MultiCharts: Trading Software for Automated Trading and Backtesting

bowlesj3

I just clicked the URL thread on my second posting above and it took me to the latest EliteTrader posting on that thread. There at least two threads going on about this IB flat bar problem. Last night I got up at 3am and had flat bars since 17:23 the night before until 3am. You get at least 1 hour t...

bowlesj3

Hi, It appears that when MC 2.1.999.999 aborts it writes out the datafiles before it closes. However I am not sure if absolutely every type of abort does this. Is there a way to force MC to write out to the datafiles from the cash while MC is still running well. At the very least it could save time ...

bowlesj3

In view of the flat bar problem occuring with IB, is there a replacement broker for IB that provides a feed that MC can process.

Thanks,
John.

bowlesj3

Elite Trader has a discussion on this for any interested.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthrea ... to=newpost

bowlesj3

IB has a problem with backfilling during the day their E-Mini S&P 500 data. It has been happening about 2 weeks now. It is not an MC problem but MC aborting and requiring a startup picks up the flat bars. I am curious if others are experiencing this. See the attached picture. I sent an email to tac@...

bowlesj3

Hi, I just realized that the solution that FS gave me (to rename the symbol on the old contract database in the quote manager to the new symbol name for the new contract) worked for the bar sizes (10sec, 1min, 5min, 10min, 15min, 30min, and 60min) but it did not work for the daily bars. So for the d...

bowlesj3

I don't suppose there is a way to switch from one open workspace to another open workspace using key stroke commands. The key sequence File and #whatever does not switch to that open workspace (it only opens it).

Thanks,
John.

bowlesj3

Another thing I do is this. Every change to a study I make or my database program gets backed up in this format (date_time_MachineCode_ShortComment). Date is YYYYMMDD and time is HHMM. The machine code is DT=DeskTop or NB=NoteBook. The machine code helps me keep track of where I made the change so I...

bowlesj3

Maybe my stories will increase your backup frequency (to a second computer or 3rd). Over the years I have had 2 full head crashes where the disk was toast (lost a month of programming once - got lucky and found a diskette reducing it to a week). I had the powersupply go on another computer and fried...

bowlesj3

For Marina and friends, Even though what FS suggested worked, there appears to still be a bug as described farther up in the second post to this subject. If it had not occured I would consider adding in prior contracts to go back at least 3 contracts. Due to the bug I will start back only one contra...

bowlesj3

Interesting FS. Thanks, Gee it worked. I wrote out the questions below to be sure I had it correct then I tried deleting the Dec data and returning the 3 database files and it brought that data back so I figured I was safe to give what I describe below a try. This is great. All of the Sept and Dec c...

bowlesj3

Actually I just tried it on my notebook machine and it worked except for one thing. I exported the contract ending September and brought it back into the current contract ending in December. However only the first few weeks of the September contract are showing in the chart. In other words I see Jun...

bowlesj3

I find that one of my futures contracts during the first fiew weeks of a new rollover does not have enough data to help me predict future movement in the larger waves to make longer hold period swing type trades. I use interactive brokers. Also I prefer to stay on MC 2.1.999.999 rather than try the ...

bowlesj3

Hi Khalid, Maybe this is the problem you are experiencing. It exists in MC2.1.999.999 too. It is not actually a chart problem but rather a backfill, data feed problem that just shows up on the chart. Their one minute offset makes it confusing too but I have worked around that. When I first started t...

bowlesj3

Good idea. I am sure many would find a use for it.

bowlesj3

Maybe I misunderstood the problem. My understanding was that the workspace was already open with a few charts (and these were not missing bars) and a new chart was randomly added (and this chart is the only one with missing bars). In my situation all the 9 charts I use for the one symbol I trade are...

bowlesj3

Regarding the quote On my computer MultiCharts Version 4.0 Beta 2 (Build 1573) is randomly missing bars. It happens only if a chart is opened during the trading session. The ommission is not instrument or exchange specific. If what you say is true that it occurs only if you open a chart during the t...

bowlesj3

Your right. Just buy 16 cores, let MC do the work and forget about it.

bowlesj3

Thanks TJ. Seems guess #1 was correct. So if lets say two workspaces are running with 8 charts each and the machine has 8 cores then MC would distribute the processing for the studies on 2 charts to 1 core and repeat this until all 8 cores were used.

bowlesj3

Hi, I was in a discussion on the omega-list about different softwares and it shifted to multi-core on MC and the reasons traders were going to multi-core. I learned that the highest number of cores on one processor is currently 4 and to get 16 cores you need four "quad core" processors. I am curious...

bowlesj3

I think you could use SecondsFromDateTime to create the required delay. I think there may be some other ones in there if you check the powerlanguage help.

