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Sim Broker |
February 22 , 2006
16:31 @Ensign_Kimball: Hello
16:31 @Ensign_Kimball: Welcome to Today's Training Class - Today we will discuss the SIM BROKER
16:32 @Ensign_Kimball: The SimBroker feature gives you the ability to practice your Trading and is often used with the PLAYBACK feature
16:32 @Ensign_Kimball: The Playback feature can replay a day's trading, and the SimBroker can be used to practice trading on the chart. Buy and Sell orders can be placed. Limit orders and Stop orders can be placed. Orders can be canceled or moved to different prices.
16:33 @Ensign_Kimball: Profit Stops and Stop Loss Stops can be automatically placed. A Transaction Log keeps track of the orders that have been placed. Optional Arrows or Markers can be automatically drawn on the chart to mark the entry and exit prices of trading positions.
16:34 @Ensign_Kimball: I have opened a DEMO.1 chart. This chart contains the data for NQ last Friday.
16:34 @Ensign_Kimball: To open a SimBroker window that is attached to this chart, just click the SimBroker button on the Toolbar. (or right click and choose simbroker from the popup menu)
16:35 @Ensign_Kimball: If I want to Sell at the Market....I would just click the Sell box, and then SUBMIT
16:36 @Ensign_Kimball: To Stop and Reverse, click the SAR box and then Submit
16:36 @Ensign_Kimball: The SimBroker will keep track of your trades as the market progresses.
16:37 @Ensign_Kimball: Of course, the trades aren't real and no actual orders are being placed in the market. However, the practice and exercise of placing orders and tracking positions allows traders to improve their trading skills while 'Paper-Trading'.
16:37 @Ensign_Kimball: When a Sim-Broker window is opened, it will remember which chart it corresponds to. Several Sim-Broker windows can be open at the same time (each one corresponding to a different chart).
16:37 @Ensign_Kimball: The Sim-Broker window is normally displayed in a Horizontal window. Drag the bottom right corner of the window frame to resize and reshape the Sim-Broker window. The window can also be oriented as a Vertical window.
16:38 @Ensign_Kimball: As mentioned above, to Enter an Order you should first select either Buy or Sell from the Order panel.
16:38 @Ensign_Kimball: Next, select the order type from the 'Type' panel. The trade type can be a 'Market' order, 'Limit' order, 'Stop' order, or 'Stop and Reverse' (SAR) order.
16:40 @Ensign_Kimball: If necessary, specify an order price in the 'Price' entry box. If your mouse has a Mouse-Wheel, it can be used to increment the price. Spin the Mouse-Wheel up or down to adjust the price.
16:41 @Ensign_Kimball: Place a check mark in the check box (just to the left of the Price entry box) to cause the 'Buy' and 'Sell' selection to change back and forth in between trades. This allows you to buy and sell in alternating trades without having to change the Order selections manually.
16:41 @Ensign_Kimball: Lets place an order to BUY at 1649.00
16:42 @Ensign_Kimball: Now flat.
16:42 @Ensign_Kimball: Lets Buy 1 at the Market
16:43 @Ensign_Kimball: Now Long 1 position at 1651.50
16:43 @Ensign_Kimball: Lets place a Stop at 1654.00
16:44 @Ensign_Kimball: Oops.. I meant a Sell Limit
16:45 @Ensign_Kimball: This will Sell 1 at 1654.
16:45 @Ensign_Kimball: Optionally enter a Scalp price amount in the 'AutoScalp' box if you want a profit stop to be automatically generated.
16:45 @Ensign_Kimball: Optionally enter a Stop loss price amount in the 'AutoStop' box if you want a stop order to be automatically generated.
16:46 @Ensign_Kimball: My chart has hit 1654, and sold 1. I will now place a stop at 1656.
16:47 @Ensign_Kimball: There is now a Buy Stop up at 1656, if the market moves against my Short position.
16:47 @Ensign_Kimball: If you want the SimBroker to trade multiple Contracts, or Shares, then enter a value in the 'Qty' box.
