Sterling Trader Pro. User Guide v. 6.0

Transcription

1 1 Sterling Trader Pro User Guide v. 6.0

2 Greetings, From Sterling Trader, Inc! Welcome to Sterling Trader Pro, an industry leading, state-of-the-art, global order routing and order management platform. Sterling Trader Pro has delivered direct access, real-time trading and market data to professional traders since 2001, with unmatched standards for speed and reliability. This fully customizable platform will provide you with the tools you need to successfully manage your trading strategies and portfolios, while allowing you adjust to ever-changing market conditions as they happen. We are excited that you have chosen our platform to fulfill your trading needs. We hope you will use this guide as an additional tool to help you construct your trading experience on Sterling Trader Pro to your own personal style. We believe you will find the possibilities with Sterling Trader Pro virtually limitless! 1 Thank you, Sterling Trader, Inc. Chicago, Illinois August Okay, technically, everything has a limit, but not our boundless admiration for you, the trader. 2

3 Sterling Trader Pro TABLE OF CONTENTS Log-on to Sterling Trader pro... 5 CHAPTER 1 STERLING TRADER PRO MAIN M ENU... 6 Main Menu... 6 Actions... 6 View... 7 Windows... 7 CHAPTER 2 GLOBAL ORDER ENTRY SETTINGS... 8 General Folder... 9 General... 9 Quotes... 9 Notifications Global order Entry Folder Equit ies Listing Exchanges Destinations Level I OE Level II OE Futures OE Options OE Basket Quick OE Keyboard Liquidity Messages Miscellaneous CHAPTER 3 HOT KEYS Preset Hot Keys Custom Hot keys CHAPTER 4 MARKET DATA Stock Watch Level II OE Time and Sales Top Ten Fundamental Data News Alerts Exchange Alerts Spreads Options Chain CHAPTER 5 CHART

4 Creating a New Chart Toolbar Trend Lines Studies Spreads Symbol Overlay Settings CHAPTER 6 ORDER ENTRY Level I Order Entry Stop Orders Order Attributes Window Local Order Entry Settings Level II Order Entry Local Order Entry Settings Single Clicking Hot Button Bar Basket Basket Add On Options Order Entry Futures Order Entry Order Entry From Stock Watch and Position Summary CHAPTER 7 TRADING MONITORS CHAPTER 8 LOCATE MONITOR CHAPTER 9 POSITION SUMMA RY Columns Viewing Positions CHAPTER 10 LINKING WINDOWS CHAPTER 11 ALLOCATION TOOL CHAPTER 12 EVERYTHING ELSE Activity Log Notification Log Messenger Clock The End EXHIBIT A Smart SWIPE EXHIBIT B Best Hot Key EXHIBIT C Creating a Text File to Import to Basket EXHIBIT D Multi-Currency Index

5 STERLING TRADER PRO Logging on To log on to Sterling Trader Pro, click on the desktop shortcut to bring up the log in screen. Simply type in your Trader name and password, click on the login button and you are in! Please note, the Trader name can be set to populate automatically. Contact Support for details. Passwords are case sensitive. Check your Caps Lock key before logging in. EXITING THE PLATFORM From the Main Menu (see Chapter 1) left-click the Actions menu and select Exit. Or, click the X button on the top right in the Main Menu. 5

6 CHAPTER 1 STERLING TRADER PRO MAIN MENU INTRODUCTION All windows in Sterling Trader Pro are floating windows. The Main Menu is no exception. From this window you open new instances of all the other windows in the platform. Do this from the Windows menu or by left-clicking the appropriate icon on the task bar. For example, the green pig icon opens the Position Summary window. 2 You also manage layouts and system settings from this window. The following is a rundown of the Menu options available in the Main Menu. ACTIONS MENU MANAGING LAYOUTS Left-click on the Actions menu and you will find the following options to manage layouts: Load Layout Click Load Layout to select from your list of saved layouts Save Layout To save updates to your current layout Save Layout As To save your current layout under a new name or to save a new layout There is also a setting to automatically load a layout upon login that is discussed in chapter 2. Restore All windows in your layout from their minimized position Minimize All open windows Clo se All windows CREATE BACKUP of Sterling Trader Pro. From the above menu you can create a backup of all your Sterling Trader Pro files. 1- In the Actions menu click on Create Backup 2- A menu will pop up requesting you select a folder to save the backup to. 3- Select the folder and click OK. A backup of all your Sterling Trader Pro files will be added to that folder. 2 Would Orwell find that funny? 6

7 SWITCH TO FOCUS WINDOW In Sterling Trader Pro, a window, such as Level II Order Entry, can be designated the Focus window. In certain windows, such as Stock Watch, a trader can set the action of double-clicking to automatically switch to the focus window. See Chapter 4 Stock watch. VIEW MENU MANAGING SETTINGS Left-clicking on the View menu will give you the option to adjust your Global Order Entry settings for the various order entry windows (see Chapter 2). From the View menu you can also check your server information and create your own equity and option spreads to view in a Stock Watch window (Chapter 4). Global order entry settings Server Info is generally used if you experience data problems and need to call tech support. WINDOWS MENU OPENING NEW DATA WINDOWS Left-clicking on the Window s menu brings up all your options for data and trading windows within Sterling Trader Pro. Clicking on any link will open that window. The windows are all discussed in detail in later chapters. 7

