Automatic closing of open position

[Tracedavisrepair]

I recently opened an account with Phillip Capital and was extremely excited to start learning on the futures market! Yet the hassle of opening and getting the account started put me back a couple of weeks. I do not blame this on either NT or PC . But I started learning and then trading real money, this went on for a bit with a scalping strategy that just wasn’t working for me. So I switched my strategy and practiced it on the amazingly useful sim acct, and got decent. So today I decide to trade on my real account and find where I want to open my first position at. I put in the buy, I am fulfilled and walk away with a take profit. Only to come back to find I was automatically closed by the platform. Not only was this close nowhere near the 0 of my account, but was closed higher than the low which was one bar away. This put me out of possible profit because right after that low it would’ve hit my take profit level. Very easily! I trade woth a smaller account hovering around the minimum contract cost for my market which is 500. So this ruined my trades for the next several weeks!!!

[NinjaTrader_Melissa]

Hello,

Thank you for using NinjaTrader.

My name is Melissa, and I am a Team Lead for Platform Support. I am here to ensure that all of your questions and concerns are addressed.

I am sorry to hear about your experience this morning.

I would like to first point out that if your inquiry involves live orders, please always reach out to your broker's Orders Desk immediately to confirm and manage your live orders and positions.

If your trades are with NinjaTrader Brokerage, you can contact NinjaTrader Brokerage Order Desk here:

• Email: [email protected]

Please send me your log and trace files so that I may look into what occurred with your trade this morning.

You can do this by going to the Control Center-> Help-> Email Support

Ensuring 'Log and Trace Files' is checked will include these files. This is checked by default.

Please reference the following ticket number in the body of the email: 2810236 ATTN Melissa

Thank you in advance; I look forward to resolving your inquiry.

[patricia70]

Sound like you either had auto-close function enabled (which is disabled by default in NT8 installation) or your intraday excess margin was exhausted and reached negative values. If this happens only for a short period and your margin comes back to positive value nothing will happen. But when you remain or realize more loss and thus your intraday excess margin remains in negative area then Ninjatrader Brokerage will auto-liquidate your position for security reasons.

I'm pretty sure you will get more detailled replies from NTB.

[Tracedavisrepair]

Sound like you either had auto-close function enabled (which is disabled by default in NT8 installation) or your intraday excess margin was exhausted and reached negative values. If this happens only for a short period and your margin comes back to positive value nothing will happen. But when you remain or realize more loss and thus your intraday excess margin remains in negative area then Ninjatrader Brokerage will auto-liquidate your position for security reasons.

I'm pretty sure you will get more detailled replies from NTB.

\

I get that, yet I wasnt anywhere near negative and there was two bars lower before I close ( the chart dipped and then rose, I was closed on the rise back to profit level ). Thank you for the information, and I wish you profitable trades!

[patricia70]

Well, now I need to use this thread to submit my complaint, too. Some days ago I experienced this odd behaviour for the 1st time. My position was auto-closed at the time I have configured under Tools --> Options --> Trading --> Auto-Close Position --> Time

Although I knew that "Auto-Close" was not enabled at all. After the position closed I right-clicked onto my chart trader area and the check mark next to the top line "Auto close position" was NOT set. I was buffled but didn't dive further into because I would have closed the position nevertheless.

Now just some minutes ago I experienced again the same malfunction. I had an open position in ES and wanted to carry it over the night. I looked at the chart when suddenly I heard the audio FILLED! sound and again I was puzzled !#! I didn't understand what happened, my margins all are fine. I watched the time and immediately realized it's the same time I have configured. Again, I triple-checked and "Auto-Close position" feauture was NOT enabled. Ninjatrader closed my position, seems that this function was enabled somehow.

I guess Tracedavisrepair may have ran into the same bug like me? that really sucks because I cannot re-enter my position now :/

[NinjaTrader_Melissa]

Hello patricia70,

Thank you for the note.

Please feel free to write in to PlatformSupport[AT]NInjaTrader[dot]com with your log and trace files and as many details as you can remember about the trade in question (date, time, order ID, instrument) and we would be happy to investigate your individual case.

We look forward to being of further assistance.

