Terminal connection state

A terminal's connection state describes the link between the local software and the broker's server, and platforms report it in more detail than a single on-or-off flag: a connection can be absent, refused because the credentials are not valid on that server, or established but no longer receiving updates. The distinction that matters is what a lost connection does not do. Orders that already live on the server — resting entry orders, and the stop and limit levels attached to open positions — are the server's to manage and go on being managed while the terminal is dark. Anything the terminal was holding locally does not: instructions that had not been sent are simply not sent, and an attached program cannot act on prices it never receives. A stalled connection is the awkward case, because the last price stays on the screen and looks like a market that has stopped moving rather than a feed that has stopped arriving.