I agree this has become a huge hassle. There's no notification whatsoever through the API or TWS that your order is HTB. Sitting in a pending state (dark blue) does no one any good. It's not like there's going to be a locate sooner than 4 hours after I wanted the trade anyway! BTW, I love the locates I get right before close for trades I tried to do in the first half hour of the day. Quit kidding yourself that your whiz-bang automated locate feature works and just reject the orders so I can deal with it. Let me request and get locates before the open and then you've got something useful! Once again, IB, you have the trading world by the balls and you keep trying to piss it away. Stick to being a stable execution platform and quit rolling out all the new "features" I never use.
I think this is wrong. I think the "on open" tif is only needed if you wish to make sure that the order is cancelled immediately in the event it fails to execute on the open. If you submit a NYSE market order, or a NYSE limit order with a price better than the opening print (not yet known), and if your order arrives in time to participate in the open, and if it is tick-qualified under short-sale rules to execute at the opening price, then you are guaranteed a fill at the opening price, regardless of any tif flag. If your NYSE limit price matches instead of betters the opening print, then you may or may not be filled on the open, depending on your order's priority relative to other orders, and depending on the availability of contra liquidity.
I agree. Your understanding matches mine. I've read the governing NYSE rule which I believe you brought to my attention in a contentious thread some months ago and it certainly seems to state the same. For the time being I've decided to submit a small order using SMART and the balance of the order directly routed to the NYSE. It will be interesting to match the fills.