Changing Default Settings

Dividend File Suffix

This setting is used as a naming convention for the dividend file suffix.  Each dividend file uses the same symbol letters as the exchange symbol.  An example is for the IBM stock data file where the dividend file for IBM will show: "IBM_Div.csv"

The Dividend file names all include the market's symbol, plus the "_DIV" ahead of the file's  format suffix: ".csv" which indicates the file is a Comma Delimited Text file that compatible with spreadsheets.

Graph File Suffix

This is ".png" suffix is the default suffix for all the summary graphs.

Changing to ".gif"will produce a slightly larger but more portable file.  Changing the graph suffix to ".jpg" produces a large file with more color accuracy with less data compression.

Process Weekends

This flag setting controls weekend processing. Normally if a weekend date is found anywhere in the data, then all weekends are included in the test loop.

Setting Process Weekends to false will cause Trading Blox to skip any weekend dates from the data load that might exist in the data file.  

Indicators are computed based on data loaded, so the weekends would be excluded from the indicator calculations.  

Indicators are always based on available trading bars. If this flag is set to false, then weekends are excluded from the test loop.  

Add Non Traded Instruments

This feature controls the process whereby instruments with no trades for a particular test are listed in the trade report with a zero trade.  This zero trade is there so that you can access the chart and indicators, to explore why the instrument did not trade.  In the case where there are 1000's of these in a large stock test, you might want to set this flag to false.  This setting can also be controlled by a Blox that is added to a system.

Summary Report Test Maximum

This setting controls how many tests are allowed in the html summary output report before the results will be truncated.

Too many test results in an html report file make the file so large that windows may not be able open the file.  This value is usually set to 5,000 or less test results.

Risk Free Rate

This setting is used in some Sharpe statistical computations (i.e. Annual Sharpe but not Modified Sharpe).

Automatic Blox Script Parsing

This setting controls whether blox scripting will parse the script as each character is pressed.  This is the default setting so that you can catch syntax errors immediately. If the blox script is so huge that this parsing process takes a few seconds, you can turn this automatic parsing off. The script is still parsed for syntax errors when the script is saved, on exit or by pressing control-s.

Blox Editor Font Size

The Trading Blox Base Editor the font size is controlled by this setting.

Blox Editor Font

This Blox Editor Font setting determines the font used in the Trading Blox Basic Editor.

Backup Archive Days

The option determines the number of days of backups to keep in the Trading Blox Backups folder.

Multi Parameter Chart

This option turns on/off the two multi parameter chart styles: contoured and 3D.

Global Heap Size

The Global Heap Size, sets the amount of memory the Trading Blox will allocate to a private memory heap on application startup. Setting to zero uses the default windows settings.

Use Jelly Fish Editor ??

The Use Jelly Fish Editor, tells the Blox Editor to save the scripts when opened into a .bas file in the Blox/JellyFish folder and open with Jelly Fish Pro. Script editing in the Blox Editor will be disabled.

Futures Data SSV   ??

The Futures Data SSV, is not used.  SSV is Space Separated Values.  It was implemented to accommodate Tradestation data years ago, but is no longer used or enabled.

Integrity check

This feature can enable a strict rule feature during the loading of data and how it is checked.  A more strict error setting will warn of as errors when the exchange or currency files are not available.

Use Population SD

This option controls the formula used by Trading Blox for Standard Deviation.  By default this is TRUE, and it enables the Population Standard Deviation version for its calculations.  If the Sample Calculation Version is required, set this option to FALSE.

Display Last Roll Date ??

The , controls the historic roll info on the positions section of the order generation report.

Memory Usage Threshold ??

The percentage of physical memory to use before raising an error is controlled by this setting.  Default value is set to 90%. However, this can be set higher or lower percentage value as needed.  A setting value of -1 will disable this ability.

Stock Margin Short Rate

The margin rate for short stock sales has a default value of 100%. Some brokers may require more or less margin for short sales.

