Interactive Brokers tradeBOT Front-end

Version: 1.0

Build #1.0.1523.15296

Installation directory:

c:\Program Files\EclipticTrading\tradeBOT\tradeBOT.exe

Installer locations:

http://www.ecliptictrading.com/Software/Downloads/tradeBOT/

If you are interested in installer update notification, sign up for the group at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EclipticTradingSoftware/

A priority constraint in developing tradeBOT has been to keep its size small in the interest of maximizing available  screen real estate. This has required abbreviating labels. Tooltip help has been added to provide on-the-fly descriptions of any functionality you are not sure of.

The build numbers listed below with each update can be found by right clicking the tradeBOT.exe file and looking at the version information under Properties.

Some people have had install issues with the Win98 OS. Given the experience of users who downloaded earlier software from this site, NT4  (with Service Pack 7) and later operating systems are best to use with the .Net Framework.

* Set property to allow TWS to enable stops outside of regular market hours.  For example this would pertain to the overnight Euro session before the CME begins trading.

* Added stops to list of initiating trade types.

Note: If you want to use a stop bracket (above and below market) to initiate a trade, it would consist of two separate orders with tradeBOT. When one stop is hit tradeBOT will handle its corresponding target and stop exit orders. You would then just cancel the remaining stop in TWS.  Since it was not triggered you would not need to do anything in tradeBOT.

1/19 Build # 1.0.1479.23627

* Added support for ESTX50 (Dow Jones Euro STOXX50).

* Added support for HSI (Hang Seng Stock Index).

* Added support for EUR (Euro FX).

* Updated ZB exchange to ECBOT from ACE.

12/1 Build # 1.0.1430.17900

* Fixes an installer ActiveX control registration issue in 11/25 release. This installer bug would only be noticed if you used this version to install tradeBOT for the first time.

11/25 Build # 1.0.1425.15520

* Updates IB API change for YM and the new CME/CBOT clearing link. You only need this version if you trade the YM.

10/5  Build # 1.0.1373.14672

* Bond prices displayed in 1/32's. Note that all parameter inputs should be left as decimals. This enhancement only affects the Orders tab.

* Bug in Cancel All routine fixed.

All bond prices on the Orders tab and in the status message log will now be expressed in 1/32's. If you have been trading bonds you do not need to do anything. You can leave your parameter inputs in decimals (those inputs on the Trade Mngt and Misc tabs). If you have created some saved parameter lists for bonds you will not need to change these either.

10/2  Build # 1.0.1370.9288

* tradeBOT parameters can be saved to user named files.

* Bug fixed in bond price entry. TWS accepted the prices but displayed them in fractions other than 32's.

* tradeBOT can be run on multiple computers on a network and connect to one TWS client with its host machine's  IP address.

The Startup group on the Misc tab has some new inputs. The combo box (showing "defaults.ecl" in the above jpg) can be used to switch between user defined parameter files and to create a new file. To select a new set of parameters simply select one from the dropdown list. If you want to create a new parameter file, type in a file name and right click the combo control. For example if you setup all tradeBOT's inputs for the ES future, you could type in "ES" and right click. You would see the following:

Cick "Save current settings under this label." to create the new parameter file. The next time you run tradeBOT the filename will show up in the dropdown list. You can save as many parameter files as you like.

The previous functionality that lets you copy the status messages to the system clipboard, clear the status message list, and show the About dialog has been moved to shortcut menus. If you right click on the status messages listbox you will see the following:

Click on any selection to run its functionality.

If you have TWS running on a computer that is part of a network, you can connect to it with tradeBOT from other network computers by entering its IP address in the textbox shown above. Leave this blank if you run tradeBOT on the same computer as TWS.

9/28 Build # 1.0.1366.16696

* GBL (Euro Bund) and ESTX50 (DJ Euro Stoxx50) have been added to the symbol list.

* Enhanced Size, Stop, and Target adjustments.

* Small enhancement to Buy and Sell buttons.

