Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions
Installation
Scanning Configurations
Stormtracker and Quotefeeds/Execution Platforms
Entry and Exit Criteria
Backtesting
Black Box Execution Platform
Automated Basket Technology

Is Stormtracker an application that is guaranteed to pull money out of the markets? Can I install stormtracker and immediately start making money?

It depends on your experience as a trader and the trading system that you want to implement. Stormtracker is designed to help you implement your trading system, test it and if successful in backtest mode, automate it easily. While Stormtracker comes with some default trading systems(See the Trading Libraries), these are classic technical analysis systems and any mechanical trading system usually goes through periods of both profitability and drawdown.

If you don't know where to start, we offer the STXtreme and Aurora Trading systems, which are mechanical/automated intraday trading systems that run on the Stormtracker platform. While no mechanical trading system will be profitable every day(including STXtreme and Aurora), these two systems are very robust and are the result of many years of research and development. Using these systems, or ones derived from them, will save you a lot of time as far as what direction to go in terms of automating a trading system. If you have your own trading system there is no need to purchase the STXtreme or Aurora Trading systems.

If you are interested in more information about the STXtreme or Aurora Trading systems, the White Paper on A-Trading that comes with all 1 week free demo accounts, describes some of the principles used in these trading systems.

If I create a trading system on Stormtracker will it make money

If your trading system makes money for you without automating it, then you should be able to implement and automate it in Stormtracker. If you are trying to improve or refine your trading system, then Stormtracker's backtesting can help you. One thing for sure is that if you want to trade mechanically, then make sure it is profitable in backtest mode first before committing real money to it.

What are the System Requirements

        1 GHz Processor/256Meg RAM
        High Speed Internet Connection(Cable Modem, DSL or faster)
        Windows 2000/XP
        Quotefeed: RealTick or IQFeed
        Execution Platforms: Realtick, Interactive Brokers, or Echotrade Online

How can I use Stormtracker as a Yahoo historic data downloader?

Yahoo ( finance.yahoo.com) has EOD(daily, weekly and monthly)historic data available for exchanges world wide including

Stormtracker has an option to connect to the Yahoo Quotefeed, which will download the symbols directly from Yahoo into the Stormtracker symbol DB

Any symbol in the Yahoo list that has historic data can be downloaded by Stormtracker and either scanned agains EOD trading systems configured in the stormtracker system. The data can also be exported to CSV format by using the General->GenerateCSV files) option.

To look up symbols available through Yahoo, use the symbol lookup for the exchange on finance.yahoo.com

Put the symbols you want to scan or download data for in the Load Symbols list

Note that not all symbol in Yahoo have historic data available.

How do I obtain assistance?

First read the FAQ to see if your problem is described.
Otherwise contact customer support via email : support@stormchasertech.com
We can login to your system via a gotomeeting in order to address any technical problems.

What's the best way to get started?

Review the Quickstart manual(one of the emails that comes with the application), then refer to the Trading Libraries

Using these Trading libraries as templates,

1) create your own studies, conditions and modules

2) run them in realtime and backtest them

3) If you want to do executions run the BBEP in demo mode(default mode)

4) refer to the FAQ page if you have questions or problems

5) contact support@stormchasertech.com for further assistance

Installation

What is the installation order?

Install all applications(Realtick, Interactive Brokers, Echotrade Online, IQFeed) that you intend to use with stormtracker BEFORE you install Stormtracker.

Why do you ask for my RealTick Domain and Username? RealTick Domain and Username? RealTick Domain and Username?(only applies to Realtick users)

We need this in order to request that Townsend Analytics turn on your .NET interface, which
Stormtracker requires in order to function. You could request this from Townsend Analytics yourself, however we do it for you , so you won't have to. Note that we only need the RealTick Domain and username, not the password.

Scanning Configurations

How do I scan symbols Premarket?

