Welcome to the GTEX User online Tutorial!
This tutorial will take you through the GTEX trading system on a step-by-step
basis. It will provide you with all the information you need to trade
online with the GTEX system.
GTEX is an easy-to-use order entry program that allows you to
turn your computer into an electronic order desk. Using GTEX, you can send
trades electronically over the Internet (from anywhere in the world) to the GTEX
Desk and have them filled in seconds. GTEX provides the beginner trader with an
intuitive, easy to use interface, while giving the expert traders the speed and
accuracy they demand.
Also available with GTEX is GTEX ST (simulated trading), an
online extension of the GTEX technology. GTEX ST creates an opportunity for the
beginner to the advanced trader to enter real-time simulated orders via the
Internet. GTEX ST will allow you to simulate trading real-time where the only
simulated component will be the money.
GTEX
from the Start menu under GTEX, then select GTEX. This will bring you to the
login screen. You
would enter your Login ID, Account #, and Password. Now, click the
Trade Online button to authenticate your login.
You have nowd the GTEX Command Center. The entire trading center can be accessed
by this very powerful control center that gives you complete access
to the whole GTEX Trading System. Better yet, it leaves the desktop
free to view your charts, quotes, and news. Let's make our first trade!
Click
the Futures button, which is highlighted for you. The FUTURES window appears. All parameters
of the order are configured by drop down menus.
When you use drop down lists, such
as those listing commodities or log on names, you can easily find the entry you
want by clicking the arrow to the right of the field ,
entering the first few letters in the field, and entering return. In this example,
entering "S" brings up Soybeans from the lookup list. Here we have decided
to buy one contract of November Soybeans at the market price. These
parameters have been selected for you. Click the Year
button to complete the order. Here is the Futures Order Verification
screen. As we review this order, we rethink buying the November
contract. Instead, let's buy the front month, May. Click
the Do Not Submit button, to return to the Futures
window. We have changed the contract month to May. Now, click
the Submit button again. This time, we will confirm our order
on the Futures Order Verification screen by clicking the clicking
the Submit button. You will see the Order Received confirmation
dialog box. Click the Ok button when
you've reviewed your order confirmation.
One of GTEX's time-saving benefits is its symbol
lookup features.
At the red triangle on the opposite screen, see that we have entered "c r u" in the
Commodity field. Now, if you click
the Down
or Up
arrow
keys on your keyboard, the system will search for the nearest match.
Now, let's place another
order. This
time we will use a limit order to specify the specific minimum entry price
for the trade. We will order 3 contracts of MAY Corn at a
maximum price of 230 3/4 per contract on a day order. Click the
Submit button. The FUTURES ORDER VERIFICATION window appears. Here
you review your Corn LIMIT order. Click the
Submit button when you're finished reviewing it. After
reviewing the Order Acknowledgment, click the Ok button.
To the right of the Futures button, you
will see a drop-down menu item which allows you to easily place a Futures Option
order. Let's place a Futures Option trade now. Click the
Futures Option drop-down menu item. As in the futures order window, you
will see a drop-down menu item which allows you to select the commodity to
trade. You can place up to four legs in one order. See the
indicators for the fields that need to be set for an order. Click the
Submit button now. You will now see the specific option parameters
displayed on the Order Verification screen. You would make
certain that all the parameters are
correct, then click the Submit button.
After reviewing the Order Acknowledgment, click the Ok button.
Here's another futures options order. This time, we will sell five US Bond
puts. See the
indicators for the fields that need to be set for an order. Click the
Submit button now. You will now see the specific option parameters
displayed on the Order Verification screen.
After reviewing the Order Acknowledgment, click the Ok button.
To the right of the Futures button, you
will see the same drop-down menu. Here you can easily place a Futures Spread
order. Let's place a Futures Spread trade now. Click the
Futures Spread drop-down menu item. GTEX allows you to spread
between Futures contracts in similar or dissimilar markets, as well as between different
delivery months of the same Futures market. For a Futures Spread, select
the BUY and SELL sides of the trade. In this example, we are buying 5 MAY
Corn and selling 5 MAR Soybean contracts. Click the
Submit button. You would make certain that all the parameters are
correct, then Click the Submit button.
