chart loading stalls

[wjadevries]

I had this issue earlier and got your advice to empty the db\cache folder.
That folder contained over 750.000 items at the time, and after deleting it the charts loaded fine again.

Now I have the same issue, and my db\cache folder now contains over 1.5M (million) items!
These are all files named something like Last_Close_Tick_BidAsk.
I'm deleting those now (which takes a lot of time), but how do I prevent this from happening again in the future?

It's totally ridiculous (and not a nice thing for Windows performance) that the subfolders in this db\cache folder contain such a huge amount of files.
And it's very annoying (and possibly costs me money) when I'm in the middle of a trade!
Can I limit this by disabling some option or something?

Please advice.

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

The root purpose of cache files is to allow for quicker chart loading times. The cache files are created as a direct result of how you're using NinjaTrader. For example, if you have many charts, I would expect many cache files. In your case, it sounds like there may be some other issue contributing to the symptom you're reporting that is manifesting itself in the cache files.

You refer to being advised to clear your cache as a solution to this symptom. Was that on the forums? If so, could you link to that thread? If not , was it via email? Do you recall the ticket number or name of the technician you spoke with? Having this information for reference will increase the accuracy of our troubleshooting as well as reduce any duplicate information being requested.

[wjadevries]

I requested assistance from within Ninjatrader help menu, but I don't know the ticket number.
Its also not in my list of posts on the form.
Can I see my help requests somewhere in Ninjatrader?

I have 10 charts open at all times, for four different instruments (ES, NQ, CL and 6E).
5 charts are Renko charts, 4 are M5 charts and one is a 500 tick chart.
I think I cleared the cache one or two weeks ago, so the 1.5 million files are generated in one or two weeks.

[wjadevries]

Found the support email, it was last Wednesday (so 6 days ago, meaning 1.5M new cache files in 6 days!).

Here's the response email:

Re: Support Request: Charts don't load anymore (2235-C608-D37F-46B5-B716-6690-9D11-73EB/8.0.22.2/Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.18363.0) {2808013}

Hello,

Thank you for writing in.

As a test, I would recommend deleting your current cache files from the NinjaTrader folder. First, you'll want to make sure that you have completely closed and exited the NinjaTrader program. To delete the cache, you'll navigate to Documents folder, NinjaTrader folder, db folder and then delete the "cache", "day", "minute" and "tick" folders respectively. When you have accomplished this, you'll then relaunch NinjaTrader as you normally would.

Please let us know if you continue to see the same.

Sincerely,
Chris S
NinjaTrader Platform Customer Service

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

I believe I was able to find the ticket in our system by searching using the email address you registered your forum username with. You worked with my colleague Chris in ticket #2808013. I am going to re-open that ticket and continue the conversation via email, however, I wanted to clarify one thing I noticed from that ticket:

You're not specifically referring to the cache folder when you quote the amount of files. You're referring to the entire db folder and all of its sub-folders. The total amount of files in the db folder and sub-folders will be very large if you've ever opened any chart and will continue to grow in file number as time goes on. This not only contains cached information in order to improve chart loading times but also contains all historical data. For example, if you request a 1-minute chart for 30 days for a single instrument, I would expect this to be 43,200 files by itself (30 x 1440). The sheer number of files in this folder is rarely the root cause of any issue.

Look out for my email to wes*****@wja*****es.nl from PlatformSupport[AT]NinjaTrader[DOT]com shortly.

[wjadevries]

I deleted the db\cache folder contents, NOT the db folder itself.

[wjadevries]

FYI:

After deleting the db\cache folder content and starting Ninjatrader again charts are loading fast.
I disabled the setting 'Enable market recording for playback' in the Options, hope that this helps?
The option 'Record live data as historical' was already disabled.

The db\cache folder now contains only 44 files and 17 folders:



My charts and settings are always the same, as follows:

Overview charts:

NQ 12-20 Renko chart, brick size 25, days to load 3.
NQ 12-20 5 Minute chart, days to load 5.

ES 12-20 Renko chart, brick size 4, days to load 3.
ES 12-20 5 Minute chart, days to load 5.

CL 12-20 Renko chart, brick size 4, days to load 3.
CL 12-20 5 Minute chart, days to load 5.

6E 12-20 Renko chart, brick size 5, days to load 3.
6E 12-20 5 Minute chart, days to load 5.

The main trading chart (I'll switch this to one of ES, NQ, CL or 6E), :

12-20 Renko chart, brick size as instruments above, days to load 4.
12-20 500 tick chart, days to load 2.


I'll keep an eye on the cache folder content the coming days/weeks.

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

My colleague followed up via email to keep the conversation continuous which you were having previously. I've included your responses here in that conversation for everyone's reference. Please check your email and continue the conversation there.