Hi

I called Fidelity many times to get auto trading feature enabled in WLP. One representative, tried to send the auto-trading entitlement to WLP but it didn't display under WLP help section. Nor it showed under ATP. After a lot of debug on Fidelity side the representative told that they have put Auto-trading on hold since March. He didn't know the reason - could be due to pandemic or head count issue.

On calling Fidelity again, another representative informed me that there are not taking any new auto-trading requests anymore since Fidelity is decommissioning WLP in June 2020. I mentioned why, they didn't have any answer to it and he also didn't mention if there is any alternative to WLP.

I read an old post back from 2018 which also had rumors/confusion regarding WLP being discontinued.

So is Fidelity really going to decommission WLP this year? There is no news of this in the Forum or on Fidelity website.

Thanks.

Cone, Eugene ?

Auto-trading is not enabled by default. I don't think Fidelity grants anyone an auto-trading entitlement until they have used Wealth-Lab for over a year or so. There's just too much risk there.

I've been using Wealth-Lab for five years, and I still like to remain in the loop on all Buy trades. There's too many complex considerations to review before pulling the trigger, especially now with this weird market environment.

Wealth-Lab is an excellent tool when you know how to use it. In fact, it may be one of the best tools in its class. But it's not for everyone; you need to be analytically minded. I think it would be a shame to discontinue it for those that know how to use it. That would just force us to go elsewhere.

We're not involved with Fidelity's business planning, but when we have some information, we'll pass it on.

Auto-trading was available for customers who trades 500+ per year and has $100K+ assets in the account.
Apparently Fidelity has raised the requirements recently and it now requires $1M+ assets in the account.
Do you meet the new requirement?

I met their requirements and Fidelity representatives were about to grant me auto-trading by pushing the agreement into WLP for me to accept the auto-trading terms and agreements. But that process didn't go through since auto-trading applications are on hold.

Please keep us posted as your auto-trading request goes on.
I was once considering about the audo-trading but only found that they raised the requirement.

As for Fidelity considering decommissioning WLP, I'm wondering if anyone else had a chance to contact Fidelity.
I cannot believe they ever decommission WLP in next month as I believe they have been working on Fall update release.

I called Fidelity this afternoon for enabling auto-trading. The Fidelity representatives told me he done and asked me to wait for 15 min to check. However, I still did not see the "on" yet from order tool.

I had the exact same experience as andyrust's experience with Fidelity last week. You have to call several times until you get to a person who really knows what to do, instead of just telling "ok, done, go ahead and restart WLP and it should work". However, apparently finding the right person is not going to work anymore either because I was also told that auto-trading function will be discontinued in June 2020 so they are not accepting applications/requests.

I asked about plans for WLP software itself, and was told that decision for discontinuing auto-trading was final, but a decision for WLP software was not made. I told them that I find great value and utility in WLP and that it is definitely a primary reason that I am with Fidelity. I read the older forum discussion a few years back when people said "call and let Fidelity know about the value of WLP to you to encourage them to not decommission WLP." Maybe it is that time again.

Did they tell you why they are discontinuing auto-trading?

I'm just guessing but there might be some folks who lost money due to the recent volatility, especially the circuit breakers may have screwed up auto-trading folks. I'm glad to know that they are not discontinuing WLP software but I still really like WLP to offer auto-trading for sophisticated traders. Once you start daytrading many symbols (say more than 10 symbols), it becomes non-practical to place so many orders manually.

QUOTE:
I had the exact same experience as andyrust's experience with Fidelity last week. You have to call several times until you get to a person who really knows what to do,...

Could you share with us who you talked to? Many Fidelity support people are not that familiar with Wealth-Lab.

QUOTE:
I asked about plans for WLP software itself,... but a decision for WLP software was not made. I told them that I find great value and utility in WLP and that it is definitely a primary reason that I am with Fidelity. I read the older forum discussion ... where people said "call and let Fidelity know about the value of WLP to you to encourage them to not decommission WLP." Maybe it is that time again.

It would be nice to continue development on Wealth-Lab. There are many refinements that would be helpful.

In addition, I would be willing to pay an annual fee for the development of a 7.0 version of WLP if Fidelity commissions one. Fidelity might consider ongoing development of a more advanced version for those willing to pay. For those unwilling to pay, they can continue to use WLP 6.9.

They did not give a reason why autotrading is being discontinued. I also think that the recent extreme volatility may have pushed them in this direction.

At Fidelity support, I talked with someone from the trading desk, under active trading services, who was familiar with WLP. He tried hard to be helpful but eventually notified me of the dead end when he learned about it.

I spoke with a Fidelity representative who answered when I asked for Wealth Lab Pro support. I asked if Fidelity had plans to decommission WLP in June and the rep said that nothing has been announced.

WLP was WAY ahead of its time. I really wish Fidelity would see the value and commission a cloud based version.

Then we'd have to hear concerns from one half of the users about safety of their trading systems in the cloud.

The other half would complain about inavailability of all data providers but Fidelity in the cloud. Putting them there would mean data redistribution in its purest form.

QUOTE:
... value of a cloud based version.

The problem with a cloud version is that it would break all my custom numerical analysis and statistics functions that are dependent on the Math.NET package. It also won't interface with R for statistical analysis. What about support for custom optimizers in a cloud solution? How would that work?

Moreover, a cloud solution may execute slower than a powerful workstation version since a dedicated workstation has some speed advantages over a time-shared frame.

---
But for "simple stuff," a cloud solution may be the right choice. And there are already several cloud solutions available.