After reviewing the Order Acknowledgment, click the Ok button.
To the right of the Options button, you
will see a drop-down menu item which allows you to easily place an Index options order. Let's
trade an Index option now. Click the Index Option drop-down menu item. GTEX allows you
a variety of index options strategies, including straight buys & sells,
spreads, and ratio spreads. Order types include market, limit,
Fill-or-Kill, Market-on-Close , and others. The Net Credit or debit is
calculated for you, as well. You would make certain that all the parameters are
correct, then click the Submit button.
After reviewing the Order Acknowledgment, click the Ok button.
To the right of the Options button, you
will see a the Stocks button. Let's trade a stock now. Click the
Stock button. GTEX allows you
a variety of stock orders types, including market, limit,
Fill-or-Kill, Market-on-Close, and others. Make certain that all the parameters are
correct, then Click the Submit button.
After reviewing the Order Acknowledgment, click the
Submit button. After reviewing the Order Acknowledgment,
click the Ok button. A feature
of the Stocks order screen is the auto-fill-in or lookup capability of
the Stock drop down menu. On this screen, we keyed in "a - m -
a", and the system automatically finds Amazon.com.
After you've reviewed the Order Acknowledgment, click the
Close Ticket button. For this Stocks order, we will
sell 500 shares of Intel on a limit order. You would make certain that all the parameters are
correct, then click the Submit button.
After reviewing the Stocks Order Verification, click the
Submit button.
After reviewing the Order Acknowledgment, click the Ok button.
To the right of the Stocks button, you'll
see the Trades button. To review our transaction activity, click the
Trades button.
The Transaction Activity window's Working Orders
tab monitors all the orders you have placed that have not yet been filled by
the order desks at which you trade. Note that the orders can be sorted by Time,
Market, or Account. The GTC/Cancels
tab monitors all orders you have placed that have been cancelled ororders
that are entered as good until cancelled. Note that the orders can be sorted by Time,
Market, or Account. The Fills
tab monitors all orders you have placed that have actually been filled. Note
that the orders can be sorted by Time, Market, or Account.
The Trade History tab
monitors all orders you have placed:and closed. Note that the orders can
be sorted by Time, Market, or Account.
There may be times when you do not wish to have constant
updating on yourposition pricing. When you wish to save bandwidth
or simply do not need real-time updates, you can disable
the auto refresh. At a later time when you wish to have a
continuous updating of yourposition pricing, you can easily enable
the auto refresh feature. This is helpful to view a long list of
trades without having the screen refresh.
Now let's look at the Order Bank feature.
The GTEX Order Bank provides a convenient means
for you to store your favorite trade "configurations" in one place.
From the Command Center, click the bank
button. To begin, you will launch the Group Name dialog box.
The default entry is None. We will change that to Buy 3
EN. This has been entered below on second screen. Click the Ok button
to continue. Now, for the Sell side default, we will change that to Sell
3 EN. This has been entered for you. Click the Ok button
to continue. Once we have decided on the order we wish to place, it's simply a matter of clicking the Store in Bank option. This will
store the trade in your "preset" list of favorite trades. Click the
Store in Bank now.
You use the Cancel Trade form to cancel
any type of order you have previously entered. You can cancel any submitted
order up until the moment it has been filled. With GTEX, you can do so by either
of the methods shown on the opposite screen. Let's cancel a trade by
clicking the Cancel
Future Trade button highlighted in light red.
We will cancel the E-Mini NASDAQ future below. This trade is
highlighted in light blue for you. Click the Click
the Cancel Trade button. A dialog box appears for you to
confirm that you wish to cancel the E-Mini NASDAQ future, trade #13. Click
the Yes button to do so. After a trade has been cancelled, the window below appears, verifying that the trade desk
was able to execute your cancellation request. This confirms that your order
has been cancelled. It is important to note that your order was still in pending status until you receive this screen.
