Thread: Turning computer off when having Autotrade enabled

Does the program stop tracking for trade opportunities when I turn my PC off...but keep autotrade enabled?

In other words...would i need to leave my computer on during the market hours in order for the strat.advisor to work properly...

Thanks

CVTrader

Hi CVTrader,

Thanks for posting.

You need to have your computer on. The strategy will only run properly if your Strategy Trader is on. You might want to sign up for a free VPS, here's the link: FXColo Utilities. With a VPS, you can run your strategy in a remotely hosted Strategy Trader. You'll just have to run your strategy running there, and access it anytime you want.

Best Regards,
Carl

Hi Carl,

thanks for the reply

Originally Posted by CVTrader

Hi Carl,

thanks for the reply

Carl, one quick question,

I happen to have my own dedicated server for website hosting, is it possible to host the strategytrader on there too?

Hi CVTRader,

As long as you can create a windows environment on your PC it should not be an issue.

Best,

ST

Originally Posted by Carl A

Hi CVTrader,

Thanks for posting.

You need to have your computer on. The strategy will only run properly if your Strategy Trader is on. You might want to sign up for a free VPS, here's the link: FXColo Utilities. With a VPS, you can run your strategy in a remotely hosted Strategy Trader. You'll just have to run your strategy running there, and access it anytime you want.

Best Regards,
Carl

Carl, about the VPS, on the website you linked I see

* In order to be eligible to receive FXColo Services at no cost you must meet the minimum monthly account balance requirements with your Direct Access Broker outlined below for each VPS subscription:

Required Account Balance Monthly Charge Memory Disk
FXCM ST Basic $5,000 $40 1024 Mb 32 Gb
FXCM ST Intermediate $25,000 $60 1500 Mb 40 Gb
FXCM ST Advanced $50,000 $85 2000 Mb 60 Gb

So how and when is my usage free? If I have a micro/mini account at fxcm?

Hi CVTrader,

Thanks for posting.

For a limited time, you can avail of a free basic VPS. This applies to all account types. You simply have to sign up for it.

Best Regards,
Carl

Thanks Carl,

I'll look into the VPS option.

My server runs on FreeBSD, are you sure StratTrader doesnt work on there?

Hi CVTrader,

Thanks for posting.

Strategy Trader needs Windows XP or higher(Vista, Windows 7) to run.

Best Regards,
Carl

Hi Carl,

I run my PC at home 24/7 with a stable internet connection and power supply. Just like to check on the following regarding running the Strategy Trader on a Live account:

1) If I shut off or reboot my PC over the weekend when I believe trading is inactive, will the EAs' submitted orders be still active and executed when conditions are met, or do I have to reload the EAs when ST is started up again?

2) What happens to the ongoing trades during the time when ST is shut off? Will they automatically close when the original EA logic kicks in, or will they just become ordinary manual trades that require intervention through manual trading?

3) If they are unexpected power or internet outages, what happens to the loaded EAs? I believe such outages could even happen to a VPS given that even Amazon's Cloud can suffer an extended outage.

Hi romunlanvox,

Thanks for posting.

There two types of shutting down Strategy Trader. The first one is the "proper" shutdown, and the "improper" shutdown.

Proper means you shutdown would be, you turned off the strategies running live manually and closed Strategy Strategy the normal way you close a normal application. With a proper shutdown, you will be able to handle you positions accordingly. When you turn of your charts and you have open positions and pending orders, a dialog box will pop out asking if you want close your positions and cancel your pending orders. If you chose to close you positions, ST will close the position. If you chose however not to close the open positions, ST will no longer have control over them and you have to manage them manually. Same goes for you pending entry orders(stops and limits), if you don't cancel them ST will lose control over them and they will just sit in the server until you cancel them manually or they're triggered.

The "Improper" Shutdown would be when there's power outage, you suddenly reboot your computer, or something unexpected happened and the platform crashed. With an improper shutdown, ST loses control of all your positions and pending orders. And you have to manage these thing manually.