8 CHAPTER 2 GLOBAL ORDER ENTRY SETTINGS INTRODUCTION Global Order Entry settings control the default settings for your order entry windows (Level I Order Entry, Level II Order Entry, etc.). You will also configure hot keys and trade notification settings from this window. There are a lot of options to choose from, so this will be a large chapter. 3 You should familiarize yourself with these settings because they control many aspects of the platform and you will come back to them often. To access the Global settings, in the Main Menu click on View and Settings. This screen will pop up. In the left panel, you will see two folders, General and Global Order Entry, and the list of categories under each folder that you can affect settings for. We ll go through them in order, except for Hot Keys, which will have its own chapter. The right panel shows the settings you can adjust for each category. Some Global Order Entry settings affect specific order windows that also have local order entry settings (Level I OE, Level II OE, Options OE, etc.). The local order entry settings will be discussed in chapter 6 for each order entry window. 3 And we spent a long time writing it. Don t disrespect us by not reading it. 8

9 GENERAL FOLDER Under the General folder in the Global Settings, you will see the global settings General, Quotes, and Notifications. GENERAL These are the main settings to choose from in the General category: Load layout to load upon logging in. Lets you choose which of your saved layouts to load up first after logging in. Load the settings in place at your last shutdown. If your system goes down unexpectedly, this setting will reload the layout as it was when you lost connection. It does not save the layout, but reloads the previous settings. Save layout on exit Check Save settings to current layout file to automatically save the layout upon exiting. Display a confirmation box when exiting the platform. You can confirm open orders, open positions, both, or simply request a confirmation every time you exit. Unrealized Profit/Loss Calculate Unrealized P/L for stocks and options. For Stocks (Non-options), calculate unrealized P/L using Last Price or current Bid/Ask Price. If you select Last Price, you can opt to use the previous day s closing price. For Options, select the current Bid/Ask or the Mid-point of the current Bid/Ask Options Daily P/L price For overnight options positions, select which price to use for calculating intraday P/L. Click/drag behavior This setting affects only the Stock Watch and Position Summary windows. When leftclicking and dragging, select to either drag the selected symbol or to highlight the selected row. Set decimal places to see for average price fields. Click and drag behavior Confirm open orders and/or positions on exit Unrealized P/L Set decimal places for average prices 9

10 QUOTES This category controls basic quote settings such as the following: Displaying quote size in hundreds, negative prices in parentheses, and other visual choices. Setting your pricing model for Greeks on options (choices are between Black Scholes and Binomial). Setting how many decimal places you will see in your quote windows. Quote view choices Greeks pricing Nothing NOTIFICATIONS From this screen you will set up which order entry notifications you want to see, if any. For example, you can elect to display a message when an order is executed or an order is rejected, or you can play a sound. These are general notifications. More detailed notifications are available in the Messages screen in the Global Order Entry settings. Select customized sound files for notifications DESK applies to staged orders only 10

11 GLOBAL ORDER ENTRY FOLDER The Global Order Entry folder has fourteen categories (including Hot Keys). Level I OE, Level II OE, Futures OE, Options OE, and Basket settings affect only those order entry windows. The remaining categories affect all the order entry windows EQUITIES Set your defaults to pre-fill order entry screens with a specified quantity, or set to pre-fill your current position quantity. You can also set your default pric e (Bid, Ask, MKT, etc.). To default the order entry screens to 100 shares for new positions, fill in 100 in the Qty to open position. Or fill in whatever size you would like To default quantity to your current position: 1. Enter 100% in Qty if closing position AND 2. In the When pre-filling use box, select Qty if closing pos To set your price defaults for regular and pre-market: 1- Check the Price box. 2- For If buying and If selling, select from the pull down box. Choices include Bid, Ask, Mkt, and Last. 3- If desired, select STP in the second pull-down box to pre-fill orders as stop orders. 4- Repeat for Pre-market settings. PREFILL QUANTITY BASED ON S YMBOL Checking this box will prefill the quantity field with the quantity used in the last order. For example, a trader holds 1700 IBM long. Their last order in IBM was to buy 200. If they bring up IBM in an order entry window, the quantity will prefill 200. MULTI DESTINATION In Sterling Trader Pro, you can configure the destination MULTI to send an order simultaneously to multiple exchanges. MULTI is configured in the Equities Global Order Entry settings screen. To configure MULTI: 1- Click on the Configure button. The [Multi] Configuration window will pop up. 2- Click on Destination to get a pull down list of available destinations 3- Select the destination of your choice by clicking on it. 4- Click on the Add button and the destination will fill in. Do this for each destination you want added. 11

12 5- Click OK and your [Multi] route is now configured (please see illustrations below). LISTING EXCHANGES This window can be confusing. It gives you the option of specifying a default exchange by security type equities, options, or futures. When you bring the window up, you will see some of the available boxes are gray. The gray boxes can t be updated, but Dest (destination) and CoverDe st can be. To set a default destination for security type Equity: 1. Double click in the Dest box. You will get a pull-down menu of available routes 2. Select your route 3. Repeat for Futures and Options if necessary (Forex is not tradable on Sterling Trader Pro) 4. You can follow the same process for CoverDe st. CoverDest is a default for closing existing positions from the Position Summary window (see page 63) 12

