Hey Gareth

I have encountered the Rithmic dropouts a number of times - not only on Tickblaze but with other platforms as well.

I have had guidance from Tickblaze support and have developed a standard operating procedure that I now follow. As the root cause is difficult to pin down I also cover standard IT and trading practice rules.

I ensure the trading platforms and R Trader Pro have been shut down overnight and the computer has been turned off.

At the start of my trading day I reboot the computer

Right click on the Time and Date in the task bar and choose settings.

Scroll down to additional settings and click the Sync now button

Then conduct an internet Speed Test and verify robust connection.

Then boot R Trader Pro and confirm that all accounts are active. I take dashboard screenshots at start of Trading day and end of trading day. I verify that the default Trader risk parameters are set so that R Trader Pro will close all positions so my MAE is not hit - and in the event of a broker error with Tickblaze Rithmic will still close the positions. I have included a description at the end of this message - as it is a good risk management strategy.

Then right click the Tickblaze Desktop icon and run Tickblaze as an administrator. (This minimises out of sync with Atomic clock errors)

Tickblaze prep;

Confirm Data Connection and Broker connections are active

Ensure correct leader and follower accounts have been selected in the Ignite copier

Enable Copy groups in Ignite Copier

Refresh all charts before entering any trades

Issues that have been a common denominator with prior out of sync issues I have experienced:

Using RenkoBXT charts (or any other chart type that uses tick data including range and volume and tick)- especially if the lookback period is set to more than 2 days.
Some indicators had at one point had an issue (I believe it was the MTF Filter) thogh I do not use that myself
Trades taken with the TMS - I personally now only open positions and set Stop loss and profit targets manually.

Rithmic is a very old platform and does get a lot of negative press

If a broker error occurs I follow this process:

Refresh the Broker connection

If this doesn't work I disconnect the broker connection and reconnect it

Note: If I have open positions I now close them manually; In the Ignite copier I hit the Flatten all button - if this does not close them because of out of sync I go to the positions tab in Tickblaze and click on the red minus sign - if this does not close them I close them manually in R Trader Pro

(Note; If Tickblaze and R Trader are out of sync it is possible that ghost orders appear as Tickblaze and Rithmic are out of sync - eg; closing an order manually in R Trader may open an order in Tickblaze.

I close everything down and relaunch R Trader and Tickblaze in this event.

Big disclaimer: This process is just what I have done - it doesn't mean it is the correct method to follow and it is intended as information to help you. There are far more experienced traders in this community who may be able to offer more guidance

I have changed from using Rithmic data to using the premium dxFeed data (and found this to be very reliable)

This is the R Trader Pro risk management process I follow

In your R TRader Dashboard right click on your account (can be PST or any prop firm) - This brings up a menu with the top item named \"View Risk Parameters\" - Left click on it and it will will have 3 Risk Parameter tabs - go to the 3rd tab named Risk Parameters set by Trader - this will bring up a settings section. The first column has your account number - the second column (Auto Liquidate) click in the data and select Enabled - The third column is Auto Liquidate Criteria and it has a number of selection options - I select Loss Limit - the fourth column is Auto Liquidate Threshold and input the amount of my DRB (10% of my max drawdown eg $250 - or a little less to allow for slippage). What this does is set a daily loss limit that will limit losses in that account to the value that is set – it will auto liquidate any open positions in that account. (That is - any trades that are open - if your daily loss reaches the set value it will close your positions. Do this for each account you have. It can be overwritten by going back into the risk parameters menu and setting the value to a higher value - but you would need a very valid reason to change that.

Hope this helps