Stock Margin Long Rate

The margin rate for long stock purchases has a default value of 100%

The Forex Friday End Time and Forex Sunday Start Time are used to set the start and end times of the forex trading week. Trading Blox will assume the market is closed during this time, and not load any new bars from IB, or generate any orders to send to IB.

The Time Zone Adjust setting is not currently used. Trading Blox now gets the time zone from the IB data, and also from the local computer, to determine if the market is open or closed based on the trading hours provided by IB. The hours provided by IB are local exchange time, and the assumption is that the TWS is displaying trading times and data, and providing to Trading Blox, in local time. When the market is determined to be closed,  Trading Blox will not load data for bars, or generate orders.

The option to use all available trading hours, or only liquid trading hours, is another preference setting.

The following rarely used options are available in the tradingblox.ini file. To change, close Trading Blox, open the TradingBlox.ini file in Notepad, modify the setting, save, and then start Trading Blox.

The Dividend File Suffix is used as a naming convention for the dividend files, as the suffix to the symbol. The dividend file for IBM is IBM_Div.csv.

The Graph File Suffix is used as the suffix for all the summary graphs. Changing to .gif produces a slightly larger but more portable file, and changing to .jpg produces a large file with more defined colors, less compression.

The Process Weekends flag controls weekend processing. Normally if a weekend date is found anywhere in the data, then all weekends are included in the test loop. If this flag is set to false, then weekends are excluded from the test loop.

The Add Non Traded Instruments flag controls the process whereby instruments with no trades for a particular test are listed in the trade report with a zero trade. This zero trade is there so that you can access the chart and indicators, to explore why the instrument did not trade. But if you have 1000's of these in a large stock test, you might want to set this flag to false.

The Summary Report Test Maximum controls how many tests over which the html summary output will be truncated. Too many test results in an html file make the file so large that windows cannot open the file. So this number is usually set to 5000 or less.

The Risk Free Rate as used in some sharpe computations (Annual Sharpe but not Modified Sharpe).

The Automatic Blox Script Parsing flag controls whether blox scripting will parse the script as each character is pressed. This is the default setting so that you can catch syntax errors immediately. If the blox script is so huge that this parsing process takes a few seconds, you can turn this automatic parsing off. The script is still parsed for syntax errors when the script is saved, on exit or by pressing control-s.

The Blox Editor Font Size sets the font size in the Blox Editor

The Blox Editor Font sets the font used by the Blox Editor

The Backup Archive Days sets the number of days of backups to keep in the Backups folder.

The Multi Parameter Chart turns on/off the two multi parameter chart styles: contoured and 3D.

The Global Heap Size sets the amount of memory the Trading Blox will allocate to a private memory heap on application startup. Setting to zero uses the default windows settings.

The Use Jelly Fish Editor tells the Blox Editor to save the scripts when opened into a .bas file in the Blox/JellyFish folder and open with Jelly Fish Pro. Script editing in the Blox Editor will be disabled.

The Futures Data SSV is not used. SSV is Space Separated Values. It was implemented to accommodate Tradestation data years ago, but is no longer used or enabled.

The Integrity check enables more strict rules on data checking such as errors when the exchange or currency does not exist.

The Use Population SD sets the formula used by Trading Blox for Standard Deviation. By default this is true and uses Population Standard Deviation. If Sample is required, then set to false.

The Display Last Roll Date controls the historic roll info on the positions section of the order generation report.

The Memory Usage Threshold sets the percent of physical memory to use before raising an error. Default is 90, but this can be set higher or lower as needed. A setting of -1 will disable this check.

The Stock Margin Short Rate sets the margin rate for short stock sales. Default is 100%.

The Stock Margin Long Rate sets the margin rate for long stock purchases. Default is 100%, but some brokers require more or less margin for short sales.

Trading Blox Default Settings, Prefences Editor Menu, Global Suite Parameters

See Also:

Edit Time: 3/6/2022 3:53:58 PM

Topic ID#: 256