Ask us anything

The Lightspeed Trader trading platform provides daily buying power figures. To determine how much cash, you have in your trading account log into the secure Lightspeed Secure client area and refer to either the Equity or the Account Summary Report.

Sometimes a computer can go offline and stop connecting to a quote server. Lightspeed suggests performing the following steps if you are not getting quotes:

1. Log off your trading platform, then log back on. This will re-establish your connection to our quote servers. If this does not work, then perform the next step:

1. Shut down the computer, turn off the modem and/or router. Keep them off for 60 seconds. Then turn on your modem/router and then start up your computer.

If neither of the above work and you is still not getting quotes, please call our tech support team at 1-888-577-3123, and press option number 4 so they can help you troubleshoot further.

Green E = Easy to borrow, you can place a short order at anytime

Grey L = Locate required. You would need a locate to place short orders which can be obtained by emailing shorts@lightspeed.com to request a locate. Please provide the account number, symbol, and number of shares. Additionally, we offer an automated Short locate tool through the software to allow a request for a pre-borrow fee. Please contact service@lightspeed.com to request to have this feature enabled. You may also view an instructional video here.

Red T = Threshold symbol, No locates available.

Red CB = Stock is currently under a circuit Breaker and may not be shorted on Bid

Right-click in your Market Maker Box and select “Settings”. Select the “Design” sub-tab and check “Show Margin Requirements.” When this option is checked, the Margin Requirement will appear in the top right corner of Level 2 with an Icon, displaying 25% (marginable) or 100% (non-marginable).

Lightspeed’s trading hours of operation are 4 AM to 8 PM EST on weekdays only.

You can access the program outside of trading hours to changes to your layout or configurations. Market data will not be available outside of market hours. There are times when the software will be unavailable during weekends due to server updates and maintenance.

Lightspeed Trader protects customers from sending odd lot orders to certain venues because of prohibitive pricing enforced by these ECN’s. We recommend placing your odd-lot order on Nasdaq (ISLD).

Yes, to change the Display in your Order Window, right-click and choose the “Change Display.” Here you can add or filter out Active Orders, Cancelled Orders, or Executed Orders.

Right-click on the Chart and choose “Settings”. Under the ‘Chart Parameters’ tab, you can change the time frame under Period, select the Interval, and the number of days or weeks back you’d like to view.

Yes, you can get an audible alert when an execution occurs by checking the box in the Trading Tab, Warnings sub-tab – look in the lower right for ‘Execution Sound’.

Lightspeed chart data displays 7 days of intraday chart history, regardless of the minute bar time frame you choose.

The Lightspeed Trader clock represents the time on the PC Clock. To edit it, log out of Lightspeed Trader, change the PC clock and log back in. We recommend setting your clock to the Eastern Standard Time and Time Zone while trading, for best results.

The recommended DPI setting on the local PC is normal (96) or small (100) for Lightspeed to be viewed properly. To set your windows DPI setting, select the Advanced Settings on the Windows Display Properties, Settings sub-tab.

By default, the Lightspeed keyboard key for this function is “\”.

Your layout can be automatically saved every time you log out. If you made changes to your layout that you are not happy with and you do not know how to undo them, there is an option when you log out to NOT save configuration changes or changes to your keyboard mappings.

As a backup, you can save the layout file to your computer through the Layout menu. Please click here to view an instructional video.

Yes, ask your Relationship Manager for permission to leave your day orders open after logout.

Users can click on the “L” icon in the top left corner of any window and select Lock from the menu. This will ensure this window is displayed on all your pages.

There is a list of available indices available for download on the website. All indices are preceded by a “.”

The Lightspeed Trader Design Tab offers a drop-down to Mark P&L by Last Trade or Inside Market.

To view Level 2 quotes, right-click on Level 2 and select settings. Under ‘Integrate Direct Quotes’, you can check ECNs you would like to integrate and adjacent, select several price levels to integrate or uncheck the ECN if you would not like them displayed at all.

The Lightspeed predefined custom orders labeled for Buy and Sell will allow for aggressive/actionable orders to be generated and submitted directly for execution. The buy order will be priced at the current offer, and the sell order will be priced at the current inside bid.

The Bid/Offer keys would generate the pop-up box or populate the order entry form which will then require the order to be submitted with additional confirmation. The Bid order will be priced at the inside Bid, and the Offer order will be priced at the inside Offer.

