The File and View menus access settings.
File
The File menu affords access to applications and setting preferences.
Applications
Preferences
The Preferences menu item has 3 submenu items: desktop, order entry, and network.
Desktop
The Desktop Preferences dialog has 10 sections.
In the General section, check the option for window linking. Other options are unchecked.
The View section has 3 option areas: window title bars, bottom workspace/status bar, and window border size.
You will want title window title bars to arrange application windows (dragging windows around by their title bar). Once you have a workspace arranged, you can selectively or entirely hide window title bars.
Check the box to combine the workspace bar with the status bar. To resize windows, have the border size set to at least 6 pixels.
The Workspaces section sets preferred automatic loading of workspaces on the desktop.
For Performance, “Auto Configured for High Performance by TradeStation” is okay. Manual settings for Performance are shown below. Definitely set “Cycle” for processor affinity management for best performance.
The Desktop Bars, Command Line, and Sessions sections configure features you don’t need and have settings you need not change.
The Desktops section lets you configure automatic opening of a desktop at startup. You can have multiple desktops. You only need one, simply titled “Desktop”. The desktop file is stored at: \Documents\TradeStation 10.0\Desktops.
Configure preferences for notification of events via the Status Bar section. You can record your own messages and set them to play via this dialog.
The Dialogs section lets you set where dialogs are shown for computers with multiple monitors.
Order Entry
Set order entry prefrences as shown.
Network
Set network preferences as shown.
Themes
Via the Themes… menu item, set the theme to Dark.
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View
The View menu sets your view at the top and bottom of the Desktop.
Platform Toolbars
Show only the menu bar. Show the workspace and status bars combined. This combination bar appears at the bottom of the Desktop. The workspace selector will show on the left of the bar and the status bar on the right.
Application Toolbars
Show all application toolbars. This affords quick access to settings and features.
Do not select any of the 4 bottom menu items.
View Trade Bar
The View Trade Bar is generally useless for minuting. Use the Matrix Trade Bar.
The only use of the View Trade Bar is to re-establish a limit order to close a position if the OSO limit order has been canceled.
Status Bar Shows Wrong Account: If you have multiple accounts and the status bar is showing the wrong account, the View Trade Bar is the only way to to set the status bar to show the account you are actualy using. Set the “Account Number” dropdown menu on the View Trade Bar to the account you are currently using.
The account being used is always correctly shown in the Matrix Trade Bar.