In order to configure a module to view PreMarket Gaps, do the following:

Create a Module from the Config Module Icon

Select the "Mode" tab

Select the PreMarket option

Then when you load symbols Premarket, the module will display the listed symbols that have gapped. Note that it will:

Only display non-listed symbols

Will not update data once the market opens

You can also scan for listed symbols for premarket gaps by going to the Configure Window(in the General Selection) and set "Listed in Premarket" to "yes"(it can only be "yes" or "no"). Note that when Listed Symbols are scanned premarket, the bid and ask are used to determine the current gap, rather than the last price.
A gap detector that scans the entire market for gaps, filters by average volume and can transfer the lists of symbols easily to the clipboard is available with the purchase of the STXtreme Trading System

How can I scan Sectors?

In order to configure a module to scan for sectors you need to configure Both the Configure Modules and the Load Symbols window

The Stormtracker Sectors configured on the left hand of the Load Symbols window will be scanned in a module that has the following configuration:

Create a Module from the Config Module Icon

Select the "Mode" tab

Select the "Sectors" option

How do I view the value of a study configured in Stormtracker?

If you've configured a study, and you wish to view the current value as it's being updated by the Stormtracker Scanner , do the following.

Go to the "Columns" tab of the Configure Module window. This tab lets you configure the values to display in columns 2-5(column1 is the symbol). Select the timeframe the study is configured in and then select the Output Indicator of the study that you want to display. When scanning occurs, the value will be displayed in the corresponding Module Window

What are the sector and futures symbol names in Stormtracker?

The valid sectors and futures are displayed by right clicking on the Load Symbols Window in the left hand column. Here are the sectors and Futures Symbols available:

#BKX#
#BTK#
#CMR#
#DJI#
#DOTX#
#DRGX#
#EMINI#
#FND#
#FSP#
#GSOX#
#NQMINI#
#INSRX#
#IRHX#
#NDX#
#NWX#
#SOX#
#SPX#
#USFX#
#UTY#
#XAL#
#XAU#
#XBD#
#XCI#
#XGJ#
#XOI#
#XTC#
#ZB#
#NYA#
Banking Sector
Biotechnology Sector
Consumer Index
Dow Jones 30 Index
Internet Index
Pharmaceutical Index
E-mini
Nasdaq 100 Futures (/NDM5)
S&P Futures (/SPM5)
Software Index
Nasdaq emini
Nasdaq Insurance Index
Retailers Index
Nasdaq 100 Index
Networking Index
Semiconductor Index
S&P 500 index
Forest Paper Index
Utilities Index
Airlines Index
Gold/Silver Index
Broker/Dealer Index
Computer Technology Index
Global Healthcare Index
Oil Index
Telecommunications Index
30 Year Bond
NYSE Composite

Here are symbols related to Market Internals

#TICK-DJI#
#TICK-N#
#TICK-Q#
#TOTVOL-N#
#TOTVOL-Q#
#TRIN-N#
#TRIN-Q#
#ADV-N#
#ADV-Q#
#ADVVOL-N#
#ADVVOL-Q#
#DEC-N#
#DEC-Q#
#DECVOL-N#
#DECVOL-Q#
#SPPREM#
#VIX#
TIKINYS
TICK indicator
Nasdaq TICK indicator
Total Volume NYS
Total Volume Nasdaq
TRIN NYS
TRIN Nasdaq
Advancing Issues NYSE
Advancing Issues Nasdaq
Advancing Volume NYSE
Advancing Volume Nasdaq
Declining Issues NYSE
Declining Issues Nasdaq
Declining Volume NYSE
Declining Volume Nasdaq
S&P 500 Futures Premium
VIX

How do I create a condition based on a particular symbol?

When you create a condition, use the "Symbol" field. Specifying a valid symbol in this field will make it a condition that is met only for this symbol. So if you want to have a condition that alerts only if the TRIN is less than 5, specify #TRIN-N# in the "symbol" box and then create a condition that the 1 minute close is less than 0.5(I1CloseI1 < 0.5)

What is Volume Strength(VS) and how is it calculated?

Volume Strength(VS) is calculated by dividing the symbol's current total volume for the day by the average daily volume of the symbol. This value then divided by the the fraction of the trading day elapsed. A VS of 1.0 indicates that if the current rate of trading activity continues for the rest of the trading day, the symbol will end at it's average daily volume. The VS term is DVsD, referring to the Daily VS.