Essentially, the buy/sell will look to be the aggressive order while the bid/offer orders will be priced as a passive order.

Tier and Full mean the same thing: they will both send your Tier Size.

Yes, first select ‘Utilities’, then ‘Configuration settings’ in the top left corner of Lightspeed Trader, and go to the “Trading” tab. Use the “Cancels” Sub tab to check “Cancel All Orders on Market Close.”

Yes, the Trading tab is equipped with a Warnings Tab for setting your own Risk criteria and a Confirms Tab for different scenarios.

If the through amount is greater than zero, your Smart Order will try and execute with ECN’s FIRST within this amount. This will cause your order to attempt to execute with an ECN at a worse price than a market maker on the inside. We recommend setting your Smart Order Through Amount at Zero and your Allowance amount at your Marketable Limit.

The difference between the Through and Marketable limit is Through will simultaneously spray all participants up to your Through amount immediately. Marketable Limit is the amount you are willing to let the Inside Market trail up (when buying) or down (when selling) and continues to execute your order. The Through amount cannot be higher than your Marketable Limit.

Smart Orders are Lightspeed Trader’s proprietary Orders that will execute with the best-priced participant, one order at a time.

Supersmart Orders are a more aggressive proprietary Smart Router that sends many orders simultaneously on your behalf.

INCA Smart is the Nasdaq Smart Router, Nasdaq controls and routes your orders themselves.

Users can create custom orders and type RASH in as the market of choice. This will send orders to the Nasdaq Smart Router as RASH orders do. You can also use the INCA Smart Keys to access the Nasdaq Smart Router.

Yes, use the Increments tab to build an ECN Scroll List and select “ECN Scroll for your up/down arrows” or for “Repeating Command.”

Hidden orders are only accepted in certain venues. To hide an individual order, select the amount of shares you wish to be hidden under the ‘visible’ section of the order entry form. The number of shares will be what you route to have executed, while visible will be the amount that is visible.

The ESC key is programmed to Cancel All Orders. Users can also map Cancel Keys anywhere on the keyboard in the Keyboard Tab.

You can modify this setting in the “Trading” tab, under the “Cancels” sub-tab. Here you can set the ESC key to cancel all but DAY orders or to do nothing at all when pressed.

Yes. In the “Trading” tab, under the “Cancels” sub tab.  Here you can set the ESC key to cancel all but DAY orders or to do nothing at all when pressed.

To remove an ECN or Market Maker from the Level 2 display, go to Settings and uncheck the venue from the list under Integrate Direct Quotes. Off to the right of the same screen, you may also type any Market Maker or Exchange in the Exclude MM’s section to remove them from your Level 2.

The Liquidity Replenishment Point (LRP) is a volatility control for NYSE securities built into the Display Book to curb wide price movements resulting from automatic executions and sweeps over a short period of time. When triggered, LRPs automatically convert the market temporarily to a “slow” or “Auction Market” only mode, allowing specialists, floor brokers, and customers to supplement liquidity in response to the stock’s volatility. Automatic executions resume after a manual trade takes place or automatically after a specified time.

Right-click on the Level 2 screen and choose ‘settings’. Then click on the MM Boxes tab, Price Levels sub-tab. Here you are equipped with a dropdown to set a specific ECN always on top.

There is a setting in the keyboard Tab and when this is checked, all Closeout and Closeout Full orders will NOT send an order if you do not have a corresponding position in that stock. If this is not checked, these orders will always send your “Tier Size.”

Yes, there is a setting in the Tier Sizes Tab, “Reset to Default After Retype.” This will reset all Tier Sizes to the default setting every time you type up new stock.

Yes, this can be done. Just call Lightspeed client service, provide your Trader ID, the layout name you wish to transfer, and the recipient Trader ID.

The default PnL for LS Trader “Marked PnL” is mark to the market system which goes off the previous close. When holding a position overnight you will get a PnL each day based on the previous day’s closing price.

The ESC key is programmed to Cancel All Orders. Users can also map Cancel Keys anywhere on the keyboard in the Keyboard Tab.

You can modify this setting in the “Trading” tab, under the “Cancels” sub-tab. Here you can set the ESC key to cancel all but DAY orders or to do nothing at all when pressed.