he placed an order and it was rejected but then later it re-activates and the order is filled withought him ever knowing? so unbeknownst to him,he has an open order which he does'nt bother to ever check until he happens to open his platform after the fed meeting? with almost all platforms,rejected orders are null and void so this is akin to cancelling an order successfully but to later find out it was "uncancelled" and filled. that is total bs and IB most certainly needs to rectify your problem if that is what actually happened as you are saying.
Yes, this reconnection / phantom order issue happened to me once, about 1 year ago. Fortunately I was at the screen and it was a good fill, so I never looked into it
I would definitely suspect IB of the problem. Been there with the run around, and got the shaft afterwards ("IB makes no guarantee...blah blah blah....you agree to maintain other means of reconciling positions....blah blah"). I use webtrader and in the past month have been hit with a few thousand worth of losses on options trades as I get randomly logged off during peak volume hours, absent bid ask spreads, or in the case today, prevented from closing an existing position due to Pattern Day trader rules (despite the SEC and FAQ specifying this only applies to OPENING positions). Love the long wait on the direct line to the trading desk followed by information verification before a trade can be closed manually. I think it's silly to flaw someone for having a retail trading account and expecting to be able to trade consistently and regularly. Trading is hard enough as it is so any other impediments with a broker make it that much worse. Not all of us can or need to be professional traders (and many who claim to be arent..(ahem *Aramath*...) and despite what you may think, retail traders still have very significant buying power on the whole and very frequently determine where the market will go (look how we're avoiding home buying while all these "professional" firms are taking BILLIONS in write offs). That being said, I would suggest trying to reproduce the bug like some have suggested. Manually log EVERYTHING using a session recorder and screen shots. Do a search on google for law firms dealing with brokerages - I found bhlawfirm.com based in NY. $50K is definitely worth all the struggle. Oh and dump IB as your broker as the potential risks there outweigh most of the gains (or at the very least, only use them to offset) - if you're that talented at trading then a few tens of dollars per trade really shouldn't matter all that much (although a few percentage points of slippage due to their poor interface and terrible customer support should and will).
good idea, but if IB can reproduce this bug they will fix it or at least will be aware of it. so far-they in total denial and we all know, that this thing is exist. i have it few times, and it's been adjusted, just like blackjack007 described in page 11. the problem is that the nature of this bug is complex and really rare, so it's nearly impossible to catch it for QA. my suggestion to IB will be same as 5 years ago-stop adding useless shit and work on your core priorities-cost, speed and reliability
I've been running many complex equity orders through TWS every day for a year. I have yet to experience a single glitch or a second of downtime. Anyone who would put themselves in a position of walking away from a system configuration that could put them 50K in the hole without monitoring things carefully is, IMHO, guilty until proven otherwise.
It sounds like the kind of excuse I might run by my wife if I was to take a loss and needed a good excuse for my failure.:eek: But I sure wouldn't expect my broker to buy it.
I too have many stock, option and futures swing trades logged thru IB TWS the last couple years. 4209 right now. Yep, more than four thousand. And I have never had a problem with execution that was not my own fault. Yeah, sometimes the frequent upgrades and API changes are a hassle, but I am very greatful that IB and its markets and its open API are available. It makes so many strategies profitable that would not be otherwise. So for those with a problem, let's fix it. And for those that have IB and just hate it, why don't you get another broker? There are plenty out there, aren't there? Just move on. Good trading to all.
IBj Don't you think the biggest problem here is the fact that, until he came here and started a thread, IB had given him the resolution, which was 'We have a valid order coming from your computer, the trade is good and will not be broken and you are out the money'. Now that he has come here, you are saying 'We will find out what really happened and fix it if it's our error'. (I am assuming that the OP is to be taken at his word when he tells us that after 5 weeks, IB's answer to him was 'The trade is good and you are out the money'. He seems less incompetent than most IB bashers, so again, I'm assuming that this is true). Can you see how that would be slightly disturbing to IB customers like myself who have not yet had such a problem? Problems occur. It is the way in which they are handled that makes a difference. In the case of IB, the OP here has signed away any right to his money. The problem could be wholly yours and he would have zero legal recourse. Arbitration would be his only option and I don't even think the results are legally binding; the only reason you might decide to comply is the threat of scrutiny by the NFA, right? Anyhow, I opened an IB account and then started a thread here specifically to say how I thought IB customer service had been unfairly maligned. I have also said that 90% of the 'IB ripped me off' threads' end up being user error. Maybe this will be the same, but it doesn't smell like it, since so many guys are speaking up with the same issue. I am not an IB basher, but this type of response does give me pause for thought. PS - I have yet to be convinced that the OP was trading with generally accepted risk management protocols in place.