- How do I open an account with Prodigio?
- What's the best way to learn how to use the Prodigio platform?
- What are the Prodigio help desk hours of operation?
- How do I know I am talking to someone who has a clue?
- How do I contact the Prodigio help desk email support?
- What is the Prodigio help desk telephone support number?
- How much does Prodigio cost?
- Does Prodigio offer a free PaperTrading account?
- What is the minimum deposit required to open an account?
- What is a pattern day trader?
- How much leverage will be offered to accounts?
- What are Prodigio commission rates?
- Does Prodigio charge for software and or market data?
- Does Prodigio offer education, training classes or training videos to learn the software?
- What is robotic trading?
- Is Prodigio RTS like a black box?
- Is Prodigio RTS like a stock screener?
- Do I have to trade myself using this system?
- Can I run more than one Prodigio strategy at a time?
- Can I initiate my own intraday trades on the platform?
- Do I need to know programming to use Prodigio?
- What are my computer's minimum requirements to run the Prodigio platform?
- How much of a strain are the Prodigio scanning and alerts on computer resources? Please provide a number in your answer.
- What is a firewall and can I use the Prodigio software if I am behind one?
- When I try to download the Prodigio trading software on my computer at work through a network I get an error message. What can I do?
- I get an error message when I try to download your trading software. Why?
- I am getting an error message about java or an incompatibility message shortly after I start the Prodigio platform. How do I fix this?
- The software is very slow, freezes, or crashes after I have been running it for a while. How do I fix this?
- The Prodigio platform appears distorted and does not display properly. What should I do?
- What is the amount of insurance protection on my account?
- What happens if my Internet connection is disrupted while I am logged into the thinkorswim software?
- How do I recover a lost or forgotten password?
- What do I do if I cannot find my question in these FAQs?
How do I open an account with Prodigio?
The account application can be completed online and should take about 5-10 minutes for most customers. To begin the process, please click here
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What's the best way to learn how to use the Prodigio platform?
The best way to learn how to use the platform is threefold.
Step I - Every new user should visit the Prodigio Learning Center found in the Prodigio platform.
Step II - Review each Platform overview video in its entirety.
Step III - Apply your initial platform understanding to your PaperTrading account for practice and greater proficiency.
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What are the Prodigio help desk hours of operation?
All hours are EST: The thinkorswim Prodigio help desk and technical support are staffed from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EST Monday through Friday. Customer emails for Prodigio are supported 24/7 - 365 days a year.
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How do I know I am talking to someone who has a clue?
The Prodigio help desk is staffed with experienced industry professionals. We carefully select our employee team members for their knowledge, wit, and professionalism.
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How do I contact the Prodigio help desk email support?
To contact the Prodigio support desk, remit your email to Support@prodigiorts.com.
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What is the Prodigio help desk telephone support number?
To contact Prodigio phone support, please call 773-244-7749.
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How much does Prodigio cost?
The prodigio platform is available for a 30day free trial which includes real-time data. After the 30 day trial period, it may be leased for $99 per month. Customers who opt to connect their Prodigio platform to their preferred broker, can continue to use Prodigio free of charge, providing that they transact a minimum of 20 trades per month using their Prodigio platform.
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Does Prodigio offer a free PaperTrading account?
Yes, Prodigio is equipped with a PaperTrading account with real-time data for those who choose not to connect to their broker of choice.
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What is the minimum deposit required to open an account?
As a broker neutral platform, there is no minimum for using Prodigio in PaperTrading mode, however, when connecting to your preferred broker, account minimums between various brokers vary. The NYSE/NASD requires stock "pattern" day traders to have a minimum equity of $25,000.
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What is a pattern day trader?
Effective September 28th, 2001 the NYSE and NASD imposed a $25,000 minimum equity requirement for 'pattern day traders.' Consistent with the new margin rules, if a customer's margin account falls under $25,000 and the customer has opened and closed positions on the same day three times within five days, the customer will not be allowed to open new positions until the $25,000 requirement is restored. Additionally, for a designated 'pattern day trader' account, the customer is allowed on any day to open new positions up to a total of the account's Day Trading Buying Power (defined as four times account equity less maintenance margin requirements). The rule requires orders exceeding Day Trading Buying Power to be rejected.
