Medved vs TWS feels like cardboard to brick stones imo. In taskbar, Medved takes up 230mb while TWS takes 1300 mb. Huge difference! For that reason they are srsly lacking in features.(For $20 a month can't expect much.) I haven't been trading long enough on IB to be really aware of the two differences when it comes to execution. I will have to run some tests with one share size to see for myself.
Now that you mention this I believe it connects to platform as the settings require ip and api port. It even plays the same voice when you buy/sell and I think it requires you to login via TWS as well. Regardless, I have not noticed them being any slower than TWS maybe even faster.
Why do you care about execution speed anyway? I think they are all pretty much same nowadays for manual trading. The only exception is taking liquidity on low floats or fast moving stocks.
Medved Trader connects to IB's standard API - Execution has nothing to do with Medved Trader - once the order is sent, it is in IB's hands. MT does not manage the order. As for features, I don't know what features are "srsly lacking" - but definitely have not had complaints about that. MT's charting is far superior to TWS.
The problem with connecting via IB TWS api is that if you try route order to specific exchange, there’s an extra fee. If you route to SMART, there’s no fee. Maybe irrelevant for most people. I believe DAS users are not subject to this fee since DAS doesn’t use TWS api. Glad to be corrected on this.
I am not aware of any IB API specific fees for trading. Direct routing or otherwise. I did a search and didn't find any
Not sure if link will work https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1590&p=stocks2 I also confirmed with their rep some time ago. Their smart router is very flexible though, so should not be an issue for most.
nothing like burying stuff THAT deep. from the looks of that page, it only applies to Canadian, BATS Europe, and Singapore exchanges?