However, there's a way for your strategy to recognize open positions, please refer to this post: http://forexforums.dailyfx.com/codin...ns-server.html (Open positions from server)

Best Regards,
Carl

Hi - We experience crashes from time to time with TS II - even though we run it on a high performance colocation service. Essentially the software just dies ad hoc. We believe we can chase it to a problem with an FXCM application called Side-by-Side that kicks out a Windows Error message we can trace to the approximate times of the platform crash.

With TS II, when it crashes - you receive a pop up that says "Sorry we crashed....." Do you want to send an error report (yes/no). After selecting, the system reboots the software - but this is an "impoper" shut down and everything that was not previously saved by a "proper" shut down is lost [Side note: Having gone through this a number of times, I recommend saving loaded strategies often and doing so with a managed shut down; or you will have to re-do the entries each time you get a platform crash].

So, when there is a crash - is it possible (via FXCM settings) or via something like EventSentry to reboot the service automatically; rather than wait for someone to detect the problem on our team and then click the yes/no button in the pop-up. The faster the system would reboot, the more likely we would be able to manage any open trading positions (although not perfectly after TS looses control and its place with the logic). Is there an on/off switch for notifications that would just be by-passed and the software will just reboot itself ?

Thanks for any help on this!!! We are stymied with the ad hoc nature of the crashes; so instead want an automated work around process to deal with it when it happens.

Originally Posted by novajim

Hi - We experience crashes from time to time with TS II - even though we run it on a high performance colocation service. Essentially the software just dies ad hoc. We believe we can chase it to a problem with an FXCM application called Side-by-Side that kicks out a Windows Error message we can trace to the approximate times of the platform crash.

With TS II, when it crashes - you receive a pop up that says "Sorry we crashed....." Do you want to send an error report (yes/no). After selecting, the system reboots the software - but this is an "impoper" shut down and everything that was not previously saved by a "proper" shut down is lost [Side note: Having gone through this a number of times, I recommend saving loaded strategies often and doing so with a managed shut down; or you will have to re-do the entries each time you get a platform crash].

So, when there is a crash - is it possible (via FXCM settings) or via something like EventSentry to reboot the service automatically; rather than wait for someone to detect the problem on our team and then click the yes/no button in the pop-up. The faster the system would reboot, the more likely we would be able to manage any open trading positions (although not perfectly after TS looses control and its place with the logic). Is there an on/off switch for notifications that would just be by-passed and the software will just reboot itself ?

Thanks for any help on this!!! We are stymied with the ad hoc nature of the crashes; so instead want an automated work around process to deal with it when it happens.

Hi novajim,

Is your instance of Strategy Trader running on the Colo service, spec'd with high amounts of memory and multi-core CPUs? When I last ran it on my home PC many months ago, the frequent crashes led me think that my home PC isn't powerful enough.

I thought of building a dedicated high spec system just to run Strategy Trader so that such crashes would be less frequent.

Thanks romulanvox for your post up on this thread !

Actually, we have built (and work in partnership with a specialist firm to spec and build out) very high performance desktop/servers for our own trading - and others. These include computers that exceed anything you'll get from an OEM, for home use. Our current deployment includes Intel i-7 12-core Sandy Bridge processors with multi threading technology running with 32 GB RAM, dual 500 GB drives with 64-bit Windows 7 Professional. These are fast fast fast (up to 5x procesing speeds over a i3 Quad Core) when running model optimizations and stat analysis; and built rock-solid. I use one daily with mult-display capability on the desktop with a window open to a similar box running on a server Co-Lo outside of New York.

Even with this hardware (powerful iron) set up there are crashes. One ongoing theory is that Trade Station II (I'm not sure about Strategy Trader) is a 32-bit application. While a 64-bit configuration can easily run software programmed in 32-bit (maybe with highly infrequent/no crash history); it likely would do much better (speed and stabilty) if it were a 64-bit.

Since I can't solve the crash problem fully with this high performance hardware application, we remain highly interested in getting any work-arounds in place, such as doing the alert/auto-reboot routine I describe in the initial post to the thread.

Thanks to all for any ideas or recommendations you have !

Hi

Is VPS option still open for Micro accounts?
http://service.fxcolo.com/eula_st.php this link is dead