IB and QuoteTracker

1) using a 3rd party database is not a roadblock. It just would not solve the problem. We keep stuff in memory for speed. Having to go to the database for everything would slow things down significantly. If the database was in memory, that would defeat the purpose of switching to a database. I am quite familiar with database technology - Was a consultant in that field prior to QT.

2) Hours cut off is not that simple problem, but not our main roadblock. The data is not specific to the datasource, so configuring it there is not an option. Yes, it can be user configured globally, but there are many that trade multiple markets (UK, Australia and US come to mind).

3) You forget that defining "closing of day" or closing of extended hours is not so simple when you are dealing with more than one market.

as for Memory is cheap, its not just the memory. Its CPU as well. The way QT does calculations would have to be changed throughout the system. Its not brain surgery, but would take a significant amount of time

"The choice you have is to have better memory management so that when the chart is no longer needed, its memory can be released or reduce memory usage with compression. "

Yes, but that has to be designed and implemented. time time time :).

Jerry
 
What a dream!!!!.....IB the cheapest and best broker to try and make a living with and Medveds' Quotetracker...the cheapest and best charting software available for free....Ib needs Quotetracker, with no charting of their own...what a combination they would make!....looks like they sure would take a lot of traders away from their competition if they get together...and so much the better for us!....alls I can say is...I can hardly wait!:D
 
I use Quicken quotes live for data and charting - very good. I used to use QT, but the lack of multi day intra day is a major drawback (QQL is 2 days for 1 minute intraday charts). The trading integration with Datek was the real plus though.

I don't think the IB data feed is too much of a good idea - it's really not the same as QQL or presumably any other true streaming data feed (plus the volume probs i've seen mentioned here). I'm happy to pay for a data feed, but always liked the QT charts etc and layout, and would have liked to trade thru QT to my IB account. This side of things should be easier methinks? It's the integrated trading aspect that really appeals to me, the IB data as it is now is not worth paying for....


regards

coops
 
Jerry,

I guess I was not very organized in presenting my views.

If I were to do this, the first thing to tackle would be memory
management(either through releasing less likely used memory
on a queue and/or compression). e.g. Assume a regular user would not display more than 20 charts, and release the memory for the last 21st chart that was brought up. (These numbers
depends on trading style and computing resource of users.
You can have a parameter for the queue to adjust for individual
needs) You can do this on multiday intraday chart only or
set a lower priority(in priority queue) for the mday charts.

You are right about CPU and computations. The memory
management techniques also limits the computations on
charts indirectly(by limiting the active charts in memory).

The whole point of my post was if a user wants many multiday
charts quickly, he is going to approach his resource
limit(CPU, memory, Bandwidth) somehow(whether with QT
or with any streaming charts software). There is no technique
in the world that can eat the cake and not get the calories. :)

This is the real roadblock I was talking about. And there is
no way around it. You are going to hit some limit somewhere.
The best way to deal with it is to be clear what your boundaries are(by guessestimating chart usages) and where you can lessen the problem.

Every database runs part of itself in memory for efficiency(that
was what I meant).
How much in memory and in file for any database is always a
compromise between efficiency and storage. (job of DBA)
A db is an elaborated caching & data organizing scheme.
The reason I bought it up was a well tuned db may help you
do some of the memory management stuff so you don't need to implement it yourself. As always, home grown stuff are usually
more optimized for its purpose than any 3rd party stuff.

2) Hours cut off is user specific. Set a default for each market. Then, let the users adjust them if they want.

3) It can be done the same way as hours cut off. You have
something along this line now in backfill data source but not as elaborate..

For 2) & 3), I just saw the filter you need to apply on receiving
data.. hope you have an efficient way to do this.

BTW, you guys don't need to sleep so you have plenty of time to design and implement :)

Ed
 
Ed, we already do much of that, but our inline charts, if selected, are available on every visible symbol, so we cannot limit it to a finite number. Data for full intraday charts and the corresponding calculations is only kept for the open charts already.
using 3rd party DB creates other problems. QT has a self updating mechanism. 3rd party stuff throws a big wrench into that system since stuff usually needs to be registered with windows, separately installed, etc. Even when that does not need to be done, It still creates update and versioning issues. For our purposes, the DB stuff would be an overkill.

Hours cutoff and defining Market Hours - QT does not have a definition for each "market" right now. We have definitions for quote sources. Data is not tied to the quote source, which is how you can move from one quote source to another if there is a problem. Adding our own symbology would allow us to track the market that the stock is for, and will probably be done in the future, but that opens up a whole new set of issues which we would rather not get into at this time.
We can filter data when receiving (already do) but that is only of limited help for controlling the display of the data on the charts, etc.

I am not saying that the stuff is impossible, or extremely difficult for that matter. Just that it is time consuming. 28 hours in the day and we have to sleep at least 4.

BTW, just released Ameritrade Integrated Trading. Also next beta will have the ability to cancel or record multiple/all orders at once for DATEK and Ameritrade. And then there is streaming news integration from TheFlyOnTheWall and DATEK.

Jerry Medved
2GK, Inc.
http://www.quotetracker.com
 
I would not recommend money.net. When I signed up with them, they reneged on the terms of my subscription agreement, giving me a shorter trial period and charging me more thereafter. When I cancelled my subsciption they continued to charge to my credit card. They never respond to emails complaining about these types of things.

I currently use Quicken Quotes Live. It is perfectly adequate for my swingtrading and I would recommend it.
 
Hi Jerry,

I'm a QT and IB user, and speaking for myself, I could really care less if QT supported IB's data. All I want is a better way to setup and send my orders. Literally *anything* has got to be better than IB's poor excuse for 80's DOS software. And now that API's are released with customers encouraged to roll their own ordering systems there doesn't seem to be much to stop QT from being able to improve on IB's interface.

That said, I do *not* want IB to put a lot of effort into improving the software to QT standards. First, because their products to date do not speak to the skill of their programmers or the design vision of the company. But mostly because I'm an IB customer for *one* reason: low commissions. Anything further they do which raises the trading costs to me and I'm that much closer to bailing.

--Derek
 
Derek,

Thanks for the input. Noted. IB does not try to be a data provider and being that they now charge(?) for the quotes, using them for just trading may fit in well with many users - trade through IB, get data through a low priced subscription (most of the ones we support are between $12.95 and $23.00 for the main 3 exchanges)

We will definitely be looking at IB's trading API in the very near future. Its on our short term todo list. However, not being able to get the status of existing orders does pose a problem. I understand that IB's API will be updated to include that ability. We will most likely have to wait till then to release anything. Otherwise, we will be bombarded with email support requests whenever someone reboots. Way too many people are still running Win9x and we all know how often reboots are needed for that flea infested dog they call an OS.

Jerry
 
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