The ideal choice would be to have one code base (say employing the Core .NET framework instead of the Windows .NET framework for portability) that could be split between an application version for power users that's extensible and a cloud solution for those that just want to use the code "as is" without any customizations. And it is architecturally possible to do that. The beauty of this two-platform, one-code-base approach is that the cloud solution would appeal to new users. And when they outgrow it and need extensibility, they can then move to the more customizable application-based solution. So the simple entry product sells the more powerful, customizable product.

To some degree, you have that now where the beginner starts with the Rules-base paradigm of WL then, when he outgrows that, he precedes to the Code-based paradigm of WL. The WL user grows into the next level, which is the genius behind WL's flexible design.

I had a very similar experience to the ones above.

I just called Fidelity's Active Trader platform to get authorization for live trading. The representative tried to get me setup but had difficulty doing so -- he then reached out to a senior representative in his department.

They informed me that Fidelity is reviewing whether or not to continue with WLP. Until then, they are not processing new applications till they make a decision. They were not sure of the timing of the decision, but felt that they might make the decision in Jun-2020. But they did send me a copy of the application to mail in (though it will be on hold till a decision is made).

--> *** But even now, in Orders I show both Paper Trading & Live Accounts. Under Accounts, it lists all my accounts -- both the paper accounts & live accounts. Does this mean that I can use WLP to trade live even now?

I intend to contact my Fidelity rep so he knows about the value of WLP. I hope everyone in this community does the same.

As a backup (in case Fidelity goes a different way) maybe the owners of WLP can put some feelers out to Interactive Brokers and others.

QUOTE:
Does this mean that I can use WLP to trade live even now?

Yes, you can trade live with Fidleity using Wealth-Lab Pro. You just cannot Auto-trade live without that entitlement. You'll know if you have that entitlement if "Live Accounts" appears in the Auto-Trading dropdown in the Orders tool.

If you wish to trade with WLP, I recommend that you use the Auto-Stage option to send Alerts to the Orders tool. From there, you need to manually select the order(s) and then "Place Selected". If you have multiple accounts, make sure to "Set Account.." in the Strategy Explorer to assign the strategy to a specific account.

QUOTE:
owners of WLP

Fidelity is the owner of Wealth-Lab since 2004.

Hi Cone,

Noted. I show only paper trading in the Auto-Trading entitlement.

I really hope they continue with WLP. I will certainly talk to my account rep about this.

Does WLP work at any other brokerage firms?

For all practical purposes, no.

I had live trading turned on in February and it has been working well. I will write to Fidelity emphasizing its value to traders. Worth a shot.

For those using WLP outside the US, I believe they do connect auto-trading to other brokers.

If Fidelity does indeed turn off auto-trading, it would be nice to see community extension / APIs that enable trading via other brokerages.

when I realized my account only allows "auto-staging" and not "auto-placing/trading" I called Fidelity Active Trader team today and representative started asking the "Purpose" first and when I told I do multiple tens of trades every day and I want auto-decision to depend more than simple Price based curve to leverage more considering volume and multiple metrics and he verified bunch of other things and even told finally
>> I qualify for my mentioned Purpose and my investment profile(risk-taking etc) and even qualify for my given Assets Value and number of trades

But after taking ~20 minutes to review with their senior representatives/team, he told currently not taking any new requests for Auto-Trading and to wait till JULY.

I had to fight saying I put already so much efforts developing code and now all ready and importantly 1 more month waiting till JULY means I will have to waste lot of time repeating manually being multiple tens of trades every day which also simple price-curve based not matching my full requirements with Fidelity/ATP etc...

Even they deny when I said I am ready to go Fee-based service considering value add saving my so much manual efforts...

Anyway the representative was kind enough to hear all concerns and told will try to get back soonest as possible...

Sad to hear about your experience.

hm! Thanks and hope to hear better from them sometime soon.....

I reached to two Fiedlity representatives, and was told that they will no longer enable Auto Trade, and potentially discontinue Wealth-Lab pro (maybe integrated into Active Trade Pro). So sad ....

Any information from your guys?

My call to them today about registering my installation resulted in a response that they will no longer support WLP 6/30/2020. They wouldn't even register me so that I could download some tools and work on developing some strategies to back test until the end of June.
I expressed my dissatisfaction with the lack of another offering to allow us this level of interaction with the data & markets.

So WLP knows this obviously by now. What are their plans? Where can they take their program/service to?

I think they should should support WL on at least a subscription bases. That should be the minimal offering.

If they are truly discontinuing WLP, my hope is Fidelity to allow US customers to obtain WLD and offer Broker and Data provider for Fidelity account. Otherwise, many of us here have to consider leaving from Fidelity and moving to the competitors (IB, TS etc).

Once Fidelity stops supporting WLP at the end of June, WLP will stop working right away?
Hopefully they will give us some time before WLP stops working.

post deleted

QUOTE:
4. Mentioned very indefinite plans to link with Active Trader Pro, an idea discussed here...

https://www.wealth-lab.com/Forum/Posts/Active-Trader-Pro-Integration-31769

Well, I don't "think" Fidelity customers are going to be able to place Fidelity trades directly from WLD like you can from WLPro. So Fidelity users are now going to have to employ ATP to place their actual trades (I think). If that's the case, it would be nice to link WLD with ATP so Alerts from the WL Quotes window appear in ATP.

Hopefully, Fidelity works with MS123 to develop Broker and Data provider so that we are all happy again as long as you are willing to purchase WLD copies and pay the maintenance fee (that definitely I will).

