PTL Trader Manual - Revision history

Admin: /* Confidential Mode */

2021-07-02T09:28:24Z

‎Confidential Mode

Admin: /* Requirements */

2021-07-02T09:26:54Z

‎Requirements

Admin: /* Introduction */

2021-07-02T09:25:41Z

‎Introduction

Admin: /* Requirements */

2015-05-24T19:03:19Z

‎Requirements

Admin: /* Requirements */

2015-01-12T14:30:24Z

‎Requirements

Admin at 09:53, 14 February 2014

2014-02-14T09:53:31Z

Admin at 17:16, 17 May 2013

2013-05-17T17:16:12Z

Admin at 15:53, 17 May 2013

2013-05-17T15:53:55Z

Admin at 14:45, 17 May 2013

2013-05-17T14:45:40Z

Admin at 14:06, 17 May 2013

2013-05-17T14:06:46Z

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 '''Remark: if you run multiple instances on the same computer, each instance must connect to a different IB TWS/Gateway instance!'''
 == Confidential Mode ==
-By default, PTL Trader is sending the complete trade history and samples of account equity and position open profit/loss to the Pair Trading Lab. It is stored there inside your account to be used by Reporting feature which will be developed soon, so users will be able to create advanced reports of pair trading strategy performance. Although we guarantee we never disclose any of that data to any 3rd side and we try to maintain as highest level of security as possible, we fully understand this may still be a concern for same users.
+By default, PTL Trader is sending the complete trade history to Pair Trading Lab. Although we guarantee we never disclose any of that data to any 3rd side and we try to maintain as highest level of security as possible, we fully understand this may still be a concern for same users.
 # whenever you restart PTL Trader, you trading history is gone
 '''Confidential Mode''' can be enabled in the Setting tab.
 == Interface ==
 [[File:Ptltrader-big-1024.png|center]]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 == Requirements ==
-# Windows OS compatible with Java 7 (or newer) is required
+# 64bit operating system (Microsoft Windows, Linux or macOS) compatible with Java 8 (or newer) is required
-# 32-bit Java 7 (1.7) or newer is required. The installer checks this. 64-bit Java is not supported at this moment, but it will be at some point.
+# 64-bit Java 8 (1.8) or newer is required. The installer checks this.
 # PTL Trader requires Interactive Brokers TWS or IB Gateway, providing an API access. Server IB API version 66 or newer is required.
 == Installation & Setup ==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 == Introduction ==
-PTL Trader is a proprietary automated trading system solution for pair trading. See more information [https://www.pairtradinglab.com/ptltrader here]. You can use it to execute your pair trading strategy portfolios you have built using the [https://www.pairtradinglab.com Pair Trading Lab website] Portfolio Manager.
+PTL Trader is a free, open source automated trading system solution for pair trading. See more information [https://www.pairtradinglab.com/ptltrader here]. You can use it to execute your pair trading strategy portfolios you have built using the [https://www.pairtradinglab.com Pair Trading Lab website] Portfolio Manager.
 == Requirements ==

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 == Requirements ==
 # Windows OS compatible with Java 7 (or newer) is required
-# 32-bit Java 7 (1.7) or newer is required. The installer checks this. 64-bit Java is not supported at this moment, but it will be at some point. '''Please note there are currently issues with Java 1.8 - if you use Java 1.8, you will have to manually correct Java path in the PTL Trader icon/shortcut'''. We will fix this in next release. See the [[PTL Trader Changelog]] for details.
+# 32-bit Java 7 (1.7) or newer is required. The installer checks this. 64-bit Java is not supported at this moment, but it will be at some point.
 # PTL Trader requires Interactive Brokers TWS or IB Gateway, providing an API access. Server IB API version 66 or newer is required.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 == Requirements ==
 # Windows OS compatible with Java 7 (or newer) is required
-# 32-bit Java 7 (1.7) or newer is required. The installer checks this. 64-bit Java is not supported at this moment, but it will be at some point.
+# 32-bit Java 7 (1.7) or newer is required. The installer checks this. 64-bit Java is not supported at this moment, but it will be at some point. '''Please note there are currently issues with Java 1.8 - if you use Java 1.8, you will have to manually correct Java path in the PTL Trader icon/shortcut'''. We will fix this in next release. See the [[PTL Trader Changelog]] for details.
 # PTL Trader requires Interactive Brokers TWS or IB Gateway, providing an API access. Server IB API version 66 or newer is required.
 PTL Trader and Portfolio Manager are only available to Premium Members.
 == Installation & Setup ==
 In order to use PTL Trader application, you must obtain PTL Trader API keys first. They are used to authenticate the application running at your side against our server, so the application is able to retrieve your portfolio and settings and send back your trading stats (unless confidential mode is used).

