IB Suggestions & Improvements

Discussion in 'Interactive Brokers' started by Babak, Aug 26, 2005.

  1. jims82a1

    jims82a1

    whitster,

    You need to change the quantity of CBOE:$SPX to -1. The formula you currently have is adding the two values together when they should be subtracted. This should resolve your issue.
     
    #431     Mar 6, 2006
  2. IBj

    IBj Interactive Brokers

     
    #432     Mar 6, 2006
  3. Jim, that does work

    thx

    one minor prob lem is that it rounds the change down to whole #;s

    so right now, the differerential is 1.73, but it graphs and reads as "2"

    hmmm

    im not sure there is any way to change the "change" column to reflect fractions is there?
     
    #433     Mar 6, 2006
  4. jims82a1

    jims82a1

    whitster,

    Your graphs should chart to the hundredth decimal place. You need to make sure that your portfolios are calculated based on "last price" and your charts are set to display "$ Value". These settings are located under Options--->Edit Preferences--->Misc. I think that once you let the data compile for several minutes you will see that it is working correctly.
     
    #434     Mar 6, 2006
  5. my charts are not the problem since they go to the 100th decimal place on all sorts of other instruments
    my preferences are set to display '$ value" and calculate based on last price, but the item still graphs and shows on the portfolio window as a whole #

    for some reason, change is always a whole #

    hmmm
     
    #435     Mar 6, 2006
  6. fwiw, the cash market is now again closed so i'll tweak it tomorrow, but it was still displaying whole #'s on the portfolio window and the graph

    under CHANGE, it displays the fraction, but under the value change, it displays whole #;s
     
    #436     Mar 6, 2006
  7. jims82a1

    jims82a1

    That is strange. My portfolio window displays a whole number, but the chart shows the full range. For example, my 3:54 1 minute bar displays a open of 0.63, high of 1.19, low of .61, and a close of .99. I am not sure why your chart would be any different.
     
    #437     Mar 6, 2006
  8. IBj

    IBj Interactive Brokers

    csmgmt@interactivebrokers.com would be better.
    ibmgmt for larger strategic issues. csmgmt for practical or operational topics, including feedback about the service.
     
    #438     Mar 6, 2006
  9. I am testin TWS beta right now and have some criticisms to make in case the new features will be implemented in the new tws version:

    [A]book trader now, when not armed is very blurry and impossible to read, I can't see the point of that.

    2days charts show 3days.

    [C]when charts are enlarged I cannot read the last size because the description stays on the bottom and the arrow on the corner of every window (designed to enlarge them) covers that particular section (this is the case with macs, dunno about windows).

    [D]the arm/disarm buttons occupies too much space takin' out much valuable quotes space while not adding any improvements or features.

    I hope these are just tests and not real new features that are going to be installed in the next tws (857.5) as they are in the beta version.
     
    #439     Mar 6, 2006
  10. IBj

    IBj Interactive Brokers

    There have been some comments and suggestions about the IB Web/Trouble Ticket (thanks GTC and JackR). I will try to address them and offer some usage tips:
    • Authentication: users access the system from inside Account Management ( https://www.interactivebrokers.com/Universal/servlet/AccountAccess.Login ). The login process authenticates the user as having permission to ask just about any question except those directly related to security. For example, we will not do password resets via web ticket. The system is secure both in terms of access and message transmission which saves IB staff considerable time as compared to email and allows us to answer questions we cannot (via email) due to the insecurity of the latter.
    • Routing: web tickets require you enter a category/subcategory for your inquiry. This allows us to route the inquiry to the team best qualified on the subject. Customers who have a question about pattern day trading will get a more complete and satisfactory answer if it is handled by an expert on the topic, rather than by a generalist. The amount of information IB's CSRs need to know is enormous: everything about the TWS, order routing, clearing, corporate actions, global products/markets, order types, regulatory restrictions, the entire web site content, etc. And we are updating things daily. Nobody can keep up with the volume of information and be fully informed on all issues, so we have specialists in most areas and try to route inquiries to the appropriate expert when possible.
    • Ticket Closure: when we designed the system, it needed to integrate into our existing internal problem mgmt system. The latter has a single sided closure condition for tickets, i.e. when the CSR thought the issue was resolved he/she would close the event. When we created the client side interface (Web Trouble Ticket) we moved the closure action to the client side. Unfortunately, we discovered that clients don’t close the case. They read the info and move on. This leaves IB uncertain as to status and clutters up the view on the population of open/working events. Accordingly, we try to close tickets 2-3 days after we have sent what we hope is the final response. It works most of the time, but not always.
      We are extending the workflow as follows: if a client closes an event, the system applies the state change immediately. If a CSR believes the event is complete, the IB side closure will “hide” the ticket but will leave it open as far as the client (and system) is concerned for 7 calendar days (we might go longer, we’ll see). If there is no more activity on the thread, then the system will close the ticket automatically after 7 days. If the client feels the answer is incomplete, then by submitting an update prior to closure, the ticket will be automatically re-exposed on our internal systems. Clients can always re-open a closed ticket. For those who don't want to worry about these details, it should all be pretty intuitive.
    • Quality Control: best solution is to rate the service. When you close a ticket, a rating window automatically shows up. It should take about 20 seconds to complete. I look through these every week in detail. It would be great if people rated the service itself and not whether they got some particular answer (e.g. People request a bust and we inform them that they missed the exchange’s reporting window. That does not mean the service was poor just because it was not the desired outcome.) The best thing clients can do to help IB provide the best service is to give thoughtful feedback based on realistic expectations.
    • Escalation: for now, use the ratings. If it is a real issue, write to csmgmt@interactivebrokers.com. I will research those issues that seem to be real and respond accordingly. Please note that this is not a resource for urgent issues as I can only handle so many items at a time so it can take some days for a response. Also, please don’t send normal operational issues to this email address as it is intended for managerial, strategic, and escalation topics only. Normal service inquiries will just get shunted to help@interactivebrokers with an unnecessary delay. At some point in the next few months, I will try to come up with an escalation pathway accessible from within the Web Ticket System.
    • Charges: utilization of customer service is an expense. When a CSR is talking to a client, he cannot talk to another one at the same time. Clients who generate $1/week in commission but call 20 times ... well, this isn’t sustainable. At this time, we have no plans to charge for service. We will evaluate whether a given client is overusing the limited resource and act on it if we feel the utilization is inappropriate.
    • Attachments: as of 2-3 days ago, you can now attach screenshots to a Web Trouble Ticket. No executables will be accepted. Excel and Word with macros also not. PDFs, JPEGs, and other graphics files are fine.
    • Notification: there is a preferences section on the right side of the menu bar where clients can choose to be notified about updates to their inquiries via email, TWS bulletin, or SMS to a cellphone. You can also choose secure or non-secure methods. You will need to enter the whole number including country code (‘1’ for US and Canada).
    • Future:
      -> Chat: chat does not yet have categories, hence our ability to route to an expert is limited. This will be added in the next month.
      -> Bust Requests: exchanges have increasingly tight cancellation policies with shorter notification time windows. This web form will allow nearly straight through processing to the exchanges.
      -> Idea Box: will allow users to make requests for new features, services or products and be notified as they become available.
    The above is very long winded, but I hope it will be of use and allow people to make the best use of IB’s inquiry system.
     
    #440     Mar 6, 2006