RM99 

With TS when I go to save a performance report, I can save it either as an .mht file or an .xls and in order to save as an .xls (which is easier for me to transfer the data/results into my own spreadsheets for further analysis) the server has to have excel. I've tried loading office/excel on 2008 and it's counfounded me.

Just that Windows doesn't know what to do. Here is a quick and dirty fix.

[1] Make a text file with any thing in it and change the file ending from .txt to .xls
[2] Open the file by clicking on it. It won't know what type of file it is , so click on 'Select program from list'.

[3] Choose the program you want. You could use notepad or you could try Gnumeric , I use the 1.10.16 version and it works fine and installed easily. It Also, it is free. Make sure you click "always open file with this " ( or something similar ) and choose the program.

I have used this to export to excel with NinjaTrader and it works on Server 2008.

RM99 

With TS when I go to save a performance report, I can save it either as an .mht file or an .xls and in order to save as an .xls (which is easier for me to transfer the data/results into my own spreadsheets for further analysis) the server has to have excel. I've tried loading office/excel on 2008 and it's counfounded me.

For NT I use Excel Viewer Download: Excel Viewer - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details, all you have to do is a copy and paste on your office computer.

syxforex 

Hi Sam, Have been reading some of your posts regarding VPS. I'm looking to automate my executions however I am a discretionary trader. Can a discretionary trader interact with NT7 on the server remotely as if operating it on their local machine? This looks like a great idea for reducing slippage and eliminating disconnection risk. Thanks

Yes: you launch a small program on your local machine (which can be a Windows PC, a Mac, a tablet, smartphone, Linux PC, ...) to establish the connection to the remote server in RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).
Then, if you launch this program in full screen more, all your screen(s) is the remote server screen(s).
Just imagine having few hundreds/thousands miles mouse/keyboard/screen wires connected from your local machine to the remote server.

That's Awesome, one of these days I am going to be leasing space, thanks you Sam.

I'm not yet in the market for a VPS though I probably will need it someday. I have some (newbie) questions about a VPS:

sam028 

Remote servers are mostly used by algo traders, for obvious reasons (speed and reliability). Auto-trading from home/office with a retail Internet connection shoud be avoid with real cash, it's only good with simulation account, or with an active human monitoring.

(The above quote is from the Rithmic thread which went too off-topic)

But how about the security of a VPS? For example, some companies (like Sam's) offer VPS custom tailored to traders, but isn't that a big "present/gift" to hackers? I mean, if you're a hacker and want to steal money from live trading accounts, install market manipulative bots, or steal trading algorithms, you "just" need to target such a company.

Edit: Of course it's true they can also hack my home pc, but it's much harder to determine (I suppose) for an outside person that my home pc is a trading pc. Plus it might not be rational for a hacker to search for trading pc's in this way (i.e. a too low yield for his time/effort).

--

Does someone know of a Eurex data feed with it's servers in Frankfurt? There's not much point in using a VPS located near the Eurex order servers if one uses IQFeed (data from Nebraska, US), ZenFire (data from Chicago, US) or IB (data from London, UK), since then a lot of the VPS speed edge is lost.

Jura 

But how about the security of a VPS? (..) Does someone know of a Eurex data feed with it's servers in Frankfurt?

Anyone knows this or has an opinion on this?

Jura 

But how about the security of a VPS? For example, some companies (like Sam's) offer VPS custom tailored to traders, but isn't that a big "present/gift" to hackers? I mean, if you're a hacker and want to steal money from live trading accounts, install market manipulative bots, or steal trading algorithms, you "just" need to target such a company. Edit: Of course it's true they can also hack my home pc, but it's much harder to determine (I suppose) for an outside person that my home pc is a trading pc. Plus it might not be rational for a hacker to search for trading pc's in this way (i.e. a too low yield for his time/effort).

Those who hack for profit are going to go after targets that involve the least amount of work with the most profitable gain.


So look at it this way...

