What in the name of sanity is a "certain broker" up to?
CB
Yes this "certain broker" has completely dropped the ball - just when I'm about to introduce another big client :(
Well, maybe I am...
They are making me look incompetent at the moment, all EA's are off and I have reverted to Build 220 for manual trading, keeping two data centres going as well
My experience is that this is a combination of build 223 plus the "certain brokers" habit of having 'daily routine system updates', where the servers are non-available for a minute or so
Typically this would be between 03:00 & 05:00 CET
You are supposed to get a Terminal email saying this is going to happen and when, but often the mail doesnt reach your terminal before the outage!
Oh, you know the incorrect setting for summer time - apparently that was my fault, I should have checked what they'd done!!
This broker looked like a market leader until recently...
-BB-
CB
Yes this "certain broker" has completely dropped the ball - just when I'm about to introduce another big client :(
Well, maybe I am...
They are making me look incompetent at the moment, all EA's are off and I have reverted to Build 220 for manual trading, keeping two data centres going as well
My experience is that this is a combination of build 223 plus the "certain brokers" habit of having 'daily routine system updates', where the servers are non-available for a minute or so
Typically this would be between 03:00 & 05:00 CET
You are supposed to get a Terminal email saying this is going to happen and when, but often the mail doesnt reach your terminal before the outage!
Oh, you know the incorrect setting for summer time - apparently that was my fault, I should have checked what they'd done!!
This broker looked like a market leader until recently...
-BB-
I currently cannot use their demo accounts at all due to the 'Invalid Account' problem - not just when they log me out. I know you don't tend to use the demo accounts for dev/test. My company owner is experiencing the same issue as you with the live accounts going invalid after those logouts.
Regarding the build version - due to running on XP on VirtualPC on a Mac, I'm still on build 208, having disabled LiveUpdate.
The day I get a proactive communication from this broker - I'll look out my window...
Yes - regarding the setting for summertime, this is the response I got...
"The administration of EAs is the responsibility of the user, and the fact that there would be a time change was indeed a red flag to modify your EAs accordingly. I am not shifting the blame to any one party, but merely pointing out that even EA should be used as their very name suggests: to advise your trading, not to trade for you".
Last night, I got chatting to the person who composed this message and pointed out that this EA is triggered by a server-day change and does not require modification. Even had I sat and watched, the orders would still have been placed 1 hour early.
I also pointed by email out the existence of NTP, and the fact that the time change happens at 2am on the Sunday morning giving them the best part of a day to sort themselves out. But I think that went completely over his head. What I did manage to do last night was to get this person to back-pedal his statement above which implies that his company's policy is not to support any customer using OrderSend().
I believe that I have a contact I can call upon to put me in touch with the owner of this company and I promise that I will do my utmost to achieve the following:
-1. Have the management ensure that their staff cannot make the rules up as they go along, regarding how they support EA trading. I aim specifically to have this particular person's wings clipped.
-2. Get information on what Service Level we can expect for a)institutional accounts b)live accounts c)demo accounts. In the last few weeks we've had the issue with timechange taking 1 week on live accounts for the umpteenth time, the demo accounts being down for 4 days and now this 'invalid account' problem. Quite frankly disgraceful.
-3. Understand their Customer Charter with regard to communication. There was absolutely no proactive comms about any of the above.
It would be nice to influence change in terms of proactive communication, however, realistically the best I can hope for is to gather the information necessary to decide whether or not to give this broker our big-money accounts and transactions.
CB
> I'm still on build 208
Thats vital info, thanks very much :)
Was going to re-install for 220 over the whole of 3 data centres tonight :(
Probably wont now :D
Wasn't certain about the build being an issue, had only happened once on a.n.other broker using 223 client
I'm likely to pop over and have a sit-down before introducing a very significant account later this year...
Can't go on like this - cant trade reliably, so wont trade
Yes other brokers have occasional spectacular failures and some others are not entirely... честно at the best of times :(
CB, thanks for all your contributions to the forum
-BB-
Well I finally had a reply from 'Client Relations'...
Apparently it was (or still is) MQ's fault and the "certain broker" is asking me if I think it's OK now?!
-BB-
Well I finally had a reply from 'Client Relations'...
Apparently it was (or still is) MQ's fault and the "certain broker" is asking me if I think it's OK now?!
-BB-
Nope, its not ok with my demo accounts this morning.
I was able to get it to stay up a little while last night by forcing myself on a particular server in the list.
However, the same method this morning logs me on for a moment and then produces 'invalid account'.
My colleague is ok with his live accounts, but his demo (which he too got up and running last night) got the invalid account problem again after being logged out this morning at 0334 CET.
> logged out this morning at 0334 CET
Thats the usual time of the (now) dreaded 'Daily Routine System Updates', now known as 'Nightly Logouts' :(
-BB-
> logged out this morning at 0334 CET
Thats the usual time of the (now) dreaded 'Daily Routine System Updates', now known as 'Nightly Logouts' :(
Very, very sorry to cross-post, but (a) you're clearly using US brokers, and (b) you clearly know what you're talking about. I'm not having much joy with this topic: 'Offsetting transactions - NFA rule 2-43(b)'
I find it hard to believe the implications of this rule, because it will potentially break a very large number of EAs running on US brokers. I've not had proper confirmation of it one way or the other. But the message I'm getting from a well-known UK broker is that they're very happy because they think it will drive business into their arms. That's alarmingly like confirmation. The impact of all this on me personally is tiny, but it's got the potential to cause carnage in the EA community.
> (a) you're clearly using US brokers, and (b) you clearly know what you're talking about
Sorry jjc, wrong on both :D
Didnt stop me commenting in the other thread though ;)
-BB-
> (a) you're clearly using US brokers, and (b) you clearly know what you're talking about
Sorry jjc, wrong on both :D
Didnt stop me commenting in the other thread though ;)
Many thanks. We'll see around May 15th whether the sky does indeed fall in, as one US broker tells me it's going to, or whether life does in fact continue as normal. Sorry for interrupting your original discussion.
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So in the last few weeks we've had:
- Live servers running on the wrong time for over a week as it took them a week to adjust to DST (again!!)
- Demo accounts being unavailable for 4 days
Both of these caused considerable pain to EA developers & their customers, however, did "a certain broker" value their customers enough to communicate? Did they hell.
Now the latest.
- Connections intermittently dropping with 'Invalid Account' message.
This causes obvious impact to EAs. "A certain broker" are liaising with Metaquotes. But do they know when it will be fixed. Yep, you guessed it.
So my question:
- WTF is happening within "a certain broker"? Their service has gone from acceptable to disgraceful seemingly overnight.
Professional companies tend to have Service Level Agreements and Customer Charters. The IT company I worked for would have "let people go" for this sort of thing.