Curious. Why would you want two sounds right together?

bowlesj3

Hi Marina, I haven't tried MC 3.0 since beta 2. MC2.1.999.999 has actually been performing well except that one unusual double abort (before and after for two days). I am a little too busy to try and upgrade at the moment. I also find the features you are adding at the moment are mostly for full com...

bowlesj3

I am not sure if this will have any value but MC 2.1.999.999 has been running without any aborts for several days at a time lately over the last few weeks. However yesterday it aborted two times in a row at its typical location in my trading cycle where it is forced to execute the recalculate comman...

bowlesj3

I just checked the powerlanguage help on the web site and it looks like there is no way to do it. So I guess that all is left is to have one plot for each plot type you want and use some sort of input or flag to direct the code to determine which one you actually execute out of the 2 or 3 plots you ...

bowlesj3

Hi Bob. I don't think there is too much to add actually. I too had thought of these ideas a fair time ago and not having the proper manual did not know if was even possible. I guess someone else thought of these ideas and created the commands.
John.

bowlesj3

Here is another idea for deleting Trend Lines with the study. Give it a try, see if it works. There is a TL_GetActive and Text_GetActive command. So the study puts out a text reading "TLD" and "TLS". Trend Line Delete and TrendLinesSave. The study keeps these text items at the back of the chart abov...

bowlesj3

I use the Simple. It works fine.

bowlesj3

Gee, I was looking at the help for EL currently on the TS-Support web pages and there is a Text_GetActive as well as a TL_GetActive. I had asked for this before I got the manual but I guess it was there all along. So you do not even need to move the text. The TL_GetNext also seems to have a paramete...

bowlesj3

It occured to me that if you set this study up so that it scans the trend lines on the chart every minute for example and it finds a line you set backwards for deletion it does not matter if it has previously been written out to the text file, created by you manually or created by the study in the m...

bowlesj3

I finally figure out what the ascii code for the extra character is that is being put out on some SetNamedString GV commands in EL. It is an ascii zero code. Mostly I get this when I send out "L" or "S" for long/short. It seems to occur mostly when the character being sent out is only one long. So o...

bowlesj3

I guess another way to save the line positions would be just to have the study save to the text file every bar or so based upon a parameter setting.

bowlesj3

Regarding the initial reading of the text file using the EL collection map command to get the trend line locations, I stated that this should be on bar 1. This is incorrect. You have to set a switch on bar #1 to indicate that on the last bar on the chart that this should be done and the lines are to...

bowlesj3

Here are a few more thoughts on that routine for trend lines. The first thing to do is figure out how to detect that the TL_GetNext loop is to end. I have never use it. So if the documentation does not tell you set up a loop with a print statement and print the output values. It may be that a TL ID ...

bowlesj3

I am going to present three solutions to this problem. 1/ The proper solution is for MC to have the option to attach trend lines ot the chart or the symbol with the ability for the user to set the default via the standard MC methods. 2/ My solution is that I stopped using trend lines at year 6. I us...

bowlesj3

Just curious. Yesterday and today due an internet problem MC could not get IB's TWS data (I guess it is obvious that TWS could not get it either). When the internet was finally once again feeding quotes to TWS, I first restarted MC but it did not bring in the data (just sat there waiting for the dat...

bowlesj3

It seems that my last theory is out the window regarding why MC at times does a blank and redraw when the recalculate is issued. Today it started doing a partial blank and redraw after not having done it for about 3 or 4 days at least (since my last post actually). The reason I say the theory is out...

bowlesj3

Pertaining to (contacting TS-Support via livechat and getting on helpdesk to inspect these aborts I get which appear to be related to the recalculate command), I will dump any info that may have relavance to this issue into this thread so all the info will be in one place and known before I contact ...

bowlesj3

The "recalculate command full blanking (and partial blanking) and redraw" seems to have stopped. The only thing that I have changed that may have taken it back to normal from partial blanking is only turning on one copy of this new study on the larger charts (05,10,15,30 and 60 minutes). I have to l...

bowlesj3

Maybe this is a fluck. I did a recalculate today on the 1 minute bars with this new study on the chart (two copies of it that is) and I did not get a blank and redraw but just a normal recalculate. What was different however is the fact that I had turned this study off on a few of the other charts. ...

bowlesj3

Final soap opera episode #4. I tried reducing a related pair of newly installed arrays in the original study from 10 elements to 5 but this did not produce any noticable change from the last episode. The two new studies are actually the same study duplicated in the chart with different parameter set...

bowlesj3

For those who may be interested, here is episode #3 in this soap opera :-) I went back to the original study and took out some code that was displaying missing bar text (text which is no longer useful too me and now I have a good reason to get rid of it). When this text was removed and both of those...

bowlesj3

I was experimenting with this. If both new studies are turned on, the original study fully blanks and redraws when I issue the recalculate in the original study. If only one new study is turned on, the original study only partially blanks and redraws when I issue the recalculate in the original stud...

bowlesj3

I just added two studies to all my charts. I may be pushing MC a bit because now on the 1 minute chart if I make an adjustment that requires the recalculate command it does a full redraw many times (meaning all text and plots the study is putting out blank out then they come back in). If I turn thes...

bowlesj3

As I work out the revised code it occured to me that the IntraBarPreserve can be used to reduce the number of GV Get commands to one per minute or maybe less depending on this [offset] problem. The GV ensures that at least if EL decides to reset your variable to zero you can get it back but the if t...

bowlesj3

The IntraBarPersist Does not really work the way I had hoped. It seems that if you start using offsets such as Date[Offset] in your code it starts to set variables back to zero at the start of the intraday minute bar even when you have put in this IntraBarPersist reserve word. So in the end the only...

bowlesj3

Gee, trying to use this IntraBarPersist forces you to learn some of the other commands of EL better and what is actually going on under the hood. To get the Text to stay out front immediately once this system is turned on then hold it after the bar is done and to be able to move it after that withou...