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 # Go to the [https://www.pairtradinglab.com Pair Trading Lab website] and login to your account
 # Go to Menu -> PTL Trader -> Setup & Download (if you don't see this, you are not a Premium Member or your membership has expired) (see the screenshot)
-#:[[File:Ptltrader-setup.png|right]]
+#:[[File:Ptl-download.jpg|right]]
 # If you don't have API access keys yes, you will see a button ''Generate PTL Trader keys for me now''. Press it, it will generate your keys and setup your PTL Trader access immediately
 # When you already have API keys generated, you can see your '''Access Key''' already. In order to see your '''Secret Key''' press the link saying "click here to see my Secret Key".

@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 === Updating Portfolios in PTL Trader ===
 '''Very important:''' every time you make changes in portfolio at the website (change parameters, add pairs to portfolio), the update is never automatically synchronized to PTL Trader. You '''must explicitly synchronize them yourself''' by going into File menu and selecting ''Update Portfolios From PTL''.
 == Monitoring ==
 Pair Trading Lab website offers an unique feature - it can watch your PTL Trader instances automatically for you and send a warning e-mail to you if there is something suspicious going on. How it does work? PTL Trader sends every minute its status to our website. Another software running on our side analyzes this information and may send a warning message to you if decided.

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:45, 17 May 2013
Line 79:		Line 79:

	'''Important: If you unbind a portfolio from an IB account, nothing happens to positions already opened on the account! They will just become ignored by the PTL Trader. You are responsible to deal with those positions in TWS yourself!'''		'''Important: If you unbind a portfolio from an IB account, nothing happens to positions already opened on the account! They will just become ignored by the PTL Trader. You are responsible to deal with those positions in TWS yourself!'''
		+	== Monitoring ==
		+	Pair Trading Lab website offers an unique feature - it can watch your PTL Trader instances automatically for you and send a warning e-mail to you if there is something suspicious going on. How it does work? PTL Trader sends every minute its status to our website. Another software running on our side analyzes this information and may send a warning message to you if decided.
		+	Situations detected are these:
		+	* PTL Trader instance did not report itself for more than 15 minutes - your instance does not run, your VPS is down or lost an Internet connection
		+	* PTL Trader instance lost connection to IB API (TWS crashed and not recovered in time limit?)
		+	* manual intervention is required for at least one pair strategy (see below for an explanation)
		+	In order to enable monitoring for any PTL Trader instance, please follow these steps:
		+	# Make sure you have at least once started your PTL Trader instance, for at least one minute (connected to PTL).
		+	# Go to PTL website and login to your account
		+	# in menu, go to PTL Trader > Monitoring.
		+	# You should see a table of your known PTL Trader instances, identified by your computer hostname and instance profile.
		+	# If you check the checkbox next to your instance and press ''Save Settings'' button, monitoring will start and you may get messages.
		+	# Below you can configure an e-mail address for sending you monitoring messages, by default it is the same e-mail you have used for your registration.
		+	[[File:Ptl-monitoring.png]]
		+	=== Manual Intervention Requests ===
		+	There are some situations which may happen on your IB account side, which cannot be automatically dealt with by PTL Trader, although it is doing the best. Some examples are these:
		+	* you change direction of existing pair leg positions manually in TWS
		+	* reverse split occurs on any opened instrument and the split ratio is not "clean"
		+	In these situations, PTL Trader gets confused and does not know, what to do with the pair anymore. So it just marks the pair strategy as "requires manual intervention" and ignores the pair since then. You should just solve the situation manually (e.g. close or alter pair positions in TWS) and then you can resume trading by pressing ''Resume Trading'' button in PTL Trader.

@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 The purpose of PTL Trader is to allow you to execute portfolios of pair trading strategies in real-time. Those portfolios are not defined in PTL Trader itself - they are stored on the Pair Trading Lab website under your account. You manage your strategy portfolios using the Portfolio Manager application which is available from the menu as long you log in and as long you are a Premium Member.
-Please read more about portfolios here: [[Pair Trading Lab Portfolios]]
+Please read more about portfolios here: [[Pair Trading Lab Portfolios]] and about strategies & algorithms here: [[Pair Trading Lab Algorithms & Strategies]]
 === Binding Portfolio To IB Account ===
 When connected to your account, PTL Trader has an access to you portfolios and loads them from your PTL Trader account. Then you can ''bind'' particular portfolio to your IB account and start the autotrading of all pair strategies. There is no way to define portfolios or strategies inside PTL Trader - you have to manage them at the website. There is  some limited management functionality on PTL Trader though - you can delete strategies and edit some portfolio and strategy properties also from the PTL Trader side.