Option trader should allow us to set up combos and then adjust them by strikes or expirations, rather than having to set up the whole combo again, which is an unnecessary hassle. TOS allows this, it saves so much time in fast moving markets. Option trader should also have have the flexibility of putting in a price or date we wish, and see how the the profit loss / performance profile changes as a result. it does show a performance profile but only with the current price, IB developers please do this and let IB lead again.
TWS is a trading platform, not an analysis platform. "FYI" and all that..... FWIW, I construct everything I might need ahead of time, on a QuoteMonitor page, and I'm one click away. For example, as soon as I open a position, I've got a 1 strike butterfly set up, a 1x2 broken wing, a 1x1 and a 1x2 roll. I usually don't set up crosses of an expiry, as they never generated the traffic, and earned crappy fills.
are you saying, if you want a broken wing for eg, you just click broken wing? please elaborate, how to set this up, called customer service about this, and they said to change an expiration or strike of a combo, you ahve to set it all up again.
I use OptionTrader to review multiple chains/overall market at a glance, and very rarely to actually trade. I build combos once, on a QuoteMonitor page, where I have a relevant sample of strikes, and my created combos interlaced. Unless I delete them, or the series expires, they are part of my TWS set-up as soon as I hit Save. If there is a battle going on (like today!) I will build escape combos at the same time. There are many different ways to build combos (*including* OptionTrader). I happen to have hit upon using the drag-n-drop feature of the Combo button. You should experiment for what works for you. (I don't think I'm addressing your question very well.....)
Maybe I'm missing something but if you build up your combo in Strategy Builder you can then adjust the strike/expiration date of each leg at will without having to rebuild the combo.
I'll show my ignorance by opining that I don't think anything "in" StrategyBuilder has yet been born, and isn't of use. Once you take it out and put it into a Quote area for use, it can't be "replaced" into StrategyBuilder for all of that flexible joy. (I think. And am too lazy to check. It's just been one of *those* days. "Up 37pts!" really takes it out of you. And I still have to build more spreads to get ready for tomorrow. Sheeeesh.) {Anywho, nixodian, if HappyTrader corrects any misinformation of mine, you've got some more options from which to choose.}
And what's with the price shown in the Strategy Builder for combo? I recently tested creating combos in Strategy Builder and I created a short Strangle and the price came up to $27.xx credit. That can't be right, can it?? The price of a short Strangle for $27 when each leg of it is only costing 0.45 at most? So far I am not using it. The only thing that I use is Option Trader. It gives me all the strike for each set expiration date. When I need to do a combo, I just manually enter orders for each leg of the combo and set the price for each leg individually.
Oh, hell, man, I don't know!! It took me the longest time just to mentally reverse the order in my head, leg into it backwards, to have the OptionTrader prices come out properly. ("Properly" such that I wish to SELL a BEARISH PUT spread for a credit, not "buy" a bullish put spread for a "negative" debit. There's too much reversed in option-land without contributing to it. Sheeesh. At any event, I suspect your $28 price was "user error" but...... that's probably because you sought to enter it sensibly, and not according to whatever Byzantine logic the code-writers intended. (Hence, for ol' Tommy boy, Combo-button, "Pair or Leg by Leg" tab, drag-n-drop.)
Well that was the price that the Strategy Builder put in automatically after I put in the quantity of the Strangle that I wanted to sell; I didn't do anything to create that price. And it had a "C" in green beside the price and I hovered my mouse over it it says "Credit" and when I clicked on "Transmit" just to see the order, the total transaction amount is "-xxxx.xx", in negative number but again with a green "C" besides it showing it's a "Credit". I didn't really transmit the order of course but I am not sure if I REALLY transmitted that order what would happen. Would I be prompted to enter the price for each leg or would it REALLY sell the combo at $27.xx as a whole?
There are a lot of changes in option trader if you select latest instead of stable build when logging onto IB.