These values can now be used both before and after a position has been started. The "#" or size input will simply override your default size parameters for any trade executed while the checkbox is enabled. If you have not established a position, the Stop and Target values allow you to specify exact levels for the new position (again overriding your defaults). If the position has already been started, the Stop and Target values allow you to change the current resting orders' levels. Note you still need to click the XMIT STP/TGT button to change existing levels. The vaules will be used before a position has been started when you click the Buy or Sell buttons.

9/23 Breakeven and Partial Profits Details

Some questions have been asked about the breakeven and partial profits routines. Hopefully these jpg's will help explain the inputs and their associated functionality. Note if you want to disable all breakeven adjustments and partial profits, uncheck the Enable B/E checkbox.

9/19 Build # 1.0.1357.22079

* Bonds have been added back into symbol list.

* A second breakeven adjustment has been added and several changes have been made to the breakeven inputs. IF YOU USE THE BREAKEVEN ROUTINE YOU WILL WANT TO READ THESE DETAILS.

Bond prices are all expressed as decimals. I was originally going to implement a conversion routine to express all prices in 1/32's but do not have time at this point. It is still in the list of suggestions to be added later. There is however some quick tricks to make you life easier when entering bond prices for trades or to update stop/target prices. When you enter a limit trade price or update the stop/target prices, click in the price field to give it the focus. You can then use your mouse wheel to increment or decrement the price in decimal equivalent 1/32's.

If you use the breakeven routine (found on the "Trade Mngt" tab) you will need to be aware of a few changes. New functionality has been added that enables you to have a second breakeven adjustment. Although it is part of the breakeven routine, It's actually more of a stop adjustment to lock in some profit. For example take the above parameters. You can disable or enable all breakeven functionality by checking/unchecking the Enable B/E checkbox. In the above example, your breakeven stop will be adjusted to breakeven plus .25 points once there is one point of profit in the trade (assuming a long). Earlier versions of tradeBOT let you enter the number of ticks. To avoid problems across different futures markets this value (.25 above) is now entered in terms of points and not the number of ticks.

The second breakeven enhancement kicks in after the first breakeven adjustment has been triggered. You can disable this adjustment by putting "0" in the trigger box as shown above. To finish the example lets assume you have 2 in the right hand trigger textbox. This breakeven would now kick in once 2 points of profit had been reached. With the .75 input above, the new breakeven would be .75 points away from the current market. If you are long it will subtract .75 from the bid and if you are short it will add .75 to the ask.

These controls all have tooltip help (let your mouse pointer linger over a control to see the message) associated with them if you need a quick reminder.

9/11 Build #1.0.1347.23207

Thanks to all who helped with testing and enhancement suggestions. At this point tradeBOT has moved out of the beta phase. Future updates will simply be mentioned on the Yahoo site along with updated installers unless there are significant bug fixes and/or enhancements which will then be detailed here.

Updates As of 9/5 Build #1.0.1343.23579

* Partial Profits have been restored.

* IB trade ID provided for all confirmed transactions. This is a session independent ID.

This build will replace yesterday's build. It is coming out on the heels of the previous build to restore the partial profits routine thanks to someone who passed along some helpful debugging information.

An important change has also been made to the status messages listbox on the "Misc" tab. Trade confirmations from IB will now be displayed with an ID number.

In the above example a trade was started with a long for two contracts. The "932991807" is an ID from IB's side of the transaction. The ID is important if you loose your internet connection and need to reference the trade with IB. All trade status messages will carry these ID's to enable you to go back to IB if you should ever need to confirm specific trades or address any trade confirmation problems.

You can create a copy of these ID's by pressing the Clipboard button and then pasting the information to some other application.

Updates As of 9/4 Build #1.0.1342.24295

* Partial Profits have been disabled. There is an intermittent bug in the routine after the breakeven adjustment. From my own QA and other feedback, the breakeven routine appears to work fine. When I get some time I will look into restoring the partial profits.

* Symbol list has been truncated to only include the stock index futures. The addition of fixed income futures is on the enhancement list.

There have been some other requests for simulation capability, and enhanced execution and stop adjustment routines. Due to time constraints over the next several months, bug fixes will probably be all that is included in new releases. Thanks to those who have provided feedback.

Updates As of 8/28 Build #1.0.1335.3958

* ER2 connection fixed.

