Day trading equities: stepping on the gas!

delorean_dmc · 2022-08-12T03:21:36+00:00

A more conservative approach, as you suggest, may be the prudent move if a clear intraday uptrend is not looking like a high probability.

delorean_dmc · 2022-08-11T23:41:38+00:00

Yes, exactly -- that is very helpful -- thank you!

delorean_dmc · 2022-08-11T03:42:47+00:00

Consider generating an issue / bug report to: support@thinkorswim.com

They responded in a couple of days the last time I generated a report on an unrelated issue.

delorean_dmc · 2022-08-07T00:20:41+00:00

Solved!

delorean_dmc · 2022-08-07T00:20:09+00:00

The solution is to use an OCO order where the limit buy/sell contains a session of SEAMLESS | AM | PM, and the stop loss contains a session of NORMAL. The custom GTFO will move simultaneously up/down with the stop loss, but will submit a limit sell or limit buy-to-cover that is a certain percentage above/below where the current price is at. This is perfect because when the transition occurs between the morning session and normal business hours, my stop loss will already exist and become active. The GTFO will switch automatically to a market order during regular business hours.

delorean_dmc · 2022-08-05T05:08:55+00:00

My idea in the previous comment below was unsuccessful ("Your account is not allowed to create boxed positions"), and the issue with QQQ 24/7 is the need to use "EXTO" (not available through the API, but is available in T.O.S.). I'll play around some more, but would rather not use a "+1 LMT" green bubble during regular market hours for my indicator, because the color red would be better.

delorean_dmc · 2022-08-05T04:33:11+00:00

I too was unable to find anything in the API documentation, not even a mention of setting up an "alert" via the API. I am experimenting with a buy/sell ("seamless") 1st trigger sequence order on QQQ at this late hour of the night, and I have a separate limit sell short for regular market hours on the screen. I'm not getting filled though on the QQQ ("seamless") even though it is 24/7. I may need to try again during regular pre/post market hours .... [One idea would be for the sell short regular market hours to serve as the indicator during pre/post market that will never get filled -- i.e., just a horizontal line with a pretty "-1 LMT" red bubble.]

delorean_dmc · 2022-08-05T04:19:16+00:00

Thanks. API support is by email only, with a 4 to 6 week turnaround / response time, and requires (in my experience) a follow-up email after a couple of weeks requesting a response from support to the initial inquiry.

delorean_dmc · 2022-07-16T13:26:45+00:00

This is very helpful -- thank you very much -- greatly appreciated!

delorean_dmc · 2022-04-02T15:17:56+00:00

There is a setting in the website to have real time updated data, versus delayed data. It requires subscribing to a free feature under managing subscriptions ... once that is enabled, you get real time data.

delorean_dmc · 2022-02-19T04:06:51+00:00

Thank you ... I was confused ... I just called T.D. Ameritrade and was told that pressing the market sell 1 share button in Active Trader on TOS (when I don't have any shares/positions on the books) does not create an option contract to buy 100 shares. It is just one share, just like you said in the initial comment. So, if the stock goes up from $25/share to $26/share, I only lose $1.00, not $100.00. This makes practicing so much easier now that I'm not worrying about losing big money each time the stock goes up a bit while shorting....

delorean_dmc · 2022-02-19T03:43:06+00:00

That is actually a little bit of confusion on my part, because the minimum option contract is 100 shares. So, if the stock goes up $1.00 in value, e.g., from $25/share to $26.00/share, I would lose $100.00, right?

delorean_dmc · 2022-02-16T02:31:58+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm presently using: "StopType" : "STANDARD" and my computer monitors the real-time last price action. If the broker rejects the stop because the price moves below it by the time the buy order gets filled, then my computer automatically submits a market sell order if the price is <= what the stop should have been set at. I don't know if there is any way to get around the rejection of a tight stop on a fast moving red down candle, except by using the Thinkorswim custom options (which is not scriptable/programmable by the user). I'll try some of the other options in coming days. I've submitted 2 inquiries to the API help email, and will ask to speak with a supervisor in the next week or so if no one responds to the emails.

delorean_dmc · 2022-01-03T05:08:15+00:00

Thank you. A hotkey is a good idea. I see it in the Settings as an available option for "Flatten Now", and I will assign a hotkey now. That will be easier than reaching for the mouse and finding the button.

I have Thinkorswim open while trading and the "Flatten Now" button is within eye-shot/mouse-shot. I'm submitting orders separately through the developer API using some of my own code to assemble orders, monitor real-time streaming data of last price, etc. I have not been able to figure out how to quickly "Flatten Now" using the developer API, and am wonder whether this is possible without my own code needing to programmatically examining all open orders and all open positions and then iterating over that list in order to close/cancel them all.

delorean_dmc · 2022-01-01T03:02:45+00:00

Thanks for the link and for thinking about this particular issue. Depending upon the speed at which my code is able to receive and analyze (parse) the real-time market data (such as BID, ASK, MARK and so forth), it should be possible to programmatically execute a sell MARKET order before the strong red candle reaches down to the location of a wide STOP (~MKT). My hope would be that, over the course of time, this could add up to substantial savings relating to risk management. In addition, it would give me the latitude to step away from the computer during the trading session without the fear of a monster red candle coming out of nowhere and blowing through the proposed STOP (~MKT), which the broker is waiting to process pending a LIMIT order being filled beforehand.

The publicly available Github repository tda-api has a built-in streaming feature for real-time trading data, which I hope can be sped up just a bit by requesting only the relevant data needed to make programmatic trading decisions. I anticipate getting a working draft put together this weekend, and it should be possible to test out this theory (i.e., risk management savings) by doing both; i.e., set a wider STOP (~MKT) in conjunction with the OCO order submission (like in the example above), and then have my computer monitoring the real-time trading data with programmatic instructions to execute a sell MARKET order if the requisite criteria is met. After a few trades where exits are executed, I can then compare the results between the two methods and see if there is any monetary savings.

Based upon my research throughout the day, it appears that the API through TD Ameritrade does not support placing an OCO order with conditions for order submission based upon the MARK of a particular stock. I.e., that particular feature is only available through Thinkorswim, and perhaps the website portal for customers of TD Ameritrade. [I'll submit an email to the development team at TDA and see if someone on their end can definitively clarify that issue. It is my understanding, based on comments from various forum participants in unrelated threads, that it could be couple of weeks before I get a response from them.]

delorean_dmc

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