IB TWS reacting slowly

onefocus · Oct 8, 2009

I've been trading with IB for quite a while now and occasionally have problems with TWS being unresponsive. The "javaw.exe" goes up to 50% CPU consumption and sticks around there (50, 48, 50, 43, 38, 51, etc.). It ends up slowing down the whole computer as well with that much CPU tied up.

I only have about 10 ticker symbols (few FX, few futures and maybe one stock) open along with FX Trader (4 pairs), Option Trader (2 expirys, 3 strikes), and I have 7 main chart windows (each with 4 subchart windows). I've run this setup and ones like it (with more charts or tickers at times) and don't have a problem. Then once in a while, like yesterday(?) and today, it seems that TWS is overloaded. It wasn't for weeks and months on end (CPU numbers bouncing up and down like 12, 34, 08, 28, 40, 16, etc.), now it is! I've been told by IB customer service in the past to delete the JTS directory and start over or delete and reload Java. That does seem to work but then all my settings have to be recreated again that is a royal pain in the a$$.

I just don't get it. It's fine and handles all kind of data flow then it just gets slow and unresponsive. I can tell when it happens because the "blue halo" that lights up around any box you click in doesn't light up bright and fade out, like normal. Instead it hesitates a split second and barely lights up to show the box is selected. How can everything be fine then just slow to crawl. Nothing has changed on the computer.

I've searched the internet but don't get much on it. I've seen mention of maybe problems with ES feed or something and it may be a temporary server issue. Or something about a problem with querying a specific time frame (like anything less than 1 hour) and if you eliminate that, it works.

The guy I spoke to on one occasion at IB made it sound like it was my computer. If it's mine, then why did it work all that time and if I reinstall the stuff or reduce the feeds I get some results?

And their system status always says "No Problems".

Hope someone can shed some light on this?

I'm running Windows XP, SP2, Pentium 4 3Ghz, 2.5GB RAM, 3MB DSL.

TWS Build 898.4, Sep 28, 2009 12:34:25 PM
Jolt Build 1.1.1, Aug 21, 2009 03:34:43 PM
Nia Build 1.5.2, Aug 31, 2009 05:36:15 PM
ModelNav Build 1.1.23, Jun 3, 2009 12:59:46 PM

Java Version: 1.6.0_16
OS: Windows XP (x86, 5.1)

So........IB or me?

Sorry for the long post but I figured more detail might eliminate some questions for more info.

Thanks,
Sal

Bernoulli · Oct 8, 2009

Quote from onefocus:

I've been trading with IB for quite a while now and occasionally have problems with TWS being unresponsive. The "javaw.exe" goes up to 50% CPU consumption and sticks around there (50, 48, 50, 43, 38, 51, etc.). It ends up slowing down the whole computer as well with that much CPU tied up.

I only have about 10 ticker symbols (few FX, few futures and maybe one stock) open along with FX Trader (4 pairs), Option Trader (2 expirys, 3 strikes), and I have 7 main chart windows (each with 4 subchart windows). I've run this setup and ones like it (with more charts or tickers at times) and don't have a problem. Then once in a while, like yesterday(?) and today, it seems that TWS is overloaded. It wasn't for weeks and months on end (CPU numbers bouncing up and down like 12, 34, 08, 28, 40, 16, etc.), now it is! I've been told by IB customer service in the past to delete the JTS directory and start over or delete and reload Java. That does seem to work but then all my settings have to be recreated again that is a royal pain in the a$$.

I just don't get it. It's fine and handles all kind of data flow then it just gets slow and unresponsive. I can tell when it happens because the "blue halo" that lights up around any box you click in doesn't light up bright and fade out, like normal. Instead it hesitates a split second and barely lights up to show the box is selected. How can everything be fine then just slow to crawl. Nothing has changed on the computer.

I've searched the internet but don't get much on it. I've seen mention of maybe problems with ES feed or something and it may be a temporary server issue. Or something about a problem with querying a specific time frame (like anything less than 1 hour) and if you eliminate that, it works.

The guy I spoke to on one occasion at IB made it sound like it was my computer. If it's mine, then why did it work all that time and if I reinstall the stuff or reduce the feeds I get some results?

And their system status always says "No Problems".

Hope someone can shed some light on this?

I'm running Windows XP, SP2, Pentium 4 3Ghz, 2.5GB RAM, 3MB DSL.

