Best message type to transfert positions to client

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Imported from previous forum

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[ original email was from Didier Le Tien - dletien@net2s.com ]
Hello,

thank you for your help on the two following questions :

  1. Once the logon phase is executed between 2 parties (broker and client),
    what is the most appropriate type of message to be used in order for the
    broker to transmit the position (book position, list of orders …) to the
    client.
    Could "List Status" fulfill this need ?

  2. 4.2 allows repetition of groups and we’d like to use this feature to send
    the information described in my previous question; what is the best approach
    to transfer these groups with 4.0 or 4.1 clients ? Repeated messages ?

Thanks,

Didier Le Tien
NET2S Inc.

3

[ original email was from Ryan Pierce - rpierce@taltrade.com ]
> 1) Once the logon phase is executed between 2 parties (broker and client),
> what is the most appropriate type of message to be used in order for the
> broker to transmit the position (book position, list of orders …) to the
> client.
> Could "List Status" fulfill this need ?

These functions fall outside the current scope of the FIX specification entirely.

Questions such as:

  • What is my position in this account?
  • What open orders do I have for this account?
  • What are my account and margin balances?
  • What recent transactions have been posted in this account?

do not have answers as of FIX 4.2. FIX has primarily been a B2B protocol, not a retail protocol. FIX generally assumes that both parties are perfectly able to keep track of positions.

I suggest the following:

  1. A Retail working group has recently formed. I do not know whether such questions are within the scope of what they’re doing, but it may be a good place to start.

  2. Look at the OFX protocol. It handles all of the above. However it does not support any kind of trading. The latest version of OFX is XML. Hence one might be able to develop a hybrid application that exchanges both FIXML and OFX XML messages for trading and account management, respectively.