I am trying to experiment with Market On Open orders in my IB paper trading account using TWS. I am getting a message "Warning: At the open order could not be executed" on symbols like SPY. SPY trades on the NYSE. Other symbols like AAPL trade on the NASDAQ and the order works fine. I use SMART routing. I thought that both the NYSE and NASDAQ supported MOO orders. How can I figure out what symbols support MOO orders? I watch a universe of about 3000 stocks. Thanks, David
ARCA seems to be the only ECN that cancels limit orders that are too far off the market price. Since most ETFs are routed there you might end up with canceled orders. IB told me to set the start time to 9:28 or so, which seems to work (IB replaces market orders with limit orders that are close to the market price). Alternatively, you can use OPG orders.
Sorry I wasn't clear. I am using OPG Market orders which are Market On Open orders. IB won't accept the order on some symbols like SPY. Thanks, David
That is very strange. Why don't you ask them and post their response here? In any case, you can try regular market orders with a start time at 6:28. I didn't notice any difference in execution either way. In fact for SPY, you may not even need a start time. It's not that volatile.
I believe this is a limitation on the paper account. I noticed the same behavior, where ARCA OPG limit orders would be rejected, while NYSE OPG limit orders were accepted. I contacted IB and was told that ARCA don't accept OPG orders prior to 7am and that for a real account, IB will hold the order until then, but for the paper account they simply reject the order. I tested this and it turned out not be true as the issue remained after 7am. Regardless, I tried on my real account and there were no problems at all so I'd chalk this up to issues with the way the paper account works.
Using real(non-paper) IB account, I tested by sending OPG Limit orders to Island (for Nasdaq stocks) and ARCA (for NYSE stocks) just before the market open, and ARCA is the only ECN gives me this "At the open order could not be executed". Is it because my Limit price too far from normal price? If so then how far is too far away? Please note I was getting these rejection messages right after market open, not when I submit these orders. If ARCA thinks my limit price are too far off, shouldn't they reject these orders when they receive the orders. Why would they wait until market open (when the opening price is determined)? Any idea?
Late response, so perhaps for others reading this (regarding isaac000's question) - under Presents / Stocks there are "Precautionary Settings" and "Price Percentage" can be used to stop LMT orders triggering if they are too far from market price. That MAY be the issue there? Regarding the first question here: I too got this error in paper trading today (using OPG order with Market), I'll ask IB about it. Can anyone else confirm that this is ONLY an issue with the paper trading account? I hope so. Surprised the error message doesn't come with an explanation. Thanks