TWS Build 898.4, Sep 28, 2009 12:34:25 PM
Jolt Build 1.1.1, Aug 21, 2009 03:34:43 PM
Nia Build 1.5.2, Aug 31, 2009 05:36:15 PM
ModelNav Build 1.1.23, Jun 3, 2009 12:59:46 PM

Java Version: 1.6.0_16
OS: Windows XP (x86, 5.1)

So........IB or me?

Sorry for the long post but I figured more detail might eliminate some questions for more info.

Thanks,
Sal
More...

I've had something similar happen, the last time today. TWS was running so slowly that my whole system seemed frozen.

I opened up the directory containing the configuration files under JTS and over 10000 files related to Nia had been generated there. I don't know the source of the problem but appears to be related to a lock on an internal database. The first time I had the problem I reinstalled everything. Today, I deleted all the nia*.* files that had been generated today and restarted. So far so good.

If anyone knows about this and how to prevent it, I would like to hear about it.

obd · Oct 8, 2009

Can't help you with the cause of your problem, but you might be able to narrow it down and preserve your settings by copying the program to a backup folder. When the problem comes back swap it out and see if the backup works or has the same problem.

If it works you know it is TWS that is getting corrupted. And at least you have solution until you get a proper fix.

If the backup displays the same problem then it is probably Java not playing nice with one of your other apps or maybe TWS.

I had subscribed to ProphetX and the program just would not play with my other programs. On its own it worked fine. You might be having a competition for resources or something...

mgmaggie · Oct 12, 2009

I am trading presently November and December CL and December ES futures. Since about 3 o'clock I am being shown more money in my unrealized profit and loss. I also noticed that the last price is not updating. I am being shown more money on my account page than I have made because of this.

Is anyone else having this problem. I have logged in again but it makes no difference.

Thanks

leela · Oct 12, 2009

Quote from mgmaggie:

I am trading presently November and December CL and December ES futures. Since about 3 o'clock I am being shown more money in my unrealized profit and loss. I also noticed that the last price is not updating. I am being shown more money on my account page than I have made because of this.

Is anyone else having this problem. I have logged in again but it makes no difference.

Thanks
More...

Not a good idea trading futures IB. It is too slow and too clumsy. It is quite easy to make execution errors when u want to trade fast.

Catoosa · Oct 12, 2009

The next time you have this problem, minimize all of your chart windows and see if the CPU use drops off to what it should be. If the CPU use drops off, the only solution that worked for me was to close all TWS charts and use another charting program for my charts. It was the IB line tick charts that were causing my CPU saturation problem. IB tech support was no help on this problem and only denied they had any problem with IB's TWS charting. They would always respond with replace the jts file with jts2 and TWS will rebuild the file and this may fix the problem. Loosing my setting is an unacceptable stab at trying to fix a problem when IB tech support admits they do not even know what the problem is.

Catoosa · Oct 12, 2009

Quote from leela:

Not a good idea trading futures IB. It is too slow and too clumsy. It is quite easy to make execution errors when u want to trade fast.
More...

What you have described is what I have experienced trading futures with my brokerage accounts other than through IB's TWS. IB and TWS have been great for futures trading as long as I get my charting elsewhere.

onefocus · Oct 12, 2009

Thanks everyone for the input.

Catoosa....I'll try minimizing if it occurs again.

I've considered getting my charting elswhere too, but IB is free, if it works.

onefocus · Oct 13, 2009

WOW!

I've experimented with minimzing TWS windows, not only does the CPU usage drop dramatically, but the memory load does as well (from anywhere in the 200-400k range to under 100k).

Now, of course, one can't trade if you can't see the trading windows, but if you keep unnecessary stuff minimzed as much as possible, at least the load is lightened. I tended to bring windows up in front of each other, so now I'll minimize them as I bring up others.

Seems to work...Thanks.

Catoosa · Oct 13, 2009

onefocus:

The only TWS windows that caused this problem for me were the tick or line charts with the update every second, keep up to date, and show volume boxes checked. A very active symbol like the ESZ9 S & P 500 would sink my PC. Also try moving your mouse around over the problem chart to see what this does to your CPU use as this would saturate my CPU use. I am currently running all of my charting with a stand alone non java based program. I have many tick chart windows spread out over 12 monitors and my CPU use is very low. I also have TWS, Captools accounting, and other brokerage account trading platforms all running on the same PC with the charting software. I am running Windows 2000 on a Athlon 64 x2 4600 2.4 ghz processor. With all this stuff running, my CPU use is still very low.