HalifaxOnline Platform and Account Setup Guide
CONTENTS
BASIC INFORMATION AND INSTALLATION
PLATFORM INFORMATION ……… 2 PAPER TRADING ACCOUNT ……….. 3 INSTALLATION AND SETUP ……….. 4
USING THE PLATFORM
SETTING UP THE WORKSPACE ……… 11 DEFAULT WORKSPACE
ENABLE TRADING
ADDING INSTRUMENTS TO WORKSPACE ……… 13 PLACING TRADES ……… 17
OPENING A POSITION/PLACING RELATED ORDERS (VIA TRADE TICKET) CLOSING A POSITION (VIA TRADE TICKET)
CLOSING A POSITION/PLACE RELATED ORDERS (VIA ACCOUNT SUMMARY) FEATURES ……… 26
VIEWING OPEN ORDERS CHARTS
VIEWING ACCOUNT REPORTS
MARKET DATA SUBSCRIPTIONS TRADING CONDITIONS
2
BASIC INFORMATION AND INSTALLATION
PLATFORM INFORMATION
HalifaxOnline is an easy-to-use, fully customizable trading platform that integrates all of the trading, analysis, price monitoring and research functions into one interface.
It is possible to log into either the live or demo platform on the same computer, although not without changing the connection settings, so this is usually not recommended for most clients.
In the login box, click on “Switch to Simulation” to change to the demo server or “Switch to Live” to switch to the live server.
The platform allows you to trade multiple products including: • Futures
• Stocks • CFDs
• Foreign Exchange
3
PAPER TRADING ACCOUNT
For a simulated account you can register at our website www.halifax.com.au/ho and click on Fast Track Demo in the right hand menu.
A new window will appear on your screen for a free trial, and all that is required is for you to fill in your details and click on Try it out now and complete the free trial section. You will be given a username and password, and the download link for the platform. These details will also be emailed to you. This demo will be available for 20 days, after which time you will have to apply for another one if needed.
4
INSTALLATION AND SETUP
DOWNLOAD
Click below to download and install the Halifaxonline live system:
http://mitsweb.iitech.dk/downloads/live/Installations/Halifax/en/Halifax_webdeploy.exe
If the above link does not work, please use the link below.
http://mitsweb.iitech.dk/downloads/live/Installations/Halifax/en/Halifax.msi
Please note the above link requires Microsoft .NET 3.5 to be installed first before proceeding. For .NET 3.5 please download it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=25150
INSTALLATION
5 Enter in your name and organisation (if applicable). Click Next.
6 Click Next when it asks you whether you are ready to install.
8
LOGIN
Click the HalifaxOnline icon and use the ID and password sent to you to log in.
When logging in to the platform for the first time, the platform will request that you generate or import a security key. The Key Management window should appear. Most of the buttons should be greyed out, as they are
unavailable at this stage.
If you are logging in for the first time, you can click on the Generate Key button. If you have previously logged in from a separate computer before and want to reuse the same key, please load backup key.
HOW TO GENERATE A NEW KEY
When you log in to Halifax Online for the first time, you will be asked to generate a new key. 1. Click OK and the Key management window will pop up.
2. Click Generate new key and OK.
3. You will get message: "You are about to generate a new key. Do you wish to continue?” Click Yes 4. You will be informed that the key has been generated successfully. You will now need to contact Halifax
by calling 1300 363 505 or +61 2 9373 4300 to have your key activated.
HOW TO LOAD BACKUP KEY
In order to load backup key, please do the following:
1. Log in to the platform using your login ID and the password
2. When you first log in, a dialogue will be displayed instructing you to generate a key or load a backup key. Click OK to acknowledge this dialogue.
3. The Key Management dialogue will open, allowing you to set up the security key for your trading system. 4. Click Load backup key.
5. Enter the location (drive and folder) where the backup copy of your security key is located. To do this, click Browse and select a drive and folder accessible from your PC.
6. Enter the password you used to protect your key and click Next.
9
BACKUP KEY
To load the platform on a second computer, you must first create a backup key, which is a copy of the original security key, and then load the backup key onto the second computer.
In order to make a back up key for your trading account, please do the following: 1. Log in to the platform using your login ID and password.
2. Under File, go to Options > Options > Key Management. 3. Click Backup key button.
4. You will be asked to provide a password to protect your security key (you choose the password yourself) . 5. Click Browse and select a drive and a folder where you want to save your security key.
