REQUEST FOR USER FEEDBACK

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Marina Pashkova
Posts: 2758
Joined: 27 Jul 2007

REQUEST FOR USER FEEDBACK

Postby Marina Pashkova » 10 Jun 2008

Hi everybody,

Now that we have launched the new cluster of servers, we would appreciate any comments you might have on its performance. If you notice any problems or glitches please let us know right away.

Your feedback is much appreciated.

Regards.

David R
Posts: 18
Joined: 09 Nov 2007

Postby David R » 10 Jun 2008

Hi Marina, this is the first time on the MCFX platform I've seen my automated strategies running overnight without hiccups. And I see no gaps in the data thus far.

I wonder if it also may be too soon to judge reliability as most of your users are probably still using the previous server. (you don't have to tell them about the new one, it will be our little secret ;)

I do notice there is at least a 5 second delay between a signal being generated, and its execution. I know it is not my hardware. I am also on a reliable low latency dsl connection. The delay causes definite slippage (that always seem to favor fxcm... of course). Can you tighten up the execution a bit?

Also, there is still something strange with setting up the reports.
-I can't choose USD base for the EURUSD, but rather have to assign 0.1 in the report settings. Likewise for initial capital I have to put 10000 to get 1000. The reason I have to do all that is that it still considers 1 lot to be 100,000 and it won't allow a 0.1 for trade size. So to be able to get the trade size to 1, everything else has to move a decimal place. This is a mini account.

Also, for the commission, no matter how I do it, to get accurate numbers in the report, I have to put in (spread * 0.5). If i put in the actual average spread it is doubled in the reports. Whether it is 'per trade' or 'per contract'.

And, I have an indicator (trix) that normally lives below the price chart, that I moved up to be on top of the price chart (I love that it does that so nicely, no other charts I've seen accept that as nicely). However I notice when I make a change to the Signal that forces it to refresh the signals on the chart, my trix disappears. To make it reappear I have to change its status off, and on.

Thats all for now!

-David

David R
Posts: 18
Joined: 09 Nov 2007

Postby David R » 10 Jun 2008

As I write this the prices are out of synch. 13:06 GMT the bid on MCFX is 1.5525 and FXCM is 1.5515. My CPU is also maxed by a process called FXCMServerProxy.exe running at 70+ Granted I have 20 charts open. Should I be observing a limit on the number of charts I have running?

David R
Posts: 18
Joined: 09 Nov 2007

Postby David R » 10 Jun 2008

sigh... I decided to close mcfx as my cpu has been maxed for the last hour by the fxcmproxyserver process.

and it tells me it has crashed and asks if i want to send a crash report. no, i don't. it is now trying to open, with mcfx.exe now hogging the cpu.

David R
Posts: 18
Joined: 09 Nov 2007

Postby David R » 10 Jun 2008

ok, mcfx is now successfully restarted. cpu usage is low. however i do not have any autotrading activated.
--- 5 min later ---
next I started autotrading. i assume the fxcmserverproxy.exe is what makes that happen. cpu usage still low ~20%
-- 10 min later --
all is still smooth, even with 20 charts open, and one strategy autotrading.

will let you know after running for 24 hrs continuously again.

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Marina Pashkova
Posts: 2758
Joined: 27 Jul 2007

Postby Marina Pashkova » 11 Jun 2008

As I write this the prices are out of synch. 13:06 GMT the bid on MCFX is 1.5525 and FXCM is 1.5515. My CPU is also maxed by a process called FXCMServerProxy.exe running at 70+ Granted I have 20 charts open. Should I be observing a limit on the number of charts I have running?
Hi David,

The lag in quotes was the result of the high CPU usage by the FXCMServerProxy.exe process. As to why the process was using so much CPU, it's hard to tell at this point since (as you can guess from the name) it's an FXCM and not our process.

Have you noticed if the high CPU usage occurs when orders are submitted to FXCM with high frequency?

If the situation occurs again, please contact us via LiveChat so that our engineers could get connected to your PC and identify the cause of the problem.

Regards.

User avatar
Marina Pashkova
Posts: 2758
Joined: 27 Jul 2007

Postby Marina Pashkova » 11 Jun 2008

I do notice there is at least a 5 second delay between a signal being generated, and its execution. I know it is not my hardware. I am also on a reliable low latency dsl connection. The delay causes definite slippage (that always seem to favor fxcm... of course). Can you tighten up the execution a bit?
This delay is caused by the peculiarities of FXCM's API: it is somewhat slow to respond and I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about it on our end.
Also, there is still something strange with setting up the reports.
-I can't choose USD base for the EURUSD, but rather have to assign 0.1 in the report settings. Likewise for initial capital I have to put 10000 to get 1000. The reason I have to do all that is that it still considers 1 lot to be 100,000 and it won't allow a 0.1 for trade size. So to be able to get the trade size to 1, everything else has to move a decimal place. This is a mini account.
Now, to trade mini lots, just enter 1 in the trade size field. If you are trading standard lots, enter 10. If I misunderstood your question and you're talking about something else, please let me know.
Also, for the commission, no matter how I do it, to get accurate numbers in the report, I have to put in (spread * 0.5). If i put in the actual average spread it is doubled in the reports. Whether it is 'per trade' or 'per contract'.
I'm not sure if I understand your question right, but when you specify the commission, the reasoning is as follows: if you're charged $20 to enter a position and then another $20 to exit it, you need to enter $40 'per trade'.
Once again, if it's not what you were asking about, could you please provide more details? Thank you!
And, I have an indicator (trix) that normally lives below the price chart, that I moved up to be on top of the price chart (I love that it does that so nicely, no other charts I've seen accept that as nicely). However I notice when I make a change to the Signal that forces it to refresh the signals on the chart, my trix disappears. To make it reappear I have to change its status off, and on.
We couldn't reproduce the problem on our end. Could you please contact our customer support via LiveChart to demonstrate the issue via the remote connection?

