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Date/Time: Thu, 28 Mar 2024 16:36:56 +0000



CTS FIX connection issue.......

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[2013-08-22 20:20:10]
User14266 - Posts: 225
I'm having a CTS connection issue, again. I have been using 1010 and 1013 with no issues until about an hour ago. Connection dropped and hasn't been back. It's sheer luck that I was flat, even if it is a combine.


Connecting to CTS Simulation server. | 2013-08-22 15:10:15
CTS FIX - Connecting to data and trade server: fix-sim.t4login.com | 2013-08-22 15:10:15
Error connecting socket. Windows error code 10061: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it. | 2013-08-22 15:10:16
CTS FIX: Socket connection was closed without any logout messages sent or received. | 2013-08-22 15:10:16
Error connecting to Data or Trading service. For help with this issue, press the Send For Analysis button on this window. | 2013-08-22 15:10:16
To prevent further connection attempts, select File >> Disconnect. | 2013-08-22 15:10:16
CTS FIX: Disconnected. | 2013-08-22 15:10:16
Will reconnect to the server in 3.0 minutes Select File >> Disconnect to prevent further connection attempts. | 2013-08-22 15:10:16

[2013-08-22 20:21:07]
User14266 - Posts: 225
I re-installed the current version. No help.
[2013-08-22 21:44:30]
User51517 - Posts: 58
I'm having the same issue with 1010
[2013-08-22 21:46:12]
User14266 - Posts: 225
2+ hours now. I'm just saying.

Is this something that would happen on the live CTS server also? Or just the SIM server?
[2013-08-22 22:26:14]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We have communicated this to CTS now. We are seeing this as well.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2013-08-23 00:08:37]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
To connect to a CTS simulation account at this time apparently you will need to use our prior version 997:
https://www.sierrachart.com/downloads/997SierraChartSetup.exe

The CTS FIX simulation server is still not available.

To use a backup Chartbook, refer to this page here:
http://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=doc/doc_Chartbooks.html#BackupChartbook
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2013-08-23 01:06:25]
User14266 - Posts: 225
I've been using FIX and SIM server for at least 2 weeks. They just pulled it off-line? I have now reverted back to 997, for the second time. Again, I have problems with the back up chartbooks. For one of my chartbooks, the most recent back up I can open is 17 days old....so basically many hours of work lost. One of my other chartbooks doesn't even have a usable backup!

When is this supposed to be resolved? This is really not cool.
[2013-08-23 01:19:53]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
Not sure when it will be resolved.

CTS should not be to blame here. The T4 API that we were using previously from our perspective, was difficult to work with and support. And there were some unusual problems some users were encountering with the old API component and we were very anxious to get off that and start using FIX. However, there are still some outstanding issues with their FIX implementation they are working on.

The live FIX server is available.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-08-23 17:39:36
[2013-08-23 12:35:18]
User14266 - Posts: 225
I wrote a long reply last night, but decided to sleep on it before I posted it. I deleted it and this is the nice version.

I will not be trading any today. I will be spending pretty much the entire day(and some of my weekend) rebuilding my lost chartbooks. One that no longer even exists as a backup chartbook, and one that has lost countless hours of work put into it.

I feel like I've really got the short end of the stick here. Up until now, any CTS FIX issue has been handled promptly. Something has now changed. Now, there is apparently no priority to fix this, no hurry for a fix, not even an eta on the fix. Just a, "not sure when it will be resolved". What does this mean? A couple of hours, days, weeks? That is very non-nonchalant response to someone that just lost hours of work.

Apparently I should have been more clairvoyant and known not to install any newer version than 997, again, even though it was supposedly fixed. Or maybe someone should have warned CTS users not to use any version past 997.

This is wrong. I am paying good money for a product that is becoming more of a hindrance than anything. I use SC because of the amazing quick support and great product. I cannot say that today. I don't get upset easily and this is out of character for me, but again, this is wrong.

Is there some reason that ALL "backup" chartbooks don't work? Shouldn't any "backup", be just that? A usable backup? Aside from FIX, this is an issue that should be addressed.

One thing is for sure, I will never again install a newer version or pre-releases of SC. Done being the guinea pig. I got into this to trade, not to test software.
[2013-08-23 13:41:13]
iStr8Jackit - Posts: 4
"outstanding issues"? well thats just fuggin outstanding. forget being nice, this is total bs. Im losing time because of this incredible inconvenience, and guess what? Time is money. How much time will I need to spend recreating every chartbook from scratch? no idea. But honestly, I should get AT LEAST 1 year of free service. It's simple, before you make an upgrade available, make sure it works across all fronts.
[2013-08-23 13:46:07]
User14266 - Posts: 225
I totally agree Brian. It's hard to say how much money ones time is worth, but I've lost at least 20 hours due to this, a full day of trading, and part of my weekend.
[2013-08-23 14:06:03]
User51517 - Posts: 58
I also had to recreate my chartbook last night and I hated doing it. But let's be fair to SC: CTS FIX server on SIM is something SC has no control over.
[2013-08-23 14:09:00]
User14266 - Posts: 225
If I could have recreated my chartbook in one night, as you did, I may not be upset. I'm glad you were able to fix their problem quickly, but that is not the case for everyone.

They absolutely have control. FIX shouldn't have been implemented. That was SC's choice.
[2013-08-23 14:10:31]
ganz - Posts: 1048

IMO
SC Team is "on the cutting edge" of the technologies.
This is not always easy and funny.
The goal is really worth it.
[2013-08-23 15:06:37]
User14266 - Posts: 225
I am hoping that the lack of response from SC this morning, means that they are doing the right thing and working hard putting together a pre-release that will allow use of current version chartbooks, and eliminate the FIX connection.

