one, what i mean by there are no guarantees in electronic trading is that while the odds are extremely small, at any given time a systemic problem or circumstance could occur that is out of the norm. An extreme example is the case of Eurex when an input error moved the markets and it took Eurex 5 hours to determine that trades under X level would be busted. This doesn't address broker error but again, quite often clients complain that a system is down when in fact, windows crashed, their internet connection was slow, they made an input error, etc. Each case needs to be examined indepentently. Rarely do people complain when a so called error is in their favor. We usually hear the few cases when something went array -especially due to my presence on this forum. It has become a nice whipping board anytime someone is dissastified with the service. MDM still didn't give all the facts. (If he's willing to PM with any backup info, i'd be glad to dig in to get the specifics and give a confirmation- w/o that and the use of some of the terminolgy, i'm not convinced the initial post is not a plant from a competitor or someone with an axe to grind). lundy's experience is different. we definately had network problems earlier in the year. it probably should have been handled differently on our end. a couple things not mentioned - hopefully I won't get beat up on this but, if you are trading that kind of size, you should have a backup broker. In addition, he mentions 10K a day in commissions. While 40K is huge, the commission savings compared to other brokers at the time were probably far larger. since then things definately have improved. but i don't know all the facts and what I just said doesn't make up for the fact that he was burned by an outage. metoxx's case is 3+ years old. the options exchanges just started multiple listings and sometimes getting info from an exchange was and still is a nightmare. overall, i hope he'd agree that he's been treated fairly over the years. there is a change occuring on the help desk where a new person is taking over. hopefully he'll be able to implement policies and procedures to speed up and improve the communications between the different groups. This does take time. IB has a larger customer base than most of the DA brokers. The number of clients, funds and volume continues to grow. This hasn't happened by chance. There is so much going on behind the scenes that isn't evident in these postings. The firm does care about its clients. Are there disgruntled clients - yes. However, I've also rec'd PM's from current happy IB traders who have left some of the other firms mentioned about how or why they weren't happy where they were. anyway, hopefully i addressed your issues.
DEF, Could you please explain to me if a stop order on the ES would still be triggered even if I was to experience a disconnect on my end...? Thanks Nick
I know the pain! Its like a girlfriend, she can be great for years, but the one day you come home and she is with another guy, all the good days are erased...... It is not worth the pain ....... IB needs some immdeatie solutions or they should just call it quits.
Sometimes the old brain will turn to mush in a crisis, even if you have some experience, so it is important to have a plan in advance. I've got a big sign on the wall. "Broker down? Hedge your positions!(with your other broker)" Of course, it won't do you any good if you don't know what to hedge.
I'm not Def, but yes they would execute if your machine was disconnected. They aren't like Cybercorp with the stops resident on your PC--they reside on the IB servers. They are working on getting them on the Globex servers. Maybe Def can fill us in on the progress there?
STOP LIMIT orders already go directly to GLOBEX. LIMIT and STOP LIMIT are the only orders that GLOBEX accepts - it is best to always use those types.
when a connection with IB goes down on the client side, you can contact them and they can get you out. what happened to me is that IB's connection to Globex went down. That means you are screwed. Any stops that are held on IB's servers don't get executed. IB cannot get you out in this situation. IB didn't have a backup phone connection to Globex back then, don't know if they've done anything to fix the problem. They were talking about a low tech backup in the works so it wouldn't happen again. IB customers should concern themselves with this issue. By low tech, I mean something besides their fix connection to globex. They should be able to make a phone call and exit positions, or have a web broker interface, or have a seperate broker wherein they can close their customers orders by hedging with the other broker. I talked to IB about all these things, I doubt any of them specifically were implemented. However, I was told the problem was being worked on so maybe Def can give some insights. If nothing was done, and IB still has only one type of connection to Globex, (high tech fix connection), then it's quite probable my experience could be YOUR experience next week. On another note, as far as orders being changed and such, this occurred after IB gave confirmation. Then they would basically take back my fills, that is hours and days later. :eek:
Are you sure Stop Limit's are native on Globex? I've heard that but can't find where it says so on their site? They say "Regardless of whether an exchange accepts and processes STOP-LIMIT orders, Interactive Brokers will simulate all STOP-LIMIT orders." I can't find an exception for Globex?