IB switched to shares only for L2?

Why? Now my L2 is so much harder to read and cluttered. I can multiply easily by 100's so this change was not necessary. Why not allow the option to choose which way you want it?

 

When did this happen? What version of TWS are you using?

 

How were levels with less than 100 shares displayed?

 

Today is the first day I got the message and saw a change, Im on the beta version Build 985.0q, May 28, 2021 3:53:06 PM, I had a different issue with the stable version only showing the L1 data, none of the book depth. I havent tried stable again to see if that's back to normal, and maybe this change doesnt make it into stable IDK, or maybe its an indication of the future?

They are multiples of 100, so 6 = 600 57= 5700, I prefer it that way, I don't like seeing the big numbers unless there's a big order, I thought you could choose which way you want it, but I see no option to switch it.

 

Well they do lots of weird stuff with Beta. I'm on Latest. If I had to guess I'd say that this doesn't stay as its such a waste of space and outside the norms for L2 displays I imagine most wont like it. I know it will screw up my screen layout if it stays.

 

Yeah I agree, I had to shift my charts over a little to make room for the bigger shares being displayed

 

How would they display 3 shares of AMZN?

 

I don't think you understand what's being shown here. They aren't showing "3" shares they are showing the number 3 to represent 300. So instead of seeing 300, 3000, 30000 it shows 3, 30, 300. I'm not sure what publicly traded company would ever have only 3 shares on either the bid or the ask, given the hundreds and thousands of people trading them.

EDIT: I just reread what you wrote. Idk what they displayed for shares less than 100. It's never been an issue for me because I dont trade anything with volume that low, most traders I know use the smaller L2 rather than absolute share values. Just makes it easier to read IMO, but ultimately its just user preference

Anyway I went back to the Latest version and its back to the way I like it. Hopefully its not a change they are thinking of implementing, and if they do hopefully they give the option to switch to the preferred view like other platforms

 

I'm asking you - If the price level has only 3 shares, how would they display it? Would they not display the level at all? Would they display it but show zero size? Natively, exchanges send actual shares, not in 100's.

 

Yeah I reread what you said and had edited my reply. I think Tos shows it as 0. Looks like IB either only shows a 1 or doesnt show the price on L2 if its under 100, its hard to tell which is going on.