At the left side under the Live Trading tab you can see all your saved Order Entry configurations (connections). You can add, remove or edit your Order Entry connections by using the buttons from the right side of the dialog. Note that the parameters that are required to connect to an Order Entry server may differ from provider to provider (of interest when you add or edit a connection).

In order to connect to an Order Entry server, you should select a previously created Order Entry configuration from the left list and press the Connect button at the right side. In the image above, the user is already connected to the selected Order Entry server, so he could only Disconnect.

By using the Change Password button, you can change your password for CQG on the server side. This feature can be used only when you are connected to CQG.

As a recent modification, the Shared Order Book settings were moved from a previous location (separate Order Entry Properties tab), here in the Live Trading tab. In order to read more about this change, please click here.

You also have three options what are related to your Live Trading settings:

Default to Entire Book view in Live Trading - If you check this option, when you connect to a live Order Entry server, the default account which will be loaded in the Account Bar will be the Entire Book.

Default Account Number for Order Entry in Account View - When placing an order, the Order Preview dialog (assuming this dialog is enabled to be shown from the Actions & Properties tab) will default either to the simple Account already selected in your Account Bar, or to Blank, depending on your selection made here.

Default Account Number for Order Entry in Group View – Analog to the setting above, but used when you selected a group in the Account Bar. It is important to mention that this setting will be enabled only when you uncheck the Place Group Orders when in Group View option from the Actions & Properties tab. You can choose from 3 possibilities: Blank - will leave the Account Number field empty in the Order Preview dialog; First - will use the first account from the group and, finally, User-defined will take the account specified in the field below that you can manually edit.

Special note: the last setting is also employed when the Order Preview dialog is not enabled. If you selected Enter the order immediately for the When Placing an Order option in the Actions & Properties tab, the order will be automatically placed for the account you set here.

Paper Trading is a simulated trading process in which would-be investors can practice investing without committing real money. In this section you may configure the behavior of the Paper Trading Engine.

The Default Account Number for Order Entry in Account View and Default Account Number for Order Entry in Group View are exactly the same settings we presented in the Live Trading tab, but they are used for the Paper Trading Engine.

The last option indicates the status of your Paper Trading connection and it can be Connected, Connecting... or Disconnected. You can use the Connect button, when you need to connect to the Paper Trading server or the Disconnect button, in order to do the opposite operation.

If an Order Entry account has not been loaded yet, this will be visible in your Account Bar and the Background color for it (by default) will be grey. You can change this background color from here.

In this section you may customize the formatting of the text that appears in all the Order Entry dialogs. The formatting parameters that you can modify are:

Name - Choose the font family from this list.

Size - Select the font size.

Bold - Check this if you need bolded text.

In this section you also will notice a sample text that 'demoes' all the modifications to the font. This way you can preview the font that will be used in the Order Entry dialogs.

You can set different order Types for different price levels (above the market, at the market, below the market) and sides (Buys or Sells). These settings are customizable independently for each exchange and for each session.

The * buttons will open a dialog from where you can override the order type at contract level.

You can select the default Order Type which will be used when placing an order by clicking on these price fields. You can choose between Market or Limit order for Last and you can select Limit only for Bid/Ask fields.

This option will define which session of a contract (Pit-traded or Electronic) will be used when placing an order for the Composite session of a contract.

Here you can set default values for quantity parameters that are involved in entering orders.

Select the Show Fat Finger warning on orders with quantity bigger than option and the application will display a warning when you attempt to enter orders with a bigger quantity than instructed here. This option will prevent unpleasant situations arising from mistyping, when the effect is a huge number set as quantity.

You can select one of the following behaviors: Use default quantity for all orders or Use most recent quantity for the next order.

Use default quantity for all orders will employ the same user-specified quantity for all orders. The same value can also be changed directly from the Order Entry Toolbar.

Use most recent quantity for the next order allows you to specify a quantity to start with; this is the default quantity set to be used when placing the first order. However, if the user overrides this quantity before placing the order (e.g. from the Order Preview dialog), the next order will use this last quantity.

You can also use Custom order quantity in order to choose distinct behaviors for each exchange. In this last case, you may specify the quantity for: Buys/Sells above the market, Buys/Sells at the market and Buys/Sells below the market.

Use these options to customize the quantity that will be used when placing an order by clicking on a Last or on Bid/Ask cell, respectively.

From this tab, you can choose the accounts that will be used to place order for specific symbols and instrument types.

Rules for each account-symbol-instrument type combination can be created, edited and removed by using the following buttons:

Use this button to add a new account rule.

Use this button to edit a previously created account rule.

Use this button to delete an account rule. It is important to mention that the rule will be immediately deleted without any warning.

An example for creating a rule: first, you should choose the Symbol by selecting it from the combo box or by typing, for example ES for E-Mini S&P 500 (Electronic).

