6. Trader GUI - adharapayments/User-Manual GitHub Wiki

The ACT GUI provides a monitoring and control environment for a users's algorithmic trading.
Actual trading will be typically driven by a program written in popular languages such as Java or C# from the user's computer, but the GUI remains an invaluable way to access a users's accounting situation, monitor trading performance, manually override strategies or execute useful macro commands such as hedging.

We will use in this manual the Adhara Demo ACT instance, which is an implementation of Adhara's ACT platform and is available both as demo and production sites.

Login window

Users login into the Adhara ACT web using credentials consisting of a user name and password that can be obtained from Adhara.

Once logged-in the user has accessed to a set of tabbed windows: Positions, Algo Trading, Manual Trading, Market Watch and Reporting.

Positions

The 'Positions' tab provides accounting information. The 'Total' sub-tab has an accounting summary of the users' cash and positions, their Mark to Market (M2M) value at the current average market price and the maximum and used margin.

The 'Strategies' sub-tab provides accounting information for each strategy.

The default account configuration includes three strategies: 'Wallet', 'Manual Trading' and an algorithmic trading strategy that will typically have the users' login name. Users may request additional algorithmic trading strategies.

The Wallet strategy is used for the account's cash deposit and withdrawing, it is maintained by the system administrator. The 'Manual Trading' and 'Algorithmic Trading' strategies keep track of the manual and algorithmic trading activity.

Algo trading

The Algorithmic trading tab provides a convenient way to monitor the performance of all the strategies that the user runs from its computer, typically using the REST programming interface.

Users can also manually kill strategies, cancel pending orders and close open positions. These buttons trigger macro commands that override programmatic connections. They can be useful to orderly disconnect strategies gone awry or when markets show an unexpected behaviour.

The summary and administration sub-tab 'MODIFY' button is used to change the strategy's public password.

Each strategy has a sub-tab that provides its equity evolution, pending orders, open positions and Profit and Loss (P&L) performance over different periods of time, together with a blotter with executed orders.

Manual trading tab

The manual trading tab has a set of functions that define a two-step manual trading procedure. It also displays manual pending orders, manual positions and a set of 'Quick Actions'.

Any activity in this tab affects only the 'Manual Trading' strategy and does not interfere with the algorithmic trading accounting.

Manual Trading: Manual trading is done with two steps.

1. Traders must prepare first a set of order parameters grouped as 'One click trading configuration': The order's amount, order type (market or limit), limit value and Validity/Time in Force value.

2. Clicking the 'Add one-click panel' button creates a manual trading order launching pad within the 'One click trading' sub-panel. Several such pre-packaged orders can co-exist, ready to be used at will by the manual trader. Actuals orders are trigger by clicking 'Sell' or 'Buy' Buttons.

This two-steps process ensures that traders have enough time to prepare orders and check for errors. It also creates a portfolio of often used orders that can be manually triggered manually.

Quick actions: These buttons trigger macro commands for manually closing all trading positions

Market watch

Market Watch panels provide an extremely useful way to visualize prices. Knowledgeable traders quickly learn to gain an intuitive, first glance understanding of the behaviour of markets and players.

Panels are arranged as tabs for different securities in one of two chart types: 'Full Book' or 'Top Of Book'. Charts are refreshed with incoming prices but they can also be frozen. Traders may zoom into the price ranging using the pips price amplitude cursor.

• The chart's top half displays ASK prices in magenta. The best (lowest) asking price is highlighted in a more intense hue.
• The chart's bottom half displays BID prices in cyan. The best (highest) bid price is highlighted in a similar way.
• The band between the best BID and ASK prices is the market spread.

Full Book:
Full Book views provide separate Bid and Ask price columns for each Bid and Ask prices are showed in columns with price points at different depths.

Top Of Book:

Reporting

This tab is used to generate reports for a given strategy. Users may select the start and end dates for the reporting period, the output format (.pdf, .doc or .xls) and output filters: All, Executed, Cancelled, Rejected or Replaced trades.