!QCL Solutions

Question: A customer asked how to track the 321 Crack Spread in TradeStation, like he has seen on a Bloomberg terminal and other platforms.

Answer: The 321 Crack Spread is based on shorting 3 contracts of Crude Oil, being long 2 contracts of Gasoline and being long 1 contract of Heating Oil.  Calculating the 321 Crack Spread involves three data streams. Traditionally for Gasoline one would use the NY Harbor Unleaded (HU) contract which no longer exists. The E-mini Gasoline (QU) contract follows HU well, but has little liquidity. So I have replaced the HU contract with the highly liquid NY Harbor Blendstock (RB) contract in the following formula:

CrackSpread = -3 * (Close Data1) + 2 * (Close Data2 * 42) + 1 * (Close Data3 * 42);

Data1 = @CL
Data2 = @RB (replacement for the defunct @HU contract)
Data3 = @HO

Let me know by email and I’ll provide you with a more detailed EasyLanguage indicator and an example workspace charting the CrackSpread.

I’ll email the zipped folder to you. Send the request below.
Or email request directly to [email protected].
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There is more information about the 321 Crack Spread here:

321 Crack Spread explanation

321 Crack Spread Q&A

Regards,

David O’Dell

Question: A customer asked how a TradeStation EasyLanguage Strategy can be set to send both a profit target and stop orders of an open position, to TradeStation servers.

Answer: They can’t both be placed with TradeStation EasyLanguage Strategies. Here’s my IM to the customer: “Strategies place limit order immediately. But as soon as it has a stop order which is closer, and stops are being sent to the servers, it pulls the limit order and places the stop. Both aren’t in the market at the same time. Strategies do not use OCO-bracket relationships. Strategies manage this on the user’s machine via the ‘strategy engine’.”

What you can do, as covered in the IM, is send Strategy orders directly to the TradeStation Order Execution Network. That way, if your machine goes offline and price was closer to your stop than target at the time, your stop will be in effect. Here is a picture of the Strategy dialog for setting the stop order handling feature. 

Alternatively, you can use RunCommand in EasyLanguage to issue PlaceOrder macro instructions. This way you can send real OCO brackets. There are caveats to this approach, but they are well worth learning if you wish to trade with Bracket orders systematically at TradeStation.

Regards,

David O’Dell

Question: A customer stated that he was using OwnData to import custom daily data from Yahoo to TradeStation. He said that he could not get it to work and asked for help. Is there an easy way?

Answer: Yes. I have used OwnData and it is a fine product, but not a necessary one for the task. I regularly do this myself with various sources of daily data. I’ve found the easiest solution is to create daily data files in csv format (so they can be easily edited in Excel), save them in a predefined folder structure, and create or add to an Attributes.INI file in each respective folder (telling TradeStation how to interpret the data files). The only operation necessary in TradeStation is to assign a symbol prefix that works with each Attributes.INI file.

Instructions below are based on a demonstration folder called “MyData”.

I’ll email the zipped folder to you. Send the request below.
Or email request directly to [email protected].
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It contains an example daily data file for SPY from the Yahoo site. Along with it is the necessary Attributes.INI file. Download and unzip the folder. Place it where you can locate it easily, as in the root directory of your C-drive, i.e. at “C:\”. Then follow these instructions for using the 3rd-party data file for the first time in TradeStation:

Once you have created a prefix, any new data files that are of the same format, can be added to the folder with the correct Attributes.INI file. Simply add a description line for the new data file in the Attributes.INI file, and TradeStation can use it, without having to create another prefix or go through the new-symbol setup process.

Generally when there are problems reading new data, it is related to data being out of sequence. The left columns of the data file for Date and Time must be chronologically ordered from oldest to newest going from top to bottom.

Regards,

David O’Dell