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How much leverage will be offered to accounts?
May brokers offer (non-IRA) cash accounts 1:1, 2:1, or by requested permission 4:1 on stock trading accounts. Contact your preferred broker for further information .
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What are Prodigio's commission rates?
Prodigio is a broker neutral platform. As such, your commission rates will be exactly whatever you are currently paying with your broker. .
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Does Prodigio charge for software and or market data?
No, however if you do not opt to "live" trade on Prodigio with a connection to your preferred broker and transact a minimum of 20 trades per month, then you will be required to lease the Prodigio platform at a cost of $99 per month. Real-time data is always included regardless of which option you choose.
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Does Prodigio offer education, training classes or training videos to learn the software?
Yes. Please go to your Prodigio platform and select the Learning Center complete platform overviews. If you have specific questions on training please contact Support@prodigiorts.com for assistance.
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What is robotic trading?
Robotic trading can be described as a sophisticated automated system that is capable of intelligently scanning thousands of ticks, quotes, and market conditions; using this data to find buy and sell opportunities; initiating trades, managing potential profits and risk, and exiting the position all entirely without human interaction.
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Is Prodigio RTS like a black box?
The answer would be yes by definition and methodology. The technology behind the Prodigio alert server is similar to a black box. It receives all price data on all relevant stocks in real time. It compares this data to specifically designed and known patterns, which are confirmed by both real-time and historical data. It reports when there is a pattern match, or event, in real time.
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Is Prodigio RTS like a stock screener?
Prodigio utilizes sophisticated computational analysis of prices and market internals on a tick by tick, multi-layer basis to select positions in real-time, while offering complete order and risk management in over 25,000 actively traded symbols. In our opinion, most stock screeners don't generally offer this level of analysis.
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Do I have to trade myself using this system?
No. You may choose to make trades on your own, or you may choose to use Prodigio for assistance. All you need to do is select one (1) or more of the automated predefined strategies and select the risk protocol that's right for your accepted risk tolerance. Please note that you may also participate in the trade management such as setting targets, stops, and exiting trades should you choose to do so.
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Can I run more than one Prodigio strategy at a time?
Yes. Prodigio allows you to select one or more automated strategies at the same time and set them as your default.
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Can I initiate my own intraday trades on the platform?
Yes. Prodigio's Wizard Lab will offer traders the very best in do-it-yourself, drag-n-drop point-n-click strategy development with no need for users to know or learn scripting languages. See our Prodigio Learning Center for the Wizard Lab Overview video.
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Do I need to know programming to use Prodigio?
No. Prodigio is a trading platform environment, and is geared toward traders not programmers. The Prodigio platform will allow you to place a trade or enable custom trading pre-built or custom strategies without ever having to write any code.
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What are my computer's minimum requirements to run the Prodigio platform
Make sure that your system has the following resources:
Operating System
PC: Windows 2000 or later
MAC: OS 10.4 or greater
Processor
1 Ghz
RAM
256 MB or more
Hard drive Free Space
50 MB
(On the PC, 210 MB is required for installation.)
Internet Connection
56K or greater
Video Resolution
1024 x 768 or greater
Firewall
Ports 7001 and 7002 must be open.
Java Runtime Environment
Our software requires a valid Java Runtime Environment(JRE) to run correctly. For PC users, the JRE is automatically downloaded during the ThinkDesktop installation process. For Mac users, the JRE is included with your operating system.
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How much of a strain are the Prodigio scanning and alerts on computer resources? Please provide a number in your answer.
All of the heavy data crunching is done on Prodigio servers behind the scenes, not on your computer. Prodigio displays the real-time results of scans or strategies on your computer. The result is little impact on client system resources utilizing about 40- 50 meg of ram memory to display the client interface on a your PC.
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What is a firewall and can I use the thinkorswim software if I am behind one?
A firewall is simply a program that blocks certain types of Internet traffic to and from a computer or network. A lot of companies run a firewall for security reasons. If you are at work trying to connect with no luck its likely that there is a firewall preventing it. Unfortunately there is only one thing that you can do in such a situation. The Prodigio client application connects to the server on ports: 8080, 7011, and 7012. Please make sure that your system administrator has opened the following TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connections to these ports so Prodigio may connect.
