Hi, I'm with IB at the moment. I notice they offer wide range of order types. Some of those (I believe) are held on IB servers and some are forwarded to exchange immediatly. My understanding that plain vanilla orders like market and limit orders are the only which are forwarded to the exchange, while. Ore comex ones (trailing etc.) are held on IB servers and are only actioned once some condition is met. Am I right? Is there a comprehensive list of orders which are forwarded immediately? Thanks
I think that unless you direct your order to a specific exchange, IB can route your orders (of many types, especially market orders) to their own Timber Hill unit, so it never sees an exchange. http://www.interactivebrokers.com/download/2Q_2008_IB_ORDER_ROUTING_REPORT.pdf This process is called "internalization". http://www.tradersmagazine.com/news...ools-level-direct-edge-sec-105265-1.html?pg=1 If you really want to route your order to exchange, you have to direct it. But they seem to make it difficult or more expensive to direct orders; see their fee schedules to see what I mean.