I am trying to understand what it means practically. Wealthlab pro(WLP) == Fidelity linked Wealthlab developer(WLD) ? I cannot purchase WLD in USA. I may have mixed up the terminology as well.. Practically, where do I get intraday data if Fidelity data is gone and how do I even get WLD if I am not allowed to purchase if I live in USA ??

I am getting contradictory information from Fidelity. I had sent in an application for automated trading & have been following up on status.

1) In following up a couple of weeks ago, the Active Trader Pro (ATP) agent announced that they were discontinuing support but automated trading etc would still be supported;

2) Today the ATP agent called one of their ATP specialists on the line & he informed to me:
* Fidelity will discontinue all support for WLP & transfer back to WLP community;
* We will lose access to Fidelity as a data provider;
* No automated trading
* The decision was finalized in the past 2-weeks and will be effective by end-Jun or early Jul-20

As Fidelity owns WLP, I am not clear (and the agent was not sure) if they would give the freedom to WLP community to negotiate new arrangements with other brokers.

But it looks like Fidelity is closing the curtain on WLP. I really hate to post this, but it's better that everyone knows the facts.

I spoke with 2 reps at Fidelity today about WL-Pro and support. They have no support for WL-Pro at Fidelity, and in addition both reps told me that WL is being discontinued for use (contract is expiring) July 31, 2020. They mention that WL-International would still be available (I don't know if that exits).

To summarize my basic points here:

1. Fidelity is not renewing WLP contract after July. SO I guess I'm looking for a NEW PLATFORM.
2. If data from Fidelity is different for ATP and WLP, then probably I should be looking for another platform (one that also includes seconds and ticks in the data stream).
3. It feels like WLP is now underperforming for Fidelity traders because of the above mentioned issues. Too bad.

Anyone have better data providers to use with WLP (equities, options, futures) ?

Eugene, Cone

If WLP is no longer being supported by Fidelity after July and we lose access to Fidelity as a data provider, what alternatives exist currently in WLP for data sources besides yahoo?

Data provider alternatives

If I need 10+ years intra-day and 20+ years daily data, IQFeed would be the only option?

Do you happen to know if I can share one IQFeed account on multiple WLD computers as long as the data is download on one computer at a time?

I would like to run WLD on multiple computers for optimization.

There can only be a single active IQFeed session. You'll be kicked out of other sessions on the other computers by IQFeed. The WL IQFeed provider will have to reconnnect a terminated session when a data update request is received (on another computer).

Let's not discuss data provider alternatives in this topic, please.

I've been crawling through the alternatives on this site, but I don't see anything as cookbook-complete as Fidelity's current service (even with it's current limited streaming especially options data). So I seems like WLP is DIW for myself. I'm not happy about it. But then, who cares if WLP users are happy. Apparently not Fidelity.

IQFeed is the solution for U.S. stock, futures, indices, options and forex data (EOD and intraday) for WLD users. It's a paid alternative, of course.

Let's not discuss data provider alternatives in this topic.

I just talked to Fidelity. The rep was reading from a document and gave me the following:

1 WLP is to be decommissioned at the end of July. There are decline numbers of people using it and Fidelity has no future interest in it..
2. There will be no data etc from Fidelity after that date.
3. WealthLab International will be offered to us at no cost until the end of 2020.
4. The decision was made in early June.

This brings up several questions.

1. Why is it taking so long to notify us. Based on what I understood from her, I have lost almost half of the time available to work on the transition.
2. What differences are there between WLP and WealthLab International? Will we receive a detailed list?
3. Will I be able to run WLP and WealthLab International concurrently to validate that all my things are working?
4. Fidelity has not shown much support for WLP over the last few years. Will we start to see more improvements now that Fidelity is no longer involved?

I sort of asked those questions, but no WLP response yet. As of now, the only thing Fidelity will have is ATP, which I'm not finding very good, it's sort of old and bulky, with many bugs, hangs, etc. I think Eugene mentioned IQFeed as a replacement to Fidelity, but it has a lot of choices for data and can be quite costly. So, I feel like backed in a corner and need to look for a new brokerage for all my accounts.

That's how it looks for me anyway.

@traderray, even we (MS123 LLC) do not have answers to each of your questions. As to question #2, it's been on the Wiki FAQ for over a decade:

QUOTE:
Wealth-Lab Developer is sold outside of the U.S./Canada by MS123, LLC under license by Fidelity Investments, and can not be purchased in the U.S./Canada. Wealth-Lab Pro, the U.S. version, is available to qualified active trader accounts at Fidelity free of charge. Wealth-Lab Pro can not be purchased; see here if you're eligible. "Pro" and "Developer" are in effect the same application except that "Pro" is delivered with special integration for Fidelity price and fundamental data as well as for automated trading with Fidelity Investments.

Once the terms are finalized every WLP customer will get a welcome email with details on 'enlisting' as WLD user. We will step in and help with the transition.

QUOTE:
WLP is to be decommissioned at the end of July.

It's better than the end of June but I really wished if Fidelity gives us a litte more time, say several months or so. If you are using WLP for the backtesting only, one month would be enough to migrate. However, I use WLP for semi-automated daytrading and sending orders as well, I need more time to migrate to the new platform. But I guess Fidelity doesn't consider WLP to be used for trading, otherwise they would have never thought about decommissioning it in such a short period of time.

QUOTE:
There are decline numbers of people using it and Fidelity has no future interest in it..

It makes sense. Everybody is daytrading these days without proper testing. They will eventually learn the lession and realize they will need a backtesting platform like WLP. Unfortunately at that time Fidelity won't have a tool for those customers.

