I think I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask here for a confirmation:

Does Tradestation allow users to run both sim and live trading?

I don't believe so, since I have to log out of my sim account to get to my live account. I need to run a sim on the next generation of a strategy I have written, but I don't want to do so at the expense of pulling the plug on an existing profitable strategy. Backtesting can only get me so far.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

~vmodus

vmodus 

I think I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask here for a confirmation: Does Tradestation allow users to run both sim and live trading? ~vmodus

Hi, this is an earlier NexusFi thread on the exact topic from 2014, that hopefully will help you out.

Demo and live account in parallel Hi guys, I am running a live account with TradeStation trading the Larry williams Oil Strategy. At the same time, I have developed some of my own strategies and would like to test and optimize them on TradeStation. Is there a suggested method to …

Looks like you can get a 2nd platform login for your Tradestation account. Also in that thread is some interesting advice from @kevinkdog on strategy development, regarding using sim vs demo vs live.

vmodus,

if you want to be logged into simulated trading and live trading at the same time, this might require a second user id:
https://community.tradestation.com/Discussions/Topic.aspx?Topic_ID=158606

One idea could be to forward test the strategy in your live account without enabling the order generation for the account, but maybe only display the orders in TradeManager.

Regards,

ABCTG

ABCTG 

vmodus, if you want to be logged into simulated trading and live trading at the same time, this might require a second user id: https://community.tradestation.com/Discussions/Topic.aspx?Topic_ID=158606 One idea could be to forward test the strategy in your live account without enabling the order generation for the account, but maybe only display the orders in TradeManager. Regards, ABCTG

Thanks @ABCTG. That is a good idea and solves part of the problem. The main requirements I have is being able to track performance against the sim account, i.e. just setting my strategy and letting it run. I think there may be a developer option available, as long as you are selling something in the Trading App Store then there is no charge for the platform. I know my partner was able to do this a few years ago.

This is one of the things I like about Sierra Chart: I can have it open on two machines, one for development and one for live trading. Unfortunately, I haven't learned Sierra Chart well enough or have it linked to a brokerage account. Baby steps....

Thanks again!

~vmodus

vmodus 

I think there may be a developer option available, as long as you are selling something in the Trading App Store then there is no charge for the platform.

This is not a good option any longer. While you get a discounted platform as a developer, TS charges $99/month for TradingApp Store. Plus makes you pay professional exchange fees.

Solidus 

This is not a good option any longer. While you get a discounted platform as a developer, TS charges $99/month for TradingApp Store. Plus makes you pay professional exchange fees.

Thanks, I appreciate the information. We have a couple of accounts with them, but they are both actively traded. Shutting down an account for sim testing is an opportunity cost we don't necessarily want.

I read the forum post ABCTG provided. I understand the reasoning behind what they are doing, but I don't necessarily like it. At least give us an option to playback a trading session (like Sierra) or emulate live trading working offline, or allow working with delayed data (which costs next to nothing).

Of course we could open another account, but then that would just drive me nuts. Oh well.

Thanks again!

~vmodus