13 You can set further defaults for equities by dividing by listing exchange (NYSE, NASDAQ, or OTC-BB). That means you can default a different destination for NYSE, a different destination for NASDAQ, etc. 1- Click the Add button. A new line for Equity will appear. 2- In the ListExch column, double click to get a cursor and type in the letter N (NYSE), or Q (NASDAQ), or T (OTC- BB). 3- Following the model above, double-click in the Dest column to select an exchange. If you set a Local Order Entry setting in an order entry window (such as Level II Order Entry) to default that window to a specific exchange, it will override the Global setting in the Listing Exchanges above. DESTINATIONS At first glance, this can be a confusing screen. Keep in mind that these screens are all about setting order entry defaults and pre-filling the order entry windows. 4 Destinations lets you pre-fill the order entry windows based on which route you select. You also set pegging defaults from this screen. Set defaults to pre-fill based on route selection in an order entry window In the example above, the Destination ARCA is defaulted to Account JETEST1, Tif (Time-In-Force) DAY, and Display Quantity of 100 (if it s a reserve order). So, if I select ARCA in an order entry window, the order entry fields will update to these defaults. The MinQty column should be left as Any, since it is no longer a supported function by the exchanges. You can go down the list of exchanges and set these for each one. If you do not want route selection to pre-fill other defaults, there is no need to fill these defaults out. ALLDisc and KeepOnBook columns these are the last columns in the Destinations window and they have special functions should you check the boxes. ALLDisc Checking this will cause all orders to be sent with the Discretion field set to the value in the PriceDisc column. KeepOnBook Adds an order instruction to the order that is defined as Participate, Don t Initiate. Keeps the order on the book of the selected destination. 4 At least, that s what the voices tell us... 13

14 To set Peg defaults: If you use the scroll bar at the bottom of the window, you can scroll to the pegging columns. PegType choices are: Primary Pegs same side of NBBO Market Pegs the opposite side of the NBBO Mid-market Pegs the midpoint of the NBBO Best Pegs same side of NBBO You can set Peg Difference, Peg Limit, as well as Price Discretion. Simply double click each field you want to update for that destination, or use the pull-down arrow if one is present. LEVEL I OE Level I Order Entry in the Global Order Entry settings provides some additional options to the defaults selected in the Equities category of the Global Order Entry settings screen. These settings dictate what will happen when you manually update fields in the Level I OE window or after you send orders. Here are your options: You can initialize or clear some or all fields in the order entry screen, or leave fields unchanged Tab Order button you can select in what order your cursor will tab through the order entry fields when using the Tab key on your keyboard 14

15 If you check the Open a Time And Sales window box shown on previous page, a Time and Sales window and a Chart will open automatically any time you open a new Level I OE window. You can also select to auto-link those windows. LEVEL II OE This category affects only the Level II OE window. This screen has the same defaults as Level I OE above, but also introduces additional settings for the level II data screen. Same as Level I OE You can initialize or clear some or all fields in the order entry screen, or leave fields unchanged when manually updating fields Disable selections for left clicking Options for viewing data Level II OE windows are automatically set up to populate the order entry screen with whichever price and destination you left-click on in the Level II bid/ask data panel. To disable the left-clicking features, simply check the appropriate boxes shown above To disable left-click update of the destination, UN-CHECK Enable single-click routing. To set up default destinations for specific MMIDs: 1- In the Level II OE settings screen above, check Enable Single-click routing and select Custom routing. 2- Click the button to pop up the Custom Routing screen (see following page). 3- Click the Add button to pop up the Add Route screen. 4- Type in an MMID and select a destination to route to. 5- Click OK. You will see the MMID and associated route in the Customer Routing screen. 6- Repeat for each desired MMID. Or, you can click Pre-fill ECNs, which will populate all the destinations as MMID with routing to that same destination. From there you can edit them individually. The boxes to check or un-check for how you see data, such as Left align volume field and Display sizes in hundreds, are mostly self-explanatory. The exception is the Use Level II BBO for Bid and Ask when using default prices. If you set default prices in the Equities settings category to Bid or Ask, you can further decide which Bid and Ask to use. For example, if you check Use Level II BBO and you check the two boxes just below it, the default Bid or Ask price that populates will be the BBO of the default destination. If BATS is your default destination, the Bid or Ask will populate with BATS BBO, even if it s worse than the current inside market. 15

16 Custom Routing. In this example we set up clicking on CHX to populate the route BATS FUTURES OE This settings category has only two defaults available: 5 You can default a quantity You can choose to refill that default after sending an order. OPTIONS OE This screen has a number of order entry and viewing defaults, including a MULTI route for options (see page to set up MULTI). From this screen you can set you default quantity, configure MULTI, set your left-click behavior (prefill Price, Destination, and Quantity if clicked on), highlight open orders, and select visual options such as sorting by exchange or highlighting row border when you click on a row. Like Level I and Level II OE, you can also choose to automatically open Time and Sales and a Chart when you open a new Options OE window. 5 And they are relatively pointless. 16

17 BASKET This screen allows you to set defaults to help expedite setting up your basket orders. Please note there is an additional Basket setting in the Messages setting screen shown on page 19. All stock in your basket will default to these pre-filled fields unless overwritten in the Basket window. QUICK OE In this screen you will see preset keystrokes to assist in quickly filling in your order entry screen. These are automatically in effect as-is if you have Quick OE enabled Auto-enable Quick OE here, or in the KEYBOARD category (discussed next) 17