QUOTE:
There will be no data etc from Fidelity after that date.

My hope was Fidelity to collaborate with MS123 to migrate WLP customers to WLD with introducing Fidelity broaker and data providers. Unfortunately, they are likely shutting down not only the software platform but also the infrastructures (data and order servers).

I understand your frustration. We're all hard pressed for time for such a transition.

Wow. This is very sad news.

I actually just downloaded WLP from Fidelity a few days ago and wondered why it was so difficult to find on their website.

I was really looking forward to using it, as it seems like a great product, and now I read this. :-(.

Anyway, I really feel for you long time users. I hope things work out for all.

I have also posted questions to Fidelity (eg., why no heads-up so we can attempt to find alternative platforms?)
But I would like to hear back on this thread for potential workarounds and other possible "solutions" from both users and support folks.
I've only been using WLP for about a year (intensely for the last 6 months) and find it very useful for backtesting and custom charting. I'm using the C# programming interface, which is extremely flexible and powerful.
The support I've received has also been awesome.
Thanks in advance

My Fidelity Regional Brokerage Consultant hasn't heard anything about ending Wealth-Lab Pro access. Is this really a done deal or are MS123 and Fidelity still trying to work something out?

If it is a done deal, I realize this is a major event for MS123, but it would be helpful if you could start a thread to update users about where things stand from time to time.

You can find an impact analysis I started in post #4, here... https://www.wealth-lab.com/Forum/Posts/Yahoo-ticker-for-Arms-Index-TRIN-28433/Page/1#209954

I, too, called Fidelity Active Trader Support today. They don't know anything! The rep I talked to said the document he was reading still indicated June 30. I tried to get info on the record through a chat, but that rep said he couldn't comment on chat and gave me this phone number. 877-907-4429.

My take on all this. Negotiations. Fidelity thinks it has this great wonderful software. We all know its a mature fat client, with a long list of never-worked bugs, with a major design flaw (post-strategy cash management). I'll build something to migrate my key strategies.

I wouldn't go that far. As an added benefit to trading at Fidelity, it's fine. However, before I purchased a subscription to Wealth-Lab Developer, I'd want to see what else is out there.

There should be an official announcement concurrent with the next release of Wealth-Lab Pro - this week I think. Sorry for the lack of news, we've been waiting for it too.

QUOTE:
I ... called Fidelity Active Trader Support today.

I called last week. There are two issues that concerned the WL consultant:

1) Amount of trading usage posted from WLPro users. The consultant pointed out the me only 120 trades were posted from WLPro that early morning. In contrast, ATP had 1000 times more. Personally, I find it very convenient to post my trades directly from WLPro, especially bracketed orders. And I told him this. (You should too.) But I would welcome the development of some kind of interface between WL and ATP.

2) Security. Yes, I agree security is an issue. But the fundamental problem is the single sign-on login concept Fidelity employs, not WLPro.

I do not use the WLP interface to enter orders. I do all of my analysis using WLP, determine my desired trades and manually enter them into ATP.

Measuring usage posted from WLP totally misses my use of WLP and my trading activity thru ATP.

My guess is that a lot of users do the same as me and Fidelity has totally missed this part of the user base. If this includes you, how about posting that here?

Re: Measuring usage... Also true for me. I do final due diligence on the Fidelity web site and enter my strategy-directed trades there.

On Wealth-Lab Pro from Fidelity today I found the following announcement:

Wealth-Lab Pro is being decommissioned on July 31, 2020. Thank you for being a valued client and for using Wealth-Lab Pro® to test and execute your trading strategies.Because of changes in Fidelity’s brokerage strategy, we are decommissioning Wealth-Lab Pro® on July 31, 2020.To ensure continued access to this kind of capability, our partners at www.wealth-lab.com are providing access to Wealth-Lab Developer, the international version of the tool, to Fidelity customers currently using Wealth-Lab Pro, with no platform charge.The yearly maintenance fee of $150 will be waived for 2020 to allow time to transition to the new product.To download Wealth-Lab Developer, please register here.Clients already participating in the community are registered and can request access to download Wealth-Lab Developer and receive product support.

From @superticker #53 comments, I surprise to hear that statement from Fidelity that only 120 trades in the morning overall... It should be lot more than ATP because of the way of easy and can schedule even hundreds of trades with Single clicks on WL whereas in ATP max of only 20 to 25 bulk trades allowed based on type of trade....

Inspite me having only WL "Auto-staging" and No Auto-routing, and I myself using most days of > 100 trades in a day because of flexibility of SplitPosition kind of WL logic etc which helps strategize to minimize loses with also maximize profits all in just < 1 minute of manual efforts..

Is it possible to run WLP and WLD on the same machine at the same time? Can I have WLD on multiple machines?

We don't know for sure that our understanding is that users will not be able to log in to WLP once it's decommissioned. Currently, WLD can be run on multiple devices if user has purchased multiple licenses.

Will I still have access to my strategies & code? I guess I should back them up now

Yes. For their location, see Data > Where data is stored in the WL User Guide.

On a related note, we will still need to facilitate the transition of Strategies and DataSets to WLD.

Let me amend highlighted sentence of this otherwise correct statement by Fidelity:

Wealth-Lab Pro is being decommissioned on July 31, 2020. Thank you for being a valued client and for using Wealth-Lab Pro® to test and execute your trading strategies.Because of changes in Fidelity’s brokerage strategy, we are decommissioning Wealth-Lab Pro® on July 31, 2020.To ensure continued access to this kind of capability, our partners at www.wealth-lab.com are providing access to Wealth-Lab Developer, the international version of the tool, to Fidelity customers currently using Wealth-Lab Pro, with no platform charge.The yearly maintenance fee of $150 will be waived for 2020 to allow time to transition to the new product.To download Wealth-Lab Developer, please register here.Clients already participating in the community are registered and can request access to download Wealth-Lab Developer and receive product support.