bowlesj3

Gee, with this new IntraBarPreserve command I learned something about Text_New that I did not know. It only holds if it is placed on the last bar of the tick. All variables are preserved. This code causes the text to flash then disappear. if LastBarOnChart then begin if MyCount = 0 then begin MyCoun...

bowlesj3

Hi Bob, Yah, I saw that post. It was/is active. I was just thinking on the weekend that the OmegaList is more active than this forum. I get so busy that at times I never look at those posts. Just today, I saw that the former press secretary of George Bush released his book. He was on an interview on...

bowlesj3

H Bob, I was able to view the .CHM format help at the following URL. The commands are there. I just checked and it is the same URL. I also went into the second one on the llist again and the commands are there properly. I tried the first one and it too is all there. If you can't get them let me know...

bowlesj3

Using MC2.1.999.999 I changed the above code to have the IntraBarPersist reserve word. Now as you can see the minute times for all prints are showing it is the same intraday bar and the count is being incremented. Thanks to TJs help I can put the text out there indented properly too. Here1 Time 921....

bowlesj3

I was looking at these two commands on the new website manual. It appears that the difference may be related to an observation and email I sent last year pointing out the fact that trend lines could not be drawn on subchart #2 (My RSI study). Am I correct in thinking that this is what the _Self vers...

bowlesj3

As a followup I read over your entries RobotMan and the proper solution is in the "IntraBarPersist" reserve word (thanks once again - you solved it). I went back to the manuals I picked up on the TS-Support Website last August 2007. I also went back to the reserve word lists I had on my hard drive. ...

bowlesj3

Thanks Robot Man. I will read the three printouts when I have my apple + coffee mental simulant during my morning startup break so I can get smart enough to understand it :-) Up to now I have been simply saving the variable in a GV after any updates and reading it in from that GV before any updates ...

bowlesj3

Thanks TJ. Maybe I can find some time to learn this forum a little better.

bowlesj3

It just occured to me as I rework the code I put together over the 3 day weekend when I did not have to worry about this problem and only today rediscovered it (ouch!), that having to save variable changes you have made to GVs then read them back in on the next tick to work with them next time aroun...

bowlesj3

Thanks TJ, That saves work and you can download it too. Cool. Do you do HTML programming (or web programming or whatever the correct term is)?

bowlesj3

Special up front update which is also mentioned farther down. The solution to this problem is the "IntraBarPersist" reserve word. Also the "BarStatus" reserve word may be of some help. These commands are now described in the current documentation in the TS-Support WebSite. The history follows for th...

bowlesj3

I got the binary search code in pla format out on the other post using your suggestion Marina.

Thanks,
John.

bowlesj3

Because the forum would not accept a pla attachment of sample EL code (binary search function) I decided to dump the code into the post itself. When editing the post the indent tabs are working. When you view the post they do not work. Is there a solution to either of these problems (the attach, the...

bowlesj3

See most recent version of binary search at
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7749
It has one for seconds bars and minute bars as well as test scripts.

bowlesj3

Hi, See most recent version of binary search at https://www.multicharts.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7749 It has one for seconds bars and minute bars as well as test scripts. It properly handles maxbarsback. This thread may be of some value but I have removed the zip file so people only use th...

bowlesj3

Thanks Momentum.

bowlesj3

Hi Marina,

When the next program exception popup occurs I will do that while it is still on screen and all the info is available.

Thanks,
John.

bowlesj3

On Monday I moved the recalculate command to the very bottom of one of my studies hoping it would prevent these every other day aborts I get. Yesterday I had no aborts and I am hopeful for the next 2 days. I do not suppose there is anyone out there with any info related to this idea.

bowlesj3

Has anyone had any experience using Zone Alarm (or similar products) with MC and for that matter IB's TWS software. Any tips?

Thanks,
John.

bowlesj3

On my 1 minute bars the snap mode was for a while there snapping to the outer bollinger bands rather than to the high and low of the price bars. It was only on the 1 minute bar chart. I had to turn the study off then back on and then it started snapping correctly to the high and low of the price bar...

bowlesj3

Why not just put a checkbox (or a set of them) on the parameters for each drawing tool to have it attached to the Symbol or the chart. Obviously trend lines belong only with one symbol since they are usually snapped to the tips of the waves (top bottom or some inside waves top or bottom). However I ...

bowlesj3

In MC 2.1.999.999 if you right click on the trend line you just placed on the chart and choose "format trend line" there is a tab in there that has the trend line type (four of them). The top one says "free style". you set the trend line to that value then you make sure you check mark the box that s...

bowlesj3

I have looked at the methods outside of freestyle and I do not know why one would use anything but freestyle (with snap mode one that is). That is the traditional way. The book "Technical Analysis of Stock Trends" by Robert Edwards and John Magee may be one of the best books out there that explains ...

bowlesj3

Actually if you zoom really close so that the bars are spaced farther appart than the spyglass size, the problem with the spyglass blocking the cross hair is a none issue if you position the spyglass between the bars.

bowlesj3

my mistake...

actually click on the "-" spyglass would return to regular size.