18 There are a handful of configurable settings on this page, but most are fixed. You can opt to use CTRL, SHIFT, and/or ALT + a number on your keypad to fill in your quantity. For example, if you check the ALT + [number] box, pressing ALT + 5 will set 500 shares as the desired quantity on the order entry screen. With SHIFT + 5 you would see 5000 shares. CTRL + 5 would pre-fill 5 shares exactly. You can create quick keystrokes to select a destination. 1- In the Destination section, click the Add button. 2- The Add Destination Key screen will pop up. 3- Select a Key and a corresponding destination and click OK. Select a Key and Destination. 4- The key and destination are now listed in the Destination section. Order entry screens already default destinations selection by the first letter in the destination name. Use these destination keys only if you want to change which letter corresponds to which destination. KEYBOA RD This screen allows you to set your increments when using the arrows right of the quantity or price selection box in the order entry screens, and also when using the arrows on your keyboard. You also enable Quick OE from here. Enable Quick OE Send order using Enter key. In the Other section of the Keyboard screen there are options to enable transmitting an order by hitting the enter key and/or the enter key on the number pad. Be alert when using these. 18

19 LIQUIDITY The Liquidity screen allows you to reject orders that would remove liquidity. This is only available on a handful of destinations. You can choose to automatically cancel orders, or display a message that gives you the opportunity to send the order anyway if you choose. Please see below: These destinations will allow an order reject for removing liquidity Allow Sterling Trader Pro to reject orders that remove liquidity from the ARCA book Check here to be given the option to send an order that removes liquidity MESSAGES Messages offers options for order notifications in addition to those offered in the Notifications screen. These Ba sket confirmations available in the Messages screen. Selecting these will cause the Basket window to generate a confirmation message before sending a basket if the Multiplier or Delta are greater than the selected number The last item, displaying a message when Sending a Sell Long order would result in multiple open Sell Long orders, can be an effective tool to guard against accidentally taking on short positions. 19

20 You can also elect to receive a warning message if your order is a certain amount above or below the Bid/Ask or the last price by dollar amount or percentage. You can do this for equities (non-options) and options. Price differential warnings for Equities NYSE rule violation warnings Price differential warnings for Options MISCELLANEOUS This category lives up to its name. 6 In this screen you can set up automatic Trailing Stops, Smart SWIPE destinations, and have fun with various other unrelated items (see next page for screenshot). AUTOMATIC TRAILING STOPS from the Miscellaneous screen Available for equities only. Trailing Stops are a serverside function. Sterling Trader, Inc. takes no financial responsibility for a malfunction of the system. Use at your own risk. To set up a Trailing Stop that will automatically be sent after an order to open a stock position is executed: 1- Select the Trailing Amount you want 2- Select the Trailing Increment. 3- Check the Attach auto T-STP order to very order A trailing stop will now be sent out with the preset specifications for every opening order. The Trailing Increment is how far the stock has to move before your trail amount will adjust itself. For example, if XYZ stock is trading at and you enter a trailing stop with a trail amount of 1.00 and a trailing increment of 0.25, the stop out price would be to begin (1.00 below 35.00). If the stock goes up to 35.20, the stop out price is still If the stock goes to 35.25, the stop out price now becomes If you don t want to include a stop order on every order, or, if you want to adjust the specifications for an individual order, you can press ALT+R in an order entry window (Level I or Level II) to bring up the Order Attributes window (see page 51). Check or uncheck the Auto T-STP Order and adjust your trail amount and increment. 6 Miscellaneous in the ancient Alanic language means Where the heck does this go? Though scholars are quick to point out it could also mean Who programmed this? 20

21 This Display account setting affects the Level II OE window only Trailing Stop settings Smart Swipe destinations Linking when two windows of the same type (such as two Level II windows) are in the same link group, changing the symbol in one will NOT change it in the other. This can be beneficial if both windows are also linked to the same Chart or Stock Watch. SMART SWIPE destinations Smart SWIPE allows you to spray markets that you select for the best price. See page 58 for using SWIPE from Level II. See Exhibit A at the end of this guide for additional details on SWIPE functionality. To set up Smart SWIPE: 1- In the Smart SWIPE section, click on the Destination Lists button. The Destination lists will pop up. 2- In the Destinations list click the Add button to create a SWIPE list. 21

22 Name Swipe list Select Destinations 3- Name your SWIPE list. 4- To add a destination, click the Destination button and select one. 5- Click the Add button. Do this for each destination you want in the SWIPE list. 6- Click OK. 7- Back in the Destination list, right click under the Def column, to the left of the SWIPE list name and set it as the default. This will now be the destination list used when you use the SWIPE order feature. 22

23 CHAPTER 3 HOT KEYS INTRODUCTION Sterling Trader Pro includes the ability to send orders via customized hot keys. There are also a number of preset hot keys available for order entry actions as well as some non-order entry actions. To access the hot keys screen go to the Global Order Entry settings (Main Menu View Settings) and select Hot Keys. PRESET HOT KEYS These are hot keys already in the system. They are shown in blue. You can edit them to change the keystroke used to activate the hot key, but you can t change any other preset parameters. In the screenshot, there is a scroll bar on the right, meaning that there are many more preset hot keys. Double click a hot key to get a more detailed description. In general, these are the types of preset hot keys: Cancelling Orders (Cxl All, Cxl All Buy, etc.) Covering Orders (Cvr All, Cvr All short, etc.) Miscellaneous, such as Minimize All windows, Restore All, and Toggle filter. To change or add a key for a preset hotkey: 1- Double left click on the action you want to update (or highlight it and click the Edit... button). The Edit Special Hot Key box will pop up (see following page). 2- To set the new hot key, press the desired combination on your keyboard and the window will fill in the new hot key for you. 3- You can, instead, press delete if you want to disable that hot key action. 4- Once done, press OK. 23

