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I upgraded to 8.1.1.1, maybe too soon, but, oh well.
I had a very costly occurrence and this behavior/bug will be repaired in the next release (next week, I'm told). I don't know, if this bug should have been found in pre release testing or not, but it was very expensive for me.
Having said that, I have no thoughts of changing platforms or brokers. Overall, I am quite satisfied with fill and executions, even trading out of Anchorage. My trades are 5 seconds to 1minute in duration.
There is a thread in the ninjatrader support forum. Under my username: kempotrader. I'd provide the link here, but I'm not sure if it's kosher.
We need more posts like this. Not because it makes things sound rosier -- probably it does not, since it mentions a bug that was not found in pre-release testing -- but because it is real.
Here's the reality of producing software: it is never released without bugs, and it can't be. This may sound bad, and if it does, let me explain it.
When I made my living as a software developer (in a corporate environment, which is more controlled than the public environment that trading software companies have to operate in), I always got my users together at some point and told them flat out that I knew the software had as-yet unknown bugs, and also that the only way to find them was for users who knew the business to use the software and find them, which, no matter the prior testing, it would inevitably have. It was inevitable because I was not perfect (and still am not), and my testers were not either, and that whatever we thought would happen when it was used in the business, something we did not think of was going to occur anyway.
So I asked for their help, for them to report the bugs, and to be happy and to accept that they found them, and it always worked better and the problems -- which, to repeat, are inevitable -- got solved quicker. They also were happier, because they understood the reality, and they were part of the solution, not helpless victims on the sidelines. This is the way that progress happens in software development in the real world.
The upshot of all that is happening is that NT will get their issues fixed. Overall, they have a decent record and they will do what is necessary. They need actionable feedback to do this, and an understanding by their customers of how software is a fallible human construction that will almost always need some touching up when it gets into the customer's hands.
This does not change the fact that fixing things is in fact the developer's responsibility, but it doesn't change the customer's role in the process either, if they want a better result. It can also make a person a happier customer, because things will be corrected sooner.
I hope this helps people to have a more constructive attitude toward the problems that the process is going to have, and lets them help move it forward.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
I used NT8 before. I used tick chart extensively. I experienced crashes several times a week. And many times, my template lost. I have to setup again. And it is very frustrating. Then I move to sierra chart. I spend some time to learn how to setup SC. I coded custom indicators I need. And I never experienced crash unless I miscoded the custom indicator. I am very satisfied with SC.
I never had a crashing problem with NT 8.0, even during its early stages (I have no experience with the most recent 8.1), and I coded many of my indicators. I do know that coding indicators was a more involved and tricky business with 8.0 than it had been in 7.0, and I made enough mistakes to know that it was easy enough to mess things up if you were not careful. I didn't have problems when I operated the program just as it came out of the box, with no additions that I made, and none from any vendors.
I do know that I never used any third-party indicators except the ones made by @Fat Tails, who has worked with different NT versions over a long time, and understood them well. For example, memory management and thread management are more involved in NT8, which is a more open architecture and which therefore gives the programmer more opportunities to screw up. (Not a comment directed to you; it's just that it makes more things available and this requires more care.) All my charts were either tick charts or volume charts.
From reading an immense number of user posts on this forum over the years, I would say the NT8.0 is one of the most common platforms, and I have not read of any issues with NT8.0 for some time.
I'm not commenting on what the causes of your issues were, because I simply don't know. I'm also not discounting your experience, which I accept as real. I just don't know, and didn't have them.
I also took the trek to Sierra Chart, which I am happy with now that I made it up the almost-vertical learning curve. I have my own reasons for undergoing that effort that I won't go into now. My personal opinion, which is only that, is that if a person is extremely technical they may be comfortable with SC and may prefer it; if they are not and just want to trade, they may prefer NT. But there will those who have found NT perfectly OK for the most technical tasks. Of course, that assumes they have no issues such as you mentioned with NT, but I do not think it is the usual experience, otherwise they couldn't sell any.
Whatever the case, thanks for your post and your time. Exchanges of experience are important and make the forum work.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Bad indicators crash NT far more often than NT itself is responsible, I believe that's why they went the route of building their own Order Flow into the platform.
Ah, good 'ol @Fat Tails, I do hope Harry is doing well these days! He truly was a legend during the NT7 era.
Even a trading platform is telling me I'm getting old... Now with 8.1..,.
Good to hear from you and that you've had a good experience for a couple of years, I had the same experience with NT Dorman but it's great to hear some more recent reviews, I find email platform Customer service patchy as you say sometimes good sometimes lagging and other times completely irrelevant answers with email exchanges back and forth, Unfortunately I've found it much easier to write on there forum as it's a public record and much more likely to be taken seriously but that's for the platform not brokerage, I'd much rather write an email but that's the way they've made me feel anyway.
I reckon I'm going to give them a go and see how things pan out
I was kind of getting the idea that there really no different than the others, good to hear about there fast executions.
As for Margin, I've been at this for quite a long time and know my stats well enough, my risk per contract is reasonably small & with Margins becoming quite a bit higher in recent years I've been contemplating intra-day margins as a way to trade a smaller account size but still place the same size bets while freeing up capital for other investments.
One of my main concerns with intra-day margins at NT is having my positions closed more than the $50 fee, the position itself is worth more to me than the $50
