Does anyone know where I can find some decent documentation on IB's API. Or a message board resource or something...! I've been wasting a lot of my time with trial and error coding for the past few days... Any good resources would help out a lot.
This should have everything you need: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/php/webhelp/webhelp.htm#Interoperability/DDE_Configure_TWS.htm At the bottom of the list on the left, click the Application Program Interface link. It details every method and event. There are also community boards at the IB site, and Yahoo Groups for the API.
FWIW: Some of the official IB TWS API documentaiton is erroneous or out of date. I forget the specifics. What language are you coding in, perhaps I can assist? Other useful resources: Yahoo TWSAPI Group: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TWSAPI/ Interactive Brokers Forums: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/cgi-pub/discus/discus.pl Be warned, the IB forums use perhaps the worst forum software ever conceived by man
Thanks everyone. I'm coding in C++. I was looking for mostly the message boards. Its just nice sometimes when your a lazy programmer to be able to lookup things on a message board/online for bits of sample code. Looks like the IB message board contains the most info, but I've been warned about it... Don't you guys feel that there should be some better documentation on IBs part? Like for example, right now, I'm trying to find the the ATM call options for any given stock. Is there any way to do that without finding the quotes, then grabbing the market details for the option chain, and then looking through them all and comparing how close the strike is to the stock quote? I guess I should post that question on IB's API forum, but just as an example...or in case someone here knows...
We here at Interactive Brokers realize that the current documentation is no longer adequate to meet the needs of many of our API customers and we are currently taking steps to correct this. On November 30, 2006 we released the first installment of our new TWS API Beginners Series. http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/apiBeginners.php?ib_entity=llc Be sure to click on the "Send us your feedback" link at the bottom of the page to send us your comments. There will be a number of these guides released in the coming months to cover the various sample applications that we provide. Also each release of the guide will be followed shortly after by a full revision to our function reference guides that already exist within the Application Program Interface section of our TWS userâs guide. http://www.interactivebrokers.com/php/webhelp/webhelp.htm#Interoperability/DDE_Configure_TWS.htm
While you are here Mike, a couple of questions, if you don't mind: If you have an API running, can you display a TWS chart at the same time? Or can you use the quote data from TWS to get a chart at the same time from Quotetracker? I tried the search on the IB site (API + charts) but I did not come up with an answer.
It is possible to have an application connected to the TWS and receiving streaming data while viewing a real-time chart within the TWS. Just keep in mind that there is a maximum number of streaming feeds that you can have going at once. A standard TWS account would, by default, have the ability to view 100 real-time streaming market data feeds. Each request for a market data feed, whether it is made through the API or through the TWS, will count towards your total number of real-time feeds. Also be advised that the API will take priority when it comes to receiving market data. This means that if you are requesting 100 quotes through the API then you will be unable to view any streaming market data in the TWS.
Mike, If I request QQQQ from one API client, and QQQQ form another API client, does it count as 1 or 2 towards the cap of 100?