I normally zoom max 2 times. It is one extra button click to go back to normal (2 in total). How many times to you zoom?

bowlesj3

Actually for a while there I found that the "+" key did not remove the spyglass from covering the cross hair during zooming. Most times it does work though.

bowlesj3

I wish there is an option to select a rectangular area to enlarge. I find this a little confusing. Isn't this the way it works as standard by dragging the mouse? What is the difference between the standard way to zoom a rectangular area and the one you want? Did I miss read it? Is it that the only ...

bowlesj3

I just check the help and this little trick I found is not in there. If you zoom the charts often as I do you will find the spyglass is in the way of the cross hair. If you want to remove the spyglass but keep the cross hair there press the + key and it goes away until you move the cross hair again....

bowlesj3

To me it should be possible to cancel a compile in the running and to save to pla a study which is compiled or not. I always thought that a text file was the source and the compile was either a tockenized partial copy or a fully machine code executable copy (souce text is just an input file to these...

bowlesj3

Actually I should clarifiy the time to compile. On my notebook it is about 10 to 12 minutes. On the desktop which is dual core AMD Athlon(tm) 64X2Dual Core Processor 3600+ 1.90 Ghz with 1.00 GB Ram it is about 5 or 6 minutes. (A guess). Either way, having the cancel promptly take effect would be hel...

bowlesj3

Actually Tj, I had one chunk of fairly large code that I put in a function using variables that could be shared with the calling code but it was just too hard to develop/maintain since there were about 20+ variables/inputs to share. The code was designed to detect swings in the market. I had tried t...

bowlesj3

This is not a big deal issue (for me especially since my EL systems are pretty much done) but I thought I would add it to the list (with entertainment). My main system takes 10 minutes to compile. Today I forgot one of my changes and wanted to cancel it. I found the cancel button (EVENTUALLY) and cl...

bowlesj3

This may help new MC users doing their first futures contract change even if not using IB as your broker and also even if not using the E-Mini S&P 500 symbol. 1/ Bring up TWS first (TWS is Traders Work Station) 2/ Do not remove the old contract but rather add in the new contract so you have two cont...

bowlesj3

Regarding TS Support's intention to make a continuous contract, does this mean that we will be able to do both of these? 1/ taking the E-Mini S&P 500 for example, get a historic feed of the various contract months and merge them into a single symbol going back in time 5+ years or more. 2/ To be able...

bowlesj3

Regarding this, what some would say a "thinking outside the box" idea, if this idea ever comes to reality, the instant the line or text box is highlighted it should also update a set of Global Variables with the attributes of this line/text-box. The symbol of the chart should be included at the end ...

bowlesj3

If MC can not do this now, as a discretionary trader I think it would be very useful if in MC, one could get the attributes of the currently highlight text box or trend line. It would have to be any text or trend line meaning either one placed on the chart by the EL code or manually by the user. Exa...

bowlesj3

Other database programmers/traders may have comments. I was looking through the MC 3.1 beta fixes and probably like most users trying to figure out if the bugs I had reported might have been in the fix list. Being a database programer of about 10 years experience (non direct pro since the programmin...

bowlesj3

Gee, a real feature request thread! How exciting! A plug for MC first. I am a discressionary trader scalper and MC is more than enough for me generally (2.1.999.999 that is). I only use the bollinger bands, RSI oscillator and charts from 10 second, 1min, 5min, 10min, 15min, 30min, 60min to daily. I ...

bowlesj3

I just realized that the IP address worked. No more prompt.
Thanks so much guys.
John.

bowlesj3

Thanks fs. I just added the IP address you suggested. We will see how it works tomorrow.

bowlesj3

Thanks ABC. Your suggestion worked.
John.

bowlesj3

Thanks for the info fs. Being a programmer and not being a networking expert by any stretch of the imagination I had to go to a google search to look up how to find my IP address. I tried the IPconfig command which I had used before but the dos window it creates for some reason is disappearing faste...

bowlesj3

I just noticed that when restarting MultiCharts 2.1.999.999 and you get that prompt from TWS "Accept data attempt" or whatever it is, that it does not let MultiCharts get by it now and it will just sits there. I also noticed that if this happens and you forget to click yes to that prompt and leave i...

bowlesj3

For those who use Interactive Brokers stand alone TWS, if you have not tried it yet and have the need you can have multicharts running with both the TWS simulator up and TWS live up at the same time. Just uncheck the (Configuration, API, Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients) check box on the simulator ...

bowlesj3

Thanks Marina,

Interesting. There was a time I used TS EOD this way. It is interesting how we change. I now feel most comfortable specializing in 1 or 2 symbols only.

bowlesj3

What is the scanner I see in the subjects every so often? Is it for scanning for multiple stocks that meet some sort of criteria to have them included in the list?

bowlesj3

Thanks for the reply Marina. I am sure the users would find the bug tracking system very useful.

