Routing Orders & Destinations, or Error "Hotkey order does not contain a destination"

When signing up for a live broker, part of the process of setting up an account is selecting default destinations, also known as routing.

In platforms like the WT Sim, errors such as "Invalid Destination" or "Hotkey order does not contain a destination" suggest that default destination settings have not been selected yet.

Below is a view of what to expect in WT Sim's settings. By going to Destinations, you can select your preferred defaults.

If using another platform, consult your broker directly for available options and settings as they will likely differ from what we have in our simulator.

There are many other market makers and routes you can take, and options will differ among brokers. Some may be free, some credit you to add liquidity to the market, and others do not charge any ECN fees. Some might offer a "SMART" route that has low or no fees, and may be slower to execute.

Keep in mind that ECN fees and direct access routing can be expensive (normally around .005 cents per share, which means it would cost $5 to trade 1,000 shares one way, and $10 for the round trip).

You should familiarize yourself with the literature on your broker's website to gain a better understanding of the routes they offer and to decide which route will be best for you based on your trading strategy and share size.

Ross currently uses NSDQ as the default for direct access routing destinations with Lightspeed Trader. Pro members can learn from Ross' lesson on routing in Chapter 6 Part 4 of the Day Trading: Strategies & Scaling course, called "Routing Methods, Liquidity, & Dark Pools."

Here are some free videos and literature from our site that go deeper on these topics as well: