Some days they are, and some days, like today, I'm experiencing a 1-5 second lag on some smart executions. and this is with size available. Take a look at this screenshot. This order was sent via smart, all at once, and with plenty of size available on the ask. It should have been executed immediately. Notice the delay after part of my order was sent to supersoes.
Looks like a delay is introduced by Supersoes, though not a huge one. Might be they test the whole order and have to wait for a cancel. With an order of this size, you could easily just post it to ARCA or INET yourself and avoid this. IB added some bypass code to the platform, you may be able to bypass SSoes using smart. About the NYSE fills, I must say I'm not all that familiar with the trade through rules there, as I mostly deal with Nasdaq. I keep hearing about traders bypassing the spec on ECN's , so if they are only doing it when the spec is not on the NBBO, that's news to me. It's not what I see on T&S.
Maybe not, but at least we no know you are capable of a concise posting. ;-) Now, exactly, and briefly, what did I misconstrue?
I have also been having delays in stock order executions. In the past month, 5 seconds has been common. There was 1 order that took about 20 seconds. So, yes IB speed is sloooow.
Stock777 asks: Answer: I never said you misconstrued. I said, "You're not paying attention." Got it? This thread is all about paying attention. Read. Observe. Think. Read. Observe. Think. Read. Observe. Think. Don't stop. You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.
Do you really expect to advance your trading if you feel compelled to write a 2 page treatise because YOU tried to sell 100 shares of a stock in down movement during a FED announcement? I would probably CLOSE my account with IB if I heard the support staff was chasing such nonsense to begin with!
spyderman wrote: Spyderman, Let me suggest that you re-read my "treatise". You will find that your posting was not accurate. You were not paying attention. I wrote about a problem which happens over and over again, in all types of market conditions, in a high percentage of cases for the security IWM. Other IB customers are also complaining about similar problems affecting other securities; for example, in this thread, Htrader reports a problem with a 10,000 share order. You were wrong to describe it as an isolated single event. I selected the case of a FED announcement, for special scrutiny, because long experience proves that the best way to debug a system is to focus on extreme cases; and using this approach, I have had great success in helping IB to debug and to improve its order execution (except this time, because I am being ignored). My "treatise" gives some details of my achievements in this area. My spidey sense tells me that you probably haven't achieved anything in this area. If you would like to contribute in this area, then start paying attention. The fact that I was only trying to sell 100 shares should be of great concern. Any problem affecting a mere 100 share round lot will likely generate greater relative costs and delays for larger orders. A successful trader must control his risk. He must also take enough risk so as to be able to generate sufficient average profit so as to overcome transaction costs. So one of the best ways to control risk is to minimize transaction costs. And I think the best way to minimize transaction costs is by giving constructive criticism to IB, so that its order execution quality will live up to its advertising.
I bought some NYSE with a marketable limit order right near the close. It took at least 5-7 seconds for the spec to fill it. I would not even think to blame IB for the delay. I defy you to send an ECN order for IWM and tell me it takes more than 2 seconds to fill. If AMEX or NYSE delay your fill, call them, don't blame the messenger. I see you now accuse others of not paying attention. Reminds me of the old tale, about the pot and the kettle.