Trading Window Settings

By clicking on Settings > General, the Trading Window Settings will open and changes can be made.

NOTES

Global Settings: Bold check boxes are global changes (for all open Trading windows). Changing a setting marked with a bold check box affects all Trading windows simultaneously.

Non-Global Settings: Non-bold check boxes are local and only affect the Trading window in which you are working.

 

ORDERS
EXECUTION SETTINGS

Order Verification

If checked, requires you to verify orders before they are sent, allowing you to reduce the risk of sending an incorrect order.

NOTE: For important information about this subject, go to Order Verification.

View Warnings

StreetSmart Pro® automatically provides Order Verification and Warning & Informational Messages related to your order.  

The default setting is active.  

NOTE:  For important information about this subject, go to Order Warning Messages.

Default NSDQ Limit Orders to IOC

If checked, every NSDQ Limit order you send will automatically be sent as an Immediate or Cancel order, which requests an immediate fill for any number of shares that may be available with the possibility of a partial fill.  Any remaining shares that are unfilled will be cancelled.

This option will be grayed out if you do not have Direct Access capability.

Default MM Double-Click to NASDAQ

If checked and you double-click on a Market Maker ID in the Level II screen, your order entry fields will automatically set up a NASDAQ (NSDQ) order.

If unchecked and you double click on a Market Maker ID, the system will automatically set up to send an order at that limit price.

Pop-up Execution Panel Outside Level II

Will position any order routing pop-up windows so that they do not pop-up on top of the Level II display.

Display Cancel All instead of Save action

If checked, the Cxl All button will display instead of the Save button in your Stocks Tab. You have two choices for how the Cxl All button will work:

  • Cancel All on Symbol - Will cancel all open orders for the loaded symbol.
  • Cancel All (Equity & Option Orders) - Will cancel ALL open orders, including both equity and option orders.

Price Increment

You can change the increments by which the arrows next to the price field change the price. For example, if it were set to 0.125, a stock at 20.50 would change to 20.625 when you click the up arrow.

AUTO CANCEL TIMEOUTS

Note that changes to these settings are isolated to the computer on which you make them. If you access your software from another computer, you will need to change your timeout settings there as well.

ECN/NSDQ

The number of seconds that direct ECN & NSDQ orders are live before the system auto-cancels them. A value of 0 disables auto-cancel. The default is 0 seconds. To find out which ECNs post orders to their books, go to that ECNs section in this manual or visit their website. As ECN information changes on a regular basis the most reliable information will be found on their website.

Apply Cancel All to

Select which behavior the Cancel All action button does when clicked:

Cancel on current symbol: If you have multiple open orders for the symbol currently loaded in the Trading window, it will cancel all of those orders. If you only have one open order, it will behave like the Cancel button.

All Equity & Option Orders: Will cancel ALL OPEN ORDERS, both equity and option, regardless of symbol.

 

ORDER QUANTITY
SETTINGS

Advanced

Choosing this quantity setting will set the quantity to the default and allow you to choose the Round Out Order Quantity setting and/or Close Entire Position.

 

Round Out Order Qty

This setting can help you maintain a round quantity size in multiples of your preferred default quantity size. One way this is useful is if you want to round out partial fills by either buying up to the nearest multiple or selling down to the nearest multiple of your default quantity.

EXAMPLE  If you prefer to trade in multiples of 1,000 shares, but you are in a position where you have 1,725 shares of a particular stock, if you have Round Out Order Qty checked, the quantity field of your Trading window will display:

If you click Sell, an order to sell 725 shares will go out to reduce your position to an even 1000 shares of the stock. Or if you click Buy, an order for 275 shares will go out, which will increase your position to an even 2000 shares.

  • If you already hold a position that is a multiple of your default quantity, the Trading window quantity field will simply display your default quantity.
  • If you choose to override the quantity specified by the Round Out Order Qty setting, simply click on the quantity field of the Trading window and it will return to a normal white field in which you may type a different quantity.

