Marketiva Streamster Platform and Charting

Download streamster

Streamster is an application you need to download and install on your computer in order to use our services. When you download it from downloads page you need to install the application on your local computer and run it to access our services.

Trade without streamster

In order to trade at Marketiva you have to download and install the Streamster application. There are no other ways to trade. To get the Streamster, please go to downloads page.

Operating system

We currently directly support Windows 98 / Me / 2000 / XP / Vista / 7. There is a development version that can work through Wine simulator on Linux and some other Unix operating systems, but we do not have a release version at this moment. If you have Mac OS, you may use PC simulator.

No linux version

There is only 0.4% of our web site visitors that have Linux OS installed. The release version is much more than releasing an executable and will have to include Linux support that we are currently unable to provide. Unfortunately there is no economical backing to launch a Linux client version at this moment. On the other hand, Marketiva runs all its servers on Linux.

Split, merge windows

Streamster allows you to completely change placement and order of its windows. If you click on a window tab (without releasing mouse button) and drag it to a section of an existing window, that window will split into two new windows. You can do the same but in the opposite direction

merge all windows into one.

Show, hide, reorder columns

Streamster allows you to add, remove and reorder columns in its windows to suit your needs: Click on the Columnsbutton within a window, then select the columns you wish to see and use Move Upand Move Downbuttons to move columns left and right in the window, respectively. Click OK.

Clear trading windows

To remove all executed or cancelled orders, confirmed trades or closed positions from respective trading windows, please click on Clearbutton within the window.

Chat flash, save, clear

When channel name flashes, it means there is a new and unseen chat content in that chat channel. If you want to save text from a chat channel, simply click on the Savebutton and browse to a location where you want to save a log file. If you want to clear text from a chat channel, simply click on the Clearbutton and the chat content will be deleted.

Set up sound, voice, visuals

To setup sound, voice, chat features, and other Streamster settings, please click on the Settingsbutton located at the top of the application window.

Setup chinese, arabic letters

If you want to see Chinese and Arabic letters in the chat instead or replacement squares, you need to open [Control Panel] and go to the [Regional and Language Options]. Select [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East-Asian languages].

Security

Streamster uses industry-standard 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to encrypt the communication between you and the Streamster Server. Streamster protects your privacy by encrypting any and all data received and sent between Streamster and the Streamster Server, and by verifying the identity of the Streamster Server prior to any communication.

Using API

Streamster API is a simple yet powerful application program interface for access to Marketiva services via the industry standard SOAP protocol, which is widely supported on practically every programming platform, including PHP, Visual Basic, C#, C++, Java and many other languages and platforms. There is no need to install any additional software because the SOAP service is already built into Novativa Streamster. You just need to log on to your account and click the Settingsbutton. Under [Advanced] tab, turn-on [Enable web service API] box and click OK. For detailed information regarding the Streamster API, its methods, structures and sample code, please see API page.

Wiki indicators

We are offering a number of indicators to raise your trading to a higher level. You could easily combine indicators based on different mathematical models to get the best trading results. To read more on various indicators please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis page.

Add indicator

To add a new indicator on a chart: right-click within the [Charting] window. On context menu click [Indicators] and click on one of the indicators offered. You are then able to adjust default settings for added indicator, find out more details about the indicator and to remove it immediately. Place cursor within the [Charting] window and click or wait for few seconds for settings pane to hide.

Edit or remove indicators

Click on the curve of the indicator you wish to edit or remove. When the settings pane opens on the left of the [Charting] window, you can change indicator's parameters or click [Remove this indicator]. To remove all indicators from a chart: right-click within the [Charting] window and on the context menu click [Indicators] and then [Remove Active Indicators].

Open multiple charts

In order to monitor multiple charts at the same time, you need to right-click on an existing chart and select [New Charting Tab] option. When the new chart shows up, you can click on its tab and drag it to a place you prefer. You can also save your chart configurations in a chart collection, so you can later open these charts quickly.

Read charts

In the top-right corner of the [Charting] window, you can see market instrument ID and timescale shown in the chart. The x-axis refers to the date and time while the y-axis refers to the selected instrument price. Movement of the instrument's price can be displayed in various forms, like a curve, bars and candlesticks that spread from left to right.

Chart transforms to line

If you see your chart as one horizontal line, it happened because you placed a fixed horizontal line (indicator) for one instrument and then changed to an instrument with a completely different price range (e.g. one instrument can range around 1.2000 and the other can range around 120.00). To fix that, simply remove all the indicators from the chart, by selecting that option in the chart context menu.

