Why is there a delay in my executions?

This article explains why execution delays occur and what factors affect how quickly your orders are filled by the broker. It covers the two-stage execution process, order types, market conditions, and platform performance.

Understanding the Two-Stage Execution Process

Replikanto participates only in the first stage of trading: sending orders from the leader account to the broker for each follower account. Once the order reaches the broker, it enters a second stage where the order is in a Working state, waiting to be filled by the market. At this point, the broker is responsible for filling the order according to its type and current market liquidity.

This two-stage process means that while Replikanto ensures orders are sent simultaneously to all followers, the actual fill time depends on the broker's execution speed and market conditions.

It's important to understand that Replikanto does not guarantee that follower accounts will have their orders filled at the exact same price and time as the leader account. Factors like network latency, broker processing times, and market conditions can all contribute to execution differences. These discrepancies can also lead to differences in Profit and Loss (PnL) between accounts.

How Order Type Impacts Fill Speed

The type of order you place has a significant impact on how quickly it will be filled.

• Market orders are designed for immediate execution at the best available current market price. This order type prioritizes speed of execution over price certainty. If your priority is minimizing execution delay, market orders are the fastest option.
• Limit orders will only fill at your specified price or better. If the market doesn't reach your price, the order may not be filled at all, potentially causing significant delays or preventing execution entirely. Many brokers allow placing limit orders outside market hours, which are then queued for processing when trading resumes.
• Stop orders trigger a market or limit order once a certain price is reached, introducing an additional step before execution.

Factors That Affect Execution Speed

Several external and internal factors influence how quickly your orders are filled:

• Market Liquidity: The availability of buyers and sellers at your order's price level significantly impacts execution speed. Low liquidity can lead to delays or fills at less favorable prices (slippage).
• Market Volatility: Rapid price movements can cause orders to fill at different prices than intended or even be bypassed if they are stop-loss orders.
• Broker Execution Speed: Different brokers may have varying speeds in processing and executing orders, which can lead to differences in fill prices between leader and follower accounts.
• Connectivity Provider: The broker technology and connectivity infrastructure can vary in real-time data service quality, potentially affecting the perceived speed of order submission.

Understanding the NinjaTrader Executions Tab

The NinjaTrader Executions tab displays current day execution information when connected to your brokerage account. One of the default columns in this tab is "Time", described as "The time at which the execution occurred".

An execution occurs when your order is filled by the market through your broker. Therefore, the timestamp in the "Time" column precisely indicates when the broker completed the order execution—not when Replikanto sent the order.

This is consistent with Replikanto's role in the first stage (sending orders) and the broker's responsibility in the second stage (filling orders). The execution time you see reflects when the broker successfully filled the order in the market, which is exactly how the process should work.

Optimizing Your Platform Performance

While Replikanto and the broker handle the order routing and filling process, ensuring your NinjaTrader platform is running optimally helps minimize delays in the first stage (order submission). Performance factors that affect platform responsiveness include:

• The capabilities of your PC hardware (CPU, RAM)
• The number of open workspaces, charts, and indicators
• Indicator calculation settings and complexity
• The type of internet connection (a hardwired connection is recommended over wireless)

For detailed performance guidance, refer to NinjaTrader's Performance Tips documentation.

Replikanto Features for Execution Handling

Replikanto version 1.6.0 introduced the "Market Only" feature, which copies only market order executions from the leader to the followers. This feature focuses on the actual fill as the critical event being replicated—the outcome of the broker's execution of a market order.

However, this feature doesn't speed up the broker's execution itself; it simply ensures that only completed market orders are copied, rather than attempting to replicate pending or unfilled orders.

Summary

Execution delays are a normal part of trading and occur due to the two-stage nature of order processing:

1. Stage 1 (Replikanto): Orders are copied and sent to the broker simultaneously for all accounts
2. Stage 2 (Broker + Market): Orders wait in "Working" state until filled by market conditions

If immediate execution is your priority, using market orders is the most direct way to reduce delays in the second stage, though this comes with the trade-off of price uncertainty. Keep in mind that external market factors like liquidity and volatility ultimately govern how quickly and at what price your orders are filled by the broker.