Import tick data in America/New York timezone

[misova]

I have a tick data with timestamps in "America/New York" timezone.
When importing data, I found there is no such a timezone, that could be used.

The nearest one, we can select in NT is: UTC-5 Eastern Time (US & Canada)

But this is different,
because America/New_York uses DST (daylight saving time = summer time),
but EST does not handle summer time.

2 other sources confirm this information:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9...ork-time-zones
• http://www.timeanddate.com/library/a...es/na/est.html

As a result:
EST cannot be used for importing of America/New_York timezone, because that causes
1 hour differences during whole summer time in New York and bars will have wrong time half year..
(! I've really not tried to import, just thinking about consequences aloud...)

So question is:
So how can be properly imported tick data with timestamps in NewYork timezone?

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

Hello misova,

You will need to select the time zone that is used for the text file you like to import. If it uses New York time zone, please select UTC -5. More information can be found at the link below.

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/importing.htm

If this causes incorrect data before the time zone changed to daylight saving time, I suggest to find a way to adjust the data in the text file.

[misova]

Thank you for help.

If label Eastern Time (US & Canada) in Ninjatrader handles DST (and I saw that it handles),
then it cannot be named Eastern Standard Time (EST), because EST timezone never handles DST (summer time)..

I expect, that label "Eastern time" in Ninjatrader is mapped to something similar (like America/New_York), but different then real EST.

Can you please look for me, if the timezone label Eastern Time (US & Canada) in NinjaTrader is really mapped to

1. general Eastern Standard Time timezone (that does not handle summer time)
2. or to something more concrete like America/New_York...(or another eastern city), that properly handles summer time?

This is important, because just saying "Eastern time", there no way how to find out, what exact timezone is really used.
There are many timezones used in the "Eastern" block of America with different time conversions.

It would be more clear, if you name some cities that represent the timezone,
instead of "Eastern Time" which is not clear. We can't know, if you mean Eastern Standard Time, or some cities in the "Eastern" block of America.

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

Sorry, I did not have time to test this today.

Does your data file contains continuous data or do you import data for each expiry month separate?

EST indicates "winter time", while EDT indicates "summer time". If your data file uses EST or EDT, please select UTC -5 in the Historical Data Manager-->Import-tab.

[misova]

My data are continuous non-back-adjusted format.

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I understand the EST/EDT timezone, switching the DST time is automatically done by each framework, which uses correct timezone.

For example: when I use "America/New_York" timezone and use it for converting into another timezone, the DST switching is automatically done by implementation of this timezone in c#, in java, everywhere.

I am not sure, if we understand each other now:

• The important thing is, that something like "Eastern Time" timezone really does not exist. It is just some simplified abstraction for something from the eastern part of America.
• There exist Eastern Standard Time (which does not handle DST and such is not so much useful for real world - most countries use DST)
• There are many other timezones, referencing different area in "eastern" part of America. (these handle DST automatically and so are useful for use in NinjaTrader for importing tick-data, created in different areas of the world).

Finally I expect, that the only problem is:

• Something like general "Eastern time" does not exist and should not be referenced from NinjaTrader timezones.
• It should be renamed to something like: UTC-5 (New York, Massachusts, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio,Virginia, ..) - if it really references such a timezone.

But one cannot not be sure.
You can have a look, what is inside the code and which real timezone is mapped to the abstraction called "Eastern time (US & Canada)"

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

The time zone selection in the Historical Data Manager-->Import-tab uses the same time zones listed as per the PC clock. It automatically switches to EST/EDT.