Hello IB API traders, I have an automated trading system ( excel DDE )that cancel/replace limit orders in a dozen of markets and this afternoon TWS froze, sound alerts for market data and trades didn't work, orders were filled and when I realized it 5 minutes later, it was too late.... I lost 2.5K$. It is the first time it causes such losses. Most of the time I hear the sound alert for market data, restart TWS if I can't cancel orders and in the worst case, I just get filled in a few markets leaving me with small losses. How do you handle TWS freezes? What can be done? Is there some 3rd party softs that can alert you if a program ( tws ) is not working well/ losing connection? Thanks a lot for your help.
Moreover, did everybody TWS freeze at 10:30 AM ET when the index plunged? It becomes an habit for TWS to freeze when there is too much activity.
If TWS froze in the sense it had you had to kill and restart it.... then it's either because your computer ran short on memory (maybe you have only 2 GB and use the same computer for web-browsing etc) or because you have been running TWS with charts open for a long time without restarting. Another possibility is you are using an old TWS build. A few months ago there was a build that slowed down to a crawl whenver there are API orders and the API tab is the viewed one. This was promptly fixed but you may be stuck with tha unluckyy build. Regarding data disconnects you can track it in excel. Select an actively traded instrument (such as S&P 500 E-mini) and extract the last update time (you can do it via DDE for last trade, best bid and best ask prices). Now you can compare this time to the current time and issue an alert if the difference is too large.
Thanks Lee, all very useful info. I'm not really computer litterate. Perhaps it's simply because of lack of memory. I only have 2 GB of memory and I am running not charts but 24 DOMs and T§S.It makes sense that it's not the connection because my other front end( CTS T4 ) almost never freeze/lose connection. I think I will go buy a laptop for my auto systems on TWS.
You are welcome! The idea regarding laptop is good. Perhaps you could use your "live" TWS for sending oders (and, maybe, feeding data in Excel) only... and use, say, a papertrading account for charts, T&S etc...
It's not IB charts or DOMs. I never use them. But my desktop has TWS running auto systems and scanners with 100 lines of quotes, CTS T4 running with 30 DOMs and T§S and a quote board, and an internet browser for ET and occasionally music videos. Time for an auto system laptop? Thanks
100 lines of quotes is likely stretching TWS quite hard. Using an alternative source of data like eSignal may be a better option. Good luck!