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Jim Dean
 Sage
       Posts: 3433
Joined: 3/13/2006
Location: L'ville, GA
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I strongly disagree ... being conservative ... but I acknowledge that others might not. I believe that we need to TRUST automation to work CORRECTLY, and if it fails, it should FAIL SAFE.
That's why I suggested that you offer the OPTION for each user to make their own conscious decision.
If a trade plan disconnects, it could open a user up to CATASTROPHIC LOSSES, unless they are there to respond to the error. Automation is *supposed* to eliminate that necessity.
So, if it fails, please allow the option for it to FAIL SAFE.
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Barry Cohen
 Idol
    Posts: 2309
Joined: 1/1/1900
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If you're using automation, you will get an alert when a trade plan becomes disconnected. The user can then decide if they want to reapply a trade plan, close the trade, etc. That is our answer to these kind of problems. James was correctly informed of a problem at the start of this thread...
"Trade Plan for Symbol does not match the quantity with the brokers position. Please re-apply a trade plan'."
Even a setting to close trades like that is very dangerous. First, users do not always remember the settings they enable/disable. Second, things can break. For example we have this validation code for trade plans. When it didn't work, the worst that happens is the trade plan became disconnected. If a user has an option that force closes trades upon broker connection, if it isn't perfectly coded to handle every scenario, the worst that can happen is all your broker trades close. That can be catastrophic.
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Jim Dean
 Sage
       Posts: 3433
Joined: 3/13/2006
Location: L'ville, GA
User Profile |
I think your final scenario is highly unlikely ... for ALL your open trades to close. That would presume all were using the same TP, and that the flaw in the TP hits all of them at once. If you REALLY think that TP's are potentially that unreliable, then I hope there is a high priority on improving them.
I really don't think that closing a trade early is a "catastrophic" danger. However, FAILING to close a Long trade that has a sudden reversal due to horrible news, or FAILING to close a Short trade that has decided to reverse and take off, can create HUGE LOSSES. All it takes is for the trader not to be immediately available to respond to an error message.
This is even MORE FRAUGHT for INTRADAY traders.
It sounds to me like your POV is that even though the trade is "automated", the automation needs constant babysitting. That to me is not real "automation" ... but maybe realistically it's just where OT is at right now.
PLEASE solicit other opinions about this, and please include my cautionary examples.
I realize that *part* of your resistance might be due to users getting "hit" more frequently which would potentially increase the calls you get. But at least they would be *SAFE*. And, if you think it will happen that often, then that sounds like the TP engine needs fixing.
Thanks for listening.
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Barry Cohen
 Idol
    Posts: 2309
Joined: 1/1/1900
User Profile |
One could say the bug from this thread or many other issues are unlikely yet they happen. You're talking about a way to force close trades upon a broker connection. I imagine a new OT user that has 45 trades open at IB. He connects to OT & due to some problem with this new setting, all 45 of his trades close since there's no trade plans on them. It's just way too risky. I prefer to not have any way for something like that to occur.
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