16:48 @Ensign_Kimball: Lets enter a Trade to exit the Short at 1647
16:49 @Ensign_Kimball: Well I entered it at 1647.50
16:49 @Ensign_Kimball: Now flat - I need to cancel the Buy Stop. Just uncheck the check box to remove the Order.
16:50 @Ensign_Kimball: Lets Buy 1 at the Market.
16:51 @Ensign_Kimball: Of course I am just stabbing in the dark as this chart progresses. In reality, a Trader would place Studies, Lines, and technical tools on a chart to help analyze the market. We'll just hold this LONG as we talk about a few other SimBroker features.
16:52 @Ensign_Kimball: The 'Pending' panel displays the orders that have not been filled. The panel will display Buy, Sell, Buy Stop (BS), Sell Stop (SS), and Stop and Reverse (SAR) orders. A check mark will appear next to the order, along with the order price. To cancel a pending order, simply uncheck the box and the order will be canceled. Pending orders will appear on the chart as short horizontal lines.
16:53 @Ensign_Kimball: To move a pending order to a different price, re-enter the order with the new price. Or, you can cancel the order by unchecking the check box, and then re-enter the order. A canceled order will display in the Transaction Log with 'xx' in front of the order information.
16:53 @Ensign_Kimball: The 'Summary' panel displays information regarding the current trades, and a dollar summary of all the trades that have been made.
16:54 @Ensign_Kimball: If the example above, the current trade is Long 1 at 1644.50 and has $70 profit.
16:54 @Ensign_Kimball: The Summary Panel shows that 7 trades have been made ( 5 winners and 2 losers)
16:54 @Ensign_Kimball: It also shows the Profit/Loss for Winners and losers and the Average Win, and Average Loss
16:55 @Ensign_Kimball: The 'Ratio' values divide the Winners and Losers to show the percent and ratio of the trades.
16:55 @Ensign_Kimball: Lets buy another at the Market
16:56 @Ensign_Kimball: You can see that the 2nd trade was marked with a 2, to show that there are now 2 Long Positions.
16:56 @Ensign_Kimball: The 'Transaction Log' will display all the orders that have been placed, filled, and canceled. A dashed line will appear in the log when trades have been exited and the current position is Flat.
16:57 @Ensign_Kimball: Lets sell both positions to go flat.
16:58 @Ensign_Kimball: Sold 2 at the market. Entered 2 as the Qty to get both positions exited.
16:58 @Ensign_Kimball: The summary shows that we are Flat
16:58 @Ensign_Kimball: The log can be printed by clicking on the Ensign Windows Print button on the main Toolbar (or select File | Print from the menu). The log will be saved when the Simulation Broker window is closed.
16:59 @Ensign_Kimball: A Log file of the trades is saved to the \ENSIGN\BROKER folder using the Symbol and the Date as the file name. Example DEMO0222.TXT is name of my DEMO chart log file.
17:00 @Ensign_Kimball: Click the Clear Log button to clear the Transaction Log entries and remove the trade arrows from the chart. Click the Reset button in the 'Summary' panel to clear the summary results.
17:01 @Ensign_Kimball: If desired, a Commission dollar amount can be entered in the SimBroker window. This is the round turn commission amount.
17:02 @Ensign_Kimball: Lastly, you can select what MARKER to place on the chart when a trade is triggered. There is a drop-down list box (just to the right of the commission entry box). The most popular Marker choices are Right or Left Arrows, or the letter 'L'.
17:03 @Ensign_Kimball: Selecting the letter 'L' from the Marker list will cause the Sim-Broker to print the number of Positions that are currently being traded at each trade position.
17:03 @Ensign_Kimball: This is a special selection, and is the Default.
17:03 @Ensign_Kimball: The color of the Buy Markers will correspond to the 'Bullish Bars' color found in the charts set-up window. The color of the Sell Markers will correspond to the 'Bearish Bars' color.
17:04 @Ensign_Kimball: You can change the bullish and bearish colors by opening the Chart properties window.
