Using 'ad hoc' instruments - need to assign exchange

[DionysusToast]

Hi

I am trying to use Ad Hoc instruments - by that I mean the ability to type in the name of an instrument and then start trading it.

I am using a scanner to find opportunities - but just Nasdaq stocks. When I see something interesting, I go over to Ninja and key in the symbol name. All fine so far, the chart appears fairly quickly and with the symbol links, all my other bits & pieces work too.

What doesn't appear to work often is the actual placing of a trade.

Today I got the following message (ignore the size, I did this one to grab the image):



This seems a bit unrealistic to me and most stock traders that trade earnings/news. The fact is I don't know what news will come out, nor do I know which stocks will move on a day so I can't set them up in advance.

Is there a way to get around this or auto-populate the relevant data in Ninja?

This is Ninja 7r2, IB & Kinetick

Thanks

Pete

[NinjaTrader_RyanM1]

Hi Pete,

You could type on chart, MSFT NASDAQ and it will use NASDAQ exchange instead of default.

You may also consider setting up most instruments in advance. One of our members has shared a list available here:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=34093

[NinjaTrader_RyanM1]

Posting an update here to let you know I corrected my thread with a technique you can use to specify the exchange on the fly.

[DionysusToast]

Thanks Ryan - I'll try both.

[DionysusToast]

Here's an update....

I tried ADTN NASDAQ but that wouldn't let me place a trade.

I found a stock list on the Nasdaq site and did the update BUT it didn't update any stocks already in my list - they stayed as 'default' - so now I need to find those because they will be set up incorrectly next time I attempt to trade them.

Sadly - there's no way to find them that I know of....

Here's the nasdaq list (2800 symbols).

[NinjaTrader_RyanM1]

The instruments can have multiple exchanges defined in the instrument manager, but when accessing them only one exchange is used at a time.

You should be able to create a list of those Nasdaq instruments using File > utilities > Import Stock symbol list. Be sure to select NASDAQ exchange and an instrument list. If the instrument already exists, it will use the settings already defined, and this is likely what you're running into.

For direct control of this, you may consider looking at the Instruments.txt file. (C:\Program Files\NinjaTrader\db) You can directly edit but unfortunately we can't provide documentation for it or support if you make changes and something doesn't work right.