Click the Ok button
to continue.
You use the Cancel Trade form to cancel and replace any
type of order you have previously entered. This section will show you how you can cancel and then replace any
submitted order up until the moment is has been filled. The "Replace"
leg of the trade is contingent upon the completed execution of the "Cancel"
leg. You can Cancel Replace by either of the drop-down menus on the
right. Let's cancel and replace a trade by clicking the Cancel
/ Replacemenu item below highlighted in
light red. We will cancel and then replace the S & P five-lot futures
limit order below. The trade is highlighted for you. Click the Cancel
/ Replace Trademenu item to begin this
process. A Confirm Replace screen appears asking
you to
confirm your intent to cancel the S & P five-lot futures order below and then replace it with another order.
Click the Yes
button to continue. We have decided that, rather than buy the
futures, we will purchase five in-the-money calls at the market. Review the
order below, then click the
Submit button. Review this Order Verification window,
then click the Submit button
The Order Received window appears, verifying the Cancel and Replace
request. Your order to buy the five calls will only be
executed if the five S&P futures contracts are first cancelled. This
acknowledgement screen only confirms that the trading desk has received your Cancel
/ Replace the order. Click the Ok button
when you are finished reviewing this message. Alternatively, you will see
this window, which confirms that the order to cancel the five S&P
calls has been cancelled. Click the OK button when you are finished
reviewing this message. Click the Ok button
when you are finished reviewing this message.
Once you have made several trades with GTEX, you
will want to automate some of the process to execute frequently-placed
trades. Before you can use the Rapid Buy & Sell feature
of GTEX or make changes in the Order Bank, you need to set your system General
Trade Preferences. If you wish, you can jump to General
Trade
Preferences now and return to this section at a later time.
If you are familiar with that process, continue now
by confirming that your Rapid
Buy / Rapid Sell Trade
Preferences are correctly
set. We will first set the Rapid Buy Preferences. At the
red arrow below, we have selected Buy 3 EN from the drop down menu.
We then set the Rapid Sell Preferences. Click
on the Rapid Sell Preferences Select Group drop down menu, which is highlighted for
you. We have set the Rapid
Sell Preferences Select Group drop down menu to Sell 3 EN. When you've finished reviewing these settings,
Click the OK button. When you click
the Buy or Sell buttons from the Command
Center console, an Order Confirmation window appears.
This screen allows you to confirm your default entries. Review this
information, then click the OK button. You will receive
an Order Acknowledgment window.
This provides you with your order number, your market and quantity, as well as
the time period (Day, GTC, FOK, etc.) of your order. Note that this does not
mean your order is filled, only that the GTEX order desk has received
it. Click the Ok button
continue. At some later time - often in less than a minute -- you will
receive this Fill Report. At that point, your order is complete.
Click the Ok button continue.
A variety of reports is available in GTEX to
track your& closed trades, equity balance, and margin allowances.
To begin, click the Reports button
on the Command Console to the right. You'll see the Today's
Filled Report, which recaps your orders by
order number, symbol, buy/sell, quantity, order type, price requested, order time &
date (today), filled time and date (today), and fill price. The Realized
Gain / Loss Reportrecaps your orders by account number, symbol,
quantity, entry date/time, cost, exit date/time, exit price, and Gain/(Loss).
The Summary Position Report recaps your orders by
account number, symbol, position, cost, average cost (for multiple-order fills),
total cost, marked-to-market value, current price, and gain/loss. This
detail is given below for futures, futures options, index options, and stocks.
The Trade History Report recaps your orders by
account number, symbol, buy/sell, quantity, order type, order date/time, filled date/time, and fill price.
