I've just started watching the HSI futures out of Hong Kong, and I am definitely liking what I see. Unfortunately IB clunks out right in the middle of the trading session for their "scheduled maintenance". Apparently the only way to keep IB going during this time is to have them switch my account to their Hong Kong server. I am kind of worried though that if I switch to the Hong Kong server, I am going to have performance issues trading the US markets (going across the ocean twice). Is anyone here trading US markets through IB's Hong Kong server? Are you seeing any problems or noticeable delays when doing so? -bbc
You could open a 2nd account (same base currency) and move funds between them via internal transfer (takes less than 20 seconds).
Ping to US is around 2XXms vs 3XX to HK from Thaland. Not sure what that signifies about either IB routing or server location or my ISP's routing. Suspect my ISP.
Depemds on your ISP's routing but be aware there seem to be bottlenecks in HK internet infrastructure that cause problems at crucial levels (i.e. when everybody is pressing refresh on their browser). Also, to the best of my most fair judgement it seems to me that the IB server has crashed on a couple of occasions when the market has kicked off. (luckily so far both times it has been on one of those days when I was too slowed by the afternoon heat torpor). Only limit orders are native. No real better alternative to IB as I understand it. No TT/CQG coverage and I understand the exchange dealing front end is quite crude.
If you switch to the Hong Kong Server, it may cut out during the European or US session as far as I understand. There was talk a while back that this problem would be eliminated at some point, but nothing seems to have happened. Maybe ask Def, he's the resident Honk Kong expert. Runningbear
our HK server handles high volumes well. We did have technical problems 3-4 months back when the exchange moved to a new clearing system that took us out for a bit but outside of that, our uptime in HK has been superb. HK's infrastructure is also extremely good. I haven't seen the bottle necks you're talking about nor have I heard of any HK residents complain about HK's ISP's. However, if you are based in the US you would want to be on the US server to trade US stocks. Hopefully we'll be able to eliminate the 1 hour down time each evening for maintence down the line. Until then, the 2nd account works. Also, next month when the US changes from daylight savings time, the maintenence will coincide with the HK lunch break and thus access from the US will be available for all HK hours.
Downtime for HK server is 4:00 pm ET - 4:45 pm ET. I use this server (connecting from Europe) for HKFE and EUREX. Less trouble (over a period of 12 to 18 months) with HK server than with CH server.
bbc, I have been trading both HK and US markets for the last couple of years. As def says, when the US switches back from daylight saving their shutdown is in Hong Kong's lunch break. In the US winter the Hong Kong server shuts down in the last hour of US trading. What I do is change servers twice a year to get around the problem. Although I 've had some trouble with the HK server in the last week, I must say I've never really noticed any difference between the 2 servers. But then again...I'm in Australia. Maybe I'm getting a lag on both. Beware of the slippage on HSI. It can be brutal at times. I've seen the market drop 150 points in under a minute.
you need to differentiate between server and ISP issues. I assure you our servers have been running completely smoothly. Then again, it's been so quiet I don't know how you would have even noticed if you had ISP problems - other than a purple screen.
No purple screens here. Have a read through this: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/discus/messages/153/23388.html?1093621910