Is there a Daily Volume Strength(VS) and and an Intraday Volume Strength(VS)

The Daily VS is referred to as DVsD and is always available as a term in the Daily Timeframe. There is also a study, VS, which can be configured on various timeframes. It has a parameter that is refers to how many bars that you want to configure the VS study on. Using a value of 5, will calculate the VS over the last 5 bars of the timeframe the study is configured on.

How do I detect volume surges?

Create a study that calculates the RateofChange of an Intraday VS study. Then create a condition that specifies a minimum value for the RateofChange.

Another way to calculate it does not require Intraday VS - just calculate an average of the Volume and then calculate the RateofChange on that study - RateofChange(MovingAverage(Volume))

How do I create Sound Alerts?

Choose the "Sound Alerts" tab of the Configure Modules Window. There are two types of Sound Alerts:

You configure sound alerts when any symbol meets the criteria

You can make an additional requirement that a column(configured in the "Columns" tab) condition must also be met. In order to configure a condition into a column, in the "Columns" tab, select "Condition" and then choose the condition that you want as addition criteria , in order for the sound alert to be activated. If you configure more than one Condition in the 4 columns available, then then all conditions must be true in order for the Sound Alert to be activated.

Can I import a study/condition/complexCondition/Module/Stormset while scanning

No, you must stop scanning,using the File Menu Item "Quit Scanning" then import the study/condition/complexCondition/Module/Stormset. Then start scanning again(Load Symbols)

While scanning, you are able to create new studies, conditions, complex conditions and modules, you are just not able to import them.

How do I create a Condition based on a CandleStick Study?

A Condition for a Candlestick is automatically created, once a Candlestick study is created in the Configure Studies Window. These CandleStick Conditions cannot be modified or deleted, but when the Candlestick Study is deleted, the corresponding Candlestick condition will also be deleted.

How do I scan only symbols in a particular sector?

When you load symbols, the Load Symbols window shows the sectors in the left column and the sector's corresponding symbols in the right hand column. With each Sector configured(each row) a condition is automatically created which will be available in the ComplesConditions and Modules windows. If this Sector Condition is used as Entry/Exit Criteria, it will only alert to symbols in the sector that meet the criteria.

Double clicking on the load symbols icon results in the opening of Load Symbols in a separate small window. The load symbols comprise of two section Sectors and Symbols List. Sectors are User Defined Sector Name.

The Symbols list can be edited with the help of Right Click on mouse buttons. Make sure the cursor is in the text box of the filename that you wish to edit. When you right click , then you have the option of either editing the file or changing the file. Once the file has been edited, then save, close it and press Save. To load the symbols the Start Scanning button is to be selected.

The following screen is displayed on completion of the loading of the Symbols. The progress bar indicated at the bottom of the screen displays the extent of loading. When the bar reaches the end, the loading of symbols is completed.

Double click on Quit Scanning Icon results in exit from scanning.

Click on the modules tab to view Trading systems that come installed. Double Clicking the modules icon will open a window which will show the alerts of the Trading systems.

I am not seeing a sector in a module window?

Volume Strength is not calculated for sector symbols ( #SPX#, #NDX#, etc) so if you have any VS conditions it may be filtered out. There is a way to configure a module that displays sectors only.

I have loaded a set of symbols and started scanning, however certain symbols aren't appearing in the scan as expected. How do I figure out what's wrong?

This could be one of several possible situations.

Stormtracker does not scan the entire universe of stocks, only the ones you configure in the "Load Symbols" window. So first , you should make sure the symbol you want to scan is configured in this window.

Sometimes the quotefeed does not return data for a particular symbol, which can occur for various reasons. Note that Stormtracker scans on multiple timeframes and if any one of these timeframes has bad historical data, then Stormtracker will eliminate the symbol from being scanned. This is to protect you from getting a false alert based on faulty historical data.
The most common reason is that the underlying quotefeed is having a temporary problem with the historical data.

Another source of this problem is that you may have configured a study that requires more bars for the time frame than RealTick has historical Data. Since the study cannot be calculated correctly, the symbol is marked as bad and not scanned.

