There are many data providers with many services beyond IB offerings. If you dont like it, use another vendor for data ......
You know, if IB is simply not putting ECNs in their Level II to save bandwidth, that speaks volumes about the kind of operation they're running.... Frankly, I just don't believe that....I just think IB has focused for so long on commissions and markets etc that they've neglected the other things they can offer, and I'm trying to suggest here that they should improve their feed, and that it wouldn't take much to make a big difference....
My undestanding is that until fairly recently neither Esig nor QCharts integrated ECN's into their Level II books. Seems pretty useless to me without it, but IB is not the only laggard here. And importantly, IB is not a data service. That is icing on the cake.
They are providing a data feed, therefore they are a data service. They're charging for it as well...... They're a crummy data service, not because they suck but because they've had their eyes elsewhere for a long time, I'm just saying, now it's time to improve your offerings. Tradestation is knocking on the door with .006 commissions, but they have a sweet set of tools... I would rather stay with IB, however, I've been with them for literally years and years and years....
No, IB in first place is a broker, whose job is to deliver fast fills on a stable plattform and btw I havent seen any adds on their site that are advertising their data feed. They are charging the exchange fees, nothing else (except for level2, but we had that already), so there is no profit margin on this product. Now, take the next step and think about it - if they were to improve their data, they would have to raise the price. Then, my dearest friend, we would definately see 5 new threads about how unfair it is, that IB is charging for quotes (if this is nonsense or not doesnt matter, those threads WILL come up and they will get huge). Merry Christmas, Kev
Huh ? IB offers 40 symbols per page and you can pick those symbols from dozens of different markets around the world. Try to run J_Trader ("latest and greatest software ever seen") with more than 4 symbols and keep praying that it will not break down completely.
I do not think it is unreasonable to ask IB to offer a level II feed that includes integrated ecn's. As previously mentioned by AAA , level II is worthless if you can't see the ecn's along with the mm's. I recently subscribed to IB's level II and it is priced at $20 per month. I found it to be very unstable, and of course, it didn't show the ecn's. I ended up shutting it down after about an hour, but still got charged for the whole month-- even though, I called and complained. I, also, sent an e-mail to IB and asked why they didn't include ecn's in the level II, and the reply I got was that I could get that info by selecting the individual ecn's on TWS. That was so ridiculous that I didn't bother to reply. Anyway, my feelings are that a broker that is really concerned about their bottom line should be concerned about providing the best tools possible for their traders. It is simply synergistic.
I agree. Although I don't subscribe to IB's Level II (I use another source), I was thinking about adding it. I will also send a suggestion to add the ECN's to their Level II. Sometimes the best way to approach this sort of issue is to send an email to IB management.
to IB's Level II for FEB its not as cheap as if I did it through Ameritrade for example but this way I do not have to log on to another broker at the same time and does not include ECN's ( according to prior posts) but the ECN's are visible individually if I choose to do this with IB NBBO display and I can get ARCA + ISLAND book from their websites if I need more than NBBO displayed for them
What's NBBO? Thanks for the post tonight, and, please post your thoughts about their Level II after you've had a chance to use it... Thanks!