6. Click OK.
7. A dialogue will be displayed to inform you that the key was successfully saved.
10 The key is composed of three small files with each of them having your ID as a part of its name. These files are ‘hidden’, so if you need to transport the files in something other than a USB drive, you will need to change the file settings on the computer so that it shows hidden files.
If you want to use the platform on another computer, it is required that you load the backup key.
DECRYPT SESSION KEY
Error message: Could not decrypt session key or your local security key does not match the key stored on the trade server.
The message means that your current key is corrupted or you have generated a key on another pc. You will need to delete the current key and generate a new key.
1. Click OK to the message and the key management window will open. 2. Click Delete Current Key and then OK.
3. In order to log in again, you will be asked to generate a new key or load a backup key. Please refer to the HOW TO GENERATE A NEW KEY and HOW TO LOAD BACKUP KEY sections above for more details.
CHANGE PASSWORD
If this is the first time you have logged into HalifaxOnline, you will be asked to change your password immediately. Please follow the steps on the screen to change the password.
11
USING THE PLATFORM
PLATFORM SETUP
When you first log into the HalifaxOnline platform, you will be given the option to select a workspace from a list of default workspaces that we have created. Generally, we advise the clients to use the Multi Product workspace but it is up to you which one you select.
Once loaded, you will get a list of product tabs for you to select, and within each tab are commonly used trading tools which Halifax has included in there by default. The following are a list of most commonly used trading tools. All of the below will be discussed in more detail in later sections.
• Prices and Trade is the main window to see the prices of the contracts you wish to view. You will need to go to Trading >> Prices and Trade>> Prices and Trade to add the prices and trades tab.
12 • To check your Open Orders, go to Trading >> Open Orders.
• To bring up charts, please go to Trading >> New Chart.
• For live streaming news, please go to News and Research >> News.
Once the panels have been added or if it has already been added, you can then rearrange it to the way that you want. To do so, there are several ways to do it. If your current page is a tab, as shown below, you can make it a panel by right clicking on it, and check panel.
Once this is done, your window should now look similar to the below.
Click and hold on the blue top section and drag it about the screen to customise the look of your workspace.
You can also do the same if you want to make it a tab, just do the reverse by right click on the blue top section and select panel.
ENABLE TRADING
13
ADDING INSTRUMENTS TO WORKSPACE
Once you have the Prices and Trade window up, you can now add instruments into the list to view prices. There are two ways you can add instruments into the list – via the “Add Instrument” window or the “Add Instrument” header.
Add Instrument Window
1. In the area directly below the column headers, right click in the white space. A new set of options will appear. Please select Add Instrument.
14 3. Double click on the contract that you want to trade, and the instrument will be added to your prices and
15
Add Instrument Header
1. By default, you show have a header appear on your prices and trade screen, similar to the below. This is where you will enter in the contract that you want to see. If the header panel is not there, right click on where it says “Prices and Trade”, and a set of new options will appear. Highlight Settings and select Show Header Panel.
16 3. Alternatively, you can click on the icon on the right hand side of the Add Instrument field as shown below.
This will bring up the Add instrument window as described previously, and you can add instruments that way too.
4. You can also modify the columns in your Prices and Trade screen so you can view the relevant information that meets you needs. In the area directly below the column headers, right click in the white space. A new set of options will appear. Highlight Settings and select Choose Columns and Grouping.
17
PLACING TRADES
OPENING A POSITION OR CLOSING A POSITION (VIA TRADE TICKET)
There are several ways of placing opening trades and closing trades on the Halifax Online platform. In this guide, we will only describe the trade ticket method. This method applies for any type of contract.
Note: there is another way to close out positions via Account Summary (explained later in this section). Both methods are fine to use. Please read through both and see which is best for you.
Ensure that you are “Enabled” for trading.
1. You can either go to Trading >> Trade Modules and select Trade Ticket or if you want a specific contract to be preloaded onto the ticket, right click on the contract you want to trade in Prices and Trade, and select Trade Ticket.
2. A new popup should appear like below. Normally when this popup appears, there will be no contract selected, so you will need to enter in the contract code in order to trade. Here we will use the Commonwealth Bank shares as an example (CBA).
18 3. Once the contract code is entered, the details of the order will appear. From here, there are three ways you
can enter into the trade. Below will describe all three methods: Trade, Order and Level 2 (if applicable).