NOTE:  When closing out a position, the Close Entire Position setting will take precedence over the Round out Order Qty setting if both settings are selected.

Save Current Quantity Always

Clicking on this option will set the default share size to the share size that is currently in the Share Size field of the Trading window. So, when you pull up a new stock, the share size will remain the same.

Set Quantity to Open Position

If you have an open position in a stock and this box is checked, the next time you load that stock into the Trading window, the Share Size field will show the number of shares you hold.

Set Quantity to Default

If select, the software will default the quantity field to the specified Default Share Size or Default Contract Size.

DEFAULT

Shares/Contracts

Enter the default number of shares and contracts to use in the Trading window.

Symbol-specific Defaults

If you wish to have specific default settings for individual symbols, you may set that up here.

Enter the Symbol and Quantity into the fields provided and click Add. In the future, you load that symbol into the Trading window, the quantity specified here will display.

 

L1 DATA
DISPLAY SETTINGS

Compute Ratio from Quantities

If checked, the ratio display in the Trading window will display number of shares available at the inside Bid vs. the inside Ask. If unchecked, the ratio shows the number of participants at the inside Bid vs. the inside Ask.

Calculate Change from:

Choose whether change is calculated based on one of the following:

  • Open: Calculates change from the Open price.
  • Close: Calculates change from the current day's close. The change will recalculate when the exchange close price is received.
  • Previous Close: Calculates change from the previous day's close received from the exchange.

Calculate Put/Call Ratio from:

Select either Open Interest or Volume.

Open Interest Put/Call Ratio: Calculates the Put/Call ratio by dividing the total number of puts by the total number of calls for an underlying stock or index based on open interest.

Volume Put/Call Ratio: Calculates the Put/Call ratio by dividing the total number of puts by the total number of calls for an underlying stock or index based on the trading volume of the current or most recent trading session.

 

L2 DATA
DISPLAY SETTINGS

Display Aggregate Quotes

When checked, displays an aggregate of the top 20 price levels above your Level II montage.

Hide Primary if Book is Displayed

If checked, for any ECN Book data that is displayed (see Displayed Bid/Ask Quotes below), the primary quote for that ECN will NOT display in Level II. This eliminates the display of duplicate quotes during the standard session.

Remove Stale Quotes

Filters out stuck quotes during market hours.

Show Directional Quote Change Arrow

If enabled in your Trading window settings, you may see some small up and down arrows in the Level II area of the Trading window. What these arrows indicate is the direction that market participant just moved in relation to the inside price. For instance, if Market Maker GSCO is on the bid at 65.25 but backs off to 65.125, a down arrow will appear at the new price level. If GSCO moves back up to 65.25, an up arrow will appear. Similarly, if GSCO is on the ask at 65.25 and moves up to 65.35, an up arrow will appear. If GSCO merely refreshes his quote, no arrow will display.

This option will be grayed out if you are not enabled for Level II.

Show Equity Quote Volume in 100's

If unchecked, the full volume for a quote will display. If it is checked, the quote will display without the last two zeros to save screen space.

Show L2 Options Data

Check to display the Level 2 Options tab in the Trading window. For more information on Level 2 options, review the Level 2 Options Tab topic.

Show Status of Bid/Ask

This information will appear in Level II. Status of Bid/Ask shows the current status of the Market Maker. "K"=closed, "O"=open, "L"= open (non-refreshed) in the morning and closed in the evening.

This option will be grayed out if you are not enabled for Level II.

Show Time of Bid/Ask

Displays in Level II the time that the price server received the quote.

This option will be grayed out if you are not enabled for Level II.

Sort Quotes by Size

Sorts all the posted quotes at each Tier in Level II by Size and then Time, where the largest size quote would be at the top of the tier. If multiple quotes have the same size, then sort by order of oldest first.

Watch ECNs

Will highlight all ECNs on Level II. Set the color of the highlight by going to Settings > Colors and clicking on the color wheel next to Watches. Red is the default color.

This option will be grayed out if you are not enabled for Level II.