[patricia70]

Hello Melissa,

well, it's just as simple as I explained. Ninjatrader has Auto close position enabled although this is not indicated in the right-click context menu on chart trader. I can confirm this by just starting NT8 from scratch and watch the [Log] tab (next to the accounts tab). Following log entry appears:

Time: 30/10/2020 08:06:41 am
Category: Connection
Message: Time to auto close position='9:25:33 pm', Enabled=True

And this is how the right-click chart trader context menu looks like. As you see there is no checkmark at the function "Auto close position"



Just for illustration purposes, this is how it looks when I put the check mark in:

which as result will create following log entry in the [Log] tab:

Time: 30/10/2020 08:21:41 am
Category: Default
Message: Auto close enabled=True: All


Then I disable it again, the check mark is removed. But this action obviously seems to fail because the [Log] still creates exactly the same log entry (enabling) which is WRONG:

Time: 30/10/2020 08:26:04 am
Category: Default
Message: Auto close enabled=True: All

there's a bug if you ask me. Conclusion:
The right-click context menu "Auto Close position" has no effect at all! in any case precedence has the setting from Tools --> Options --> Trading --> Auto Close Position. That's not intuitive and it makes no sense that here is "Auto-Close position" option available in the context menu in chart trader.

Hope this helps?
Patricia

[NinjaTrader_Melissa]

Hello,

Thank you for the reply.;

Order submission inquiries are incredibly fact specific and we would be unable to give you any further insight over the forum, as we would need to analyze your log and trace files to give you a precise idea of what happened and those files may contain private information you would not want publicly available on the forums.

Please write in to PlatformSupport[AT]NInjaTrader[dot]com with your log and trace files and as many details as you can remember about the trade in question (date, time, order ID, instrument) and we would be happy to investigate your individual case.

We look forward to being of further assistance.

[patricia70]

Dear Melissa,

all important information with details is provided in my last message. There is absolutely no need to make extra effort (time is limited) and mailing whole trace or log files which also includes sensitive information as you already pointed out. Everyone can test this behaviour on his own and see how it behaves. I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with my own account or my trade or whatever. If you read precisely through my last message you will understand the reason for it. Just check on your own and watch the [LOG] tab while performing the actions.

I want to add I run the latest version 8.0.22.2 64-bit.

Thanks for listening.
Patricia.

[NinjaTrader_Melissa]

Hello,

Thank you for the reply.

If you go to Tools->Options->Trading do you find the Auto Close function enabled in this menu?

I look forward to resolving your inquiry.

[patricia70]

there's a bug if you ask me. Conclusion:
The right-click context menu "Auto Close position" has no effect at all! in any case precedence has the setting from Tools --> Options --> Trading --> Auto Close Position. That's not intuitive and it makes no sense that here is "Auto-Close position" option available in the context menu in chart trader.

Hope this helps?
Patricia

see above here

[NinjaTrader_Melissa]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.

I am testing this behavior now and will follow up when I have further information.

Thank you for your patience.

Update: I have confirmed that I am able to replicate this behavior and have reported it to our development team. I will update you further when I have more information.

[NinjaTrader_Melissa]

Hello,

Thank you for your patience.

I have consulted with my colleagues and this is expected behavior; that being said, the documentation in the Help Guide did not make that clear, so we have updated it to explain why this occurs:

https://ninjatrader.com/support/help...e_position.htm

When you configure the Auto Close setting in Tools->Options->Trading and select 'All instruments' by default this setting will always apply to every single instrument.

The 'Auto Close Position' option in the Chart Trader is there to apply Auto Close to a specific instrument, rather than to adjust platform-wide settings.

For example, if you had gone to Tools->Options->Trading and enabled Auto Close but only selected 'NQ 12-20' in the instruments list, but you started trading the ES 12-20. Selecting 'Auto Close Position' in the Chart Trader on your ES chart would add this instrument to the list of those which will close automatically. If you then select 'Auto Close position' on your NQ chart, it will remove that instrument from the list of instruments that will have their positions automatically closed.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention so that we were able to clarify the documentation further.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

[patricia70]

Dear Melissa,

thank you very much for processing and clarifying the matter. That is useful.

Have a nice day
Patricia