If you have installed a firewall such as Zone Alarm or have activated the one built into XP on a computer at home you may need to temporarily shut down the firewall before starting the Prodigio software to see if it is keeping you from connecting. If this fixes your problem, configure your firewall to allow traffic on ports 7001, 7002, and 443 before turning it back on.
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When I try to download the Prodigio trading software on my computer at work through a network I get an error message. What can I do?
You are most likely being blocked by a firewall. Contact your computer system administrator regarding software permissioning and firewalls and then call our tech support at 610-552-0099 or contact us via email.
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I get an error message when I try to download your trading software. Why?
This can happen if you have a flaky Internet connection, are using certain "download helpers", or have some unusual network configurations. If you get stuck and need help please call Prodigio support at 610-552-0099 or contact us via email.
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I am getting an error message about java or an incompatibility message shortly after I start the Prodigio program. How do I fix this?
Sometimes the Prodigio files will become corrupt so it becomes necessary to force an auto update. To initialize the auto update procedure to check all files follow the instructions below.
- Right click on the Prodigio icon on your desktop.
- Select Properties from the menu that appears and you will get the Prodigio Properties dialog.
- Click Find Target which will open up the main Prodigio folder.
- Delete the folder called "usergui".
- Close all of the open windows. Make sure that you are connected to the Internet and launch the thinkorswim program by double clicking on the desktop icon. If it goes through the auto update process properly we are all done.
The software is very slow, freezes, or crashes after I have been running it for a while. How do I fix this?
If your problem occurs during startup, please refer to the FAQ on auto update and connectivity problems. Checking the connection
- Open up a browser such as Internet Explorer and navigate to a search engine like www.google.com or www.yahoo.com.
- Type in a word you have never searched for in the search field like "bananas" and hit enter on the keyboard.
- If you are returned results your Internet connection is most likely fine. However if you received an error on page then you should try to reestablish an Internet connection or contact your local ISP and see if there is an issue in your area.
Checking System Resources
After using the software as normal for a while, go to the System tab and look at the amount listed next to Free Memory. Then hit the Collect Garbage button and recheck the amount of Free Memory. If this amount is significantly larger than it was initially or is at least 5,000K then you probably have either a slow connection or a slow computer. If the Free Memory is still very low, you may want to consider increasing the amount of RAM dedicated to the thinkorswim software.
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The Prodigio program appears distorted and does not display properly. What should I do?
If your problem is simply that certain fields are scrunched together and numbers, etc. do not fully appear, then you most likely have a video resolution problem. Please refer to the FAQ on how to change your screen resolution. All other display problems are typically caused by an old video card, video driver, and monitor combination that does not fully support Java. Most video card manufacturers now offer updated drivers that correct these problems. An alternate, simpler solution is to change the graphical hardware acceleration on your computer. However, this solution may create problems in other applications if they are graphic intensive (computer games, CAD programs, etc.). If you would like to try this approach, complete the following steps:
- Right click on a blank area of you Desktop and select Properties at the bottom of the menu. This will bring up the Display Properties dialog box.
- Click on the tab labeled Settings.
- Click the Advanced button near the bottom of the window.
- Look for a tab labeled either Troubleshoot or Performance.
- This tab should have a slider bar labeled Hardware Acceleration. Move the slider bar down to none, hit Apply, and then hit Ok. (Windows 98 users may be prompted to restart the computer in order to apply these settings.)
- Restart the Prodigio software and see if this fixes your problem.
If you continue to have difficulty please contact Prodigio technical support.
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What happens if my Internet connection is disrupted while I am logged into the Prodigio software?
The Prodigio system will automatically try to reconnect you until an Internet connection is established or you close the application. If your connection drops, simply re-establish it and the thinkorswim system will reconnect automatically.
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How do I recover a lost or forgotten password?
Click here to have your password emailed to the address you supplied when you registered for your account. Contact technical support (tech@thinkorswim.com or 1-866-839-1100 ext. 3290) if you cannot remember your email account.
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What do I do if I cannot find my question in these FAQs?
Send us an email to Prodigio@thinkorswim.com or call us at -773-244-7749.
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