I was thinking wouldn't it be great if IB order entry could be integrated with Esignal. As a user of Esignal I would love to enter orders directly from within Esignal, for example from Level II window or with hotkeys, similar to the way i used to in Realtick. It would speeds up setup and transmition of orders and help keep attention focused on market data, without thumbling about TWS. I actually left realtick platform cause I couldn't find a broker with cheap commisions as IB. I use esignal because its cheaper but I do miss the order entry from Level II. Are there many IB users out there using Esignal? Would they use such integration? I'm sure it can be done like the way www.mbtrading.com have integrated their MBTnavigator. I have approached Esignal with a view to doing this. Apparently you need pay for the Esignal SDK, you need a proper buisness plan and have your proposition accepted by Esignal before they will allow you access to the SDK. This would almost certainly have to be a commercial venture. It would be on a monthly subscription basis, something like $20-$30/month would be acceptable. If such a venture gained 100 subscribers it would also be commercially viable. If it got more then it would be bonus. So is anyone here working on such a project, or considering it, or even interested in working on it? I will continue to research this idea, and will look to build a team interested. I would like some feedback and comments on the idea. You can mail me directly or reply here.
I'm looking into IB, but I don't like the user interface. Looks clunky and unreliable, and reading user's comments about it, most have problems. I love their commission structure though. As for ESignal, been using them since '98, and love them. Always online and reliable. NST
see this thread over at IB discussion forum http://www.interactivebrokers.com/discus/messages/6/281.html?1021895830
The problem with all this "integration" is that it usually just integrates your wallet more to theirs. Look at how much more Realtick brokers charge for their "integration". MBTNavigator? More expensive too. Better to keep IB LEAN & MEAN! IndexTrader
The burden would not be on all IB users, only those who wanted the integration, hence the extra $20/$30 per month would only be for the Esignal users who wanted it. It would be OPTIONAL. I would'nt mind paying a bit extra as would a lot of others i've spoke to. If your a daytrader and trade a lot the TWS interface is crap. Now can I trade much more with IB's low commisions but I would trade even more if IB was integrated with charting app, especially for small scalps I need to enter and exit trades fast, almost without taking my eyes of the tape/levII and chart. I don't want to be fumbling about with some naff interface that looks like an excel spreadsheet. I think it would be good to see IB integration with a number of the most common quote/charting apps, not just ESignal. Perhaps IB should do a poll to see which apps are the most commonly used for IB users, and ask who would benefit from direct integration into those platforms. Offering such integrations on an OPTIONAL subscription basis would have no impact on users who would have no benfefit or interest.
ThePerm said: "If your a daytrader and trade a lot the TWS interface is crap" WHAT??? I sometimes do 200 trades a day on TWS. Sometimes I do 20 trades in 5 seconds. I have eSignal for quotes on 1 computer, TradeStation2000i on 2 others, ATFinancial on onother and TWS on another. I got rid of QCharts last week...just not reliable! Why would you want your broker involved with your quote service? If you think IB is slow/crap, you dont know how to use it. Why even demand charts from IB? Get your own if you are serious about trading, dude. IndexTrader
You've got me all wrong. I never said I wanted IB to involved in my quote service. Who said anything about demanding charts from IB? In fact it is better that they are seperate. I want to be able to enter orders from within ESignal. That is it. My quotes would still come from Esignal, a tried and tested data feed. The TWS still would have to run in the background. How else would it work? I think you need to understand how the TWS API works and how it would be integrated with esignal. I am new to TWS but I can use it though still getting to grips. I have hotkeys set for orders and size but I don't believe you do 20 trades in 5 secs. Do you use limit orders or relative? I'm going to try relative from now on, limit orders require me to fiiddle to much. Still would prefer order entry from within esignal and would pay extra for the privledge. In fact it will probably save me money in the slippage caused by having to set up an order in TWS. I know I am not alone here so come on folks express you views/interest here.
This is not quite the same as what was requested in this thread, but might be of interest to some: I've been working on a DLL which will allow you to post orders to IB through eSignal's formula language (for automated trading systems, etc..). Example formulas etc ... are on http://www.loy-fu.com/dev/OrderDesk The API allows for other brokers to be plugged into this system easily as well.
Why pay a subscription fee for a simple systems integration solution like integrating a charting package with TWS order entry? This is not reocket science. I don't know about eSignal but I've integrated QCharts with TWS for my trading many months ago. This enables me to submit orders directly from L2 windows, quote sheets, and charts. Marketable orders take as little as a doubleclick. dave