The number of bars for each timeframe that RealTick has data for is shown below:

After symbols are loaded, refer to the "Symbol Report" menu item (under the General menu item). This shows a report of which symbols that were configured to be scanned are being scanned, and which symbols that are faulty and the reason why.

How many symbols can be scanned by Stormtracker?

There is no limitation on the number of symbols that can be scanned other than those imposed by the system configuration which includes internet connection speed, system RAM, processor speed, quotefeed, applications being run concurrently etc. It’s recommended that you determine how many symbols that can be scanned by your configuration by starting low and then gradually incrementing the number of symbols scanned to determine the limit for your configuration.

I’m having problems loading symbols or no symbols are being alerted. What are some methods to troubleshoot the problem?

First make sure that you have configured a quotefeed for stormtracker. If no quotefeed has been configured then it will default to the EOD delayed Yahoo quotefeed and you will no be receiving any intraday data. To configure the quotefeed, select File->Quotefeed and select Realtick or IQFeed.

After you load symbols, then wait for the progress bar to go all the way across signalling that all symbols were loaded. Then open the module window and as conditions are met , symbols will appear in the module window. You can also enable executions for the the module so that it will be exectued in the BBEP in demo mode. This might be useful if the module window is open, but not visible on your screen or if you happen to step away for a minute.

You can check the Symbol Report icon (General Tab - double click Symbol report) to see if the symbols were loaded without any problem. If there was a problem then you should clear the symbol DB and reload symbols. The Symbol Report is only available while scanning.

A couple of other items concerning configuration for scanning with the Realtick platform - make sure that you turned on the .NET api through Realtick(call their customer support) and that you've selected the Realtick quotefeed through stormtracker(File->Quotefeed then select realtick or townsend). If you don't do this it will appear to load but it's not getting data from the underlying quotefeed - it will default to EOD data from Yahoo. Finally if you do a quit scanning with the Realtick platform you must restart stormtracker before loading symbols again, in order for the load to take effect.

Does the system allow you to scan different symbol lists for each Module(Trading System) and for backtesting?

          In scanning mode, the user can change/add the symbollist through the load symbols window. Each name in the left column(configured by the user) appears as a condition in the system.

This condition name refers to the corresponding symbollist (text file) in the right hand column and this condition can be added to a module to restrict that module to scan with that symbol list only.

In backtesting mode, the users can only backtest one module at a time, and he chooses the list of symbols to backtest it against.

I’m getting the message “Can't find Scannerv4 server?” when logging into Stormtracker. What does this mean?

The application is not able to contact the authorization servers. Check that you are connected to the internet.

In the general configuration is a listing for daily average value.
What is this number?
The Volume Strength calculations require number of bars in order to calculate the Average Daily. It gets this value from this configuration. The default value is 60.

How many conditions can a complex condition hold?

     10 regular conditions in each box or 30 total

Can a Complex Condition be based on other Complex Conditions

     No, complex conditions can only be based on conditions

How would I set a condition to compare say a 5 min bar to the previous 5
min bar. For the Day you have the previous day available(DClose-1D, DOpen-1D, DLow-1D, DHigh-1D) coded in. Any way to do similar on
other time frames?
Under Study Category "Pivots" , there are studies, Open, High, Low, Close
and Vol .
BarNo selects the number of bars previous to the current bar, so that
    BarNo = 1 selects the bar before the current bar
    BarNo = 2 selects 2 bars before the current bar and so on

Create the study on the timeframe you want to retrieve previous bars from.
To return the vale of a study X bars back, use the offset study, which takes as input the number of bars back that you want returned. For example a value of 1 will return the value of the study for the previous bar.

Can I set the time interval to a period less than 1 minute in a study?

You can't use a period of less than 1 minute in the studies, but you could create a condition that uses the open and close of a 1 minute bar, so that way it would be equivalent to a period of less than a minute.

I need to set up a condition with the CPR - Closing Point Reversal. Any
condition examples anywhere?