John.

bowlesj3

Hi, Others may want to comment. I tried MC3.0 but took it out and went back to MC2.1.999.999 due to two MC3.0 bugs which caused extreme slow downs and roughly 6 aborts a day. MC2.1.999.999 works pretty good. I am curious about whether these MC3.0 bugs are fixed (or what the status is) but am very un...

bowlesj3

Question. If I ("make multiple updates to this post" to edit it) rather than (doing "multiple previews" to edit it before submitting it only one time at the end), does each update submission send an extra duplicate unwanted email to the users who are following this thread?

bowlesj3

Is it good that you mention that this should be considered regarding the automatic roll over of futures contracts. I say this because I have sent TS-Support a few emails of suggestions for a new features system with voting ideas too. This type of discussion we are having is exactly what I have been ...

bowlesj3

I wasn't actually thinking of an automatic way to switch futures contract but rather just to clean up the workspace generally (example beeing cleaning up drawing tools). However, now that you mention switching futures contracts automatically, I had requested this (as probably many have) and it appea...

bowlesj3

Hi, It just occured to me that upon the need to switch to a new contract at the end of the three months I should attempt to do a cleanup of the workspace or chart to get rid of old tools that may have gotten left in the workspace. I don't suppose there is a procedure for this that has been put in th...

bowlesj3

Being a discessionary trader I put various lines on the chart both through EL program control and manually for more random purposes such as marking my trade calls. Every so often when I clone an existing line which I had placed manually, the clone of that line vanishes. I suspect it is at a time whe...

bowlesj3

I think if the users of MC had its underlying logic described in some detail on this forum somewhere for easy reference, it would help them describe the bugs better. I am also thinking that the order the studies are updated would be handy. I have this impression that it is the order in which the cha...

bowlesj3

Hi Marina, It is a hard call on the lockup after the TWS feed stops because the prices on MC will obviously stop moving. So what happens is if I attemped to close MC3.0 down after the TWS feed stops I will see the charts kind of disappear (much of that chart araa goes white) but MC does not close do...

bowlesj3

Back on MC 2.1.999.999. It is much less frustraiting. 1/ Bombs less on the UEA "Unexpect Exception abort" of recalculation command. 2/ Transfers databases well between desktop and notebook. Never a problem. 3/ Always saves to database properly when I close it down. 4/ Closes down properly when I cli...

bowlesj3

I am in the process of going back to 2.1.999.999. from MC3.0. This is a collection of prepration ideas to prepare for going from any version of MC up to a higher version such that you can come back without too much problem and not miss any production trading time. Please add anything of value. I am ...

bowlesj3

It just occured to me that if one is sending Global variables data to MC from another database program and getting it back as well, one could detect when MC is slowing down and get a notice. It could be done during the planning stages of a trade as mentioned above. Records could be kept and used to ...

bowlesj3

A variation on the bog down is where things seem to draw incorrectly. So what I do is I shut the study off then back on again and it takes forever to plot and draw everything. So I pull up the task manager and notice it is showing MC is not responding. The action and results are described above. Tod...

bowlesj3

I have noticed that I am getting two types of aborts generally. 1/ Aborts that occur out of the blue that appear to be related to using the recalculation command. (Unexpected Exception Aborts - UEA). 2/ Aborts that occur after the studies start to take longer than normal to do their updates of whate...

bowlesj3

I think it is pretty much confirmed now. I have to close MC 3.0 (even with the File Exit) before the TWS feed stops for its daily maintenance. If I do not MC 3.0 locks up. This is not that big a deal actually except on Friday it creates a bit of a problem in that transferring the 3 files to the not...

bowlesj3

The skip worked maybe 2 or 3 times. Better than nothing. I assume that each time that abort popup comes up there is a repeat of a similar problem. Or the same problem in a different study. So some of them are not recoverable I guess. If I an recall correctly the ones that are not recoverable have a ...

bowlesj3

I think it is pretty much confirmed now. I have to close MC 3.0 (even with the File Exit) before the TWS feed stops for its daily maintenance. If I do not MC 3.0 locks up. This is not that big a deal actually except on Friday it creates a bit of a problem in that transferring the 3 files to the note...

bowlesj3

Yes I fully understand Marina. Being a programmer I know what it is like. For now I am trying to use the skip button to both not overload you with duplication and also get more trades out. I am trying to avoid reverting back to 2.1.999.999 with this approach. I also got confirmation of what I have f...

bowlesj3

Thanks Marina for the fast response.
John.

bowlesj3

My computer store computer maintenance guy said I can get a keyboad that allows me to switch between updating one computer or another computer. Because MC was aborting I was thinking of switching to TS (TS). I got this idea that maybe I could trade my one futures contract with TS on one computer and...

bowlesj3

Clicking the skip button actually works but you may have to do it a 2 or 3 times. I think this is a great idea. If the trade entry point is a ways away take the time to send the dump but if it is close skip that and take the trade.

bowlesj3

Along this line, what is the fastest computer technology available now (outside of a super computer). Put another way, what will MC fly the absolute fastest on?

Thanks,
John.

bowlesj3

Thanks Marina. I'll have to brush up on the registry updates. Its a dangerous area.

bowlesj3

I think the best part about testing MC3.0 is the fact that I learned I can use the skip button on the little exception popup up box that comes up when MC aborts. So now I can go back to MC2.0.999.999 and if I get that popup box just click skip and keep going all day without interruption. Since I hav...

bowlesj3

Hi Marina, Fibonacci Retracement Price Lines is one of the more complex I use to set up profit distances. The Gann Square is another more complex one which I use to try to hold a minimum a mount of time. All the default settings for these tools I am assuming are in a file somewhere. It was a situati...

bowlesj3

Hi,

I have the C drive backed up so the tool settings are somewhere on that backup. Does anyone know what file it would be. Can I return it?

