Commsec ProTrader1 - FAQ and Tips

[Freeballinginawetsuit]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Can anyone tell if there's a way to backup workspaces/watchlists etc with PT2? I've only had it for two weeks but I've had to rebuild my watchlists 4 times and my workspace twice in that time.

Particularly annoying when you can only save column layouts in watchlists by saving the workspace. Commsec tech support has apparently been out to lunch for the last two weeks so I thought I'd have a better chance of getting a response here.



Thanks

Hey Shadders

There is a little down triangle next to your opened watchlist, if you click on this it brings up all your saved watchlists. Chose the one you want and open it.

I dont think youve deleted them, they just shrink back inside this box until you click on the arrow and open youre chosen watchlist again.

When you bring up your charts etc, to bring back up youre watclist its in the bottom of your opened workspace, click on the icon and up she comes, the same goes for market depth etc etc.

 

[shadders]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

No Commsec decided there were too many bugs, and it would take too much time to write them all down not to mention fix them.

I cant work out why they don't just fix them, and not continue them from version to version, as if they're not there or is a isolated incedent.

B4 you go saving (backing up) the file, you need to be aware of how to avoid them.



Bare in mind this is just my experiences, but works for me.

Assuming your internet connection is good (no dropouts) you may find turning off the watchlists when application starts up, will fix your problem, then turn them back on and save "all application settings & workspace"

However take note of the server (2) you connect to, and the status icons down the bottom left (4) which may have to been switched on, but can be turned back on (3) caused by another bug making it dissapear.

If this fixes the problem, you may have to have a blank watchlist just as a placeholder till application starts up, then once startup has occured open watchlist.

Perhaps name the main ones for me, and I will try to suggest how I got around them.

Hope this helps
SevenFX

Holding magically works now...

The status bar at the bottom shows up when the app first loads but then dissapears... Is there an option to turn it back (I couldn't find it)... or is this another bug?

 

[SevenFX]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Holding magically works now...

The status bar at the bottom shows up when the app first loads but then dissapears... Is there an option to turn it back (I couldn't find it)... or is this another bug?

Right click next to the help (in the blue space) and select it again.

It will dissapear when you go into think tools/settings (think setting...not logged in atm)...which is a bug...

The danger if your trading is not knowing when you chart is updating and when it's not, if turned off.

Don''t forget to save workspace again to preserve that status bar.

Hope this helps
SevenFX

 

[shadders]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

thank you... that seems to work nicely...

one more if I may?

All the s&p indexes on daily charts seem to have a bunch of zero days around october 06. This means that the scale is out of whack and I basically see a straightish line on the top of the chart until I zoom it in far enough so that oct is off screen. Templates don't seem to save zoom levels so I've got to zoom in every time I open one of the indexes on a daily. particularly annoying because I've got them all set to settings hidden so I can fit more indexes on a single screen. so to get it right I have open the chart, show settings, zoom in then hide settings again (and quite often I have to get rid of the volume layer which keeps coming back).

Is this a glitch with comsecs data or a bug with a workaround?

cheers

 

[ezyTrader]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Just acquired a notebook with Vista Business.
When I start up PT2, it gives a "Failed to start application, please check your internet connection". PT1 starts with no problems. What gives?

Anyone else encountered this problem before?

 

[SevenFX]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

"Failed to start application, please check your internet connection".

I have seen the same message on XP, so don't think it Vista related, and perhaps a Commsec application problem.

Having said that, Vista would expect applications to be much more compliant than older OS's ever were....

May also pay to make sure firewall is allowing approciate port connections through (eg: 443) if problem persist, or even disable firewall for few minutes while application starts.

Cheers
SevenFX

 

[ezyTrader]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Thanks for your reply, SevenFX.

I ended up calling techsupport. After waiting for 10mins on the phone, the tech guy managed to help sort it out.
PT2 has some obscure security/permission requirements which needed to run the .exe as Administrator and set compatibility to XP!!! I do think Vista security is more stringent. Bill Gates may have done the right thing this time.

 

[doctorj]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

I'm sure some IT boffin will disagree with me, but there is no way an application should have to be run as administrator. Sounds like poor coding to me.

