ThinkorSwim OnDemand Not Working

[GetRichOrDieTrying]

I've noticed two major issues with ThinkorSwim since they announced their Zero Commission trade offer. I'm having stop losses being totally blown through, which could be a sign that they are using slower ECN's to cut down on their fees. I've never had these issues before and I trade the same 8 stocks everyday, so I know how their price action behaves very well, and this is EXTREMELY abnormal.

I've also noticed a dramatic decline in the stability of their OnDemand trading platform. When I try to change the time, it doesn't work half the time, and I also have issues with candlesticks loading. They don't load in real-time. All of a sudden, a bunch of candles will just explode on to the screen.

As I'm sure you've probably heard, TD Ameritrade lost over $10,000,000,000 in market value the day they announced their zero commission offer. They have to make up for those losses somehow, and I hope it's not slower ECN's and a less stable trading platform.

Have you noticed any of these issues or anything related?

 

[Chandra]

Is there a way to do back testing a strategy on multiple stocks? Pls let me know.
Thanks,

 

[Chuck]

I have been trying to use OnDemand for almost two years with no success. Every time I call TD Ameritrade they cant help me. Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[rad14733]

I have been trying to use OnDemand for almost two years with no success. Every time I call TD Ameritrade they cant help me. Does anyone else have this problem?

OnDemand is virtually worthless... I can never get it to work, even with just one or two simple indicators... Doesn't work with any Range-Bar styles... Just too aggravating to bother with even though I do still get a brief urge every now and then...

 

[Chuck]

Glad to know it is just not me. It is very disappointing form it not to work.

 

[scott69]

If I may weigh in, I was new to TOS around the beginning of the year. I haven't used On Demand, so I can't say anything about that. But as I mentioned in another post, I did start having TOS crashes after a weekend update several months back. I have now started being ready for anything on Sunday night, Monday morning, because they seem to update TOS over the weekend, and in addition to the crashes some time back forcing me to buy a new laptop (they are making the platform more complex, so older equipment will have issues), I am always watching now for bugs, and have had to deal with charts changing and other oddities. Nothing earth shattering. My biggest concern with TDA in general is that two things occurred. One is the virus (representatives working from home),, the other is the growing number of people that want to be millionaires trading Apple and Tesla. The number of new accounts at TDA, Robinhood, ETrade, etc. is astronomical. This has caused a huge surge in usage both on the platform and in the customer service area. As other traders have said, I have TOS running all day long, from 5AM central to 5PM. No noticeable performance problems (with the new computer, though). BUT, I have had an issue when I tried to call TDA. I have actually been informed upon calling that the wait time would be 3, yes THREE hours. Of course I did not wait, trying to figure out the problem myself. That was a while back, so hopefully that has improved. We can all only imagine the types of questions they are getting from the "get rich quick" novices, LOL...so I just don't call them... Long winded, but to answer the original question, I think it is common knowledge that these companies make money on "order flow." And, they have everything to lose by not providing a good, reliable product. Nothing nefarious going on.

 

[Chuck]

I have been noticing crashes as well, especially on weekends. Sad that they don't provide adiquite simulation tools.

 

[rad14733]

@scott69 The Monday/Tuesday problem you mentioned was caused by several factors but mainly an update of the current 1965 code base and, presumably server changes associated with the Schwab merger... And then there was the whole Softbank options market issue shortly after that where volume and volatility went crazy... I got burned by the first one when the system crashed immediately after entering a trade yet before I could place my stop-loss and limit order... Before I could get on another working web based platform my trade had exceeded what was to be my limit price and then immediately turned which resulted in a losing trade rather than a winning trade... That particular day I wasn't entering trades with OCO orders as an experiment and got burned...

 

[Chuck]

I was trading the TRUMP NEWS, and got burned as the system froze. I only lost a little. rode it all the way down and rode it all the way back up. Minimal loss due to the issue, but could have been a tragity.

 

[scott69]

@Chuck @rad14733 Sorry you got burned. I know we are in a zero-sum game, but to get hit because of something you didn't do is a pain. As far as the TOS updates, they definitely made the TOS system so that it didn't work anymore on my old reliable laptop. With the updates, my system was only at 70% ram usage, but it didn't like something. The RAM allocation on the sign-in screen was always well over what TOS was using, but it didn't stop the crashes. It was probably past time that I did got a new machine, but the old laptop (win 7) works everywhere else. As I said, developers and coders are taking advantage of faster systems with more memory to write more and more complex programs for win 10. I understand this.....I keep the old going now and just have a live 15 min and 1 hour chart up for context. I'll also get up and go next to it (on a separate desk about 3 feet away) for email, calendar, etc. and just to stretch the old back, LOL.

Just to clarify, for me there were two separate incidents. The one that I think @rad14733 talks about was a few weeks back and caused the TOS system to be basically OFF for about three days for everyone. Yes, as soon as that started happening, I was leery about trading, so I didn't, thank goodness. It would start up fine, then suddenly freeze. The other incident, the one I refer to, was an update further in the past which rendered my older system useless. TOS again would start up fine, quotes updating, then suddenly close up. The program wasn't freezing, it was closing. Kept saying I was out of memory even though allocations were fine, mem management fine, etc. Whether I could have fixed it or not, I swing a pretty big position (for me) that I couldn't have what happened continue, thus the new laptop. So, other than when TOS wasn't working for anyone a few weeks back, the platform has been excellent, knock on wood....

 

[rad14733]

@scott69 It sounds like you were either suddenly having memory problems with your laptop or the program needed to be reinstalled... Also, in the time period I was referring to, I called technical support and they told me I should not be bumping my memory up for some reason... They had me reset back to default settings from having bumped the memory setting way up...

