ib net liquidation messed up

Discussion in 'Interactive Brokers' started by oldtime, Jan 15, 2013.

  1. it was a good day for me

    a profitable day

    there it was in my unrealized profit column

    but it was not reflected in my "net liquid valuation" in my account window

    really messed up

    even though pnl was going up "net liquidation" was going down

    finally, I couldn't take it anymore

    so I called ib, and got the account department

    and since all I trade is forex, she claimed I didn't understand my fx balances

    finally we agreed the only way to settle this was after the daily statement

    then suddenly at 16:59 et, everything got adjusted

    I mean it was a big day, and the difference between the 16:57 reading in the account window,and just three minutes later, at 16:59 or 17:00, suddenly everything was accurate.
     
  2. Rob227

    Rob227

    -------------Twilight Zone Music-------------
     
  3. yeah well, it really wasn't that funny

    I had the exact same position on in my paper account at about twice the size

    and same thing was happening over there

    not sure what would have happened if I closed out

    like I said, it was a good day, but I was very depressed, just thinking about waiting for midnight to get my daily report, and then spending all the next morining sorting it out

    so I was just sitting there watching my paper account, and at 16:57 there was this big jump to my favor, which made everything accurate

    and I went over to my real account, and at 17:00, same thing, a big jump, and suddenly everything was accurate

    it was really frustrating trying to explain it to the accounting girl

    especially when she told me I don't understand that currencies are constantly fluctuating overnight
     
  4. ktm

    ktm

    This happens regularly with IB across a number of products. The key is to make sure that you have enough excess liquidity to keep from getting auto-liquidated when the shenanigans are in process.

    They have certain "resets" during the cycle - one is at 1430 Eastern time - but not everything resets or calibrates at every reset. Sometimes margin resets but their ability to price a certain product might be using data from an earlier time, or (it seems possible) from yesterdays close. This seems most pronounced with large VIX movements.

    If you want a real shocker, let some FOP weekly spreads expire ITM and watch your account. At 1600, if you have a credit coming you will get the cash AND the positions remain...big boost to the net liquidating - but only til the close. For debits, you will have the cash removed and again the positions remain. This means - depending on how much you are allowing to exercise/assign - that your net liquidating value can be cut in half or more in an instant. I don't know how this affects the auto-liquidate process for the after-market session as I've never wanted to pay to find out.

    I'm sure others have found this out the hard way.

    If you make it through, everything eventually winds up as it should at some point in the overnight cycle or during the next reset.
     
  5. if I had closed out during the day when the net liqudation value was inaccurate, would it have been settled at the accurate price/value?
     
  6. This is why I avoid ib, I do not trust them from reading all the horror story about the system going haywire and people getting liquidated due to computer glitches.

    That is a level of uncertainty I sure as hell do not want to worry about.
     
  7. I have been a long term, long time customer of www.interactivebrokers.com

    I was with them before they even traded corn on globex

    it was a little rough in the early days

    tws was very unstable

    but when I saw what a good deal they offered the little retail trader trading es on globex, I switched and never looked back
     
  8. ktm

    ktm

    I've been with IB a long time as well.

    You have to look at what you would have sold the contract for vs. what your account window claimed the value to be at the time...that would give you the answer.

    I don't trade forex so I don't even know what that stuff looks like. I hear the tiniest of moves can really be worth lots, so a small mispricing would seem to be potentially significant.

    That's how I know when the TWS acct window is off. I look at the midpoint/fair value of a given contract then immediately check the value according to IB and see how close things are.
     
  9. ok, so guess the best we can come up with is occassionally the account window is off.

    First time it ever happened to me.

    I've been off many times, for a variety of reasons.

    always took the net liquidation value as the gospel truth (minus a few aother considerations)
     
  10. Bob111

    Bob111

    next time-use print screen and paste it to paint.app -then save it. so you will have your proof. make sure you have the time stamp on it.(like Ib's server time).no need to argue-just email them the picture.

    see my posts regarding their bugs. all backed up with screenshoots,so everyone know that i'm not making this up.
     
    #10     Jan 16, 2013