Must I have an account with Interactive Brokers to use TradeOnAUTO?
Will TradeOnAUTO work with the paper trading account as well as my live account?
Does TradeOnAUTO work with an Interactive Brokers Demonstration Account?
Can I use TradeOnAUTO to trade more than one market?
Can I use TradeOnAUTO to trade multiple strategies in one market?
Will TradeOnAUTO work on a mac?
Will TradeOnAUTO work on an iPad or iPhone?
What happens if I lose the Internet connection?
Is there a risk of my stop order not being placed when I lose my Internet connection?
I got the message “Outside Risk Parameters” and TradeOnAUTO did not trade – why was that?
Can I access orders placed by TradeOnAUTO from the IB trading platform (TWS)?
I have more than one IB account linked together. When I run TradeOnAUTO I get an error message.
I put in a limit value of 0 and the program didn’t work as I expected. What did I do wrong?
How do I know the results published on this web site are genuine?

Must I have an account with Interactive Brokers to use TradeOnAUTO?

• Yes

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I have an account with Interactive Brokers, and have applied for a paper trading account to experiment with new strategies. Will TradeOnAUTO work with the paper trading account as well as my live account?

• Yes

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Does TradeOnAUTO work with an Interactive Brokers Demonstration Account?

• No – unfortunately the demonstration accounts are of limited functionality and will not support some of the features required by TradeOnAUTO.

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Can I use TradeOnAUTO to trade more than one market?

• Yes.

 

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Can I use TradeOnAUTO to trade multiple strategies in one market?

• Yes.

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Will TradeOnAUTO work on a Mac?

• Yes.

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Will TradeOnAUTO work on an iPad or iPhone?

• No.

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What happens if I lose the Internet connection?

• If connection is lost prior to the start of the trading session, TradeOnAUTO will try to reconnect automatically.
• If there is no connection at the start of the trading session, TradeOnAUTO will not trade that session.
• If connection is lost during the trading session before any order has been placed, TradeOnAUTO will abandon trading for the rest of the session.
• If connection is lost after an order has been placed, TradeOnAUTO will be unable to take further part in the session. However, initial stop and target orders are placed as soon as the trade is initiated, so you should not be trading without a stop. If you have specified a trailing stop strategy, TradeOnAUTO will not be able to trail the stops after the break in connection (even if it is subsequently restored).

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Is there a risk of my stop order not being placed when I lose my Internet connection?

• Stop (and target) orders are placed within a fraction of a second of the original order being placed. Therefore the odds that your stop order is not placed are miniscule.
• Nevertheless, we do emphasise the importance of a stable Internet connection. We have engineered TradeOnAUTO to respond as well and as safely as possible to breaks in Internet connection, but this is meant to be an occasional contingency, not the norm.

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I got the message “Outside Risk Parameters” and TradeOnAUTO did not trade – why was that?

• The trade risk calculated by TradeOnAUTO for this trade would exceed the specified percentage risk of your available capital.
• Note that if you have placed other trades manually in your TWS account, the required margin will reduce your capital available for TradeOnAUTO to make trades.

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Can I access orders placed by TradeOnAUTO from the IB trading platform (TWS)?

• Yes

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I have more than one IB account linked together. When I run TradeOnAUTO I get an error message.

• We do not currently support linked IB accounts.
• If you have a linked account and would like to try TradeOnAUTO – let us know.

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I put in a limit value of 0 and the program didn’t work as I expected. What did I do wrong?

• The limit is an expression of how far the price is allowed to move up or down below the previous day’s close. Wheat usually has a limit of 60 (it can “expand” in exceptionally volatile circumstances). That means that if yesterday’s closing price was 700, wheat cannot trade above 760 or below 640 today. ToA will not place orders, stops or limits, outside this range. So specifying a limit of 0 means that the market can only trade at yesterday’s closing price, and ToA will only place orders at that price – clearly not what is intended.
• The daily limits for traditional commodity contracts are posted here. Limit moves in these contracts are quite common.
• Limits with other contracts work differently as specified in the relevant contract specification. (They are rarer, so you may just decide to leave the limit field blank – but do not enter 0.) – For example, with oil, a move of $10.00 will cause a market halt. After the 5 minute halt, trading restarts with the limits pushed out another $10.00. So if you want to rule out the chance of being caught in a halt, you can put 10 in the limit field, otherwise leave it blank. – The S&P only has limits in the downward direction – and the way that they are used is quite complex. You can see the detail in the contract specifications here. To rule out the chance of being caught in a market halt, choose the 10% limit (currently 100). Otherwise just leave it blank.

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