Account How To

Change Name or Username

To change your first or last name, or your username, please go to name change page and send a request. Please make sure you close all open positions and cancel all active orders before sending the request for username change

Change address

To change your contact information, please go to the change contact info page

Add virtual funds

If you have less than $2000 on your virtual trading desk, we are able to refill the virtual funds for you. In that case, please send an e-mail to support@marketiva.com.

Recover password page

If you forgot your password, you can recover it by filling out a password recovery form at recover password page. If you cannot remember some of the information there, you can join our live support channel where we will be able to ask you additional questions about your account, and reset your password.

Recover password e-mail

Please send an e-mail to support@marketiva.com. Please send us your username, full name, address, zip, phone, security question / answer and all the information you can remember from your account. If the data matches, we will be able to reset and send you a new password.

Change password

Please go to change password page where you can change your password. For security purposes, we recommend you to change your password once per month.

Delete account

We do not allow users to delete their accounts. In case we will allow that our $5 rewards program could be misused and was misused in the past. We provide an option for a user to close his / her account.

Close account

In order to close your account you have to send a message through the closing account page with such a request. The message should contain the reason for the account closure and a confirmation that no new, duplicate account will be opened.

Minimum opening amount

We have no requirements for initial deposit. When you open an account you get real $5 reward and virtual $10000 for training. If you want to open an account please go to open account page and fill out the form there.

One account per person

Marketiva has very strict one person one account policy. No matter if an account is in good standing or is cancelled or closed, we do not allow same person to hold two different accounts. If our administration system detects there are multiple accounts registered by the same person, such account holders will be required to provide supporting documentation. In case there are severe violations of this policy, Marketiva may block any access to such users. This policy was introduced as a response to many related misuses Marketiva has experienced in the past.

Trade from same computer

Marketiva allows more than one user to trade from the same computer or location. If two or more users want to trade from the same computer or location they must provide identification documents for all accounts and each account holder must trade his own account at a time.

Only you can trade

Each account with Marketiva must be registered for one particular individual and by that same individual. We do not offer corporate accounts or accounts that will be managed by third parties with a limited power of attorney.

Sccount information

To see your account information, username and account number, you can login to your Account Center at account center page.

Portfolio page

The [Portfolio] window displays your current cash and market instrument positions for live and virtual trading desks. Please check portfolio page for more details.

Billing page

A detailed summary of your Marketiva billing transactions can be viewed at billing page.

Positions page

A detailed history of your positions can be viewed at positions page.

Orders page

A detailed history of your orders can be viewed at orders page.

Manage desks

You can create, delete or edit your desks on the desk management page. Each Marketiva account can have up to 32 different desks so you can better organize your funds. Please check manage desks page for more information.

Transfer funds

You can transfer your funds between Default Desk and any other Live Trading desk, or between two Live Trading desks. You can also transfer funds between two Virtual Trading desks. To transfer funds please go to transfer funds page. The Default Desk is for deposits and withdrawals only and you can't trade on that desk.

Account performance

You can check the gross and net profit and other performance parameters of your account, including

maximum drawdown, number of winning trades, number of losing trades and others. Please check account performance page for more information.

Reset account

If you want to reset your Streamster's windows layout and your rates, chat and news subscriptions, please go to reset account page and follow the simple procedure there.

Managed accounts

We currently do not provide managed account services. You can check again later as we might offer that service in the future.

Entry Exit Orders, GTC, GTD, IOC, Limit Stop, Quantity

Stop-loss

A stop-loss order ensures a particular position is automatically liquidated at a predetermined price in order to limit potential losses should the market move against a trader's position.

Exit-target

Exit target level is a price level at which you want to close your position, when you reach certain profit. You can set the exit target level when you open your position or at any time while the position is open.

Stop-loss & target

A stop-loss order ensures a particular position is automatically liquidated at a predetermined price in order to limit potential losses should the market move against a trader's position. Exit target level is a price level at which you want to close your position, when you reach certain profit. You can set the exit target level when you open your position or at any time while the position is open.

Limit & stop

Initiating a trade with a stop order means that you will only open a position if the market moves in the direction you are anticipating. A limit order is an order to buy below the current price, or sell above the current price.

Long & short

Long (buy then sell) position and short (sell then buy) position are

a long position is simply one in which a trader buys a market instrument at one price and aims to sell it later at a higher price. In this scenario, the trader benefits from a rising market. A short position is one in which the trader sells a market instrument in anticipation that it will depreciate. In this scenario, the trader benefits from a declining market.

GTC, GTD, IOC

GTC (Good Till Cancelled) order will stay in the market until you cancel it and it is the default order duration type. GTD (Good Till Date) will stay in the market until a date you specify, and IOC (Immediate Or Cancel) order will be executed immediately (if other order conditions are met) or cancelled.

