def.. i was wondering if there has been any progress on IB offering combined equity/futures accounts.. thanks =) -qwik
fleance, I have not yet started my IB acct yet, but I think your suggestions are very good. The rapid order entry makes alot of sense. Hopefully Def is listening?
I was wondering if through IB you can trade different markets in different countries through the same account, for example trade the opening in the Japan the opening in the Netherlands and the opening in the US, all this through the same account and with the same commission charge. thank you, agustin
Quite sometime ago I sent an email to IB with a few sugestions, rapid ticker input being one of them. I suggested that IB should give the user the ability to choose a default instrument type (ie stock), and default route (ie BEST). Then simply by typing the ticker symbol on the quote page user would be able to make that instrumet ready for trading instantly, without the annoying popups. I also suggested that the "insert ticker" menu function should be left unchanged, with all the popups, instrument type and routing options. Well that was quite sometime ago, and now I can see the rapid order entry which is an unnecessary complication, imho. I prefer to spend that extra 10 seconds going through the popup windows than use that box. Just my opinion though. Another thing I suggested was a different sound the TWS should play when the order is executed. Right now you don't know what's beeping you, your news software, you got mail, or you just bought 10000 shares of ene @ $50. I need to verify that, but I'm under impression that the current P/L function isn't working properly while calculating P/L on overnight holds, and it apparently doesn't know how to calculate P/L based on the average price of the position you were accumulating. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here?
I am usually always in a stock either long or short, switching hopefully when the market does, but I've noticed a problem with IB when going from Long to Short the same stock. For example if I'm long 1,000sh of MSFT and want to flip short, you are required to enter two different orders; one to close your long position and the other to go short. Many times I close my long position (with a "sell" stop order), say 1,000sh and then go to enter a short order and many times it won't let me? It says cover your long position, then enter a separate short order. But I have covered my long with the "Sell" stop? Has anyone had this problem? It's been the same for several months and I just live with it thinking it would be fixed, but no luck so far. Something must be wrong with the logic of the program, not letting it see that an order to close a long has been placed before issuing its error message?
I'm assuming that most people that use IB also use additional software for quotes and charting. With that said, would it make sense or be possible to some how disable the quote source w/in IB's trader work station to save bandwith and processor power. Also, has IB though about partnering with Qcharts (or someone) where trading could be enabled via the qcharts interface?
ddefina, Its against nasdaq rules to go from long to short in one order. This is to prevent someone from shorting on a downtick.
Yes, I do enter two orders, but the second "Sell" order is disallowed. The part I left out is that the second "Sell" order is disallowed when it's for more shares than the Long position. So if I'm long 1,000, then put in a stop to close the 1,000 long, then enter a stop to sell 1,500, it won't let me. If I put in the 2nd sell stop for 1,000sh it works fine. Since these are mutually exclusive orders, you shouldn't be limited to shorting only the# of shares in your long position. Sorry I left that part off.
Def, Is it possible to have the Rapid Order Entry part of the TWS to be enabled or disabled (at the choice of the account user)? Like under the account settings, have a button to enable or disable the function. Some people find it useful while others may not care about it.