Trader Workstation (TWS)

Interactive Brokers' Flagship Trading Platform

  1. GrowleyMonster
    GrowleyMonster
    4/5,
    As a Linux user I am somewhat limited in what trading software I can use. This, and TOS, are the only desktop trading platforms I can use.

    I would have given it five stars except that:
    (1) the built in scanner is pretty limited and primitive so I still have to use a separate scanner; really, why bother? It doesn't do very much.
    (2) the app is missing a few very important indicators, mainly VWAP.
    (3) the hotkey settings cannot be easily saved to an external file for editing. It would be nice to have the option to save hotkeys to say a .csv file for editing in LibreOffice, or MS Office for WinDOHs guys.
    (4) Changing settings in paper account does not change them in live account and vice versa. For consistency I have to go through a convoluted process of saving settings to a custom file and then restoring the other mode with that file. Or remembering every little thing I did and repeating it for the other account.
    (5) no hotkey for scaling out of a position. Sometimes I want to sell or cover say half of my position at my planned exit and let the other half run if it will, and close it out the rest of the way when the run looks weaker or I get a reversal. A hotkey that could partially close a position would be great. It is already coded into the main program menu but not available in hotkey assignments.

    Otherwise this seems to be a great package. I particularly like the Chart Trader mode. I can set up multiple charts and trade those symbols right from their charts, and see my P/L, see the stock in my portfolio, all kinds of goodies.

    This is a very complex bit of software and it would require tremendous resources to make it perfect in every detail. Not a reasonable expectation for an app peddled to a very limited user base. All in all, I think it is well written and very functional, with reasonably good documentation. I would love to compare it to DAS but unfortunately the authors/owners of that platform don't care to support Linux users. TWS does, and so it gets my two thumbs up. My business goes to those who go the extra distance, and make their product useful to me instead of expecting me to switch to an inferior OS and cater to them.
  2. lindq
    lindq
    5/5,
    Very flexible, with a good array of conditional orders.
  3. jeffalvinson
    jeffalvinson
    5/5,
    Does everyting I want it to and more.