General Settings is the app-wide fallback layer behind almost every SOAP2 window: eight tabs (SOAP, Performance, IB, Options Analysis, Strikes & Pricing, Vol Surface, GEX/VEX, Data Chart) of defaults that get applied the first time something is opened fresh — a new symbol's OA, its VolSurface, its GEX/VEX pass, a new Data Chart window — before that thing has any saved settings of its own. It exists so the dozens of tuning knobs scattered through SOAP2's subsystems have one place to live and one place to change, instead of being hardcoded.
Important: General Settings deliberately knows nothing about the currently selected symbol — it's a pure global fallback, not a per-symbol editor. Once a symbol (or an already-open window) has its own saved settings, those take over and General Settings no longer applies to it; changing a value here won't retroactively touch anything already customized or already open. It's the starting point for a new symbol or window, not a live remote control for existing ones.
When to Use It
Setting sensible defaults once so every new symbol you add starts with the strike ladder, exchange, and OTM behavior you actually want, instead of fixing it per-symbol every time.
Tuning app-wide poll/refresh cadences (watchlist, status bar, Trade Log) to trade off responsiveness against IB API load.
Changing the Risk Graph's default reference price, grid font size, or short-dated DTE threshold for windows you haven't opened yet.
Adjusting IB connection pacing (reqId reuse grace period, health-check interval, chain-definitions refresh cadence) if you're seeing pacing errors or stale data.
Setting starting values for Data Chart or GEX/VEX so you're not reconfiguring them on every new symbol.
The Eight Tabs at a Glance
Each tab has its own one-paragraph overview in the form's help panel (click into the tab to see it), plus a helpText panel on the right that expands as you hover/focus each row:
SOAP — app-wide behavior not tied to a symbol or OA: startup contract-definition handling, auto-creating an OA on symbol change, opening the default OA on startup, multi-monitor window spanning.
Performance — poll/refresh cadences for the toolbar, watchlist, Trade Log, and status bar tips. These are read once at startup — a change here needs a SOAP2 restart to take effect.
IB — connection and market-data request tuning shared across everything that subscribes through the same data-request path (grid rows, other open OAs, VolSurface, the watchlist), plus the default broker account type (RegT/PM/Cash).
Options Analysis — defaults for a freshly opened OA: Risk Graph presentation, grid appearance, DTE-driven behavior. Existing open windows are unaffected.
Strikes & Pricing — defaults used the first time SOAP sets up a brand-new symbol's strike ladder and exchange; once a symbol has its own Preferred Settings, those take over.
Vol Surface — defaults for a symbol with no saved VolSurface settings yet: poly-fit degree, strike-ladder breadth, refresh/watchdog cadences.
GEX/VEX — defaults for a symbol's first-ever GEX/VEX pass, plus the master enable switch. Once a symbol has its own saved GEX/VEX settings, its own toolstrip dropdown is the only editor for it from then on.
Data Chart — starting values for a freshly opened Data Chart window: bar size, history window, and the ALMA/JMA/Cycle/Pivots overlays. Already-open charts keep whatever they currently have.
How It Fits Your Workflow
Open General Settings before adding a new symbol you'll be trading regularly, and set the Strikes & Pricing / Vol Surface / GEX/VEX tabs the way you want new symbols to start out.
If SOAP2 feels laggy or you're hitting IB pacing errors, check the IB tab first — the request-tuning values there are shared by every subscriber, not just one window.
Hover or tab through any row you're unsure about — the right-hand help panel gives a fuller explanation than the tooltip alone, including what downstream behavior it drives and when it stops applying.
Save, then open a new OA/VolSurface/GEX-VEX pass/Data Chart to see the new defaults take effect — existing open windows and symbols with their own saved settings won't change retroactively.
If a Performance-tab or IB-tab value needs to take effect, restart SOAP2 — those are read once at startup, not live-reapplied.
Related Tools Worth Pairing With It
Strikes & Pricing / Preferred Settings (per-symbol) — the natural next layer once a symbol has been trading a while and needs its own overrides beyond what General Settings provides as a starting point.
Vol Surface and GEX/VEX toolbar dropdowns — once a symbol has saved its own settings there, those (not General Settings) are what you adjust going forward.
Accounts — the RegT/PM/Cash default set on the IB tab here is separate from the per-account fee fields in Accounts List; both feed into cost/margin estimates differently.