Next, you can choose all or just some of the following Instrument Types:

Futures (e.g. 6EZ13);

Options (e.g. 6EZ13C11200);

Formulas (e.g. 6EZ13 - 6EM14);

Strategies (e.g. 6EM18:H18[FX] or 6EH14C13000:13500[VT]).

You can also select from a list of different strategy types, such as Gut, Diagonal, Straddle, Butterfly, etc... before saving the rule.

The last item is the Account that will be used for placing the order for the previously selected symbol and instrument type combination. It is important to mention that you need to be connected to Order Entry, in order to have this list populated with accounts.

If you select all the instrument types for a symbol, when you place an order for the respective symbol, the account nominated by the list will be used. If you selected just some of the instrument types, when placing an order for one of the unselected types, the application will use the default account (the one selected in the Account Bar).

The Start in option will specify the Order Entry mode that will be used at login. In order to read about the differences between Live Trading and Paper Trading mode, please click here. If you opt to use the Previous Setting, the application will start in the last mode active before logout.

Check the Automatically Reconnect Broken Connections option, if you want to reconnect to Order Entry following eventual disconnects.

This section allows you to customize the application's behavior regarding order placing.

You can choose from three different behaviors When Placing an Order. Your options are the following: Enter the order immediately (will interact with the Show order review dialog option detailed a few paragraphs below), Preview the order or Show the Order Ticket. In order to read more about these, please check the Order Preview and Order Ticket sections of this Help document.

As we mentioned in the Order Entry section, you can place an order from any module where you have Last / Bid / Ask info; a left-click will place a Buy order and a right-click a Sell order. The Place Order By: option allows you to place an order by Single-clicking or Double-clicking.

Check the Place Group Orders when in Group View option, if you want to place group orders after selecting a group account in the Account Bar. The group accounts can be defined on the Order Entry provider's side or on the user's side by pressing the Account Groups button from the Order Entry Bar. In order to read more about how to create and use group accounts, please click here.

In this section, you can specify two different options that will change the way you can see your fills in the Orders & Positions Monitor screen.

Show remaining/total quantities on partially filled orders will toggle whether, for partially filled orders, we show a text (e.g. in the Quantity column of an Orders & Positions Monitor) formatted as "filled quantity / total quantity", or the filled quantity, solely.

For the second, Show Electronic Spread Fills: you can display the fills as Differential (per-strategy) and Legs (per each leg).

You need to check this section, in order to change the Profit/Loss options of the application.

You can select from three possibilities for the P/L Engine Offsetting Algorithm: FIFO Intraday First, FIFO (First-In First-Out) or LIFO (Last-In First-Out).

You can Mark Profit/Loss to Last Trade or Bid/Ask.

By checking / unchecking the Show account groups including Entire Book and Sales Codes option you will show / remove all the group accounts from the Account Bar. As mentioned in the description, if you uncheck it, you will also remove the Order Entry provider-side defined groups too. In order to read more about Account Groups, please click here.

If you select the second option: Show warning message when performing an order entry function on a default or custom group of accounts you will get the warning from the right before placing an order for the Entire Book group:

If you check the Abbreviated Messages option, all your Order Entry messages (for example in Order Review or Order Activity Log) will be shorter. Please take a look at the image below.

In the GUI Alerts section you can change the way you will be notified in different cases, for example when you place an order, get rejected (Alert option) or get a fill (Fill Messages). You can choose from four different possibilities: Pop up, Pop under, Pop under with preview and None.

When you choose None you will not get notification messages at all.

If you select Pop up, each message will appear in a pop-up dialog.

Use the Pop under option, if you don't want to be disturbed by the pop-up dialogs. If you select this option, when you get an alert, an icon will appear in your Status Bar.

The Pop under with preview option is similar to the previous Pop under one, but when you get an alert you will also see a short bubble message above the notification icon.

You can check these notification messages in two ways:

• If you keep the mouse over the notification icon a tooltip will appear that shows a short description about the events.
• By double-clicking the icon, the Order Entry Notifications dialog will appear that contains more detailed information.

In this section you can set up the Order Entry system to send you notification e-mails for both Live Trading and Paper Trading modes by checking the Send email in Live Trading and/or the Send email in Paper Trading options. In order to read more about the difference between these two modes, please click here.

You may also choose from a list of actions for which you need to receive notification e-mails: for new Fill, new Order, cancel Order, cancel/replace Order, Rejected Orders or Suspended Orders.

By making changes in the Place Order Preview section of this tab, you can customize the look of the Order Preview window that appears when you place an order.

It is important to mention that the Order Preview dialog will appear only if you activated the Preview the order selection for the When Placing an Order option in the Actions & Properties tab.

You can choose from Upper-Left, Upper-Right, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right and Center when you select the position of the preview dialog on your screen (the Place Order Preview on Screen in option).

The other options will change the look of the Order Preview dialog. In order to read more about it, please click here.

The Order Preview dialog looks a little bit different when you are placing an order versus when you cancel/replace one. Change the options in the CXL/R Order Preview section of this tab, in order to modify the position or the look of the Cancel/Replace Order Preview dialog.