Thee maintenance fee of $150 will still be charged but the first 6 months of platform usage (i.e. the remainder of 2020) will be free for migrated WLP customers. In other words, after making a payment of $150 they will be provided a license key for WLD (free of charge i.e. no platform cost) valid until 12/31/2021. So your WLD usage in 2020 will be free; you only pay for 2021. The maintenance payment is annual and the term cannot be made shorter.

From Fidelity's message to me...

QUOTE:
Clients already participating in the community are registered and can request access to download Wealth-Lab Developer and receive product support.

I am requesting access.

Thanks. Those who request access will receive instructions later this month.

I am requesting as per the above "can request access to download Wealth-Lab Developer and receive product support".

The forum or support portal is not a place for such requests. You should get the communication from Fidelity and follow the private link in it, then please fill out the form. Thanks.

QUOTE:
after making a payment of $150 they will be provided a license key for WLD

Can there at least be a 30 day trial period for WLD given to those transitioning from WLP, similar to what a new WLD user might get (I imagine), before requiring the $150 charge (applicable with the same overall terms as mentioned)?

That 30 day trial period will allow each of us to fully evaluate if any of the data providers available match the specific needs of coded strategies for backtesting/streaming/monitoring etc. and if the associated costs are viable. Without data, WLD itself isn't much use, if any.

I echo 'WLP123' suggestion. Cost of intraday data is a concern. Fidelity statement regarding free access till EOY is misleading as once you had made the payment, it is non refundable.

No, there will not be a free trial period to WLD as this applies to new users. (Migrating customers are not new users.) Please note that in addition to having the privilege of the free license, you'll also receive 1/2 year of free usage. With free trial on top of that, do you believe it's all going to look fair to our non-U.S. customers who did pay for their licenses (and not enjoyed any grace periods)?

The data providers are mostly free, are not part of WLD and thus aren't subject for evaluation. IQFeed is a production grade, industry standard data feed. It's recommended as the replacement for real-time and historical intraday data by Fidelity that you are used to.

Payment is non-refundable and helps maintain product development and support. Thank you for your understanding.

@Eugene regarding your comment

QUOTE:
No login to WLP after 07/31/2020.

No data feed from Fidelity.

No trading through Fidelity except placing orders manually via ATP / Fidelity website.

after 07/31 move to WL-Developer and then using Auto-staging with manually placing on WL orders tool works ?

Fidelity decommissions WLP. No placing or staging orders to Fidelity from WLP altogether. Sorry if I wasn't clear, let me highlight the key fragment:

No trading through Fidelity except placing orders manually via ATP / Fidelity website.

Or you could use Interactive Brokers.

QUOTE:
You should get the communication from Fidelity and follow the private link in it, then please fill out the form. Thanks.

When should we receive this? I have heard nothing so far.

Vince

hm! sad as last 1 month whatever my developed coding not useful on Fidelity accounts but looking at many people who did so much last many many years, it is more painful for them of this migration.. :-(
Anyway slowly we will all find some way eventually...

@Carova

Vince, you should call your Fidelity rep because MS123 is not in charge of the mailout.

Thanks Eugene! Will do!!

Vince

ETA for WLD registration for WLP customer?

I got a message from Fidelity and followed the link to the "Welcome to Wealth-Lab Developer" page.
I tried to register myself but got a pop up saying that my email address has been registered already.
I guess this is due to the registration I did a few weeks ago.

Btw, any update for the multiple license discount for WLP customers?

Thank you for signing up. We've got your submission so no need to re-register. The team is working on setting up the transition process and a migration tool.

No agreement on multiple license discounts, we'll get back to it later.

QUOTE:
When should we receive this? I have heard nothing so far.

I received didn't get an email, but there was a message in the Fidelity message center.

The end of July is fast approaching, I am little bit of nervous about the migration process from WLP to WLD. I have filled the form and I am waiting for the further instructions from Wealth-Lab.com. I do not know how smooth the migration process will be. What kind of preparations I should make? Are the C# coded strategies still going to work? Do I need to backup my historical data? Fidelity will not provide the data feed anymore, what else data providers we can use? Where can we get more information about WLD? It is my understanding that after July 31, we will not be able to launch WLP anymore. Is that true?

Thanks,
Jinye

WLD is the same as WLP without Fidelity's order placement and data suite. So yes, your Strategies will (mostly) keep on working. Of course there will be lots of exceptions if they are based on some Fidelity specifc features. Like if you hardcoded some symbols they have to be converted (e.g. .SPX = ^SPX, BRK-A = BRK.A), data provider replaced (Fidelity market sentiment > Wealth-Data, Fidelity fundamental data > YCharts, Zacks etc.) and so on.

We've been working on making the migration smooth via a tool that backs up your data, moves installed Extensions etc. and later (in a future Phase #2) recreates your dead Fidelity DataSets as Yahoo/W-D/AlphaVantage/whatever with regard to conversion of missing symbols etc. And you can count on our support with the transition because not everything can be automated.

As always with moves and transitions, especially such fast-paced as this one, there's a lot of work to do. Instructions will be sent out to everyone subscribed once we're ready.

