All quote vendors experience delays caused by a variety of problems, network overloads, fast markets, router problems, server backlogs, buffer overruns, etc. To close your eyes to that fact is not a good idea; or is it to rely on a single vendor. Posting a market at an ECN or an electronic option market is not an accurate measure of overall quote speed or data integrity. Different systems have different algorithms for prioritizing orders, quotes, informational quotes vs quotes on a live order. The problem is not one for the human eye, quality of data can only be determined by measuring a huge data stream against another, or multiplies in different market conditions, market days, etc. In summary there is no best, except for the best at the current time ...
There are now 22 pages devoted to the topic of slow/bad quotes when it comes to IB, there are probably another 3-5 threads on elite where people are complaining about this issue. I think that IB quote problems at this point is a given. Now, if you tell me that you trade every day and rely strictly on IBs datafeed for quotes then I will have to look at the problem on my end, since I have yet to meet one person daytrading of IB quotes. shneed
Are you suggesting that IB doesn't "solely" get their quotes from the individual Exchanges?? (That they combine Exchange data with quotes of live ordes that you send) if so, talk about being paranoid................... If I enter a limit order to buy 155 shares of XYZ at $44.50 at time 9:40:05 and I see the order appear in my quote a split second later then to me this is the ONLY real reliable way to test the data. Unless, you are suggesting that IB doesn't solely get their data from the Exchanges, that they fudge the quote as you enter orders............... And if you really are that paranoid, then why are there expected delays when orders are sent to other Exchanges/ECN's....... Please give me an example how this method is NOT a reliable way to test data.
You definitely misunderstood me, we have never, and would never use a brokers quotes or a single data provider. I don't use them but we compare those type of issues; looking for an edge. However, our primary data sources our not applicable for a single trader. I was really just disagreeing with mskl passionate defense of IB's quotes on a technical level.
IMHO it does not make any sense to talk about slow quotes, when everyone talks about something different: GLOBEX (ok for me) NASDAQ (ok for me) NYSE (don´t know & don´t care)
There are 22 pages because IB did have issues with their quotes a couple of months back. This on again off again problem lasted for about a month. Currently, as far as I'm concerned there is NO problem. But at the same time, one should always have a backup source. I use two backup feeds (TAL and PCQuote). I would say that I have found IB data to be the most reliable (with the exception of their recent problems) compared to any other data provider. I'm an active trader at IB in terms of volume (I have been told that I'm in the top 10 in terms of volume on the retail side) and I can honestly say that IB's data is "normally" reliable.
No, that is not what I said or meant to say if that is the way you interpreted it. A server farm can have servers for quotes, i.e. you have 1,000 symbols you put on a watch list with IB or whoever; that has a certain level of priority. You put in an order on one of the symbols, as in your example; that goes to a separate order server in the farm which has a higher level of priority. In an average timeframe, all is equal, however due to any of the conditions I previously stated in the prior post, the order server appears to be and in fact is real time due to it's higher priority and your other 999 quotes can lag due to buffer overloads.
Not that it really matters (well, maybe just a little), I pay $128 per month for NYSE quotes through IB, vs $1 through RealTick. It's just ironic that IBs quotes are totally useless, even though you usually get what you pay for. That's all. I know some people at IB read these threads, and slow quotes is an issue that should be addressed. On a daily basis I complain to IB chat about the delays, and their response is that I am the only one with this issue. shneed
So, are you saying that IB only updates quotes in "real time" when you send orders on that security? Or is it just a coincidence that I'm constantly looking at the one right quote out of a 1,000 when I'm testing??