TRADE METHOD
20
ORDER METHOD
Order – Within this window, you can be more specific about your orders and how you want to place these orders. In Order, you can select the type of order that you want (i.e. limit, stop) and the duration of the order (i.e. G.T.C, Day Order).
Along with this, you can attach bracket orders (take profits or stop loss, or both) so that when your entry order is filled, the bracket orders will automatically be entered into the exchange as a pending order.
21
LEVEL 2 METHOD
Level 2 – This is only applicable if you have subscribed to an exchange with Level 2 or market depth data. For further information, please see the Market Data Subscriptions section.
Within this window, it should show you the market depth of that particular contract you are trading. In this example, you should be able to see the 5 levels of CBA that is trading at that particular point in time. If you wish to, you can click on the price in the market depth and it will automatically change the entry price to that price. In the screenshot below, we select to buy at the current top level ask price of $69.29, and as you can see, the price automatically changes to $69.29.
22 Click on Place Order(s) when order details are confirmed and ready to be placed. Confirmation window will come up, accept if the details are correct by clicking OK.
CLOSING A TRADE OR PLACING RELATED ORDERS VIA ACCOUNT SUMMARY
24
This is the screenshot which shows the market close out window.
This is the screenshot which shows the bracket orders windows.
25
FEATURES
OPEN ORDERS
You can check whether your orders are working or pending under the open orders panel. Go to Trading > Open Orders and this should bring up a screen like below.
As you can see, it lists all the orders of your account. You have the ability to change any order or even cancel the order. You should see these options at the bottom of the open orders panel as per below.
26 • Cancel Order – click on this to cancel an order. Click Start to begin the cancellation, and you will get a
27
CHARTS
Charts can be brought up by going to Trading >> New Chart. A new chart should appear on your screen as per below.
28 There are many options that you can select within charts that you can select. These are outlined below.
1. Add new secondary instrument – this allows you to add a secondary instrument to the current chart you have for the primary instrument.
2. Period – this allows you to choose the period of the chart. 3. Chart type – allows you to select the type of chart that you need. 4. Zoom – zoom in or zoom out.
5. Auto scale and restore chart range – only applies if you have resized the chart.
6. Studies – add the studies that you require onto the chart. HalifaxOnline offers plenty of studies including the standard MACD, moving averages and AROON, along with Ichimoku Kinko Hyo, Kairi and TRIX. 7. Annotations – allows you to annotate the chart with lines, text and other notes.
8. Eraser – erases any annotations.
9. Cursor mode – allows you to switch between crosshair, trackball and a normal pointer. In order to change the settings of the charts, you will need to go and click on the arrow under the “Add
instrument” field with the contract code next to it and select properties. Here you can change the chart details.
29
VIEWING ACCOUNT SUMMARY
30 Account Value This is the current value of the account, if all trades were liquated at this time and margin
were given back at the time.
Other collateral Instruments NOT online tradable. For example bonds.
Not available for Margin collateral
The account value less Other Collateral.
Used for margin requirements
The current amount of money tied up in margin
Available for margin trading
The amount you have currently that you can use for trading margin products
Margin Utilization The current percentage of the total value used up as margin
Non-margin positions
Unrealized margin profit/loss
The current market value of any securities (e.g. equities, bonds etc.) held. The market value is calculated using current price.
The sum of margin positions and its profit/loss.
Unrealized value of positions
The sum of Non-margin positions (value of collateral), Unrealized margin profit/loss (unrealized value of all open positions) and Cost to close (commissions and fees).
Cost to close The cost of closing your positions, e.g. commissions and trading fees.
Cash balance Transactions not booked
Cash on hand excluding an unrealized value of positions.
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REPORTS
HalifaxOnline can allow users to view reports for past activities. This can be achieved by doing to Account and selecting the report you require. Below is a summary of the reports available.
Account Statement The Account Statement displays an itemised list of all postings in your account:
• Fund transfers to your account • Fund withdrawals from your account • Profits and losses from trading activities • Commissions
• Dividends and Interest
Financial Statement The Financial Statement displays the aggregate summary of your account, from commissions, profit and loss and interest. Useful to quickly view your overall account.
Trades Executed The Trades Executed list offers an overview of your opened and closed positions. This statement lists all trading activity, including activities that are not reflected in your cash flow.
