CHECK, the risks window, and the clock
CHECK runs the desk's self-check, and lists each check as OK, or with the reason it failed. The settings map and its bounds, whether the journal can be written, the locate ledger, the risk governor's day, the data feed thread, that paper and replay are not both on, your shortcuts, and the error log.
In this video
The 30-second version
The same topic in thirty seconds, made for a phone screen.
Both videos use the desk in paper mode with made-up symbols and prices.
Read the transcript
CHECK
CHECK runs the desk's self-check, and lists each check as OK, or with the reason it failed. The settings map and its bounds, whether the journal can be written, the locate ledger, the risk governor's day, the data feed thread, that paper and replay are not both on, your shortcuts, and the error log. It only reports: it changes nothing. Run it before a session, and again after any settings change.
RISKS
RISKS, in the header, opens the risks and disclaimers at any time. The same text is in a file beside the program, and you accept it before the desk first opens. It covers your software stops, figures that are estimates, and using the desk alongside your broker's platform, your computer's clock, and the chart library from an outside source. Take profit and stop loss are estimates from the last price seen.
The clock
Times on screen, in the log, the journal, the ladder and the chart, are your computer's local time. Market sessions follow New York time. Premarket runs from four until half past nine, New York time, market hours until four, and after hours until eight. The US and many other countries change their clocks on different dates, so for a few weeks a year, the local time of the US open moves.
One trading day
If your computer's clock or time zone is wrong, everything worked out from it is wrong too. And the trading day is anchored to New York, so an after-hours session that runs past your local midnight stays in one trading day.
CLOSE
Last, CLOSE closes the program. Open positions are not closed, and nothing protects them while the desk is not running. Flatten first, if you want to be flat.