Data gap on charts right after logging in

[TheDude]

Hi all,

Siince a few days I have this problem, which seemed to be gone for a while, but now returned in all it's glory.

For a trading session, I first log in to my broker (IB), and then I open QT, which automatically starts up my charting template, using IB's data.

But it shows a huge gap on the charts at the moment I log in, causing a waste of space, and being unable to do a decent analysis. 

Please have a look at the picture.   

Anyone knows what I should do?  I have discussed the with QT (Jerry), and he was VERY helpful! But in the end, the problem is here to stay.

Anyone??  thanks a lot in advance!

[ydfah]

Have you tried clearing all of the accumulated data for this chart, then do a backfill? There could be some corrupted data stored that is throwing your chart off.

[sludgehound]

Make a backup of current settings.  Then experiment with the settings for how QT is to treat day to day hours.  For me I set Data Sources/Quotes to 8am 9pm
EST and daily charts seem ok.  For Backfill have checked both the Autoback boxes
and the Default box.  Historic Backfill has the 1 Calculate box checked.
Preferences/Timing might need settings.  Under Timing hit the Multiday box.
Mine (with Ameritrade Streamer).   Last Day Only -- Until Market Opens.
Check the Use as Global Default box.  Above that area I have 1 day set for the
Consolidate Chart Data after.
Various data feeds may act dif so may need to adjust these but should be in there among settings.  Ones I mentioned are for daily charts.  Pretty much same
if Intraday 10 minute charts.  Oh and also some Exchanges are more prone to need
experimenting with as to how they treat gaps.  Some don't send any data until first trades after opening, could take til 10 am or so if news had hit & was halted.  That can cause a misprint too.

[william]

Your gap is caused by a spike in the volume reported by IB.  On a volume chart such as yours, a single data point with huge volume that is umpteen times your volume-per-bar gets spread out horizontally across umpteen bars (notice that they all have the same time tag).

This often occurs when first connecting or getting backfill on a chart that already has data because all the trades over some preceding time period get aggregated in one report.  It happens with other data sources as well as IB.  (Volume spikes have not generally been a problem outside of the time of first connecting or backfilling; search the forum for "volume spike" to see similar issues.)  As ydfah said, clearing the chart and refilling it via backfill should fix it.  This should be adequate for a chart as "slow" (high volume per bar) as yours.

For faster charts where you don't want to lose fine-granularity data you have accumulated, open a raw data/time & sales window for your symbol and check the data at the time of the volume spike.  You may discover that there's an equally large (or nearly equal) NEGATIVE volume spike (which QT doesn't chart) right before your positive spike -- this often occurs as an artifact of connecting and/or backfilling.  In that case, you can get rid of the gap by selecting and deleting the two of them (and anything in between) from your raw data display AT THE SAME TIME.  If not, the best you can probably do is to connect earlier so that your gap will move off the chart before the time period where you actually want to use the chart for trading.

[ydfah]

WOW , good solid participation along with good solid answers, just like the good old days before the sellout.

[william]

Yeah, the good old days -- having the developers on line with us made such a huge difference, didn't it!

Can't you get bounced off the forum or something like that for using the word "sellout?" 

[TheDude]

Hi all!

WoW! I'm impressed with all the help offered here!  I will read all response carefully and try to solve the issue.  I will report back here as soon as I'm done.

Thanks again!

dude

[ydfah]

Can't you get bounced off the forum or something like that for using the word "sellout?"

Apparently not...so far!

[TheDude]

Thanks to all folks who responded!

 I figured out the option "Clear all data" in the submenu helps a lot! 

For some reason I never tried that option, I never realized it was there, till this week.  (the amount of options is just dazzling probably LOL)

Solved! Many thanks.

the dude