To get the best performance from your OF-G product, your TradeStation platform must be optimized for peak efficiency. This post will go issues you should address immediately upon installing the platform. Except as noted, the same issues apply equally to TradeStation versions 9.5 and 10.
windows 10 One drive & Tradestation 10
TradeStation 10 saves large amounts of data in the Windows Documents folder. This is in accordance with generally accepted modern Windows programming standards. Unfortunately, Microsoft made a decision with regard to its OneDrive cloud storage service which makes this very problematic. If you enable OneDrive on a new Windows 10 computer, its default setting is to back up everything in the Documents folder to OneDrive.
Microsoft’s new OneDrive policy can creates a performance nightmare for TradeStation 10 users. All personal TradeStation data (workspaces, trade data, and even the data cache) will be sent to OneDrive servers real time.
Needless to say, you don’t want your computer to be sending out tick data updates to OneDrive as fast as you are receiving them! And, believe it or not, it gets worse! If you have more than one PC with TradeStation 10, OneDrive will jumble the files from the two TradeStation installs. And in some cases, it will rename files to avoid duplication.
There is a fix for this, but it is more complicated than simply turning off the backup of Documents.
If your OneDrive Documents backup is on and you simply turn it off, everything in the Documents folder will be removed from your PC – including your TradeStation data. After this, the platform will not function properly.
You must disable the OneDrive Documents folder backup if you use TradeStation 10. Here are the steps to safely do it:
- Back up your TradeStation 10, and save the backup file in a safe place. (The default TradeStation Archives folder is not a safe place, as it is within Documents.)
- Uninstall TradeStation 10
- Remember that everything in the Documents folder will go away. So i you have any other programs which save data to Documents, save their folders to a safe place. (You may wish to save a copy of the entire Documents folder.)
- Go to your Windows 10 OneDrive settings and disable the backup for the Documents folder. The settings are tricky; test it to make sure it is turned off.
- Wait for OneDrive to finish processing the changes. It will remove all the data from your local Documents folder. (The data will still be on the OneDrive server; you probably want to remove it here so as to not waste your OneDrive space.)
- Once OneDrive is finished working, reinstall TradeStation 10 and restore from your backup file.
Antivirus exclusions
TradeStation processes millions of transactions every minute. If your computer antivirus software is scanning each one as it arrives, it will not be able to keep up with fast markets. And various other parts of the platform will not work properly.
You must exclude the TradeStation folders and/or processes from antivirus scanning.
The way this is done differs depending on which antivirus product you use. With most antivirus software, you only need to exclude certain TradeStation folders. However some software requires you to exclude individual program files. The following are the folders which, together with their subfolders, should be excluded for Versions 9.5 and 10:
Version 9.5 Folders
- C:\Program Files (x86)\TradeStation 9.5
- C:\Program files (x86)\Common Files\TradeStation Technologies
- C:\Users\User ID\AppData\Roaming\TradeStation Technologies
Version 10 Folders
- C:\Program Files (x86)\TradeStation 10.0
- C:\Program files (x86)\Common Files\TradeStation Technologies
- C:\ProgramData\TradeStation Technologies (If the ProgramData folder is hidden on your computer, see this link.)
- C:\Users\User ID\Documents\TradeStation 10.0
- C:\Users\User ID\Documents\TradeStation Archives
- C:\Users\User ID\AppData\Local\TradeStation Technologies
If your antivirus software requires excluding every program file, please contact TradeStation support for assistance.
Another option is to use the one antivirus package which does not require any exclusions, Webroot. It has excellent reviews, and also has the advantage of using far less computer resources than others.
platform settings
Note: Except as noted, these apply to both Versions 9.5 and 10.
Desktop Preferences\General
- Uncheck Automatically resize windows when the size of TradeStation Desktop is modified. Of-G products have their own scaling mechanisms built in, and this functionality interferes with it.
Desktop Preferences\Workspaces
- On Startup – Choose Do not open any workspaces. Opening too many workspaces at a time can cause problems, especially with advanced analysis techniques.
Chart Analysis Preferences\Display
- Bar Spacing settings: All three of these should be unchecked.
- Candlestick: Uncheck When a study paints a candlestick bar, paint the body and wick.
Chart Analysis Preferences\Symbol
- Uncheck the two show empty periods boxes at the top of the form. These cause problems with accurately displaying drawing objects.
- The data range settings control how much data is displayed when you switch your chart interval. For example, switching from five minutes to 60 minutes, or from 60 minutes to daily. OF-G analysis techniques require more data history than simple indicators, and the default settings for many intervals are too short. Changing these defaults will save you time by having the platform load enough data the first time. As a starting point, try five days for all the minute, second, tick and volume intervals. Also, set the Default range setting to use… to Bars.
Customize Symbol\Scaling
- Uncheck Expand Range to Include Studies.
- Check Save as Default and click OK.
This setting causes price data to be compressed on the screen in a way that is incompatible with OF-G products.
These few changes will make getting started with your OF-G product go much smoother.
Another thing you can do which will greatly improve your TradeStation experience is to set your mouse to increase/decrease bar spacing. This makes TradeStation charts much easier to use. For instructions on this, see this post.