I am attempting to reach Eugene. I'm a Fidelity client attempting to transition to Wealth-Lab directly because Fidelity site no longer supports Wealth-Lab. The Fidelity Trading Desk support technician confirmed this and game me the link for the 18 month free license by enrolling in the maintenance plan. I enrolled on July 10, please see attachment, and am awaiting a reply. Please help me if you can. Thank you kindly. David

Please see my reply e.g. in post #77 above. No further action required.

---

Everyone who enrolled please wait as instructed. We'll get in touch with you soon. Thanks.

Your explanation is very helpful, Eugene. Thanks. I know I can count on Wealth-Lab support team and I hope it will change for better. The pain is for the short term. Like trading, the performance for the long term really matters the most.

Jinye

If you want to complain to Fidelity, I spoke to someone in the Merrimac office today.  I had asked him about lower priced option commissions and he was getting back to me.  They are looking for people to move money over to Fido from other brokers in exchange for bonuses and lower commissions.  I complained about how they handled the whole WLP issue. I mentioned that the number of traders that use WLP is not a good indicator of how many clients use the platform.  Fidelity always made it difficult to trade with WLP so most people trade on ATP after getting signals on WLP.   Anyway, I told him that I was thinking about  moving money away from Fido because of how they handled the WLP situation.  He acted disturbed.   I asked if we would still have access to Fidelity data and he didn't know but said he would register my complaints and see if there was any way to access the Fido data.  I also mentioned that it is unclear about when we need to pay WLD for a subscription. I am recommending that other people who use WLP call him and register their complaints.  So, his name is Eric Makara and his phone number is 800-544-5115 X11238.
Thanks

QUOTE:
I also mentioned that it is unclear about when we need to pay WLD for a subscription.

Fidelity doesn't handle this so it's better ask us. You'll get 6 months for free (actually 5 in 2020 but it's still a unique offer) when you pay the maintenance fee ($150) to keep WLD working through 2021. That's how it's going to work.

Hoping that we can download WLD perhaps a week or 2 before end of July, just to set it up properly. Any idea when ?

Everybody who signed up will receive the mail with instructions (including payment link and a WLD Migration Tool) when things are set up and tested on our end. Thank you for your patience.

As clearly indicated on this Post and missed by Fidelity -
there is a strong relation and value between Wealth Lab Pro capability to back test trading strategies
and trading volume via their Active Trader Pro service.

Hence, Keeping Wealth Lab Pro service to Fidelity clients is a value to both the clients and Fidelity,

Why don't we Fidelity clients send a collective and signed by the users request to Fidelity Brokerage to review and/or perhaps negotiate
their decision to decommission Wealth-Lab Pro on July 31, 2020 ?

I think it's time for Fidelity to consider extending the decommission date pushed back another month or two for both the customers and MS123 to have sufficient time for the smooth migration.

The date should have been set reasonably for the customers to migrate not based on the contract between MS123 and Fidelity.

IMO, Fidelity made a number of mistakes re:WLP.

1) Made automatic trading access (even for Registered Investment Advisors with all of the appropriate Licenses) almost impossible to obtain. This prevented a number of intraday strategies from being used since it is prohibitively expensive to dedicate a person to watch the screen for the whole trading day.

2) Failed to provide an in-house forum that addressed how to overcome some of WLP peculiarities.

3) Most Known Errors & Open Issues have not been resolved over many years. Some of these items are absolutely essential for real trading. Furthermore, there have been no real improvements or upgrades to WL in the last 3-4 years, making WL somewhat "dated". Some items, such as multi-objective optimization, or access to modern AI tools, are now part of the most modern trading development platforms, but not part of WL.

With the decommissioning of WLP by Fidelity, this last item will be totally in the hands of MS123. In the past MS123 has said that the Known Errors and Open Issues were not being addressed because of decisions by Fidelity. I have not heard any statements from MS123 about these later issues, and must assume that there are no changes planned.

Vince

Re: #3. Not true. There had been active development (i.e. new, unreleased Fidelity Streaming provider) which got buried by the rapid decommissioning. WLP Build 24 is a proof. Except for some glaring ones like QC146 (which apparently cannot be resolved in Windows Forms), most of these deficiencies are displeasing but not critical.

We believe the transition of WL to MS123 means more agile development, bug fixes, and new features.

I would gladly pay a reasonable fee for Fidelity data and use WLD, especially considering Interactive Brokers charges a data fee. I just use WLP for back testing and its signals for manual trading.

Hi Eugene!

We can disagree about the large number of unresolved issues and errors that Fidelity has failed to address. Up to and including Build 24, WL has IMO failed to keep pace with the competition in terms of capability. The NN capability is extremely limited, MOO (which is required in trading system development) has not been considered, an easy-to-use interface to a trove of publically available Statistical, Mathematical, and Machine Learning Libraries (with the exception of R) does not appear to have been addressed.

We can disagree about the value and need for any one of these items, but taken as a group there has not been a robust effort to keep WL current. I have been a WL user from the earliest days, and up to WLD4 there was a rapid effort to keep improving the product. WLD5, and the transition to the C# framework, necessitated a scaling back of other developments and improvements to the capability. WLD6 added some (IMO) minor improvements but introduced many of the Open Issues and Known Errors we have been living with for years. That some were finally addressed in Build 24 is laudable.

What is the future direction and plan for WLD? The short-term pain of the decommissioning HOPEFULLY will be resolved in the next month but I would like to hear why I should plan to stay with WLD in the future.