Thanks,
John.

bowlesj3

I have noticed that MC tends to abort around the time I use the recalculation command but not all the time. During a certain time in my trading cycle during the day I use this command more often and I get a lot more aborts during this time. So there is another factor which is random and unknown at t...

bowlesj3

using google and this search string "Software feature request system" I got some interesting hits. The top one is especially interesting. It appears that this web site is actually a forum on this very topic of "Bug tracking" & "feature request" software. http://forums.devshed.com/development-softwar...

bowlesj3

Hi, I voted but wanted to vote for two items. Here are some ideas on voting. I am not sure of the limits of this software but here goes. Set aside a forum for voting. (one per product). One thread per feature so others can read and possibly adjust how they would have voted. Use a numbering system in...

bowlesj3

I would vote for the playback as long as changing its speed does not distort the bars (they need to look exactly like they did that day). It this can't be done easily then if a same speed playback is all that can be done that is better than nothing. However if we can jump to a specific time that wou...

bowlesj3

Gee, I just had an MC dump but was so busy preparing the email that I did not click the terminate hyperlink in time and MC started up again (never missed a bar of data. Has anyone else had this happen?

bowlesj3

Along this line of thought, what about that MS popup that shows up every time we cancel a program from the task manager (in this case MC locking up). It asks if we want to send the info to MS. Can that be redirected to a different place some how such as TS Support if we know it relates to MC? Would ...

bowlesj3

Hi, MC3.0 locks up every so often on a few different things. Is there any way to quickly force a dump or whatever when MC3.0 is showing "not responding" in the MS task manager window. Maybe logs. If so maybe I can automate the sending of these somehow with Access to make it faster. I would prefer to...

bowlesj3

I just did a test and you are correct. MC 3.0 closes properly with the File exit but fails with the X Click. So I just put a small sticky post it note over that X since I use it out of habit. TS-Support may want to fix this bug or remove the X for a while after reading this. I think that all my prog...

bowlesj3

Hi, Today (the 26th) I have returned my 3 database files from 2008/03/24 16:16 due to this message "Backfilling" which first occured this morning after a bad close down I had yeterday (the 25th). So I am now repairing the MC 3.0 installation, recompiling all the studies and trying again to restart M...

bowlesj3

Thanks. I forgot to mention that I would try the exit before closing down the charts. I guess its a habit using the X because so far every program I have ever had is capable of closing down with the X instead of the file exit sequence and they all ask if you want to save screens or files or whatever...

bowlesj3

There must be a trick to closing down MC 3.0 because rather than abort as 2.1 did it just locks up (twice today). I remember this now from earlier in the day. It comes up with "not responding". Maybe I should close the workspaces first rather than clicking the X in the top right. This time I closed ...

bowlesj3

I am getting a lot of aborts in MC. I am thinking it may be related to extrac character's at the end of GV strings. Here is why I am thinking this. I see this in MS-Access with GV strings. In MS-Access I can see it with the debugger. The extra characters are none string characters. In MS-access I us...

bowlesj3

Actually (last afternoon and normally) when I close MC just after IB's TWS stops its feed at 16:15 my clock time, then reopen MC offline after that, I do get all the ticks from the days session (I do this every single day to capture in bmp format my trade calls and sometimes to analyze the 10 second...

bowlesj3

The above problem may have been the cause of another problem. At the same time, I was finding that when I shut MC down at the end of the day then brought it back up later at night (choosing offline price input from the databases) that these databases had lost (or not been updated with) the data I wa...

bowlesj3

In the end I think it is best to adjust the time zone on your computer first so most items are correct then include an offset parameter to be submitted somewhere (such as a GV) to allow the code to make adjustments where needed (maybe a series of these to make it easier to document where these offse...

bowlesj3

I use MC with IB's TWS. Last week I changed the quote manager to have the new symbol ESM8 (the old was ESH8). I changed all the charts one by one to ESM8. I never checked this but I think it worked. I made these changes with a right click on the bars on the chart to format the symbol. Something went...

bowlesj3

When I down load and install MC 3.0 do I need to bring in the IB TWS dll which handles the daily bars properly or is it built in? If it is built in to 3.0 then is it correct to assume that these types of dll updates are incorporated at the "#.0" level only of upgrades. Am I correct in assuming I mus...

bowlesj3

I agree, the tick replay needs to duplicate the bars exactly has they occured during the trading day even when it is made to go faster or slower. Unfortunately if it is taken to the highest speed it crams all of one days minute bars into much less bars.

bowlesj3

There are some good web sites on this topic. Google is amazing. Just type a question like one you would ask a friend and it will likely out do them giving you more info than you need before they can say 2 words. Anyway, it turns out that what my Government did is fairly common. It makes sense that t...

bowlesj3

I don't know how long you are at it and few will tell you directly but some of the best traders in existance have elluded to the fact that it takes about 5 to 10 years to learn to trade (just to a survival level) (and I suspect those who get rich at it have been doing it a good 15 to 20 or more). Fe...

bowlesj3

I have decided the easiest way to handle this is leave the computer running at the normal old automic clock daylight savings times rather than follow the governments latest changes. The offset is still needed but use in less places (less programming work). The time scale will be wrong for one week. ...

