sigh.... As much as I like IB as a broker, I am getting soooo tired of absolutely STUPID responses from customer "service". All I want to do is add the USD index on a TWS data line; so that I can glance at it throughout the day. But I can't find the symbol for it. So I write to "help@IB".... Answer: We don't provide it. 2nd query: How can that be? It's a VERY commonly watched index. Surely you carry it. Answer: We can't provide it because we don't handle all the currencies that make it up; so you aren't able to trade it. 3rd query: Look, I don't want to -trade- the silly thing...I just want to -watch- it...you know, like the Dow.... Answer: nothing intelligible or useful.... WTF ??? They provide a dozen other non-tradeable indexes like INDU, NDX, etc....why not the USD index ?? I keep thinking that they've gotta carry it; but that I just happened to get a particularly clueless help-person who doesn't even know what index I'm talking about. Even if they really don't carry it (weird), the -reason- given is just plain dumb. Could someone be kind enough to post the exact symbol to be entered in TWS ? Also, what exact symbol is used in TWS for PREM ?? I can't seem to find that one in the symbol-guide either. Many thanks!
Dollar Index is distributed by the NYBOT which we don't have a connection to. PREM, I don't believe we have this. You could use the Arbitrage Meter which will show a similar thing (check the website/user guide for details). However, you can't chart it.
Thanks for your reply Steve. A useful, and SENSIBLE, answer... I have had a really frustrating string of interactions with "help" in the past few months....the quality and/or training of the "first level" reps seems pretty poor... And nobody seems at all interested in ever FIXING anything. A really desirable response, from a customer perspective, would be... "that's from NYBOT, which we don't carry... but you're right, $USD is a super-common index and we really ought to carry it....I'll send a note upstairs and see if we can get it !" yeah! GOOD customer-service... re: PREM yes, I'm familiar with the bargraph thing; but you hit the nail on the head: can't chart it, can't alert from it...so it's "pretty", but totally useless. How 'bout putting in a word, to get PREM into a form that can be put on a data-line...and at least fed to QT ?? thanks again for your your rapid, and informative, reply.
fyi.. the response you got about the Dollar Index, seems as if the rep was referring to the futures. The futures contain a Swedish Krona component which we are unable to handle, hence we do not offer the product. Please bear in mind, the reps answer questions on Bonds, FX, Options, Futures and Stocks - covering around 18 countries globally. Thus, while they should know or be able to find out about everything that we offer, it's entirely possible that they won't know about a product which we don't have particulalry on an exchange that we don't cover (e.g. NYBOT). PREM - I've requested it, but I'm not sure how easy it is to add.
thanks for requesting the PREM Steve...appreciated. yes, the rep kept talking about the futures. The problem with the "help" reps is one of attitude. They carry this assumption of being right, and just won't listen. I wasted time responding three times, trying to explain that I was talking about the -index-, not the futures; but could not get the person off their one-track. They seem completely uninterested in ever -improving- anything....i.e. never even occurs to them to think that they could be helping to improve IB. They seem very defensive, imho. ah well....bureaucrats are the same everywhere I guess... thanks again for your replies, and for passing the word along on PREM. That would be a USEFUL addition to IB.