24 Keystroke selected will show here CUSTOM HOT KEYS To create a custom hot key from Hot Keys Global Order Entry screen: 1- Click on the Add button located at the top right of the screen. The Add Hot Key window pops up. 2- Click on each desired field to select the data you want in the hot key. For Quantity, you can type in a specific amount. For example, to buy 500 MKT on ARCA, with DAY as the Time-In-Force: 3- Click in the Hot Key field and press the desired combination on your keyboard. 4- Name your hot key (this is important when using the Hot Button Bar, see page 54). 5- Click the Add button. Your new hot key will now show up on the Hot Key list. In the above example, we filled in Side, Quantity, Price, Account, Destination, and Time in force. The Account field reads Current. If you have multiple accounts, selecting Current means the hot key will affect the account currently listed in the order entry screen. 24

25 Below, the new hot key is highlighted in Blue. Make sure you check the Enable box at the top of the window to enable the hot keys. Please note: The Mode setting in the screenshot below. There is Load and Load and Go. Load pre-fills the order entry screen. Load and Go sends orders. So, if you want hot keys to send orders, select Load and Go. Check Enable to use Hot Keys New Hot Key Buy MKT Print your hot key list 25

26 CHAPTER 4 MARKET DATA INTRODUCTION Real-time market data can be accessed from most of the windows in Sterling Trader Pro in one form or another. In this chapter we ll take you through Stock Watch, Level II, Time and Sales, Top 10, Fundamental Data, News, Alerts, and Exchange Alerts. We ll also show you how to create spreads to compare the price difference between two stock or option symbols. STOCK WATCH Stock Watch is the list of stocks you are actively watching. Stock Watch provides level I quotes for stocks, options, and futures, with 50 possible columns of data available. To open a Stock Watch window, go to the main menu. In the Windows menu select Stock Watch. You will get a blank Stock Watch window with default columns. CREATING A WATCH LIST To begin creating your list: 1. Click on the Actions menu and select New List from the pull down. 2. The first line of the Stock Watch will now be available. Type in your symbol and hit the Enter key. 3. The next line will be available. Type in your next symbol and hit Enter. 4. Repeat for all the desired symbols. 5. If you choose to add additional symbols later on, you can do so by right clicking in the next available space. From the pop-up menu select Edit Symbol. You will be able to type in the new symbol. 26

27 INSTERTING LABELS AND BLANK ROWS You can organize your watch list by adding labels or blank spaces to separate groups of symbols. To add labels or blank spaces: 1. Right click on the symbol you want to place your label or blank space ABOVE. 2. In the pop-up menu select Insert Label (or Blank Row). 3. If you selected Blank Row, a blank row will be added above the symbol. 4. If you selected Label, a new row will appear above the symbol, with a cursor for typing the label name. 5. Type in the desired label name and hit enter. The label will be in yellow text. 27

28 You can sort columns by left clicking on the column header. Any labels and blank rows will be sorted as well, which can undo the organization of your list. If you have saved your list, you can easily recall it. To save your Stock Watch list: 1- Click on the Actions menu. 2- Click on Save List. 3- If it s a brand new list, name the list and save it. To load a saved list: 1. Click on the Actions menu. 2. Click on Load List. 3. Select the list you want from the save items and click Open. To delete a row, simply highlight the desired row and hit the Delete key on your keyboard. MANAGING THE DATA COLUMNS You will find the available columns in the View menu under Settings. To add or remove a column, simply check or uncheck the box next to the column name. If you are unsure what data a column provides, please contact Sterling Trader support or visit the support page of our website, Add and remove columns Preset colors Customize colors for your Stock Watch window Update all open Stock Watches with your new settings Once your columns are selected, you can set their order on the screen from the Stock Watch window. To change the order of your columns: 1- Left click and hold the column heading. 2- Drag the column heading to the desired spot in the order. 28

29 3- Release the mouse button to drop the column into place. You can also move individual rows up and down. 1- Right click on the row you want to move. 2- In the pop-up menu, select Move Row Up or Move Row Down. 3- That s it. The row will move one space up or down, depending on what you chose. LAST TREND / QUOTE TREND A special note on the columns Last Trend and Quote Trend: Last Trend shows the direction of the last ten trades in a stock, either up, down, or no change from previous trade price. Up is green, down is red, and no change is the same color as the preceding trend box. Quote Trend shows the direction of the last ten Bids and the last ten Offers. The indicator boxes are split in two with the top half representing bids and the bottom representing offers. Up price is green, down is red, and no change is the same color as the preceding trend box. Bid Offer ALERTS COLUMN If you use the Alerts column, there is an Alert Legend explaining the alerts symbols. Go to the View menu in the Stock Watch window and select Alert Legend. The alert symbols populate in the Stock Watch window under the alerts column. To access the alert messages, double click on an alerts symbol when it appears in the Stock Watch will bring up an Exchange Alerts window with the information corresponding to the alert. MOVING ROWS In the Stock Watch window you can easily move a symbol up or down by holding down the ALT key, left-clicking the mouse, and dragging and dropping the symbol to the new location. Highlighting begins on the next page... 29