Thank you.

Regards.

David R
Posts: 18
Joined: 09 Nov 2007

Postby David R » 11 Jun 2008

This delay is caused by the peculiarities of FXCM's API: it is somewhat slow to respond and I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about it on our end.
Thats unfortunate. My style of trading is especially affected by spreads and slippage. Interesting just how attractive Oanda's spreads are. Usually 1/2 - 1/3 of FXCM. However their api requires one to code their own C# system. Have you considered integrating with them? I have read really good things from a few systems trader that use their API exclusively, and mainly for the great spreads.
Now, to trade mini lots, just enter 1 in the trade size field. If you are trading standard lots, enter 10. If I misunderstood your question and you're talking about something else, please let me know.
Maybe I am missing something, but I have played with every combination I can think of, to make the reports work... Try opening the EURUSD, go into the report settings, Display tab and use the USD radio button. In the Signals Formatting, Properties button, enter 2.5 for the spread, 1000 for initial capital, and TradeSize Fixed Contracts as 1. Now turn on your Signal, and open the Perf Report, List of trades. It is all off by a decimal. Let me know if you are able to duplicate this issue.
I'm not sure if I understand your question right, but when you specify the commission, the reasoning is as follows: if you're charged $20 to enter a position and then another $20 to exit it, you need to enter $40 'per trade'.
see above example. Logic would say that for fxcm where there is just the spread and no commission, the "Commission, Per Trade" setting would be the right one. But try putting 2.5 in there (assuming mini acct.) and in the list of trades, all the spreads are 5. It seems it is calc the spread on both the entry and exit. Am I missing something?
We couldn't reproduce the problem on our end. Could you please contact our customer support via LiveChart to demonstrate the issue via the remote connection?
I can make a movie of it, but not remote access, sorry. I will try to do that soon.

The FXCMServerProxy.exe was maxing the CPU again this morning, when closing MCFX, the FXCMServerProxy.exe creating an exception crash report. If it does it again tomorrow, I will save that for you.

Thanks, David

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Marina Pashkova
Posts: 2758
Joined: 27 Jul 2007

Postby Marina Pashkova » 18 Jun 2008

Thats unfortunate. My style of trading is especially affected by spreads and slippage. Interesting just how attractive Oanda's spreads are. Usually 1/2 - 1/3 of FXCM. However their api requires one to code their own C# system. Have you considered integrating with them? I have read really good things from a few systems trader that use their API exclusively, and mainly for the great spreads.
At the moment, we don't have plans to integrate MCFX with Oanda.
Maybe I am missing something, but I have played with every combination I can think of, to make the reports work... Try opening the EURUSD, go into the report settings, Display tab and use the USD radio button. In the Signals Formatting, Properties button, enter 2.5 for the spread, 1000 for initial capital, and TradeSize Fixed Contracts as 1. Now turn on your Signal, and open the Perf Report, List of trades. It is all off by a decimal. Let me know if you are able to duplicate this issue.
Could you please specify what exactly is off by a decimal. How are the values that you see in Strategy Performance Report different from the expected results?
see above example. Logic would say that for fxcm where there is just the spread and no commission, the "Commission, Per Trade" setting would be the right one. But try putting 2.5 in there (assuming mini acct.) and in the list of trades, all the spreads are 5. It seems it is calc the spread on both the entry and exit. Am I missing something?
I have discussed the issue with our engineers. It turns out that the field for the commission and slippage has been named incorrectly. What you need to specify is the commission/slippage per order and the program will multiply the value by 2 to receive the slippage/commission per trade.

I can make a movie of it, but not remote access, sorry. I will try to do that soon.

The FXCMServerProxy.exe was maxing the CPU again this morning, when closing MCFX, the FXCMServerProxy.exe creating an exception crash report. If it does it again tomorrow, I will save that for you.
I am not sure how helpful a movie would be. It would be best if you contacted us for the remote connection session.

Regards.

MKlein
Posts: 147
Joined: 14 Aug 2007

Re: REQUEST FOR USER FEEDBACK

Postby MKlein » 25 Jun 2008

Now that we have launched the new cluster of servers, we would appreciate any comments you might have on its performance. If you notice any problems or glitches please let us know right away.

Your feedback is much appreciated.
So far I've been very favourably impressed with the reliability of the new system. That's not to say there aren't still glitches in other areas, but the reliability of the data feed is so much improved over the prior version.

You mentioned 97% uptime previously for the old server. Do you have a figure for the new cluster in the time it's been running? Would it be possible to post a figure regularly?

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Marina Pashkova
Posts: 2758
Joined: 27 Jul 2007

Postby Marina Pashkova » 26 Jun 2008

Hi MKlein,

So far the new server uptime has been 100%.

The only problem that might appear is when there are problems with data on FXCM's end. But those problems are normally resolved within 2 minutes.

MKlein
Posts: 147
Joined: 14 Aug 2007

Postby MKlein » 26 Jun 2008

So far the new server uptime has been 100%.
That's very good to know. Thank you.


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