The whole point of having different user permissions is for security; what's the point if you're just going to allow applications to run as admin willy nilly.

 

[ezyTrader]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

After two days mucking Vista, I AM getting annoyed with the Allow/Deny prompts. I'll take back what I said earlier, DrJ!
Damn! Should have gotten a Mac!

 

[motion]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

After two days mucking Vista, I AM getting annoyed with the Allow/Deny prompts. I'll take back what I said earlier, DrJ!
Damn! Should have gotten a Mac!

Hi,

I run a mac but was told I could not run protrader... is this wrong can u get pro trader for mac now.

Thanks

 

[ezyTrader]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

I had a mate who runs both Vista and Mac on a Mac, if that's what you're after...
He told me Windows applications run fairly seamlessly on the Mac on the virtual OS session. Only probs encountered so far is printing... HTH...

PS:
Didn't know that pro trader is not supported under Mac.

 

[MACTION MAN]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

ProTrader is not made for a Mac OS
I've been using PT on Mac for over a year via Virtual PC.
The new intel Macs don't work with Virtual PC but can house dual Mac & PC
Op.Systems.
Question of PT2 - Will changes to particular Watchlists (settings saved) automatically update if accessed from a different remote computer?

 

[Robroy]

How do you get CommSec to respond to emails?

I am unable to access course of sales data via PT2.

Specifically, I can't set any date other than today's for COS data. If I do, it just defaults to today's data on loading.

I have emailed CS numerous times and received no reply.

I have had this problem in the past with the PT people in there - they are separate from the normal helpdesk, and tend not to communicate with clients. The helpdesk send requests to them, but they usually don't seem to reply. Perhaps they're too busy fixing all the bugs.

Any clues?

 

[gregcourageous]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Is there anyway of filtering the headlines section to show ONLY price sensitive ann's, I really don't care about directors moving their shares to different accounts.

 

[mrok]

Re: How do you get CommSec to respond to emails?

I am unable to access course of sales data via PT2.

Specifically, I can't set any date other than today's for COS data. If I do, it just defaults to today's data on loading.

I have emailed CS numerous times and received no reply.

I have had this problem in the past with the PT people in there - they are separate from the normal helpdesk, and tend not to communicate with clients. The helpdesk send requests to them, but they usually don't seem to reply. Perhaps they're too busy fixing all the bugs.

Any clues?

I have the same problem. I sent many emails to the support desk as well, But no reply at all........

 

[ozambersand]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

ProTrader was working fine for me at the start.

I had the curious ability to see lots of trades that took place before the market open as options from the previous night were being exercised at 7.00am (or that was how it was explained to me!)

This was particularly interesting with Westpac when it went ex-dividend and I posted a question about it in the Beginner's lounge. Lots of trades seemed to take place before market opened with sales going through at not much under the previous night's close.

I posed the question then whether or not those people would be eligible for the dividend.

Then as of last night I couldn't get any depth of sales figures or course of sales figures. When I rang this morning, the help desk person looked at it and said he would "fine-tune/adjust" something for me and I can now see those two sections but:

1. the times for the course of sales are jumbled between 24 hour clock and 12 hour clock eg 3:10 then 15:11????

2. the data I referred to about Westpac in the above post has disappeared from the relevant day (ie 18th May).

Was there a glitch? Did I stumble on information I shouldn't have had access to?

Has anyone else noticed anything strange?

Was the Course of Sales data for the current day only visible after market opened or previously could you see it all the time? I had a vague recollection that it was always visible (ie showing option exercises done in the morning)

 

[ozambersand]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Sorry, tried to edit above post but it wouldn't let me.

As a follow up to comment about early trades (exercise options) showing on current day course of sales before market opens. It is now 9.20am and this is showing on the current day's NAB site:

Time Price Volume Value Conditions Attributes BuyXRef SellXRef
24/05/2007 07:05:35.......... 44.5...... 20000.... 890000.00 EP
24/05/2007 07:05:35.......... 44.5...... 2000...... 89000.00 EP
24/05/2007 07:05:34.......... 44.5........12000....534000.00 EP
24/05/2007 07:05:34.......... 44.5.......1000...... 44500.00 EP
24/05/2007 07:05:34.......... 44.5.......11000.... 489500.00 XTEPOS
24/05/2007 07:05:34.......... 44.5.......5000...... 222500.00 EP
24/05/2007 07:05:34.......... 43.5.......2000...... 87000.00 EP
24/05/2007 07:05:34.......... 29.5.......3000...... 88500.00 EC

(I stuck the dots in to make it more readable)

This is the sort of thing that showed up on the Westpac site on 18th but there were over 200 of them!

