The "infinite orders" problem has reemerged

The problem of some stocks having enormous (i.e. 15,000 or more) sitting orders at the same price probably has something to do with the problems the servers are having. There are probably others, but the ones that I know of are:

PM.2012.DUTCH.OTHER
PM.2012.NEWELECT
PM.2012.PVDA
PM.2012.PVV
PM.2012.SP
PM.2012.VVD

Please check all stocks for order books with huge numbers of sitting orders at the same price, and try to fix whatever is causing this recurring problem.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2012 03:28PM by maxb.

Here's a complete list of all affected stocks that have been posted about in the forums (thanks maxb and mrh). Probably still not exhaustive.

Currently affected:
FALK.ARGAMB.EXPEL
FALK.ARGAMB.WITHDRAW
FALK.UKAMB.EXPEL
FALK.UKAMB.WITHDRAW
SKYCITY.BANKS.RECUSE

Previously affected:
ACC.LEAK.COLLINS
ACC.LEAK.JUDGE
ACC.LEAK.PULLAR
ACC.LEAK.WHALEOIL
ACC.LEAK.SMITH
ACC.LEAK.LUSK
ACC.PMINQUIRY
ALP.LEAD.OTHER
AUS.ABBOTT.DEP
BANKS.DONOR.CHENWANG
CEO.2012.BOYLE
CEO.2012.BRIDGEMAN
CEO.2012.MAKHLOUF
CEO.2012.MCNEE
CEO.2012.REYNOLDS
CEO.2012.TREMAIN
CEO.2012.WEVERS
CIGARETTE.2012
COURTS.COLLINS.2017
FONT.CHAIR.SHADBOLT
GREECE.2.XA.UP
MMP.PP.DUALCANDS
PM.2012.DUTCH.OTHER
PM.2012.NEWELECT
PM.2012.PVDA
PM.2012.PVV
PM.2012.SP
PM.2012.VVD
POAL.LEAK.POALOTH
SKY.DEAL.1JUL

I agree that this is probably the cause of the server issues, as it was the same cause last time. I submitted a contact form about it but haven't heard back yet (edit: I've now received a reply from the admin, who says he's passed it onto the programmers).



Edited 18 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2012 07:14PM by hmonkey.

I just did some more testing that strongly suggests that this is the cause of the server problems. Here's what I did (all at about 5am New Zealand time, so there wouldn't have been many other active traders):

I used two test contracts. A buggy contract (AUS.ABBOTT.DEP) which is affected by the above bug, and a non-buggy contract (91.JUN12.MID) which isn't. I then did the following series of requests:

1. I loaded the view contract page for each. Loading took 7 seconds for the non-buggy contract and 11 for the buggy contract (consistent over multiple trials).
2. I loaded the trade confirmation page for each (but NOT actually trading). Loading took 4 seconds for the non-buggy contract and 13 seconds for the buggy contract (consistent over multiple trials).
3. I completed a trade of 1 stock for the buggy contract. This timed out after 2 minutes, giving a proxy error.
4. I repeated step 2 for the non-buggy contract. This now timed out too, despite only taken 4 seconds before. The server was still busy processing the trade for the buggy stock's market maker. This continued for about 10 minutes.
5. After about 10 minutes, my trade on the buggy contract went through, and I could load trade confirmation pages again.
6. I completed a trade of 10 stocks for the non-buggy contract. This only took 5 seconds and completed without error.
7. I repeated steps 3 and 6 to reverse my trades, with the same results as above.

Conclusion: Trading a single stock of any of the contracts affected by the infinite market maker bug is enough to take down all trading on iPredict for 10 minutes at an off-peak time. I find it hard to believe that this is not the cause of all the issues the site has been having considering it's coped fine in the past during times of high trading activity and has only had problems when this bug has been around. This is an urgent issue and needs to be a top priority to fix. At minimum, the market makers should be turned off for the affected contracts until a more permanent fix is found.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 05:32AM by hmonkey.

Ouch.

And with the API down, they're difficult to find.

I agree - there is no good reason to delay in turning off the MM for those buggy contracts that are known.

If hard to find them all, that's still no reason to delay in turning off the MM for those that are known, then enlist the community with an announcement asking for any others that people spot to be posted.

Start doing this now guys. Worst case, you just get the MM out of the way on a few stocks for a week or two - hardly a big downside.

Alan.

Good work hmonkey. I agree, MM should be turned off on known problem contracts.

SKY.DEAL.1JUL has the infinite orders bug

Some more:

ACC.LEAK.COLLINS
ACC.LEAK.PULLAR
ACC.LEAK.WHALEOIL
ACC.LEAK.SMITH
ACC.LEAK.LUSK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 10:15PM by mrh.

Should be a simple enough matter for the IT person to identify all the affected stocks without us having to point them out individually.

I've been put in direct contact with the programmer about this now. He'll be looking into it this weekend.

ACC.LEAK.JUDGE

hmonkey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been put in direct contact with the
> programmer about this now. He'll be looking into
> it this weekend.

Good, although it still would have been nice if admin or someone had posted in the thread so we at least knew that they had noted it.

Might be worth pointing out this thread while you're at it: [www.ipredict.co.nz]

Lanthanide Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Might be worth pointing out this thread while
> you're at it:
> [www.ipredict.co.nz]

Already have done

MMP.PP.DUALCANDS

Any update on this? Just came across the bug on SKY.DEAL.1JUL and see it's mentioned here twice already. A quick check of one or two other contracts in here show they still have the MM bug too.

COURTS.COLLINS.2017
FALK.ARGAMB.EXPEL
FALK.ARGAMB.WITHDRAW
FALK.UKAMB.EXPEL
FALK.UKAMB.WITHDRAW



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2012 12:39AM by mrh.

In light of all the bugs, why bother with having the market maker set to 1 for a whole bunch of stocks?
Why not turn it off completely on all stocks except those where the market maker is set at 5, 10 or 25?

I say this after just looking at POAL.LEAK.POALOTH where the MM looks to be determined to buy 1 at 0.0320 multiple times.

Thanks, I am told the issue is resolved now (for the most part) but we may be able to design some new MMs at some point that won't have this bug. We will see how it goes.

admin, the market makers for the stocks I list in post #2 are still affected. Will these be fixed?

Despite the fact that the problem was pointed out over 2 months ago, and despite the fact that attempts to trade on these stocks have the potential to crash the server, and despite the assurance that "for the most part" the issue is resolved, all the stocks listed in hmonkey's post are still affected.

Please remove the MM's on all affected stocks as soon as possible.