Trades Booked Statement
This overview of trades booked gives an itemised list of all trading activity that makes a change on your account.
All direct cash investments are booked. Margin-based trades are
booked when you close a position and the net profit or loss is credited or debited to your account.
32
MARKET DATA SUBSCRIPTIONS
To be able to trade and get live pricing for contracts you will need to subscribe to certain subscriptions. To do this you will need to click on Account > Subscriptions > Subscriptions Pricelist. This should open up the subscription pricelist tab. Scroll down to see the possible
subscriptions.
Once the Subscription Price list is opened, you will need to click on the Subscribe tab as shown below. When you click on this, a new popup will appear asking you to fill the details as required.
Please note, that if the client is setting it up as an individual or joint account, it is a private investor, and anything else like trust or company is a professional. Make sure they select the right one.
33
TRADING CONDITIONS
Trading conditions allows you to view the commissions, margins and collateral values of products available in the platform. To do this you will need to click on Account > Trading Conditions.
35
FAQS
FAQS
HOW CAN I PUT MORE MONEY INTO MY ACCOUNT?
To deposit money into your account you can either do this by bank cheque or electronic bank transfer. Please make reference to your trading account number when doing this. After you have deposited your money into our bank account you should send an email to [email protected] letting us know that you are depositing money into your account, state your account name and number and how much you are depositing.
BY ELECTRONIC TRANSFER
Funds are first transferred into the Halifax Suspense account. The account details are as follows: Account Name: Halifax Investment Services Ltd
Account Number: 900 1247 BSB: 302 100
When you are transferring monies, please place your account number and name in the statement reference/description box.
This method will usually take 2-3 days, but could take a bit longer, depending on the bank.
BY CHEQUE
Cheques should be made payable to:
Halifax Investment Services Ltd. Suspense A/C and posted to:
Halifax Investment Services Level 40/1 Farrer Place Sydney NSW 2000
Please make reference to your trading account number when doing this. Halifax will arrange the transfer of funds into the trading account.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS METHOD WILL TAKE LONGER TO FUND THE ACCOUNT AS WE WILL NEED TO WAIT FOR THE CHEQUE TO CLEAR
HOW CAN I WITHDRAW MONEY FROM MY ACCOUNT?
36
State your name, account number, the amount that you would like to withdraw, and your bank details of where you would like your money to be deposited.
This method will usually take 2-3 days, but could take a bit longer, depending on the bank.
I NEED TO GENERATE A SECURITY KEY
If it’s the first time the client has logged in to the platform, it will ask them to generate a new security key. Please see the Installation and Setup section of this guide for instructions on how to generate and activate the key. If the client is installing the platform on a second computer, and they already have the security key installed on their first computer, they will need to create a Backup Key, and then load the Backup Key on the second computer. Please see the Installation and Setup section of this guide for instructions on how to do this.
ERROR MESSAGE: “COULD NOT DECRYPT SESSION KEY OR YOUR LOCAL SECURITY KEY DOES
NOT MATCH THE KEY STORED ON THE TRADE SERVER”
The message means that your current key is corrupted or you have generated a key on another pc. You will need to delete the current key and generate a new key.
CHANGE PASSWORD
If this is the first time you have logged into HalifaxOnline, you will be asked to change your password immediately. Please follow the steps on the screen to change the password.
The user can change their password at any time, by going to File > Options and clicking Change Password.
WHY ARE MY CHARTS DELAYED?
Charts will show data, but it will be delayed by 15 minutes, if you are not subscribed to the relevant market data subscription.
The client will need to subscribe to the relevant exchange on the platform to be able to trade those contracts. For example, if you want to trade the Nikkei you should either subscribe to Globex or Singapore Derivatives and Equities. For the SPI, they must subscribe to the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE).
MY ACCOUNT WINDOW / CHART / SUBSCRIPTIONS LIST IS BLANK / EMPTY
37 The problem could also be caused by something blocking the platform’s connections. The most common causes are Firewalls or Internet Security programs (such as AVG or Norton), or Yahoo or Google Toolbar. Checks if you have any of these installed, and if so, try disabling the program and logging in again.
HOW DO I FIND THE SYMBOLS FOR CONTRACTS?
The platform initially loads a default workspace, which has tabs set up with different contract types, each of which will have a list of contracts to trade. Additional contracts can be added to the list via the entry box at the top, or added from the Instrument Explorer.