Vince

Edit:
One major desire (that I believe is generally shared in the WL community) is support for multi-core processors and GPUs. Both have become extremely common in the Marketplace, and many other trading system platforms take full advantage of one or both, particularly for optimizations. With AMD selling CPUs with more and more cores, this should be a basic capability in your product IMO.

QUOTE:
With the decommissioning of WLP by Fidelity, this last item will be totally in the hands of MS123

And with it the clear message "if you want this feature/fix, you can pay us to do it", as we have already seen in a few threads since the WLP decommissioning became a certainty in the past few weeks. Plus the lack of even a short trial period to ensure WLP users are truly comfortable with the transition before having to shell out more money.

Be prepared for more along these lines as we decide to move onto WLD.

QUOTE:
I would gladly pay a reasonable fee for Fidelity data and use WLD,...

And I would too. But understand the data Fidelity provides is not theirs to sell. That data belongs to third-party data-feed providers. But what Fidelity could so is negotiate a group discount agreement with a major data feed provider (such as IQFeed) so we could buy their data feed (directly) at a discount. That is legally doable.

And it would also be useful if Fidelity provided their brokerage API to WLD so we could trade on our Fidelity accounts with WLD. Fidelity can create a special restricted access login to the WLD brokerage interface if they are concerned about security (which may be a concern).

I would call your Fidelity broker and suggest this.

QUOTE:
And with it the clear message "if you want this feature/fix, you can pay us to do it", as we have already seen in a few threads since the WLP decommissioning became a certainty in the past few weeks.

Speaking for myself, I've been supporting users on our website soon 14 years, every day, not having taken a vacation. The only social system where you don't pay for support, features and fixes is communism. Otherwise a remuneration is natural.

QUOTE:
Plus the lack of even a short trial period to ensure WLP users are truly comfortable with the transition before having to shell out more money.

According to our agreement with Fidelity, grandfathered users [racism deleted] legacy status customers from the U.S. will have 5 months of free usage in 2020. Customers in any other country of the world do not receive such privilege.

You guys will greatly benefit consulting with 'Marketing Executive'. Forced subscription is a poor way to attract customers. My 2 cents.

1. I just learned that Fidelity is decommissioning WLP. First, thank you all for the development and support of WLP over the years. For quite some time I have been using WLP for autotrading 15-40 trades intraday per day. It has been profitable.

2. I suspect that one key reason for the decommissioning of WLP is that the concept of backtesting strategies subject to rigorous statistical analysis is not truly embraced by Fidelity. I have never viewed a Fidelity educational seminar on trading, risk management or technical analysis where statistical backtesting and strategy management has been discussed. Fidelity trading seminars are basic and geared for new traders. In fact, WLP is not actively promoted as a resource available to Fidelity customers. Fidelity chose not to dedicate the resources to client education, including video lectures, and software development that some other brokerages do to specifically support their backtesting and autotrading platforms. WLP has always been an orphan. The explosion in quant trading is not aligned with Fidelity strategically.

3. Fidelity has great people and superb customer service that is well above that found at other brokerage firms. Fidelity is great at serving the masses, but frankly there is minimal commitment to the education and development of tools for serious active traders. That is not a flaw or a criticism. Only an observation that self-directed, active traders are not really in Fidelity's core target audience.

4. I will maintain my accounts at Fidelity. It is a fine brokerage firm. But out of necessity and with reluctance, I must transfer some large balances to other brokerages that have robust platforms for backtesting and autotrading.

5. I wish everyone on the WLP team good luck. I'm sure that you can all quickly get jobs with large quant funds and double your salary.

Like traderray (post #54 on 7/8 5:41pm) I too use WLP for analysis of the market and best securities to trade, but then place my trades with ATP. I use WLP for stock, ETF, options and mutual funds. With options, I'm actually analyzing the underlying stock. I cannot place trades with WLP for options.

Eugene mentions that:

QUOTE:
WLD can be run on multiple devices if the user has purchased multiple licenses.

Question: If I buy a new computer, can I transfer my license to that computer or will I have to buy another license in the future?

QUOTE:
but then place my trades with ATP.

It's 3rd such comment in this topic alone. There are more WLP users than Fidelity thought they knew. :/

QUOTE:
Question: If I buy a new computer, can I transfer my license to that computer or will I have to buy another license in the future?

Generally, no need to buy. It depends on how frequently you switch computers. If it takes place every month then this is simultaneous usage (an extra license required). Otherwise you should be able to transfer on your own. You might need to contact us via support ticket when your PC hasn't changed but is no longer recognized for some reason or when your hardware change is unplanned. We will find a solution to both cases.

For more on transfering your license to a new PC, please refer to this illustrated guide: Activating Wealth-Lab Developer > "Want to activate a registered copy of Wealth-Lab on a different machine?"

QUOTE:
but then place my trades with ATP.

Yup. I'm sure there are many more than 3. If auto-trading was easier to use with WLP, those who wanted to fully automate their trading would do more through Fidelity. Perhaps some will decide to do so with WLD and Interactive Brokers.

Personally, I doubt I would fully trust a computer to do all my trading, so I would still use WLP/D to screen for potential trades and place them manually.

QUOTE:
There are more WLP users than Fidelity thought they knew. :/

Over 1500 trades (mostly options) in last 3 years all thru ATP. They called me 3SD as I didn't enter a single trade via WL. What a blunder they did!
Not expecting them to revert....admitting a mistake is not a corporate culture thing.

100% of us generate signals on WLP and do some filtering manually and enter order via ATP...

QUOTE:
100% of us generate signals on WLP and do some filtering manually and enter order via ATP...

...which contributed to decommission of WLP - along with high data costs per user.