To configure a condition with the CPR, create a condition that tests for the
output indicator equal to 1. For example:
with a CPR study named CPRStudy1, create a conditions
    CPRStudy1::UpCPR = 1, to detect an up CPR
    CPRStudy1::DnCPR = 1, to detect a down CPR
See also the following link: http://www.stormchasertech.com/CPR.htm

In the Daily timeframe, there are conditions with options for as short a time frame
as high / low 15 min bars. Can I detect the 5 min high / low bar?

On the daily timeframe there are indicators that are automatically calculated for the

high/low of the first 15 minutes trading - 15MHigh and 15MLow

high/low of the first 30 minutes of trading - 30MHigh and 30MLow

high/low of the first 60 minutes of trading - 60MHigh and 60MLow

These indicators are found on the Daily Timeframe

Currently there is no way to put the 5 minute high/low in the Daily
timeframe.
Depending on what you're trying to accomplish, a possible workaround would
be to create a condition that detects new highs/lows and then create a time
window(through the time tab of the Module Window) that only enters positions
starting at 9:35. This will work if you want to have automated entries based off the high/low of the first 5 minutes

On the CBrkUp/Dn study using 15 minutes as the parameter, during the first 15 minutes of the trading day, does it use the bars from the previous trading day? or just the bars from the current trading day?

It includes the previous day's bars. If you don't want to do executions for the first 15 minutes of the trading day, then do this using the Times tab of the config modules window

Difference between RSI and RSIC?

RSI and RSIC are two different studies that can be configured in stormtracker.

The RSI, is an oscillator, while the RSIC will determine the
correlation between the symbols being scanned and the control symbol(the one
in the Symbol Box of the study). Typically the control symbol should be an
index or future, or something that is leading the market Then if the index
is rising and there are stocks that are diverging from the index according
to the RSIC, you would short them.

You can configure a trading system using RSI and #VIX# with the following steps:

        a)   create a moving average study, then a rateofChange study on the
output of the Moving average study

        b) using the rateofchange output indicator, create a condition and
put #VIX# in the Symbol box of the condition

            This condition will only be tested against the #VIX#. You don't
need to add the #VIX# symbol to any lists - it will be picked up
automatically.

        c)   create conditions to test for rising and falling #VIX# and add
these to your configure module window.

If you wanted to use RSIC, then create the RSIC study
then create a condition that compares the output Indicator of the
RSIC to a constant value(do not put the #VIX# symbol in the symbol box of
the condition window, for this case)

Then any symbol that meets the RSIC criteria will be alerted

One of your available indicators is RSIC. I would like to use the RSIC
against the VIX. As this is a contrarian indicator, how would the study
be set up?
What you would do is create the RSIC study on the timeframe you want, then
when you create the condition, put the Stormtracker symbol for the Vix
(#VIX#) in the symbol box of the conditions window. This will create a
condition which will be evaluated for that symbol only.

What is the Continuation tab used for in the config modules window?

Continuations is not yet functional - it's for future use

What is the best way to backup Stormtracker?

Export a stormset from the general menu item. This saves the state of stormtracker in its entirety. You can then import the stormset in order to restore the state of stormtracker.

Stormtracker and Quotefeeds/Execution Platforms

What are the various ways that Stormtracker interacts with and can be used with the multiple compatible Quotefeeds and Execution Platforms

Stormtracker is compatible with realtime quotefeeds Realtick and IQFeed and is compatible with the EOD delayed Yahoo quotefeed

Stormtracker is compatible with the Interactive Brokers, Echotrade online and any Realtick Execution Platform

Here is a summary of combinations that can be configured:

Stormtracker as a scanner only in realtime with realtick and IQFeed
Stormtracker as a scanner and demo executions in realtime with Realtick and IQFeed
Stormtracker as an EOD scanner for symbols worldwide using the Yahoo EOD data

Stormtracker/Realtick quotefeed and the Stormtracker BBEP with any Realtick Execution Platform
Stormtracker/Realtick quotefeed and the Stormtracker BBEP with the Interactive Brokers Execution Platform
Stormtracker/Realtick quotefeed and the Stormtracker BBEP with the Echotrade Online Execution Platform

Stormtracker/IQFeed quotefeed and the Stormtracker BBEP with any Realtick Execution Platform
Stormtracker/IQFeed quotefeed and the Stormtracker BBEP with the Interactive Brokers Execution Platform
Stormtracker/IQFeed quotefeed and the Stormtracker BBEP with the Echotrade Online Execution Platform

Black Box Execution Platform

Can Scaling in and Out of positions be implemented in Stormtracker

Yes see documentation on position scaling

Can Stormtracker be used to slice orders over a period of time

Yes see the documentation on position scaling

I have started stormtracker but there are positions in the BBEP which do not match my actual positions.