17:05 @Ensign_Kimball: In summary, the SimBroker is a nice feature that gives you the ability to practice Trading on a chart. You can open a SimBroker on a real-time live chart, or use the Playback feature to practice on a DEMO chart. Use your favorite Studies and Draw Tools to help you trade the chart. Practicing with the SimBroker helps you to fine-tune your Trading style and systems without putting actual dollars on the Table.
17:07 @Ensign_Kimball: .
17:07 @Ensign_Kimball: Any Question about the SimBroker ?
17:07 Kongfuzi: the letters refer to different marker symbols? Can you bracket a position?
17:08 @Ensign_Kimball: Kong...what letters are you referring to ? 'L' ?
17:08 Kongfuzi: yes
17:08 @Ensign_Kimball: 'L' is a special marker that will print the Long and Short trades on the chart. Any other letter, will just print that specific letter as the Marker for a Trade
17:09 Kongfuzi: oh ok thx
17:07 Shar: I have a problem with simbroker when doing an ES Demo. It works real time. But in demo, it will just show $1 a tick. I asked this before and got the wonderful advice to open a charts property window, open symbol and click on it.
17:10 @Ensign_Kimball: Shar....The DEMO symbol has some defaults. You can change the defaults by going to the Symbol tab in the Properties window. This will allow you to set the TICK value
17:11 @Ensign_Kimball: When using Playback Basic....there isn't a way to set this up ahead of time.
17:11 Shar: Ok, I'll look again. But last time it looked ok to me. Don't have Demo open presently. Thanks.
17:11 @Ensign_Kimball: The Playback Advanced feature allows you to set these values.
17:11 Shar: The window for the Playback Advanced shows the correct tick value. I use the Advanced.
17:13 @Ensign_Kimball: Shar, you may need to close and re-open your SimBroker window, if it opened with the wrong tick values.
17:15 Shar: ok, thanks Kimball. Didn't try that.
17:12 @Ensign_Kimball: Kongfuzi, what is your definition of Bracket
17:14 Kongfuzi: If I am long I want to be able to have a buy stop and a sell stop
17:14 @Ensign_Kimball: Yes. You can enter both 1 BS and 1 SS at the same time.
17:15 @Ensign_Kimball: See the example above for BS and SS
17:16 @Ensign_Kimball: Both are active at the same time.
17:16 Kongfuzi: ok will try that kimbal, seems the last time I was short the buy stop worked, but the lower order to take profit executed immeditly
17:00 CB: Kimball - I have been doing my best to follow but I have not been able to find the SimBroker icon on the toolbar - what does it look like?
17:16 @Ensign_Kimball: The SimBroker icon has Blue and Red circular arrows, with S and B letters in the middle
17:17 @Ensign_Kimball: You need to have a chart open in order for the SimBroker Icon to be activated. You can also right-click on a chart, and select 'SimBroker' from the pop-up menu.
17:18 CB: Thank you Kimball - I found it :-)
17:18 @Ensign_Kimball: .
17:18 @Ensign_Kimball: Ok. Well I need to run.
17:18 @Ensign_Kimball: Thank you for attending the class today.
17:18 Kongfuzi: thanks
17:18 @Buffy: Thank Kimball nice class.
17:19 @Ensign_Kimball: If you have additional questions you can e-mail Software Support at service@ensignsupport.com. Thanks
17:19 CB: Thank you for your time - one more question - can the sim be used while the market is live - I would think so, but just want to ask
17:20 dblue5: yes cb
17:20 CB: dblue :)
17:22 @Buffy: and it will track more than one chart or symbol
17:22 Kongfuzi: buffy, you don't need to have another SB window open for each symbol traded?
17:22 dblue5: yes you do
17:23 Kongfuzi: ok thx
17:24 dblue5: or different setups on different charts with same symbol
17:24 Kongfuzi: so this brackets a long position with a .25 profit goal and a .25 protection stop to the downside?
17:25 @Buffy: yes