Summarizing a Bit…

1) Fidelity has initiated the decommission of their private-label licenses of Wealth-Lab Pro (Wealth-Lab Developer). Users should have a message in the Fidelity Communications Center page to follow https://www.wealth-lab.com/fidelity/wlp to register a transfer request with MS123. The latest communications indicate that the transition will be completed July 31, 2020 with the following implications:
a. Clients will not be able to launch Wealth-Lab Pro and log in
b. Those few WLP users that automate trades will not be able to continue automation with Fidelity Investments. Post separation Interactive Brokers appears to be an alternative. Are there others?
c. Streaming and Static Data is to be discontinued as of July 31, 2020

2) Software Licenses of Wealth-Lab Pro, which were paid for by Fidelity (and we, the users, through trade commissions) will be transferred to MS123, LLC for use with Wealth-Lab Developer.
a. Eugene and the MS123, LLC staff are building tools to support migration of data (Strategies, DataSets, Static Data, etc.) from the installed instance of WLP to the Wealth-Lab Developer tools.
b. As of July 18th, the agreements between Fidelity and MS123 have not yet authorized the WLP users to download and install Wealth-Lab Developer. Eugene asks for our patience as both the aforementioned transfer tools and legal agreements are established.

3) Maintenance Agreements – Fidelity and MS123 have agreed to cover software maintenance costs for the remainder of 2020. Clients will be asked to prepay for 2021 annual maintenance and support to receive this benefit. That cost is $150 USD, which provides operating capital to MS123, LLC; a replacement of fees currently paid by Fidelity. We all prefer Capitalism over say Marxism, right? The MS123 team needs to feed their kids too...

4) Wealth-Lab Developer software engineering has not been restrained by Fidelity as has the build version WLP. There will be some differences, however, the tool fundamentals are essentially identical. With few exceptions your strategies and external libraries should function.
a. IMO - Throwing off the yoke from Fidelity should make life easier for the MS123 team.
b. We, the North-American (formerly trapped) users, will have influence over the direction of design and development. That too is favorable (IMO).

5) IQFeed REAL-TIME DATA – The recommended provider for real-time streaming is IQFeed, which has an extension ready for installation. Follow this link https://www.wealth-lab.com/Extensions/Details/16
a. IQFeed has three subscription levels.
b. IQFeed data extension can be used with Wealth-Lab Pro. Therefore, users can establish accounts and be ready for the decommissioning transition to WLD

6) OTHER REAL-TIME DATA Providers (more experienced persons please verity) that may be suitable replacements for the Fidelity Brokerage data being decommissioned.
a. Tiingo https://www.wealth-lab.com/Extensions/Details/61
b. NASDAQ Data https://www.wealth-lab.com/Extensions/Details/57

Eugene, Code and the whole MS123, LLC team need patience from the community. Surely, they are all aware that time is short and that we are all unnerved by the short notice. I for one am happy that there is a path forward. Thank you for creating and advancing this toolset.

Humble Request: Semi-weekly status broadcast emails for those who have registered would be greatly appreciated. It doesn't need to be fancy; we just need to know what to expect.

Rick, this is a pretty good summary! Kudos.

I believe that we're really close to sending out the migration instructions soon. Marcel (our webmaster) and Cone have both done a great job in a short time.

By the time it's ready, newly applying users will then be receiving their instructions without a delay.

1. Update: all users who enrolled in the program have been sent the migration instructions. Newly applied users will receive them automatically.

2. Another super popular question is Can I have WLD on multiple machines? Transitioning Fidelity customers, please create a support ticket and we'll get it sorted out.

I read in your email that fidelity data can't be maintained... that's ok but can I at least use those intraday data for backtesting once I move over to WLD ?

Here's one of possible ways to do it: How-To: Migrate your intraday Fidelity data to AlphaVantage

Does WL Developer works in off line (without internet connection) mode?

License: Yes it can. Note there's mandatory authentication of two sorts -- periodic (every 30 days) and to get access to certain features (Streaming data, run intraday Strategies in SM, Accounts/Orders etc.) -- which requires Internet connection.

Free trial: It cannot be run offline (but free trials aren't allowed for transitioning WLP customers anyway).

I have not received any instructions to transition to WLD. How can I get them?
.

Please create a support ticket.

I never received any email about this. I have qualifying Fidelity account and have been using WLP for a while. How can I get in on the transition to WLD without the email, or do I have to purchase a full license now?

Thanks Eugene, ticket created.

QUOTE:
I never received any email about this. I have qualifying Fidelity account and have been using WLP for a while. How can I get in on the transition to WLD without the email, or do I have to purchase a full license now?

Please ask your Fidelity rep. Maybe they can resend the email. This part is really up to them.

QUOTE:
Please ask your Fidelity rep. Maybe they can resend the email. This part is really up to them.

Also check the Fidelity Communications Center from the website. They sent a broadcast message that has the transition registration link embedded.

https://servicemessages.fidelity.com/ftgw/amtd/messageCenter?

Another way to enroll in the transition is to log in to WLP and follow a link on the What's New home page.

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Please avoid offtopic here (you know you've posted one if it gets removed). It costs nothing to start a new topic but keeps the forum organized and searchable. Thanks in advance.

Today, July 31, 2020 may be the last chance to "remember" the symbols in your Fidelity Datasets, at least if you haven't uninstalled WealthLab Pro. I created a NotePad document and used Data Manager. Click on a dataset, highlight and copy the symbols, and paste. Just an idea.

You may not be able to launch WLP after today. Good-bye, WealthLab Pro!