I'm being an optimist :)
[2013-08-23 17:20:25]
User14266 - Posts: 225
Okay, so 1013 is connected and working again for the last 1-2 hours. Am I safe to trade? Or is this a fluke and will be disconnected again?
[2013-08-23 17:44:46]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
This is now resolved. CTS apparently had a hardware problem with the server.

We also recommend updating to version 1014 (Help >> Download Prerelease). We have made some additional changes to solve some issues relating to order and position handling.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-08-23 17:45:06
[2013-08-23 18:48:38]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We will be responding to the new comments in this thread.


We did not know why the server went down initially. We did not want to put blame on CTS for this. As we understand it was a hardware issue only.


Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-08-23 18:49:11
[2013-08-23 19:22:21]
User51517 - Posts: 58
SC, may I ask what's the underlying reason for switching from CTS API to CTS FIX? Does it make a difference from traders' perspective?

I'm asking this question because I followed your advice to downgrade back to 997. If it does not make much difference, I won't bother upgrade again and risk having potential new issues.

Thank you
[2013-08-24 01:12:14]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We have read through the additional comments in this thread.


The reason for the CTS FIX simulation server outage was unknown to us. Only this morning did we learn that was due to a hardware problem.

When we released support for FIX, it was our belief that generally everything was working fine and was acceptable for release. We did not knowingly release something which would have significant issues.

As time went by, through our own additional testing and feedback from users we would see some issues . We would promptly work through those issues either on our side or report them over to CTS.

Also, keep in mind, the initial release was a pre-release. Later that became the main release and believed everything was overall fine with the integration.

There has been a lot of work done by the senior engineer (me) related to the downloading of historical data from CTS. This has now been made very reliable.

After a technical review yesterday by the senior engineer, some order handling issues were discovered and we realized CTS really needs to make some changes in their FIX implementation order to provide more reliable trading integration with Sierra Chart. For our perspective, the CTS FIX implementation in some areas is nonstandard and impractical to work with. So we reported this to CTS yesterday and then later the simulation server went down.

We had the impression that maybe they realized there is a lot of work they need to do and they wanted to take the server down for an extended time. We did not know. This was not a correct assumption. We did report the server outage to them. Anyway, we realized that we had to inform our users using the simulation server to use 997. This is all we could do.

They fixed the hardware problem the server was back up this morning.


It should be pointed out, that you always have available to use the T4 front end for trading and if you have a live account, there were no interruptions.

The reason we do not want to place blame on CTS is because we really appreciate them developing the FIX interface and clearly they have put a lot of effort into that. There are several things we have communicated to them about their FIX implementation that we want to see changed though.

We have communicated with them more this morning on some of these order related issues, and we have done some additional technical review . We are going to be releasing 1015 late this evening and from what we can tell, the order handling/Trading integration should generally be stable. It is not perfect, but there are no significant issues which should be observable. We do regard it as safe to trade with. We do see some odd behavior with server-side OCO, however we have disabled that and use Sierra Chart client-side OCO for now.

Why do we use FIX rather than a proprietary API component:

Http://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=doc/helpdetails76.html

In regards to this:
Something has now changed. Now, there is apparently no priority to fix this, no hurry for a fix, not even an eta on the fix. Just a, "not sure when it will be resolved". What does this mean? A couple of hours, days, weeks? That is very non-nonchalant response to someone that just lost hours of work.

We have no control over the CTS FIX server obviously. So this comment is not even relevant to us. Furthermore, you did not lose hours of work. Your current Chartbook still exists with all of your latest work, and when the server problem is resolved which it was by CTS you can just go back to the newest version of Sierra Chart and use your current Chartbook. While the situation was unfortunate, a few hours or even a half day interruption with a simulation server should not cause a significant hardship. Although none of us knew how long the interruption would be. Reasonably it should not have been very long (under a day). As we have said here, you still have access to the T4 front end for order entry.

Is there some reason that ALL "backup" chartbooks don't work? Shouldn't any "backup", be just that? A usable backup?

All backup Chartbooks should work. If not we could test one for you. But we see no reason why there would be a problem. This does not mean that a particular backup will have all of your latest changes. However, they will open.

FIX shouldn't have been implemented. That was SC's choice.
We do not agree with this at all. The only reasonable choice was for us to use a direct socket integration method to CTS. API components are not acceptable to us. Our position is made very very clear in help topic 76. These have been the source of major technical problems for us which we have no control over.

There is nothing more important then each side, the client and the server (trading service) to interface to each others systems by using a common protocol like FIX or GSP. This is absolutely essential and creates the very best working relationship. We are way ahead of everyone else by making this a priority and working towards this goal. Superior engineering is our highest objective.



In regards to all of this Chartbook rebuilding. We will see what we can do to maintain a more recent backup. However, probably some of you may have been too quick on this. Being that the server came back up this morning.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-08-24 09:13:28
[2013-08-24 02:02:49]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We are releasing 1015 now.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2013-08-24 06:49:36]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
Refer to this thread about an announcement regarding Chartbooks:
Using Chartbooks from Newer Versions in Prior Versions of Sierra Chart

The planned changes will avoid the need to have to go back to a backup saved Chartbook or have to rebuild your Chartbook.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2013-08-24 07:03:58]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
One other thing we want to add. In this particular case, what would have been a good idea and something we should have mentioned is to simply install another copy of Sierra Chart on your system to use with the newer versions of Sierra Chart that use the CTS FIX connection. Here are the instructions:
http://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=doc/MultipleServices.html

So you can have 2 copies of Sierra Chart on your system. One that uses the older connection and one that uses a more up-to-date connection. If there is some unexpected trouble with the newer connection, you can always go back to your other installation of Sierra Chart. No problem. This is one way that Sierra Chart is very flexible and a good stable choice.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-08-24 07:04:44

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