How to Switch Between Live and Demo Accounts

[toan0820 2]

Lee, thanks for the answer. Btw, I have 1 more :).

I switch to my real acct on the montage on Das so can I trade, right. But when I enter another ticker on that montage then it automatically switch back to Demo acct. Is there any way to make it not to do that? Thanks again.

[Robert H 453]

Toan, try changing the Global Default Order Configuration:

 

Go to Setup > Order Templates

For Q---Nasdaq, change Account in drop down

Hit Apply

For N---NYSE, change Account in drop down

Hit "Apply to all exchanges"

Hit "Apply"

 

If that still doesn't work, for each Montage:

Right-click the order entry area > Order Template

Check Use Global Default

[Anders 5]

Just adding on to Robert's response -- make sure when changing the account in "Setup > Order Templates" that you change it for each of the exchanges that you trade (i.e. do it for both Nasdaq and NYSE). Make sure to hit APPLY between each. It took me awhile to figure that out and I made a few trades in the wrong account before that was clear to me, so FYI.

 

 

 

 

[Lee W 82]

They’ve got it right, but I’ll add a little to it as I was speaking with DAS today about this.

 

If you change the global order configuration (setup menu, order template), you have to make sure to check the “use global” box when you right click the montage and go to order template.

 

Either way you do it, if you have an account chosen in the order template, it will always default to that account when you click a symbol, assuming you have the account set for the exchange on which that symbol is traded. So if you set the default as your U account from IB, then you change it in the montage to trade your demo account, it will switch back to the U account (the default) when you click another symbol.

 

To avoid this, don’t choose an account in the template. Leave it blank. When you choose it in the montage, it will stay that way until you change it again in the montage.

[toan0820 2]

Thanks so much guys.

[WilliamH 66]

Love this post from all of you. Very helpful for me and saved me from bugging you and asking the same question in the Chat #2 during trading. Thank you Thank you

[Joshua L 8]

I'm still confused. I went to Setup > order templates

 

The default order info is throwing me off. AON/ANY... what does that mean? time in force... what should I put? Account... I should then select my real account if I want to always trade in that account by default?

 

So then what If i make a trade in my real account and then want to switch to my simulator... I have to come back to this setup and switch it there?

 

 

[Lee W 82]

11 hours ago, Marek said:

However, when I leave account unselected and then save the desktop and reopen DAS s/w it flips back to show my TR account selected in the montage. That's still better than what happened this morning but it does appear a bit random. I guess I will need to keep a closer eye on the montage selections in the future.

Marek, that’s correct. I asked DAS about this some time ago because I wanted mine to default to blank, as well.  They told me DAS won’t do that.  They explained that if your global setting is left blank, the montage will default to the TR account upon opening the platform because it uses an alphabetical rule. Your IB account starts with U. T is before you U, so it shows TR until you make the change manually in the montage. 

[Lee W 82]

2 hours ago, Marek said:

Lee, ok, that's good to know too...at least there's a rule in place so it will probably always stay that way until I change the setting globally or locally. That way, at least I know what to expect when I open the s/w. I don't usually check everything just enter tickers and shares and trade using Andrews preconfigured buttons. The random change threw me a bit off yesterday....I guess that was just one of the glitches on the way to going live...

Marek, just to be clear, I *DID* configure my global settings and made sure the account portion is blank. This is what makes it automatically choose the TR account when I open DAS. Once I change it in the montage, it will stay on my U account all day until I exit DAS and go back in. Just wanted to make sure I was clear in what I was describing. 

[Fernando Samora 11]

Jumping on this post to ask a couple of questions.

If i select on the default setting my account will my montage(s) reflect the account I selected there? If I read everything correctly, by leaving the account part  blank in montage I will be trading on the account selected on the default order template, correct?

Ill share a screenshot when i´m back home. 

[Robert H 453]

5 hours ago, Fernando Samora said:

Jumping on this post to ask a couple of questions.

If i select on the default setting my account will my montage(s) reflect the account I selected there? If I read everything correctly, by leaving the account part  blank in montage I will be trading on the account selected on the default order template, correct?

Ill share a screenshot when i´m back home. 

There are 3 options in the Global Order Templates: Sim, Live, Blank

Whichever you select in the Global Default will be the default in your Montage (as long as that Montage has "Use Global Default" checked).

[Fernando Samora 11]

5 hours ago, Robert H said:

There are 3 options in the Global Order Templates: Sim, Live, Blank

Whichever you select in the Global Default will be the default in your Montage (as long as that Montage has "Use Global Default" checked).

 

Thanks Rob! It took me a while but i figured it out lol, can i leave the rest of the options blank? like "Share" "Route" and "AON/ANY" will it affect my hotkeys since i have them configured for Buying power %?

Thanks! 

[Robert H 453]

Since your hotkeys use BP %, default Share won't affect you. 

AON means 'All or None.' This means you intend to get the order filled completely and no partial. You rather have the order skipped when it can't be filled entirely.

ANY means you don't care if the whole order is filled and partial is OK. I use ANY.

Route should be SMRTL if you're with IB. Not sure what the other brokers default route is.

[Fernando Samora 11]

17 hours ago, Robert H said:

Route should be SMRTL if you're with IB. Not sure what the other brokers default route is.

Im using CMEG, so ill try it out on sim before anything, don´t know if it´s the same. @Robert H

[Kimberly C 0]

I know this thread is old, but I'll add one more very important thing, as I lost money this morning because every time I tried to partial or cover/sell with my demo account, the next order was executed through my live account (even though the trading account still appeared in my montage).  We finally figured out that it was because my live account number was included in some of my hot key scripts.  Check and see if that is the case.  If so, take out the ACCOUNT=U#### command.  If you have hot buttons, make sure you change the script there, too, as it does not automatically carry over the scripts entered in the hot keys.