Run and operate VisualHFT
Configure a connector, select a venue and symbol, verify feed health, operate studies, and shut the system down cleanly.
This guide covers the Core and Pro operator loop: establish one feed, verify it independently, then add analytics. Connector settings differ by venue and by the plugins available to your account.
Before market data starts
Record the intended session configuration before connecting:
- venue or provider;
- normalized symbol;
- requested depth;
- update or aggregation interval;
- studies you intend to run;
- whether the session is live or replayed;
- where data should be recorded, if recording is enabled.
Keeping this small checklist makes a later diagnosis reproducible.
Configure a connector
Open Plugins Management from the Dashboard toolbar and select a market connector. Inspect its current status before changing saved settings. The available fields are owned by the connector, but the sequence is consistent:
- Open the connector’s settings.
- Enter the venue symbol or symbols in the format described by that connector.
- Set depth or aggregation only when those controls are present.
- Supply credentials only when the connector and requested data require them.
- Save the configuration, then start or restart the connector when required.
Public crypto market data commonly does not require an API key. Never paste trading credentials into a market-data-only connector unless its documentation explicitly requires them.
Verify the feed before trusting a chart
Use at least two independent observations. A moving chart alone does not prove that the feed is complete or current.
| Check | Healthy signal | Investigate when |
|---|---|---|
| Connector state | STARTED and provider connected | STOPPED_FAILED, reconnecting, or repeatedly cycling |
| Order book | Bid and ask levels update | One side is empty, crossed, or frozen |
| Time & Sales | Recent trades arrive | Depth moves but trades remain absent |
| Timestamps | Advance with the market | Values are stale or jump backward |
| Notifications | No persistent error | Repeated parse, socket, or entitlement errors |
For multi-venue work, verify each connector separately before placing the venues on the same comparison surface.
Select venues and symbols
Connectors publish a normalized symbol for downstream use, but the setting you enter may still be venue-specific. If a symbol produces no data:
- confirm that the instrument is active on the venue;
- confirm the connector’s symbol convention;
- check quote currency and contract type;
- verify the market-data entitlement for that venue;
- inspect connector notifications before changing unrelated settings.
Avoid guessing tick size, price precision, or size multipliers. Those values belong to instrument or connector metadata.
Add studies deliberately
Start a study only after its input feed is healthy. Some metrics require an observation window or enough trades to fill an internal bucket, so an initial N/A or neutral value can be correct.
When a study stays empty:
- confirm that its configured provider and symbol match the live feed;
- verify whether it consumes order books, trades, or both;
- allow its minimum warm-up window to complete;
- check Marketplace ownership or plan access for that plugin;
- review notifications for calculation or subscription errors.
Operate a multi-venue Dashboard
Bring venues online one at a time. For each new feed, record the connection time and validate freshness independently. Only then use cross-venue charts or analytics.
Differences between venues are not automatically data errors. Check timestamp basis, instrument equivalence, depth, aggregation cadence, and quote currency before interpreting a divergence as latency or price dislocation.
Respond to a degraded feed
If a connector becomes stale or disconnected:
- treat dependent analytics as degraded;
- capture the connector state, last data timestamp, provider, and symbol;
- check whether other venues still update;
- inspect the notification details;
- stop and restart only the affected connector when possible;
- escalate with the captured details if the condition repeats.
Do not repeatedly restart the entire application before preserving evidence. A broad restart can erase the distinction between a connector problem, a plugin problem, and a host problem.
Save and close cleanly
Before exiting:
- stop active Session Recorder or Event Capture Recorder sessions and confirm finalization;
- stop replay sessions;
- stop connectors that own external sessions;
- close VisualHFT normally.
An abrupt process termination can leave a recording or plugin without its normal finalization path.