Full & partial

There is currently no difference if you select full of partial quantity type in your [Send Order] dialog. That field is intended for other asset classes and is not in use for currently available instruments. Please disregard it at this moment.

Flexible quantity

You can specify any position size in our trading system, as we don't have strict quantity specifications. For example, you can specify

1, 3, 7, 23, 154, 837, 3497, 10000, 100000 or any other quantity when you send an entry order.

Point or pips value

Point or pips is the smallest change in a market instrument's price. If a price changed from 1.2000 to 1.2001 or from 201.10 to 201.11, it changed for 1 point. Point value depends on your position size.

Profit calculation

The objective of trading is to buy a market instrument and later sell the same market instrument for a higher price. In case of margin trading, trader can also sell a market instrument first and later buy the same market instrument for a lower price. Either way, trader has to close position in order to lock in the profit.

Let us assume that you open a long position by buying a market instrument for 129.38 (quantity of 10000) and few hours after that, you close the position by selling it for 129.52 (same quantity of 10000). These two trades would bring you profit of (129.52 - 129.38) * 10000 = 1400.

We can also say that these two trades would bring you 14 "points" profit. A "point" is the smallest increment in an instrument's price. For the instrument in the above example, one point is 0.01 and for an instrument denominated with 4 decimals, one point would be 0.0001. Expressing position profits in points is often very useful for quick calculations and estimates.

One point, from the example position above, would bring you 0.01 * 10000 = 100 profit, denominated in the same currency the market instrument is denominated in.

In case of Forex, currency pair denomination will be in the counter currency (JPY is the counter or quote currency in the USD/JPY pair) and you may need additional currency conversion to get profit calculated in the currency your trading account is denominated in.

Goal in trading

Your goal in trading is to buy at a lower price and sell afterwards for a higher price. For example you can buy a market instrument (quantity of 10000) for 1.2349 and sell it later for 1.2458. You will make a profit of 109 (in currency the instrument is denominated in).

Control risk

The limit order and the stop-loss order are the most common risk management tools in trading. A limit order places restriction on the maximum price to be paid or the minimum price to be received. A stop-loss order ensures a particular position is automatically liquidated at a predetermined price in order to limit potential losses should the market move against a trader's position.

Execution risks

Market prices always move in point increments. It is often for 1 point, but very frequently the price moves can be for 2, 3, 5 or more points. When markets are volatile (e.g. week openings, news announcements, significant events) instrument prices can move 50 points or more in just one single jump, which can greatly affect execution of your orders. For example, if a price jumps from 200.10 to 200.50 (in just one 40 points move) and your short position's stop-loss was at 200.20, your position would be closed at the current market price of 200.50, which is 30 points worse than your stop-loss level. On the other hand, if your long position's exit target was at 200.20, your position would again be closed at the current market price of 200.50, which is 30 points better than your exit target level.

Position kept open

As a general rule, a position is kept open until one of the following occurs

1) realization of sufficient profits from a position; 2) the specified stop-loss is triggered; 3) another position that has a better potential appears and you need these funds.

Strategy should use

Traders make decisions using business reports, economic fundamentals, technical factors and other relevant information. Technical traders use charts, trend lines, support and resistance levels, and numerous patterns and mathematical analyses to identify trading opportunities, whereas fundamentalists predict price movements by interpreting a wide variety of economic information, including news, business reports, government-issued indicators and reports, and even rumors. The most dramatic price movements, however, occur when unexpected events happen. The event can range from a central bank raising domestic interest rates to the outcome of a political election or even an act of war. Nonetheless, more often it is the expectation of an event that drives the market rather than the event itself.

Times to trade live

You can trade from Sunday 17:00 to Friday 17:00 New York local time. Virtual trading is open at all times. Please visit http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=179 to check New York local time. The following approximate market schedule is based on New York local time

Japan markets open at 19:00 followed by Singapore and Hong Kong that open at 21:00. European markets open in Frankfurt at 2:00, while London opens an hour later. New York markets open at 8:00 (NYSE opens at 9:00). European markets close at 12:00 and Australian markets start again at 18:00.

Spread list

Spreads between bid and offer (ask) prices are variable. Price spreads often unexpectedly change and greatly increase during weekends, in after-hours trading, in case of market-related announcements or market turmoil.

Marketiva masters

You can see the list of top traders on our virtual trading desks, who took part in the Marketiva Masters tournament, at marketiva masters page and see how successful they are. You can compete in the tournament by just trading on your virtual trading desk.