Is my ability to see these a glitch or normal?

 

[ABell29]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

This may be of interrest to The Administrator as well as users of any Trading package. My issue is data collection.

I use CommSec PT at the end of each day to collect end-of-day prices & statistics about all equities traded during that day - this takes about 30 seconds. I then analyse this data using "queries" in my own database to provide me with buy/sell suggestions, which I will then look at more closely - this takes about 2 hours.

The critical thing is to have up-to-date data collected at the end of every day. So, when I go on a holiday, or I am too late in collecting the data, my subsequent analysis is flawed. CommSec PT only allows you to extract this data up until 1200 midnight at which time the data is cleared.

Too the point ...

Can the administrator set up a database accessible by we members that allows us to extract any day's trading statistics (let's say for the past 2 months so that you don't need to have squillions of bytes of storage space). The other side of the coin of course is that we be able to download to the database and-of-day data that we have collected but this could raise concerns of people deliberately downloading incorrect data - some procedures and guidelines required for this. The extract/download interface can be XLS, CSV, (one day of data per file), or if you want to be really clever, a query interface could be developed.

Alternatively, can we just talk to each other via a new forum? For example, I could post to the forum that I want end-of-day data for Friday, 15th June; someone could post a reply providing the required data in an attachment.

By the way, can someone provide the end-of-day data for Friday, 15th June 2007.

Data required is basically that which would be derived from CommSec PT "Market Watch" feature using an Activity Indicator = "Volume"; and Index = "Market - Ordinaries"

ASXCode,
Open
High
Low
Last
Total Trades
Total Volume
Total Value
​

With thanks

 

[pete152]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

This may be of interest to The Administrator as well as users of any Trading package. My issue is data collection.

I then analyse this data using "queries" in my own database to provide me with buy/sell suggestions, which I will then look at more closely - this takes about 2 hours.

Hello,
I am interested in how your data base works, to give out buy/sell suggestions?
Thanks,
Peter

 

[Joe Blow]

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

This may be of interrest to The Administrator as well as users of any Trading package. My issue is data collection.

I use CommSec PT at the end of each day to collect end-of-day prices & statistics about all equities traded during that day - this takes about 30 seconds. I then analyse this data using "queries" in my own database to provide me with buy/sell suggestions, which I will then look at more closely - this takes about 2 hours.

The critical thing is to have up-to-date data collected at the end of every day. So, when I go on a holiday, or I am too late in collecting the data, my subsequent analysis is flawed. CommSec PT only allows you to extract this data up until 1200 midnight at which time the data is cleared.

Too the point ...

Can the administrator set up a database accessible by we members that allows us to extract any day's trading statistics (let's say for the past 2 months so that you don't need to have squillions of bytes of storage space). The other side of the coin of course is that we be able to download to the database and-of-day data that we have collected but this could raise concerns of people deliberately downloading incorrect data - some procedures and guidelines required for this. The extract/download interface can be XLS, CSV, (one day of data per file), or if you want to be really clever, a query interface could be developed.

Alternatively, can we just talk to each other via a new forum? For example, I could post to the forum that I want end-of-day data for Friday, 15th June; someone could post a reply providing the required data in an attachment.

By the way, can someone provide the end-of-day data for Friday, 15th June 2007.

Data required is basically that which would be derived from CommSec PT "Market Watch" feature using an Activity Indicator = "Volume"; and Index = "Market - Ordinaries"

ASXCode,
Open
High
Low
Last
Total Trades
Total Volume
Total Value
​

With thanks

ASF is currently not able to provide this kind of information but anyone can feel free to start a new thread if they wish to contribute to it and encourage others to contribute to it.

Thats what ASF is here for.