Where to put in the spread?
Author: muschet
Creation Date: 3/21/2009 5:57 AM
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muschet

#1
Hi,

I took a look at WLD 5.1:
Where can I put in the “spread” , when I go long?

f.e.: when I go long with a buy-stop in the S&P at 700, the bar must reach 700 but I then buy with 700,50 (spread 0,5 points)?

Best regards

Werner
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Eugene

#2
Hi Werner,

Probably what you're looking for is called "tick", not spread. You need to configure the Symbol Info Manager tool i.e. create an entry for your S&P symbol, assigning its proper tick value and enable Futures Mode.
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ss161

#3
Do you mean slippage when you say spread? if so, then "Tools / Preferences / Slippage and Round Lots" lets you set it.
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muschet

#4
I thought everybody knows what "spread" means.
It's the difference between "bid" and "ask".

One more time:
On my S&P-chart I have a line at let's say 830. The S&P is now at 820.
I want to go long if and when the market reaches exactly my line at 830,0.
BUT as a result I want to read "Long at 830,5"!

So somewhere I have to put in the spread of 0.5 points!

The slippage is an additional cost factor.

Thanx for answers
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Eugene

#5
QUOTE:
I thought everybody knows what "spread" means.
It's the difference between "bid" and "ask".

Not quite.

Wikipedia has at least 6 definitions of the term in finance:
Spread

QUOTE:
So somewhere I have to put in the spread of 0.5 points!

Backtesting in Wealth-Lab does not operate with bid/ask prices. The tick adjustment, however, is a must to make sure a position is created with respect to minimum price movement of the futures symbol.
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Cone

#6
QUOTE:
The slippage is an additional cost factor.
Use 2 ticks for your Slippage setting (Preference F12), and in the code you'd use a BuyAtStop order, which executes "at market" when the trigger price is hit.

Wealth-Lab won't execute a trade outside the bar's range, but if there are 2 extra ticks over the stop's trigger price in the trade bar, you'll be charged for them in the trade execution's slippage.

---
Incidentally, the spread during regular market hours for the S&P E-mini is almost never 2 ticks.
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Eugene

#7
In addition, these 2 ticks can be added to the entry price with Bars.SymbolInfo.Tick.
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muschet

#8
Thank you Eugene, thank you Cone.

I am really astonished, that such a complexe software is not able to operate with bid/ask prices,
but now I know how o handle it ,-)

Werner
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Cone

#9
You can operate with bid and ask prices if you write an adapter for that purpose. In fact, for backtesting you can use IBCollector to collect bid and ask prices for analysis down to the 1 second frequency.

But here's a secret: the only prices that really count are the ticks on the chart. But don't take my word for it - knock yourself out with as much data and programming as you want!
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