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Time delta of 1 minute between algorithm timestamp and transaction timestamp for the same order in research environment

In the attached notebook, a position is entered and later closed. In the analyze function, the algorithm time at order placement is compared with the according transaction timestamp, which reveals a delta of one minute between algorithm timestamp and transaction timestamp for the same order.

What is the reason for that? When live trading a highly liquid equity, a delta of one minute between order placement and execution would be highly unlikely .

2 responses

I have made a small fix to the attached notebook: The second last line now sais correctly "Transaction time of exit order:"

Hi Ralph,

In backtesting, the earliest that an order can be filled is the next minute bar after it's placed. This is because Quantopian algorithms are event loops that run once per minute. In backtesting and Quantopian paper trading, order execution does not happen asynchronously so it's not filled until the next bar at the earliest. In live trading, orders are filled asynchronously by the broker so the orders can be filled earlier than the next minute bar.

Does this help?

Jamie

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