bowlesj3

I am not sure where the problem actually resides. However here is that is happening. Maybe someone is having the same problem. I am using MC with IB's Traders Work Station. I test the times on the bars for various reasons. One is to place vertical dotted lines on the chart as markers for the start a...

bowlesj3

Hi, There was another thing going on with that RSI study on subchart #2 that I forgot to mention was happening (something in addition to its slowing MC down to a crawl). When I put the extra plots in that RSI study, it started to do a total blank out and redraw. It would do this every 1 to 3 minutes...

bowlesj3

It confirmed for sure now. What I talked about in the previous post solved the problem. MC is now running faster than I have ever seen it run. So if you have a study in a subchart #2 that you suspect may be a possible source of a major slow down in MC then try moving it to another chart. I figure th...

bowlesj3

Gee, I found the problem and the solution is a little strange. First off my 1 minute bar study which is in the main chart was not picking up global variables and bogging way down (I mean really really boggind down). I had an RSI study in subchart #2 which had a lot of plots. It was the RSI study in ...

bowlesj3

Hi, I am about to do a test in access to actually log the time it takes to send a GV out and immediately get it back. I suspect this is actually really fast. I am thinking maybe 1 millisecond. Now, having said that I find that at times the named string GV returns some funny characters after the lett...

bowlesj3

I think I will send out current price from each chart (at the very start before all other code) and bring them into MS-Access via GVs into a special form that shows them all to see if they are keeping up with IB's TWS and if some of them are falling behind suggesting there is an order to the process...

bowlesj3

Hi, I think the slowdown is MC rather than the GVs. Various plots, lines, etc, are really slow in being updated on the chart so this would have nothing to do with the GVs. I have to implement my strategy above "Method To Test" to try and figure out where it is getting bogged down. A week or two of w...

bowlesj3

Thanks Andrew. I think there is a niche for this type of programming but it is highly custom. Either the trader has to be a good programmer or rich enough to pay to have it done. It is tricky too since the IB TWS bracket order once filled inverts itself with each update. I am doing it by sendkeys si...

bowlesj3

I guess no one who has read this has a solution to the GV slow down or info on how to optimize it. I came up with something. It is actually faster than MC can ever be but uses what it can from MC and uses MS-Access to do the rest. It involves putting out the Interactive Brokers bracket order in adva...

bowlesj3

Later yesterday I went to a few websites to check to look up the names and purpose of all processes running in my computer to ensure that no viruses were running (there are a few good sites actually for this - see list below if interested). All looks well there. I ran avg spyware and removed about 1...

bowlesj3

Hi, It occurred to me that while waiting for a trade (especially during fast markets) I need to have almost immediate updates/warnings of excess GV delay across apps (MC and MS-Access). I am thinking that I could bundle last-price & current-time & tick-cnt into a single field (single GV field) to be...

bowlesj3

This is a little long so here is a bit of organization to help you decide if it is worth reading. 1a/ Short Background history leading to work to test GV speed. 1b/ Background Specifics. 2/ A method to test the Named GV speed. 3/ Questions about how the Named GVs work and what can be done to make it...

bowlesj3

Hi, I just tried a test on the playback utility (at the highest speed). It works but it stops too soon. I exported an afternoons data from 12:20 on the 17th just past to the end of the day at about 16:30. Things were going well but I set it to the highest speed and the slider went right to the end a...

bowlesj3

Thanks Marina and Sergee for getting the playback utility to work on my computer with your helpdesk assistance. I did not realize that I had to go into (file > Preferences > Data Server Mode) and select "Online" and "I want to download missing data" which solved the problem. I guess it makes sense, ...

bowlesj3

Hi, I have done all the steps for the playback utility but I am getting no data when I try to run a chart off the playback utility. After reading the whole thread to try and find the problem, I ran the Universal DDE test button test at the highest speed and the performance is good. I have set the ch...

bowlesj3

Hi, I tried your playback utility. I did everything exactly as stated. When I tried to open up the file txt file with the utility which I exported from my ESZ7 futures symbol I got an error "can not open file or wrong format". Here is a bit of the file as opened by notepad. Seems okay. Any siggestio...

bowlesj3

Hi, I thought I would pass this trick on just in case another user has this problem which I finally found the solution to. I have a lot of short text codes placed out front of price on my 1 minute bar chart to help with trade planning and triggering. Earlier on I was going back and using the text ID...

bowlesj3

Hi, I sent this to EliteTrader autotrading (partly so I can get my 30 posts in to vote for MultiCharts) but I thought it would be good to repeat in this forum. Can anyone let me know if there is any DLL software out there that can do what I have in mind here. The software would be sending order info...

bowlesj3

I ran a test to see if a trend line alarm would be heard while I switched to a different work space. That worked. However I delete the two trend lines and they are still alarming. How to I get rid of these alarms. MultiCharts has no central list of alarms that I can see. Qcharts has a central list a...

bowlesj3

Hi Marina,
MC seems like a great program.
I don't really need the ActivityBar or Probability Map anyway.
Just curious.
It is nice to get a direct "NO".

Thanks Marina,
John.

bowlesj3

Hi,

I have found 1 showme and 1 paintbar example and seen it work. I have seen the indicators, alerts and systems.

Does MultiCharts have ActivityBar, ProbabilityMap. If yes can you let me know that scample script names.

