Not sure if this is due to IB TWS, but my HP laptop tends to slow down to a crawl right at the open for a few minutes, then it goes back to normal. The strange thing is, when I bring up the Windows Task Manager and look at the processes using up CPU cycles, it's mostly on "System Idle" and sometimes 50% on stocks.exe (which I assume is IB). I'm also running a couple of excel files, but I show no CPU usage during those critical minutes. Is anyone else experiencing this? I'm using a 3-month old laptop with a 1.83MHz Core Duo and 2GB RAM, so it's fairly high end. Granted I'm running it on XP, but if anything it should be even more stable. I'm running IB version 873.3 on Java 1.6. I ran a virus and spyware check and came up with nothing. And when I say a crawl, I'm talking about the computer takes 5 seconds to respond to every mouseclick and keyboard action. For you daytraders out there you know how much that can drive you crazy, especially at the open. Help!!!!
Stocks.exe is Quotetracker. Does TWS say 'Not responding' at the end of the Line ending Trader Workstation at the top of the screen? (sorry no solution, just similar problem with recent builds - although not at market open, seems to be after I have had a chart or account or option window open for more than a few minutes.)
could be Quotetracker, due usually heavy volume at open.try to reduce number of tickers in it and see, if there any changes.
Thanks for pointing that out. I'll try to keep Quotetracker off until after the open. I don't think I get a message like that on TWS (I'd have to confirm that tomorrow at the open).
We usually have the traders reboot just after UK close 11a.m. today we froze a few times for a few seconds on tws last time was just prior to 10a.m. I personally find this happens this wk as it is options expiry and am assuming it is because of additional volume and traffic. w
are your xls using dde to extract data from tws ? they can take up a lot of cpu time. system idle can mean the computer is waiting for a response.
I would first install the newest TWS and Quotetracker, they seem to be working fine for me. Are you using an anti-virus or firewall? Try disabling those(temporarily), as some can freeze your computer up.
Stocks.exe is indeed Quote Tracker, and the things which cause it to slow things down include having QT log turned on, updating all portfolios continuously, and having multiple charts and/or indicators. I use TWS and QT easily and effectively without any CPU or memory issues. TWS does stop feeding forex quotes after system resets or changing workspaces, with no help from IB on these issues.
HotTip, For that much streaming data you should have: 1) 2.4GHz Processor and 2) 4GB Memory at 667MHz. I hope this helps. Tom