* Bug fixed in partial profits routine which is used in conjunction with breakeven stop adjustments.

* Breakeven stop adjustment can now be set to breakeven plus a user defined number of tics.

* Status messages have been updated to include all orders, executions, stop adjustments and target adjustments. Each message will provide time stamped price and/or size changes.

* All status messages can be copied to the Windows clipboard where they can then be pasted into other applications.

The Copy button can be used to copy all status messages to the Windows clipboard.

Enter a value in the B/E + Tics text box to be used with the breakeven stop adjustment. Using the above parameters, the stop would be adjusted as soon as 1 point in profits is available. The new stop level would be breakeven plus two tics.

Updates As of 8/23 Build #1.0.1330.16399

* ER2 added to symbol drop down list.

* Some minor fixes.

Among the minor fixes however was a bug that was using a hard coded expiration for connection requests to TWS. If you are using an earlier version of tradeBOT you will be fine until the Dec contract becomes active. You will need to update to the current version to trade Dec contracts.

Updates As of 8/15 Build #1.0.1322.13759

Again some significant enhancements. The previous installer will be available from the EclipticTrading.com downloads link shown above. It will be renamed tradeBOT1315.

New Enhancements

* BOT trade execution. Automatic execution based on bid/ask size.

* Breakeven stop adjustment now provides for optional partial profit taking.

* Ability to use mouse wheel for quick limit, stop and target price changes.

* PulseMeter has been color coded.

* Tooltips have been added for quick context help. They can also be toggled on and off.

OrdersTab

The changes to the Orders tab have been to add BOT to the list of drop down order types, the PulseMeter's new color code, and mouse wheel functionality to limit, stop and target price changes.

BOT execution was added due to some requests. A few different execution methods were suggested and the following was implemented. The BOT execution starts by entering a buy on the bid or sell on the ask order. If for example you enter a long, it will note the ask price. It uses a simple size threshold as a trigger. The installer default is 50. In this example if the ask size drops below 50, tradeBOT will execute at the ask. If there was a several tick bid/ask spread and the ask comes in a tick, tradeBOT will simply target the new tighter ask price for execution. If you enter a long and the ask moves a tick away, tradeBOT will take the new offer. It tries to get a better price but will always execute immeditately if the target moves away.

Given that contracts like the ES generally have .25 bid/ask spreads, you would probably not bother with this unless you are scalping. It could come in handy for markets with larger bid/ask spreads however. The size threshold is configurable in the Misc tab. I chose this method not only for its simplicity but bid/ask size is probably some of the noisiest data around. Each market has its own nuances. A bid or ask however is most likely to slip away as its size approaches some minimal level. If you get a feel for these levels, the threshold should be an effective trigger.

The PulseMeter will reflect the light green uptick color with values above 1.1, light salmon downtick color with values below .9, and control grey for all values inbetween.

To use the mouse wheel simply click on either the limit textbox (if enabled) or the stop/target textbox and use the wheel to adjust prices up or down. The price increment is based on the Stp/Trgt Px Incr parameter on the Misc tab.

Trade Mngt Tab

The only new items on this tab are the Partial Profits checkbox and the Enable Tooltips checkbox.

If you enable breakeven stop adjustment you can now simultaneously take some profits at the same time. For example using the above parameters, a breakeven stop adjustment would be triggered once the position had at least 1.5 points profit (see TriggerAmt above). If Partial Profits were checked, then 1 contract (based on the Scale Size Incr parameter over on the Misc tab) would be offset. There have been some questions about the two default size values. The Contracts value (2 as shown above) is only used to determine the size when a position is first initiated. When a position is open, all orders will default to the Scale Size Incr value. At any time you can override these values by selecting the Size radio button on the Orders tab.

The Enable Tooltips checkbox allows you to toggle tooltip help on and off. To see the help let your mouse hover over a particular control for several seconds.

Misc Tab

The BOT Execution group is the only thing new on this tab. The Size Threshold has already been discussed above. The Scale Adjustments allows you to use BOT execution automatically whenever tradeBOT initiates a scale adjustment. At the moment this only applies to partial profit taking with the breakeven stop adjustment.

Help For Earlier Versions