ExitLong() not removing order.

[clabough]

I'm using ExitLong() to sell my position and the sell is actually happening, but the order/position is not actually removed. See at about 36 seconds in on this video that the exit order takes place, but the order on the chart remains.

If I try to restart the strategy with StartBehavior.ImmediatelySubmitSynchronizeAccount, it tries to sell the order that it thinks is there, but my broker throws an error because there are no shares to short - since my actual quantity is 0.

protected override void OnBarUpdate()
{
if (BarsInProgress != 0) return;
if (CurrentBar < BarsRequiredToTrade) return;

if (BuyCondition()
)
{
EnterLong(quantitySelected);
return;
}

if (currentPosition == null || currentPosition.Quantity == 0) return;

if (SellConditionOne())
{
ExitLong();
}

if (ConvertToDecimal(Close[0]) <= ConvertToDecimal(currentPosition.AveragePrice))
{
ExitLong();
}

if (ConvertToDecimal(Close[0]) < ConvertToDecimal(currentPosition.AveragePrice * .995))
{
ExitLong();
}
}

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi clabough, thanks for posting.

This is unfortunately a TDA API issue where position information is not seen and NinjaTrader cannot properly react to the position change. The platform would need to be restarted when this happens while connected to TDA. There are other stock brokers such as Interactive Brokers (publicly available) that are not subject to this position update issue that TDA has with NinjaTrader 8.

Kind regards,
-ChrisL

[clabough]

Can I manually (through code) tell NT8 to remove that position? NT8 is telling TDA to sell and TDA sells and OnPositionUpdate reflects 0 shares, so NT8 should have a way to remove that position. Without this, I'd have to restart the platform every time NT8 issues a sell order.

BTW, the position does go away with the next Buy order, so somehow NT8 figured out that it's an invalid position.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi clabough,

The only way to clear that is to restart the platform. I will report this incident to our development team so they can know it has caused further impact of TDA users.

Kind regards.

[clabough]

So this affects every TDA user? Are there that few that nobody else has complained about this very common scenario? I'd switch to IB, but with their requirement to have IBKR Pro to use the API, it's not cost-effective for me.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi clabough,

I have seen this reported from users running custom strategies on their TDA accounts through NinjaTrader.

Kind regards,
-ChrisL

[clabough]

This seems like a critical bug. Is there any other workaround you can think of? If I have strategies running on other instruments at the same time, restarting would mess those up if they're currently in positions.

I missed a lot of money today because the strategy won't re-enter because it already thinks it is in a position.

Can I submit some kind of fake order to get it to clear and trap the error that's returned from TDA so that the strategy keeps working?

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi clabough,

The issue is with the TDA connection not updating the strategy position. We have implemented the connection per their API documentation so there is no workaround for this one. I have submitted the impact to our development team.

Kind regards.

[clabough]

This is also happening for manual orders. In this video, I buy, then sell, but the order remains on the screen with the PnL still changing after I've sold.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi clabough,

The issue is on TDAs side. We have done all we could to mitigate this issue on our order routing side.

[clabough]

Maybe you should disclose all these limitations before someone spends $1100 on the product. I've written .NET/C# programs against the TDA API and can tell when I've bought/sold and what the current account position is. I bought NT8 because I didn't want to write all my own charting and order tracking. I thought with NT8 I could just write my custom strategies and be good.

My manager is a Microsoft Regional Director and there are many Microsoft MVPs at my company. I have a developer podcast that has thousands of listeners and thought of promoting NT, but won't do that with these kinds of problems. Maybe the decision-makers should be worried about word-of-mouth. It can be the best kind of advertising or the worst.

[clabough]

Can I get around this problem with an unmanaged approach?

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi clabough, I do apologize.

The issue would still persist in the unmanaged mode. It's a problem that has been confirmed by the TD Ameritrade API team as being an issue on their end. Our colleague and support manager has responded on the same reported case here:

https://ninjatrader.com/support/forum/forum/ninjatrader-8/platform-technical-support-aa/1141099-issues-with-stocks-on-td-ameritrade-should-i-switch-to-interactive-brokers#post1141116

[clabough]

If NT can reconcile the account status on startup, then it could reconcile the account status through a function call in code. I could make a video of my own test project handling this just fine through TD Ameritrade's API, but I don't think that would make any difference to you guys. It's not an issue on "their end" that can't be solved on your end.

[clabough]

Just to be clear. The orders to buy and sell did get sent to TDA and were successful. The only thing is that NT didn't remove the order upon selling. If people can't buy and sell through custom strategies and they can't buy and sell by manually pressing the buy and sell buttons without issues, then it seems the whole TDA connector is broken.