The BBEP remembers the positions that were established if you do a Quit Scanning. If you have manually exited or entered some positions while stormtracker is not connected to the underlying platform it will not synced. Once you connect to the Underlying execution platform, then stormtracker will sync up and the positions will match.

Can Position Sizing be implemented in Stormtracker?

There are two ways to implement position sizing in Stormtracker

Method 1 for implementing Position Sizing:

Method 2 for implementing Position Sizing:

By creating a Position Sizing Table file in the PositionSizingTables folder that corresponds to the name of a particular module, the values in the Position Sizing Table override the settings of the module. The PositionSizingTables folder is located in the Stormchaser Technologies/StormtrackerV40/ folder.

If you have a module named StrongWeak, then create a csv file (strongweak.csv) with the following format:

0,19.9999,1000

20,49.9999,500

50,99.9999,250

100,1000,50

This will send orders of 1000 shares for symbols between 0 and 19.9999, 500 shares for symbols between 20 and 49.9999 and so on. The Position Sizing table must be present prior to starting Stormtracker in order to be detected and modifications cannot be detected until after a restart of stormtracker.

Is the Stop Value in the Stop Exit Parameters in terms of Points or Percentages?

It depends on the setting of “Stop” type

Stop Points/Percentage/Dollar

Fixed Points

Fixedpct Percentage

Sliding Points

SlidingPct Percentage

Sflt50 combination

FixedDollar Dollar

SlidingDollar Dollar

Entry and Exit Criteria

How do I manually exit all positions?

Open the close positions window(From the Black Box Execution Platform(BBEP)), right click and select all positions then close them. Then close all open modules to prevent any further entries.

How do I manually exit all LONG positions?

Open the close positions window(From the Black Box Execution Platform(BBEP)), right click and select all LONG positions then close them. Then close all open modules to prevent any further entries.

How do I manually exit all SHORT positions?

Open the close positions window(From the Black Box Execution Platform(BBEP)), right click and select all SHORT positions then close them. Then close all open modules to prevent any further entries.

I am trying to run the scanner/BBEP in demo mode but no positions are showing up in the BBEP

In the config Modules window, select “Enable Executions”

Tips on running the BBEP in demo mode

In the BBEP, there's a setting in demo mode, called "Currently Filling Demo Orders/Currently Block Demo Orders" This should be set to Currently Filling Demo orders.

How to block Demo orders?

Press "Currently Filling Demo orders" in the BBEP - it will toggle to Currently Blocking Demo Orders.

Backtesting

How to maximize returns for trading strategies?

Backtesting of strategies can include various types of stops, targets and exit criteria in different combinations. The problem is that if you modify a strategy in order to maximize the profits of a few big gainers, the change in strategy will eliminate profits on a other trades - this is the challenge with automation. Now if trading manually, you may be able to maximize a few trades, but this isn't foolproof either - eventually trader makes the wrong decision. One of the advantages of automation is that it forces user to take a stastical approach to trading - every trade is equal, with equal risk and profit potential - this is very powerful. The trade can also define an exit criteria in addition to the stops and targets, that would specify that it exit if a percentage gain within x bars is attained. But this strategy may prevent bigger gains that might occur on a different day.

One of the best ways to maximize gains is to take profits on 1/2 of the position and let the rest ride. That way user locks some of the gains and let the rest ride, for a potential big gain. See the section on Position Scaling for more information on how to do this

I cannot transfer my complex conditions to a backtest from the scanner

This is a limitation of backtesting. While you can configure complex conditions in a backtest from scratch, you cannot transfer trading systems that have complex conditions into backtest mode.

Once you have cr