30 HIGHLIGHTING There are a number of row highlighting options within the Stock Watch window. To access the choices, click the View menu Settings, then click the Miscellaneous tab of the settings window. Basic highlighting options select Type (row or column), Style, Duration, and whether you want to apply to all symbols Check these boxes to highlight rows when Market-on- Close, Intraday, and Opening buy/sell imbalances occur Check this box to highlight a row where a symbol reaches its high or low for the day To configure highlighting: 1- In the Stock Watch Settings window, Miscellaneous tab, select to highlight row or column. 2- Select a duration for the highlight to last (duration in seconds, or you can choose infinite). 3- Select if you want highlighting for all symbols or specific symbols. 4- Finally, select if you want the symbols to highlight based on Last price, Change, or Change from open. If you selected to highlight only specific symbols, there are extra steps. 1- In the Stock Watch window, right click on a symbol you want to highlight (or use the Symbols menu). 2- In the pop-up menu, select Specific Highlighting. 3- The symbol will now highlight when updates occur. Do this for each symbol you want to have highlight. Please note: Order entry is possible from a Stock Watch window. This is discussed in Chapter 6. DOUBLE CLICK SETTINGS Double clicking on a symbol in the Stock Watch can have one of several effects that you set up in the Settings window, under the Miscellaneous tab. Edit Symbol Double clicking will let you type in a new symbol Set Link Symbol Double clicking on a symbol in the Stock Watch window will populate that symbol into the other windows in your group of linked windows (linking discussed in a later chapter) 30

31 Switch to Focus Window Double clicking will switch the current window to the designated focus window. For example, if Level II OE was the focus window, double clicking on a symbol would switch to Level II OE and populate the Level II OE window with the symbol that was clicked on, making placing an order from Level II OE faster. Open Level I, Open Level II, Open Mini, Open Chart, Open Exchange Alerts Double clicking opens those windows. Double Click Options LEVEL II OE This window is called Level II Order Entry, but order entry functions will be discussed in chapter 7. Level I quote bar Bid depth with price, size, and time Ask depth with price, size, and time The Level II window shows you the depth of the market bids and offers in an easy to follow format with market makers and ECN identifiers on the left, followed by price, volume, and time. In the Settings window you will be able to choose what data you see. 31

32 To access Settings: 1- Left-click the View menu. 2- Select Settings. 3- Select either the General or Level II tab. The General tab controls colors and columns. Here are the major functions: To change colors for the price tiers in Level II, you can select a preset styles, or select a color for each level. To change what columns you see in Level II, simply check or uncheck the appropriate box. You can also configure which, if any, of the Level 1 quote bar boxes you want to highlight on update. Preset styles Checking these will cause the Level 1 quote bar to highlight on updates Customizable levels Check these boxes to see columns The Level II tab of the settings window will let you control what data you see in the Level II window (see next page). You can: Select which books to see. De-select Level II and see only books. Filter out odd-lots. Highlight market makers. Show your open orders in Level II. Display time in seconds. Price Level can be set to Top of Book to show only the top of each ECN book. 32

33 Books to view Display orders and highlighting choices Price Level can be set to top only Market Maker viewing options To highlight specific market makers: 1- Check the Highlight specific market makers box. 2- Click the Makers... button. The Highlighted Makers screen pops up. 3- Type in a symbol, or symbols, and the market makers you would like highlighted. 4- Click the Add button to populate the list. 5- Click OK when done. 33

34 6- In the Level II window, you will now see the maker highlighted: To view only or hide a specific market maker: 1- In Settings, Level II tab, check the View/hide specific market makers box. 2- Click the Filters... button. Market Maker Filters pops up. 3- Click Add. Add Market Maker Filter pops up. [see right] 4- Name the filter, select if you want to view or hide the market makers. 5- Enter a market maker ID and click Add. Do this for each maker. 6- Click OK. 7- Highlight the filter you created. Click Activate. 8- Click OK in the Level II Settings and your filter is now applied TIME AND SALES Follow each trade for a specific stock. Time and Sales shows you each trade as it is reported, what price, time, size, and market. You can also expand you selection to see Bid/Ask data. HISTORICAL DATA Intraday To query intraday historical data prior to the time the Time and Sales window was opened, check the box to the right of the symbol field and enter a time. Historical data from prior days is not available. Check box for historical intraday data 34

35 To select what data to view in your Time and Sales Window, click on View Settings. Display multiple symbols Filters From the General tab, you can do the following: Select columns to display. Choose to display only trades, only quotes, or both (if you display quotes, you can see bid/ask). Filter out trades by size Choose to display only trades in certain markets. From the Colors tab, you can customize the colors in Time and Sales: 35

36 TOP TEN Top Ten is a market scanning tool that closely resembles a Stock Watch. Press space bar or go to the Actions menu to select the desired scans. You can view the following scans by exchange: In the Settings menu (click on View Settings) you can select data columns to view as well as customize your colors and highlighting options. FUNDAMENTAL DATA This window will give you a quick snapshot of a company s fundamental data. Simply type in the symbol and hit enter. The only customization available is colors. Data fields are fixed. 36

37 NEWS Like Time and Sales and Top Ten, News is a simple window with a specific function. You watch headlines as they come in and you can expand them to read the stories. To view stories for a specific symbol type in the symbol in the symbol box. To view all stories regardless of symbol leave the symbol box blank. To read a story, double left click on the headline, or right click the headline and select open story. To go back to the headlines, double click in the story window. The Settings window, found under View-Settings, is where you can select your columns and colors. 37

