Trading Blocks

Trading Blocks

Field block

The Field block is a trading block that retrieves market data, such as AskQty or Volume, for a connected Instrument block. You can use these values as inputs to other blocks, such as an Order block or a logical block.

The following example gets the Ask and Open prices for the CL Sep17 instrument and feeds their outputs to a Greater Than block to determine whether the market moved up since the opening.

Example Two Field blocks receive instrument data. Each extracts and outputs their designated price field data.

Market data fields

The Field block allows you to select which type of market data to monitor.

Field Name Description

Ask Market Quantity

Total quantity of resting Sell Market orders.

Ask Order Count

Number of ask orders at the specified market depth including the user’s offers (ask orders at the best ask price if depth is not provided)

Note The Field block will output a zero value if this field is unsupported by the exchange or when the market is empty. TT or the exchange can verify if a particular field is supported.

Ask Price

Ask price at the specified index level (best ask price if depth is not specified)

Ask Quantity

Ask quantity at the specified market depth including the user’s offers (ask quantity at the best ask price if depth is not specified

Bid Market Quantity

Total quantity of resting Buy Market orders.

Bid Order Count

Number of bid orders at the specified market depth including the user’s orders (bid orders at the best bid price if depth is not provided)

Note The Instrument Field block will output a zero value if this field is unsupported by the exchange or when the market is empty. TT or the exchange can verify if this field is supported.

Bid Price

Bid price at the specified index level (best bid price if depth is not specified)

Bid Quantity

Bid quantity at the specified market depth including the user’s bids (bid quantity at the best bid price if depth is not specified)

Close Price

Price at market close

Direct Ask Price

Ask price at the specified index level, taking into account only the levels where there is at least one non-implied offer (if depth is not specified: lowest ask price where there is a non-implied offer)

Direct Ask Quantity

Non-implied ask quantity at the specified market depth (if market depth is not provided: non-implied ask quantity at the lowest ask price where there is at least one non-implied bid)

Direct Bid Price

Bid price at the specified index level, taking into account only the levels where there is at least one non-implied bid (if depth is not specified: highest bid price where there is a non-implied bid)

Direct Bid Quantity

Non-implied bid quantity at the specified market depth (if market depth is not provided: non-implied bid quantity at the highest bid price where there is at least one non-implied bid)

High Price

Highest traded price during the current trading session

Implied Ask Quantity

Quantity available at the implied ask price

Implied Bid Quantity

Quantity available at the implied bid price

Last Trade Price

Last traded price

Last Trade Quantity

Either accumulated or the last quantity traded at the last traded price (depending on the user's Gateway settings)

Low Price

Lowest traded price during the current trading session

Min Price Increment

Minimum tradable increment for the specified instrument

Min Tick Increment

Minimum achievable tick increment for the specified instrument

Note A single instrument could have differing Minimum Price Increment and Minimum Tick Increment. For example, an outright S&P 500 E-mini contract has a Minimum Price Increment of 25 (because it trades in an increment of 25), but it has a Minimum Tick Increment of 5 (because an E-mini spread trades in an increment of 5).

Open Price

Price at market open

Round Lot Quantity

Size of the quantity multiples valid for trading (e.g. quantities must be a multiple of 5)

Settle Price

Settled price from the previous trading session

Settle Price Unit

Per unit settlement price. Note B3 exchange only.

Volume

Volume traded during the current trading session

Working Days to Expiry

Number of weekdays until the contract expires. Note B3 exchange only.

Workup Price

Trade price based on the BrokerTec workup matching algorithm

Lookup types

Several market data fields will inevitably vary at different depths of the market (e.g., bid quantity). For these fields, you can specify a market depth to retrieve the attribute at that price level. The LookupType block setting allows you to choose a method of specifying a market depth for applicable attributes:

  • Best. The block returns the value at the inside market.

  • Index. The Field block exposes an additional port, as shown in the following illustration. You can connect a numeric value into this port to specify a price level.

    Example Index lookup type

    Note The Index count does not take into account the price levels where the selected attribute is zero. For instance, the following illustration shows the first three index levels of the Bid quantity for the ZB Sep16 contract. In addition, when the provided index is negative or goes beyond the existing market depth, the block will output a zero for quantity-related attributes and a NaN (Not A Number) for price-related attributes

  • Price. When this option is selected, the Field block exposes an additional port, as shown in the illustration below. The user may feed a numeric value into this port to specify an index level. The index level is defined as the number of "ticks" away from the best bid/offer, taking into account only the price levels where the selected attribute is non-zero.

    Example Price lookup type

Flip for Sell Order functionality

The Order Side variable will appear automatically for any algorithm containing a block with the Flip For Sell Order functionality enabled, and the user must set this variable before launching the algorithm.

When this functionality is enabled, the following pairs of attributes will alternate depending on the user's selection of the Order Side variable.

  • Bid Price / Ask Price
  • Bid Qty / Ask Qty
  • High / Low
  • Direct Bid Qty / Direct Ask Qty
  • Bid Orders Qty / Ask Orders Qty
  • Direct Bid Price / Direct Ask Price

Block properties

To customize the block, update the Block Properties.

Property Description
Name Name to display beneath the block on the ADL canvas
Field Name

Market data field value to extract

Lookup Type

Price level to use for the value

The following lookup types allow you indicate a market depth to use:

  • Best: Inside market.
  • Index: Number of price levels away from the inside market (max=20).
  • Price: Specific price at which to retrieve the value. When selected, a price input port is added to the block.

Note The selected Field Name determines which, if any, of these lookup types are available.

Flip for Sell Order

Whether to enable a single algorithm to act either as buy or sell side routine as needed

See Flip For Sell Order Functionality for more information.