Watches

You may choose to highlight four Market Makers/ECNs in Level II. The colors can be changed by going to Settings > Colors and clicking on the color wheel next to Watches. Red is the default color.

Color Watches at Inside Only: If checked, highlights the watched Market Makers/ECNs only when they are at the inside bid or ask.

DISPLAY BID/ASK QUOTES

Level 1

Check to display the best bid and ask as L1 at the top of the bid and ask columns.

Update in Extended Hours: If checked, Level 1 data will update during extended hours trading. If unchecked, it will freeze at the close price.

MM/Exchange Best

Enable to see NASDAQ TotalView® on NASDAQ-listed securities. All other securities will display Level II data.

If disabled, you will only see the best bid/offer for each market participant. Only available to clients with Level II data enabled for their accounts.

NSDQ Book

ARCA Book

Check the NSDQ or ARCA Book to display quotes and time & sales from the NASDAQ or ARCA book. These will display as 'nsdq' and 'arca' respectively.

 

 

TIME & SALES
DISPLAY SETTINGS

New Time & Sales Info at Top

This makes all new time & sales to appear from the top vs. the bottom.

Color Time & Sales Info

Will color-code the Time and Sales for regular and ECN prints. The following are the default colors, but you can change these by going to Settings > Colors in the Trading window menu.

Green: Trades at the inside Ask

Red: Trades at the inside Bid

White/Gray: Trades in between the inside Bid/Ask

Yellow: Trades above the inside Ask

Purple: Trades below the inside Bid

Gray Highlight: Quote change; not a transaction

Show Time on Sales

This option will display the time of each print.

Print Quote Changes in Time & Sales

Will highlight in grey and print quote changes in the Time & Sales panel.

Show Equity Print Volume in 100's

If unchecked, the full volume for a print will display. If it is checked, the print will display without the last two zeros to save screen space.

Show Option Condition Codes

When enabled, the Time and Sales window of your L2 Options tab displays a "condition code" that indicates one of several conditions for Time & Sales prints. This is available to help you identify why trades may have executed ahead of your own, or to show the strategy used in the trade.

If you choose to leave the feature enabled, T&S prints with the following conditions will be indicated:

  • OSEQ - Trade reported late & out of sequence
  • CNCL - Last reported trade was canceled
  • AUTO - Trade was electronically executed
  • SPRD - Trade was part of a spread order
  • STDL - Trade was part of a straddle order
  • BWRT - Trade was part of a buy/write order

T&S Trades Back

Shows a certain number of trades backward when loading a new stock. For instance, if you want to see the last 20 prints for the stock each time you load a new one, set this to 20. The maximum is 40 trades back.

To expand this view up to the last 1000 trades, right-click in the T&S window and select Request Expanded T&S.

DISPLAY EXCHANGE LABELS ON PRINTS

If an exchange is checked, each time a print comes through Time & Sales from that exchange, the ID for the exchange will display next to the print. Prints from unchecked exchanges will display without an exchange tag.

Exchange Codes

BSE - Boston Stock Exchange

CIN - National Stock Exchange

CSE - Chicago Stock Exchange

NAS - NASDAQ

NYS - New York Stock Exchange

OTC - Over the Counter

OTCBB - Over the Counter Bulletin Board

PHS - Philadelphia Stock Exchange

PSE - NYSE Arca

WCB - Chicago Board Options Exchange

BATY - BATY Exchange

EDGA - EDGA Exchange

EDGX - EDGX  Exchange

 

COMMISSIONS
DISPLAY SETTINGS

Display Estimated Order Cost Including Commissions

If checked, the estimated order amount displayed in the Order Verification window will include the estimated commissions specified in the fields below.

Equities/Options Commissions

Enter the estimated commissions to use in calculating the estimated order cost.

NOTE:  Only enter a commission value for the type of commission structure currently assigned to your account. Do not enter a value in both the 'per trade' and 'per share' fields. Leave one of the fields blank.

 

 

Copyright ©Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. 2011. All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0411-2708)