 

[scott69]

@rad14733 Hey thanks for the info. Considering the age of the laptop, mem problems wouldn't surprise me. I did completely un-install TOS, so I'll try to re-install it. After buying a new rig that works so well, I don't know why I need two PCs running TOS, but it never hurts to have a backup. Thanks again.

So I tried to re-install and the same problems continued, i.e. program shutting down. I tried the different memory settings as well, with no help. It is good that I got a new system. Thanks again.

 

[rad14733]

@scott69 I'd say you have failing memory in your laptop... While very rare, from years of IT experience, it does happen... Or a failing motherboard or hard drive... Sounds like it was a good move to get the new laptop... I always have at least three computers loaded and running TOS... And always have a few spares of everything in the wings... The only component I don't have spares of is my cable modem...

 

[Chuck]

A few days ago I kept crashing and I had to uninstall my TOS because it would not download studies from this forum and import them. I had to also bust up my memory at that time. I am almost maxed out on my iMac. Its a 2014 and needs to be replaced. The newer TOS updates take up more ram or whatever for sure. My Mac froze up tonight and cost me $50 bucks, called support and they said my internet connection was lagging. I am going to cat 6 cable hardwire tomorrow.

 

[chaseimo]

Does anyone have issues with indicators not showing up on the chart in OnDemand? If I refresh the chart they will show up but not if I just let it run.

 

[rad14733]

Does anyone have issues with indicators not showing up on the chart in OnDemand? If I refresh the chart they will show up but not if I just let it run.

Yep... One reason I use OnDemand less and less... ****s when charts just decide to stop painting properly... Also, Active Trader is beyond quirky in OnDemand... And . . . .

 

[Shooters_Gotta_Shoot]

Hey everyone, I have been back testing my strategy with OnDemand for the last month and a half and it really has given me some weird results. I thought I remember seeing somewhere that the OnDemand tries to "mimic" the actual market, so it will only fill orders that have actually been filled in real life. Problem is, say you have a limit order on something and that trade was never actually made during the day by someone in the market, then when you set a limit order OnDemand at whatever price you want, it won't fill because it was never technically traded before. It wasn't as big as a problem when the market was super liquid during the short squeeze party a couple of weeks ago, but now that overall volume has gone done, I have noticed this problem increase significantly. Especially with less popular stocks.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this too?! And yes, I have tried to call and all I get is crazy wait times or "you should be able to trade however you would like OnDemand". It's just odd that when I set my limit order and the price blows through it sometimes 100% or even 200% and it still doesn't fill. I know the "normal" platform with real money works just fine, but what's the point of backtesting if it doesn't work properly and you don't even if your strategy works.

 

[rad14733]

@Shooters_Gotta_Shoot I've grown weary of the shortcomings of both OnDemand and Paper Trading, to the point where I've completely given up on them and simply watch the live markets and keep notes on theoretical trades... I found that I was wasting far too much time trying to get things setup to work like my live trading system and if I even got to that point the functionality was just too unreliable... I wish that wasn't the case but, unfortunately, that has been my ongoing experience and I just can't waste any more of my time on either of those simulation options...

 

[Shooters_Gotta_Shoot]

@Shooters_Gotta_Shoot I've grown weary of the shortcomings of both OnDemand and Paper Trading, to the point where I've completely given up on them and simply watch the live markets and keep notes on theoretical trades... I found that I was wasting far too much time trying to get things setup to work like my live trading system and if I even got to that point the functionality was just too unreliable... I wish that wasn't the case but, unfortunately, that has been my ongoing experience and I just can't waste any more of my time on either of those simulation options...

@rad14733 Appreciate the feedback! And I’m glad I’m not the only one giving up on these features. I guess I will have to get back to live trading and start small. The OnDemand and Paper Trading sound great, but obviously don’t carry the same weight Live Trading on TOS can.

 

[rad14733]

@Shooters_Gotta_Shoot Just take notes if you aren't certain of your trade logic... I have always made more trades in my head than in reality... Some days there may not be a enough funds for all of the opportunities that present themselves, or some may be speculative and not worthy of the risk required... I never beat myself up over the money I could have made... That's not nearly as frustrating as OnDemand or Paper Trading... I toss theoretical trades into a spreadsheet for tracking and review... To date I have yet to find a reliable way to perform accurate Stop-Loss when using Strategies for backtesting and I've tried every aspect of coding them and attempted to use the ones that come in TOS but none work as well as an actual Stop in Active Trader so I calculate them manually... There is no panacea for backtesting in TOS and I'm ok with that considering everything else it has to offer...

 

[scott69]

I do the same thing @rad14733 . When I am trying out a new strategy, indicator or script, I just put a horizontal and vertical line where I would buy / sell. Granted, there is no slippage with that method, but I do get a sense of whether or not the idea is sound. I also have to keep track of a stop, but if it is 10, 15, 20 /NQ points, that should not be a problem visually tracking. Also, I really didn't have any trouble with paper trading for a week when I came to TOS, the two problems with paper are 1) instantaneous fills (not realistic), and 2) that it really is NOT the same when you have real money on the line, which was the major reason why I only did it for a short time just to learn TOS. It is easy to get reckless and gutsy when you really can't lose anything. (PS, RAD, I see we were talking about my laptop problems. I went out and bought a new MSI 15", 11th gen i7, 16 RAM, 512 SSD on sale for $850, it is really fast and light. I copied all my TOS folder from main PC to the new one and had an exact replica of my TOS setup. This second PC will be a spare / backup PC. Laptops are really getting down in price if anyone is looking