38 ALERTS You can set up custom alerts in Sterling Trader Pro from the Alerts window. There are a number of options that allow you to monitor the market by watching where a stock or index prices go. This is an Alerts window. Customized alerts are in the top pane. Executed alters populate the lower pane. To set up new alerts: 1- Click on the Alerts menu and select Add. The Add Alert screen pops up. Uncheck this to allow an alert to recur without needing to re-enable it 2- Type in a symbol you want to set an alert for. The Comment line below symbol is strictly a text line for whatever notes you want to add. 38

39 3- In the Conditions section, select whether you want the alert based off of Last Price, Bid, or Ask. 4- In the next box, select what has to happen with that price (Less than or equal to, Greater than or equal to, Gain, Loses, Hits a New ). 5- In the next box select High. Low, 52wk High, 52wk Low, or type in a number of your choosing. Using these boxes you could come up with a number of combinations. For example, Last Price >= 52wk High. 6- If you choose, you can check the AND box and select additional price criteria for your alert. 7- Choose how to receive notification of the alert by select Play a sound, Beep, or Display Notification Message. 8- Click on the Add button. You can now set up another alter or close the Add Alert screen. If you close the screen, you will see your new alert in the Alerts window. Check or uncheck E to enable or disable the alert. EXCHANGE ALERTS The Exchange Alerts window shows you if a specific stock has an opening or closing imbalance, if there is a halt or delayed opening, or what the opening indication is. You can view messages for all stocks or for specific exchanges. To select a specific stock, type the symbol in the symbol box. To see all stocks, leave the symbol box blank. You may also select a specific time range to view messages in by checking the boxes and selecting the times. There is limited customization of columns and colors available in the View Settings menu. 39

40 SPREADS You can create spreads between two symbols using the Spreads tool. The spreads calculate the difference between the current price of two symbols. You can set up spreads for equity or for options. These spreads can be viewed in a stock watch window or a chart. To create a spread: 1- In the Main Menu, click on View Spreads. The following screen pops up with a handful of preset spreads: 2- Click the Add button to bring up the Add Spread window: Select to Subtract, Add, Multiply, or Divide the two symbol prices 40

41 3- Type in the desired symbols. 4- Select Data 1, which is Last, Bid, Ask, High, Low, Open, or Close. 5- Select Operator 1, which is to Minus, Plus, Times, or Divide by the next field. 6- Type in a number for the next field, Constant 1. If you don t want the prices to be modified, leave Operator 1 as Times and Constant 1 as In the Operator filed between the two symbols, select if you want to Minus, Add, Multiply, or Divide the chosen prices. 8- In the Symbol 2 section, repeat the steps you did for Symbol To modify the res ults further, you can select Take the result and: field and combine it with the Constant field next to it. For example, you could Add 4 to the result Click OK. Your new spread will now show up in the Spreads window and be available to add to Stock Watch or Chart. To create a spread for two option symbols, the steps are the same, but you must add.o to the end of each option symbol for the spread to return data in the Stock Watch. You can t chart options or option spreads at this time. OPTIONS CHAIN The Options Chain window provides a listing of the put and call option contracts available on a particular stock. The chain provides level I quote data on each of the contracts and is customizable. Market depth for options can be found in the Options OE window discussed in Chapter 7. Here is a sample options chain for symbol WMT: Calls Puts Call options are on the left and Put options on the right. The strike prices are listed in the middle by month and can expand or collapse. You can decide how many strikes to see for each month, or see all strikes. There is a level 1 quote bar on top and a box to enter your symbol. A quick note on options symbology. Our system uses the following: the underlying symbol followed by a space, followed by the expiration date (yymmdd), C or P (for Call or Put), and the strike (there are always three characters after the decimal place. So a strike of 130 is shown as is shown as 12500). Example: IBM Jan Calls = IBM C Previously viewed symbols for easy review 7 Did you know that in bowling lingo, the split is called the Big Four? Did we just ruin our street cred? 41

42 To add Greeks or other data columns: 1- Click on the View menu, select Settings. 2- The options chain settings screen pops up with your column choices. You can select different columns for puts and calls. Both puts and calls have Greeks available. These include Gamma, Theta, and Vega. You can also select Rho, Theoretical Price, and Implied Volatility. In the Miscellaneous tab of the Options Chain Settings, you set up number of contracts to view and highlighting. There is a special function to highlight In-The-Money Options. Highlighting choices Double-click choices Number of strikes to view Highlight ITM Option contracts In the above screenshot, there is setting to trigger Greeks calculations based on underlying price movement. In addition to this setting, you can force a calculation by clicking on the Update Greeks button in the Options Chain main window. 42

43 CHAPTER 5 CHART INTRODUCTION Sterling Trader Pro features a comprehensive charting package that includes major studies, customizable trend lines, candlestick charting, and tick charting. CREATING A NEW CHART To open a chart, click Windows Chart in the Main Menu. A Create New Chart screen pops up. You will see three tabs to choose from, depending on what chart type you want: Tick, Bar, or Day chart. The Axis Type is available on all charts and is either the Absolute value or the Percentage Change of the symbol you are charting. TICK CHART Shows each tick of the selected symbol in realtime. You have the choice to view ticks going back 5, 10, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, or Full Day. You can also see a previous day s ticks. BAR CHART Charts symbol like the tick chart, but bars are in intervals ranging from 1 minute to 1 hour and going back as far as three days. Bar types are Open High Low Close (OHLC), Candlestick, Open Close, and Line. You can also chart specific date ranges. 43