Does it make more sense for a for profit hacker to spend hours on end probing trading companies servers for vulnerabilities or does it make more sense for a hacker to quickly build a spoof/phishing solution that targets customers of a specific company (whether it be a trading company or bank, etc.)? Its the latter because social hacking is much easier than technical hacking.

For example, someone could quickly build a website that spoofs a bank or trading companies customer login page and send out an email to hundreds of thousands of those customers stating something like: "Important message from Your Trading/Bank Provider. Please login right away to eliminate your account from being disabled!". Many people will not verify or question the source of this email if it "looks legit enough" and will quickly attempt to login to the fake site and probably receive an "innocent" server error page or "thank you for verification" page and never realize they just provided their login credentials to a hacker.

Yes it's important that hosting companies and their customers ensure their machines are patched regularly and limit browser usage on these machines, ie. no surfing porn/questionable content sites, but I would be more concerned about phishing attempts or browser vulnerabilities. Both of which are more widely cast nets.

Jura 

I'm not yet in the market for a VPS though I probably will need it someday. I have some (newbie) questions about a VPS: (The above quote is from the Rithmic thread which went too off-topic) But how about the security of a VPS? For example, some companies (like Sam's) offer VPS custom tailored to traders, but isn't that a big "present/gift" to hackers? I mean, if you're a hacker and want to steal money from live trading accounts, install market manipulative bots, or steal trading algorithms, you "just" need to target such a company.

This is an old thread but posting since I think it is an important issue which has not been discussed.

My concern is what stops Sam028 (or some other VPS provider) from copying all my strategies? Since server admins have full access to all the data/strategies stored on VPS. So, if I run my strategies on Multicharts, server admin has access to the powerlanguage code and my workspaces.

Is there a way around to prevent server admins from accessing the intellectual property stored on VPS? Thanks.

The security of the IP is an underestimated issue.

Look here:

Can brokers steal trading concepts? It's never wrong to be paranoid in that matter. I don't think that anybody can easily grab your strategy from simple watching the executions. But the attackers can do front running your trades. The main attack surface are the binaries of your …

New algo trading platform Rizm (equametrics.com) I think everybody who has made serious development with a succesfull outcome, has this issue in mind. I can't share every detail, but i want to mention some basic stuff for a beginning algo trader who wants to secure the execution environment (in …

Nowadays i would tighten my 5. point and would get the complete settings (strategy settings per instrument) at runtime from my own home based server. This adds a lot of work for the attackers.

Koepisch

Rajiv 

This is an old thread but posting since I think it is an important issue which has not been discussed. My concern is what stops Sam028 (or some other VPS provider) from copying all my strategies? Since server admins have full access to all the data/strategies stored on VPS. So, if I run my strategies on Multicharts, server admin has access to the powerlanguage code and my workspaces. Is there a way around to prevent server admins from accessing the intellectual property stored on VPS? Thanks.

Rajiv 

This is an old thread but posting since I think it is an important issue which has not been discussed. My concern is what stops Sam028 (or some other VPS provider) from copying all my strategies? Since server admins have full access to all the data/strategies stored on VPS. So, if I run my strategies on Multicharts, server admin has access to the powerlanguage code and my workspaces.

That is not really accurate. The site owner (ie: sam028) will provide you with an initial password to your box. It is a password for the Administrator account in Windows.

You then login to Windows, and change the password to something only you know. You can also then check the Users/Groups on the box to confirm there are no additional accounts. You can also check Services and Firewall to confirm there are no back doors. All of this goes hand in hand with using a reputable vendor.

Sam028 would not have access to your system. Technically speaking, if someone had physical access to the server at the datacenter, then there are brute force / password recovery tools to break in without the Windows administrator password. In that case, you could use an Encrypted File System - but if you are this paranoid, then you have a major problem no matter what you do really.

Short answer, sam028 does not have access to any of your stuff or files unless you don't change the password (which would be stupid on your part), or unless you specifically give him the new administrator password (ie: you need his assistance with something).

Mike