Running both Z1 and Z2 together

I am up and running Z2 on my VPS in Demo mode for 2 days, and all is well. If I understand the manual correctly, Z1 is a Trending Strategy and Z2 is a Counter Trending Strategy. The results examples in the Manual suggest that both can be run simultaneously on the same account. If so, how to do it because the drop down list does not have a choice for both together. Can I run 2 instances of Zorro on the same account to achieve this, or is there some step that I am missing?

Running two instances on the same PC is not supported by the FXCM API. But we have found that it works here. We're running many instances under Win 7 on the same PC.

It didn't work for one other user, though - possibly it's related to the OS. If it doesn't work on your PC, either run the second instance on a second PC, or on a virtual PC using VMWare or similar software.

Thanks. I have both Z1 and Z2 up and running on the same Demo account on my Windows 7 based VPS. So far no conflicts and both CPU and RAM usage are under 50% which at times has been a limiting factor for me.

I tried trading Z1fx & Z2fx simultaneously with two Zorro instances on the same account, but it definitely doesn't work because I get Error 052: Broker interface busy when trying to start trading in the 2nd instance. Tested and can confirm this happens with both old & new (just released) FXCM.dll

I also have a lockup of the 2nd Zorro instance when doing WFA in it, while the first one is trading. It runs upto 6: 0482 (or so) and then freezes (stops responding). Have to kill it. And it is repeatable, always locks up at the same counter.

Trading several scripts at the same time is supported meanwhile by the multi-instance broker interface of Zorro S. The free version only has a single instance interface because you can not use it anyway for trading several scripts. You have to select one script.

However you can certainly trade with one Zorro and run a WFA on another Zorro. Maybe the problem is related to the script that you're running? Can you try this with a script from the tutorial and let me know if you then still have that problem? Do you see a message of any kind or does it just stop? And how much free RAM do you have on your PC?

2GB virtual Win7. But, it's not memory exhaustion, I fired up Task manager as soon as I got the first freeze, and later confirmed that memory usage never goes above 600MB, with 2 instances running. Scripts that I ran are Z1fx & Z2fx, I believe that I tried both combinations (aka Z1fx Trading, Z2fx Test and vice versa) and in both cases I finished with one Zorro frozen (the one that run WFA).

No extra messages, the window just freezes in the middle of the WFA run, it has "WFA Zorro... (Not Resp...)" in title, and when I try to close it, Windows popup comes up telling me that application is not responding, offering to kill it. Also it is not CPU bound when frozen, just plain not responding...

Just to make it clear, this is not a showstopper for me, I'll run WFA in another VM, no problem. I reported this just so that you know there's something fishy goin' on when running 2 instances.

Ok, I can currently not directly reproduce the problem here, but have an idea what might have caused it. We'll look into it. Thanks for reporting!

Nice to see that you care. Here's a small screencast that might help.

http://www.screencast.com/t/CUpyUiJ18

Yeah, I lied , 600MB is with one instance, 2 instances are closer to 1GB RAM usage. But, still no problem for a 2GB VM.

I just got notice that the problem has been found - it happened when two instances wrote in a log file at the same time. This will be fixed in the next update.

Actually, this problem has now become showstopper for me. I'm now demoing both Z1fx & Z2fx 24/7, have read the manuals & tutorials in the meantime, and would like to write and test my own scripts now. But, having only 2 VM's, it would mean stopping one of the strategies running, which would be a shame.

Do you have an ETA for the next update? Is the bug fixed in the beta version? If it is, may I join the beta program?

The beta is not out yet. But if it's a showstopper, we can send you an interim version that you can use at your own risk. Please contact us under support (at) 3dgamestudio.net - we can send you a download link in the next days.

Sure, that will work just as well. I'm still in demo mode, so no problem.

Hi,
Im running Zorro 24/7 via a Virtual Server on a FXCM Demo Account. From the limited time running it looks like the best results are achieved with Z1 and Z2 running simultaneously.
My Question: What would the capital required for both Z1+Z2 running together? I guess its not capital(Z1)+capital(Z2) since i understand often if one performs poor the other does well; but Im not sure of that. Is there a formula by which the combined capital required could be estimated?