From the News / Personal
Sitesmenu, you
can set up your own personal web site links. These can be then be accessed
from the Command Console's Browse button. Select Add
/siteto do this. From the New
URLscreen, you enter up a favorite web site. Click the Ok button
to continue. From the Modify Personal Sites screen, you can
then add a URL, EDIT a URL, or Remove a URL. Click the
Done button to continue.
The Portfolio Management section of GTEX enables you to
monitor current and recent trading activity. The GTEX Command Center
appears below. Now, let's click
the Portfolio button to review our account status.
You now see the Portfolio Tracker display for the Futures
tab. In
the upper portion of the window, you see severalpositions. The three
short Mini NASDAQ futures are highlighted, showing a fill at 4546.0000 with anposition
profit of $2280. The lower window shows that the Mini NASDAQ future trade was filled
on ticket #26. With this Portfolio module feature, you can completely close out your Mini NASDAQ futures
position. This is quickly done by clicking on the field for that particulartrade. To do this, first find the white arrow
below. Then, click
the word SHORT in
the Position field. You now see a Futures order ticket which is
pre-configured to close out (Buy 3 at the market) your Mini NASDAQ trade.
This is a big time saver over having to manually enter or phone in an order to close out a
trade! For now, we will not submit the order. Click
the Close button to continue viewing the Portfolio Tracker.
On the Futures
tab you see there are severalpositions. The MAY Corn
10-lot is highlighted to show that the order was filled with two
tickets, #27 & #29. In this case, the average cost was identical in
both transactions. Click
the Close button to review the Futures
Options tab.Observe the five
S&P June 1400 calls. The average cost was 55.1000, the current price
is 62.000, which produces a gain of $8,625. The lower window shows that Transaction
# 16 bought the five calls at 55.1. Click
the Close button to review the Stocks
tab. Observe the 500 short
shares of Intel. The average cost was 120, and the current price
is 124 11/16, which is anposition loss of $2343.75. The lower window shows that Transaction #5 sold
500 shares. Click
the Close button to review the Summary
section of your activity.
Here you see your cash position, portfolio cash basis, closed position gain /
loss,position gain / loss, estimated margin required to hold the current positions,
as well as the available cash for margin requirements. Click
the Close button when you've finished reviewing this material.
Rather
than pick up the phone to ask a brief question of your broker, you can send an instant message. This is
useful for obtaining a quick quote or requesting a confirmation on a fill
price. Click
the Message button to begin this process.
The following form appears. To send a message, enter text
in the bottom field. Your message is entered as shown
below. Click
the Send button to send the message. GTEX Trade
Desk's response appears in the top half of the window. Click
the Close button to continue.
One of the outstanding features of GTEX is the
capability to place a GTEX order directly from an eSignal quote screen! In
this section, we will demonstrate how you can accomplish this.
Let's say you want to sell
the E-Mini S&P. As a seller, you will be accepting the current BID price. As indicated below by the white arrow, click the
1409.50 Bid price on the E-Mini S&P. You are now presented with the standard Futures
Order Entrywindow. Note that the Quantity, Commodity, Month,
and Year fields have been filled in for you. You
can read more about this feature in the Order
Bank section. Review your order, then click the
Submit button.
For our next trade, let's buy Dell Computer. As a buyer, you will be accepting the current
ASK price. (You might want to check the "Best
Markets" page for more in depth pricing.) As indicated by the white arrow,
click the ASK Price
of 55 1/8Ask
for Dell Computer. The Stocks entry screen appears. Note that the Stock
and Quantity fields have been filled in for you. You can learn
more about this feature in the Stocks
and Order
Bank sections. Review your order, then click the
Submit button.
This concludes the GTEX Tutorial. You may
wish to review certain sections. All of the topics covered in this
Tutorial are alphabetically categorized in the GTEX
Index.
,
entering the first few letters in the field, and entering return. In this example,
entering "S" brings up Soybeans from the lookup list. Here we have decided
to buy one contract of November Soybeans at the market price. These
parameters have been selected for you. 
