custom symbols the system does not accurately pick or use a correct tick size or price display format. I don't think sierra chart uses price display format for making trades anyway, but i could be incorrect in this assumption.

Back to tick size on a synthetic custom symbol. We can use say Crude oil minus corn. the tick sizes are very different so this would be CL-ZC where a full point in both is hugely different and in ticks it is also very different. I would guess that this is the issue. Tick sizes being so different, but the synthetic custom symbol dom does do a great job of giving accurate prices of the custom
symbol based on the "USER SPECIFIED" tick size setting and this is why I am mixed up as to why it is not working no matter what is in the tick size column.

I am not so sure the sim trading system is actually using the "synthetic custom symbol" by itself by default to buy and sell or make trades. I think it is trying to look at say the
CL order book and the corn order book in my precious example and then combining them as a trade versus just looking at the custom symbols overall bid and ask. yes thsoe bid ans asks should be from a combination of both bids and asks of the underlying symbols i.e. corn and oil.

I hope I have not over complicated here because I am only trying to give more information to help fix the issue.

On other systems with sim trading they may go off of the use specified tick value and convert that for making the dom and then make trades off of that based on what the 2 combined symbols are creating based on the user specified tick value. THIS IS UNLIKE THE EXCHANGE TICK VALUE which is standardized.

A somewhat inaccurate work around may be only allowing fractions of the bid and ask of both symbols " a common tick size denominator basically." so for instance in CL and corn
CL tick size is 1 cent which is the equivalent of $ 10
ZC tick size is 1/4th of a cent or $ 12.50
so now we have 10 and 12.50 as minimum tick sizes...oy vey what to do now!?

to get 1 tick size for the custom symbol dom that works easily we could use $ 2.50
2.50 x 5= 10 and 2.50 x 6 = $ 12.50 so this 2.50 should give us some decent numbers to start out with but the problem is that the DOM
will need to be scrolled huge all the time in order to follow price and or make any sense of it.
But it works kind of because if you gain a tick in oil you make 10 dollars and if you lose a tick in corn you lose 12.50 so you are left with a $ -2.50 which is our tick size.

again though oil and corn both move rapidly at times and if you gained 40 ticks in oil you would then use up a lot of CELLS or LEVELS on the DOM. too many really plus or minus corn.

If you go to say 50 dollars a tick then you have too large of a tick size.

curious how much i overcomplicated this !!! lol

thanks for your help

there are algorithims and tick tables that have been produced and are used by other (less worthy) chart and data packages. I will direct mesaagge you a link if it allowsw me to.

thanks again.
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2022-02-01 22:51:06
[2022-02-08 18:26:55]
User220914 - Posts: 239
Sierra Chart,

I think i remember sim trading working on the previous custom symbol format i.e. -cme_fut but nto sure.

if i do not need the accuracy of a custom symbol is there a work around of some sort like utilizing the difference study and running a dom on that study or a way to just use raw price of the custom symbol and not use the BID and ASK quantities just anything to simplify this so i can do some sim trades with proper pricing and averaging and exiting?

thank you. Obviously I can manually make all the trades and that works only from a P&L stand point.
[2022-03-22 18:24:00]
User220914 - Posts: 239
any chance this has been worked on yet and maybe fixed in anew versiomn or beta?
[2022-12-21 06:04:52]
Sierra_Chart Engineering - Posts: 17267
We did test this recently and did not identify any issue:
If I am using your custom symbols and I am charting a custom symbol and i want to open
a trading dorm for a custom symbol and make sim trades then the program does not work.

Sorry for being late here, but there is so much information in this thread, that we just never get a chance to go through all of this. And it gets deferred.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2022-12-21 06:05:14

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