When you start ShareScope / RuleTrader after a period of days have passed since the Live session was last used, the system performs a catch-up for the missing days. To do this, it runs through each trading day since the last completed trading day (the last day that was rolled-over), doing all the things it would have done if RuleTrader had been running on those days (see How A Trading Specification Is Executed).

You can think of this period as a mini back-test over that period. It’s purpose is to ensure that nothing is missed so the live session operates in exactly the same way as it would have done if RuleTrader was running (you can choose in Message Settings whether missed trading-signals are displayed in this period).

If it has been a while since you ran RuleTrader, then the catch-up can take a few minutes. You can speed things up ensuring all General Performance Settings are checked in Advanced Settings. However, the best way to avoid this delay is to either leave ShareScope and RuleTrader running on your PC, or check-in once each day. That way you won’t miss any investment opportunities (which, after all, is one of the key benefits of having an automated investment system running on RuleTrader) and the catch-up will be very quick.