Thanks,
John.

bowlesj3

Defining this function shown below with storage simple inputs: MyValue(numeric) ; BollingerSimple = MyValue; and putting it in the print statement shown below if LastBarOnChart then Print( File("C:\Access\MC_BB_15.txt"), BollingerSimple(Barnumber), "," , BollingerSimple(Close):8:4, ",", BollingerSim...

bowlesj3

Direct to the solution. I just tried something. If I go to my modified bollinger band study which I call "Bollinger Band Print Statement" (the one that writes out way more data than my MS-Access Program needs and thus ends up creating a very large file over the course of a day) and I use the Format ...

bowlesj3

No actually I want to do it the very last time when the very last tick comes in which is within the bar (the very last row of data within the same bar number rather than the very first row of data within the same bar number). If you go back to my data which has the bar numbers on the left hand side ...

bowlesj3

Maybe it is not when I should write the print statement but rather they way I limit the data going out for the variables. I say this because I just remember having come to the conclusion that in TS4.0 a varaible is not a single item in memory but rather an array that represents all bars on the chart...

bowlesj3

Before I got the idea for MS-Access I wanted to put text representations of all the bollinger bands values onto the 1 minute bar chart out front of price. To make it as clear as mud, if the 15 minute chart had the upper band at 1645.25 it would put "-U15" at exactly that price on the 1 minute bar ch...

bowlesj3

Why create a new thread? I just tried to add a bit to my last post and along with this wonderfully annoying message (see below) came the fact that it erased all my work At least it could take me back to the update screen but no it decided to punish the user for having something to contribute :-) I g...

bowlesj3

Its okay. My first method works and at least while running on the same machine the MS-Access processes that file so fast it appears to be operating almost instantly. Eventually this MS-Access program may run on a different machine where I may notice a bit of a difference for other reasons. Also when...

bowlesj3

Okay that was a fast scrounge. I just found this.
"You can use the reserve word "FileDelete" to simulate the behavior of the Print command".

I will try that but it begs the question "why is the print command appending to the file" or is it appending.

bowlesj3

Hi ABC. Thanks. I learned a bit more about EL from your reply. Here is a short description of what I am trying to get into MS-Access. Simply exactly the figures that are appearing on the Price Scale Column real time (for every last tick). Specifically [Price, upper/middle/lower band and RSI too]. My...

bowlesj3

I finally managed to get the real time Bollinger band data from MultiCharts into MS-Access. Before I go on, please do not tell me that MultiCharts can do what I plan on doing in MS-Access. I know easy language well enough and MS-Access well enough to know it can not. So I had to use an input stateme...

bowlesj3

I have been reading your MultiCharts help as fast as possible. I think I have figure out how to do the two items below; 1/ Get bollinger band and RSI data out to MS-Access for all charts (1min, 5min, 10,15,30,60,DB,WB=WeeklyBars). 2/ Not have to adjust the bands in more than one place. I think I was...

bowlesj3

Got the free trial running on the IB demo (took a bit because I kept getting the wrong symbol). It is good so far. All the bollinger band stuff is present that I need. My concerns were not necessary. So how do I get historic so when I first load up the minute bars I get at least the full contact mon...

bowlesj3

Hi, I did an update to the other free trial post late last night. Anyway new question. Where is your MultiCharts Manual. Here is why I need to find it. IF I want to learn something well, as I do with MultiCharts, I do a full front to back read of the manual before I touch the product (I.E. new softw...

bowlesj3

Hi, Is it possible to Kim Horn's Hashnums.dll with MultiCharts I use to use a DLL with TS 4.0 called the "HASHNUMS.DLL" (mainly to get data from a csv file and send it out to a csv file). I attached the main documentation with this post. Although a programmer myself I don't know C nor visual C nor y...

bowlesj3

Hi, I have started the process of preparing to get your free trial within the next month or so. 2 questions follow. Q1 My Qcharts billing cycle is the 5th of every month. Am I correct in assuming I should take the free trial to start on the 5th and if I think MultiCharts can match or better Qcharts ...

bowlesj3

Hi, Maybe it is summer holidays and questions don't get answered too quick. I am not sure if this is the proper place to ask this type of question since it is more of a question for the sales depart. Here goes. I am starting to lean toward MultiCharts rather than TS but not for sure yet until certai...

bowlesj3

Hi, If I have the RSI and bollinger bands up for all charts (1,5,10,50,30,60,Daily and Weekly) can I put the cursor on a chart at a prior bar and export the data for that bar and for that chart only. Specifically would it export the high/low/close and open for price as well as the bollinger band val...

bowlesj3

Hi, I am trying desparately to find out exacly the commands to do this before I get the MultiCharts demo for tryout. I want to know if MultiCharts can do this since I use Interactive Brokers and if it can I would prefer to go the MultiCharts Route if possible rather than the TS Route. A TS user answ...

bowlesj3

I am looking to change my trading software from Qcharts to something better yet reasonably priced. In the past one of the trading related organizations had a publication with a trading software comparison grid to compare the main features including price for all software available at that time. Is t...

bowlesj3

Hi, I am a day trader using Qcharts with some experience using the end of day TS back in 1988. I am considering a switch to MultiCharts for my day trading. To decide to make that switch I need to know it can do what I describe in the paragraph below. A TS user told me I could do something like this ...

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