The capital for Z1+Z2 is almost identical to the capital for Z1, as both systems are anticorrelated. But the license conditions do not allow you to trade several systems at the same time with the free version. You must decide for one of them. You can only trade both when you purchase a Zorro S license.

Thank you very much for your help!

I can confirm that 1.10beta fixes this issue for me and will finally let me both demo trade and develop my own strategies on the same machine with 2 zorro instances. Thank you for your work!

Do you need to open a second demo account to get a different set of used ID & password? If so, will the same broker allow you to have multiple demo accounts?

Normally yes. We have multiple demo accounts with many brokers and no broker had objected so far.

If you have two windows machines (or VM's), you can even use the same demo account for two instances that run different stuff. That's what I do.

Although, I see some serious limitations now. After some weeks of demo trading, I'm about back to even. But, if I now wanted to see which of the strategies did better (and I strongly suspect Z1fx), I don't see a way. Zorro doesn't keep the log of all trades (or I'm unable to find it?) and FXTS2 doesn't care which of the instances executed trades, they're all same to it.

I think I'll have to stop demoing Z2fx, and proceed with Z1fx only. Otherwise this is just too complex to evaluate.

We have no FX-only accounts running at the moment, but many Z1 and Z2 accounts. From them, Z2 is normally better, but it might be different with FX only. The logs should be not too hard to find, as they are in the "Logs" folder.

I do see Z2fxdemo.log, which contains only data of the current Zorro run. But, I can't find data about previous trades anywhere. Is that data lost forever?

Oh, sh*

I now see demotrades.csv, and also understand why it's so short. While I was testing beta versions, at some point I made a clean install, and didn't save the log file. So, I shot myself in the foot. Well, OK, I'll be more careful next time. Sorry for the noise.

Ha ha ha, i knew it would end this way. Just when I started developing ideas of continuing with the Z1fx only, it stalled, and Z2fx become wildly profitable recovering all previous losses and then some. Currently I have 6 profitable trades in Z2fx, and equity is at peak since I started evaluating Z1fx/Z2fx.

I really think that those two strategies should be tested at least for 6 months to have any idea how they perform. A year or two would be even better...

Installing keeps the previous .csv files. Only when you manually delete your previous installation, including your own files, they are lost. So when you get a new Zorro version, install it just over the folder of your previous version - that will keep all the logs.

Yes, at one time I deinstalled the app AND thorougly cleaned up all folders involved. I did that while I was debugging issues mentioned in my other posts (now all resolved). So, it was a plain mistake on my part to not save demotrades.csv before the cleanup. Usually I just install over the previous installation as you suggested.

But, I won't cry over spilled milk, I learned something, life goes on... yadda... yadda

And BTW, I don't see compatibility folders come into play anymore. I don't know if that's because you made some improvements to the Zorro, or I accomplished something with the clean install. Anyway, it's nice to see all files where one expects them to be.

I keep getting "error 052 Broker interface busy" when I try to open a 2nd instance. I have the newest Zorro version. Should I reinstall, or is something else wrong?

Yes, you probably tried to run several instances with a single instance interface. You'd need the multiple instance broker interface for this. All error messages are explained in the manual.

I found this in the manual:

Error 052: Broker interface busy


The used Zorro version or broker plugin did not support multiple trading instances (see restrictions). Zorro attempted to log in to the broker, but another Zorro instance on the same PC is already connected.

but I don't see anything about where to get the "multiple instance broker interface". Is that something I can do with the non-S Zorro version, or do I get it from FXCM?

Yes, for trading with multiple instances you'll need Zorro S.

The manual is that thing that pops up when you click on "Help". The Search function is the tab inside the manual with "Search" on it.

Thanks, that clarifies things. I didn't realize the other guys were running demos with the S version.

I found the search tab in the manual.

But, I tried searching "multiple+broker+interface" and versions of the words & wording, but didn't find an answer.

jcl, I appreciate the help. I'm not the best with computers, but I am persistent. I'll keep plugging along and eventually I'll get Zorro & Forex figured out.