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If you are doing really critical time stuff, you need to be sure to use a full NTP client. The Windows Time protocol simply adjusts the clock, it does not do a drift adjustment. So it means one second the clock could be 10:00:00AM and the next second it could be 9:59:57AM (-3 seconds). This is not good, a lot of time sensitive programs could have a real problem with that.
A true NTP client will slowly adjust the drift of the clock to keep it accurate. Meinberg NTP is good but you have to be a somewhat advanced user to install it and disable the existing Windows Time service.
@MXASJ has done a lot of time work with NinjaTrader, he is the go to guy for measuring time drift and latency with NinjaTrader.
The W32Time service is not a full-featured NTP solution that meets time-sensitive application needs. The W32Time service is primarily designed to do the following:
Make the Kerberos version 5 authentication protocol work.
Provide loose sync time for client computers.
The W32Time service cannot reliably maintain sync time to the range of 1 to 2 seconds. Such tolerances are outside the design specification of the W32Time service.
Broker: Advantage Futures, Ninja/TT and InvestorRT/IQFeed.
Trading: Treasury futures
Posts: 312 since Nov 2010
Thanks Given: 194
Thanks Received: 912
Thanks to everyone who posted on this thread. For some reason the "Thanks" button is not showing up for this thread. I'm going with Thinking Man Software - Dimension 4 v5.0 as the solution for now. I've set it to update the clock every minute.
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows..."
Also, you can modify the frequency Windows sync update your clock:
1) type Regedit through the windows search window
2) goto Specialpollinterval (see file 1 attached) and double click
3) Modify the frequency in seconds your computer will update its clock
4) click on your clock bottom right and modify
5) Set sync server to time.nist.gov
The computer will now update its clock to the selected server each n sec you have set
@redratsal just remember, Windows Time is not a true NTP service, so it will literally "adjust" the clock. One moment the clock may show 10:00:00 AM exactly, then when you "adjust" it the clock may skip backwards to 9:59:58 AM for instance. This kind of behavior may happen over and over again, as the Windows Time service is only accurate to within 2-3 seconds.
A true NTP service like Meinberg will drift the clock very slowly over time, no huge movements, and is usually accurate to within 20-50ms depending on the time sources available in your region.
Also some servers restrict you to only 1 or 2 updates per hour. Check ntp.org for more info and a list.
This was clear as you mentioned at #11, I was just replying to jstnrg who is using an external software #13 which does exactly what windows can already do. If he is closing positions a few seconds before the close as in #14 than he can adjust and sync the clock a few seconds before this operation as per my description.