44 DAY CHART A bar chart where each bar interval is a full day, full week, or full month Bar types are OHLC, Candlestick, Open Close, and Line You can chart up to the last 5 years or you can select a specific date range Once you have selected your chart settings and typed in the symbol, click Ok to view your chart. In this example we have selected IBM on a 3 minute candlestick chart with Axis Type as absolute, going back a full day. This is the basic candlestick chart that is created. You can change these settings in the Actions menu by selecting Edit Chart. Last price in Axis Time period The candles are every 3 minutes, with red for ending down, green for up. You ll be able to adjust the look in settings. But first, we ll go over the tool bar on the top of the chart. 44

45 TOOLBAR Quickly change the chart type, add trend lines, select studies, or zoom in on data. Please note, these options are available through the View and Charting menu as well. Tool Bar To change the chart type: 1- Click the pull-down menu that currently shows Bar Chart in the example above. 2- Select the new chart type, Tick or Day. 3- Enjoy. To add a horizontal line: 1- Click on the Insert Horizontal Line button,. 2- The mouse cursor will now drag a horizontal line that you can drop anywhere in the chart. 3- Repeat for additional horizontal lines. To draw a trend line: 1- Click on the Insert Drawing Line button,. 2- The mouse cursor will change to a pen. 3- Left click and hold to draw in your line with the mouse. 4- Repeat for additional lines. To zoom in or out of the chart data, click on the magnifying glasses, To zoom in on a specific range of data: 1- Click on the left-hand magnifying glass (it has a dotted line around it), 2- The mouse cursor will now show Select Zoom underneath it. 3- Left click on the chart and hold to drag across the section you wish to zoom in on. 4- Release. The chart will zoom in on the selection. To scroll through the chart data without zooming out, click the left of right arrow buttons, The button with a line on the right,, will skip to the front of the chart (the current updating data). 45

46 To add a stu dy to the chart: 1- Click the Insert Study button, 2- The Chart Studies screen pops up. 3- Click Add to add a new study. The Add Study screen pops up. Available studies from the Studies pull-down list 4- Select the Data Source for the study. 5- Select the Chart Section. You can overlay the data source (the main chart panel) or open a panel beneath the chart with the study data. 6- If you select Overlay Custom in the Chart Section pull-down, you can choose to overlay a panel other than the main chart (if you opened one for another study). 7- Click OK to see your study listed in the Chart Studies window. 8- Click Close to view your study in the chart. 9- See next page for sample study of MACD in a new panel. 46

47 MACD with histogram To view a spreadsheet of chart data details: 1- Click the Select Chart Data button,. 2- Left click and drag across the chart for the data range you want to view. 3- Click in the data range selected to pop up the details screen: You can view a spreadsheet of all chart data at once by clicking the Charting menu and All Chart Data. SAVING and LOADING CHARTS Once you have your chart set up the way you want, you can save it by clicking the Actions menu and Save Chart. You can load a saved chart from the Actions menu. SAVING CHART AS DEFAULT To save your chart as a default for new charts you may open, click in the View menu and select Save Current As Default. SPREA DS You can chart spreads you have created. 47

48 1- Click the Charting menu. 2- Select Spreads The spreads list will pop up. 3- Double click the spread you want to chart. 4- The chart will automatically begin charting the spread. SYMBOL OVERLAY In Sterling Trader Pro, you can chart two symbols at once. 1- Click the Charting menu. 2- Select Symbol Overlay... The Symbol Overlay set up pops up. 3- Type in the symbol you wish to add to the chart. 4- Select which access to view the price from. 5- Click OK. Your chart now shows both symbols. MSFT IBM 48

49 SETTINGS COLORS TAB Under the View menu Settings, you can change your chart and study colors (select the Colors tab). Preset color schemes Custom colors Colors for studies GENERAL TAB The General tab controls what you see on the chart besides the symbol data, such as gridlines and font size. 49

50 CHAPTER 6 ORDER ENTRY INTRODUCTION Sterling Trader Pro features several order entry windows for equities, options, and futures. For equities: Level I Order Entry Level II Order Entry Basket Order Entry For options and futures: Options Order Entry Futures Order Entry The windows feature a point and click interface. However, as previously discussed, Hot Keys are available to trade out of these windows and pre-filled defaults of the order entry fields can be set up in the Global Order Entry settings (Chapter 2). You can also trade out of Stock Watch and Position Summary windows. They will be discussed at the end of this chapter. LEVEL I ORDER ENTRY Open a Level I Order Entry window from the Sterling Trader Pro Main Menu by clicking Windows Level I Order Entry. If you open a Level I Order Entry from the Main Menu, all fields are blank. This is because there is no symbol. However, if you open a Level I Order Entry window from the Stock Watch or Position Summary window, any Global Order Entry defaults will be filled in because there is symbol to reference. Once you enter a symbol in the blank order entry window, the level I quote bar at the top will be activated so you can see the level I data, Last, Change, Bid/Ask, etc. To place an order from Level I Order Entry: 1- Select the side (Buy, Sell, Sell Short), quantity, symbol, price, account, destination, etc. 2- When you have the necessary fields filled in, click on the send button to send the order. A brief description of the necessary fields is on the next page. If you have a position already in the symbol you entered, you position will show on the bottom right of the window. 50