I find IB very dependable and had no problems yesterday although I know this is server dependent. But did everyone this happened to lose $52,000 again?
The 2 broker system doesn't work that well. If you are in a position, you can't offset it by going the opposite way in another account somewhere else, especially if you end up with a margin call because of any sudden movements.
i am using IB and QT for some reason 610 tick chart does not look correct. May be there backfill is not correct. I read so many -ve about IB am thinking of moving to something else next year. which other broker allows you trade nikki eminis...any ideas
"The 2 broker system doesn't work that well. If you are in a position, you can't offset it by going the opposite way in another account somewhere else, especially if you end up with a margin call because of any sudden movements. " Who says you cant go the opposite way with another broker ? The main reason to have a back up is if your primary broker is down or not acting well .
What I meant was you just can't offset a trade by going opposite with another broker and avoid margin calls. My bad. should have been clearer. Remember yesterday most people couldn't access the platform until after markets closed. if using the intraday margins, you may have been screwed. Again, what IB needs to do is to allow traders to select upon logon which servers to use. It would be a simple drop-down menu and would help to solve many of the logon issues that are bitched about in this forum.
I would estimate that the average IB trader... With a dual, fail-over internet connection or leased line... Has had about 2 hours of downtime in 2007 on IB's side... Mainly due to IB server or login issues. So that's 1356/1358 = 99.85% uptime. Do the math... And figure out what 2-3 hours of downtime will cost you each year. It just seems a lot worse... Because IB is not honest about what goes on.
Asian server farm has had better uptime (don't know what you guys do to all those US servers). The suggestion that users switch servers sounds good at first but then you think about all those US users switching from the big US server farm to the small Asian or European farms and all you'll get is a wider brownout.
They should invest in the infrastructure to beef up the servers and make them the same throughout. If you are saying the US is more formidable because more IB traders here, then beef up Europe and Asia to match. Yes, I know, servers cost money, but having down time costs everyone in the long run. The best solution for back-up servers is to use what they already have. Plus I'd like to switch between servers at will as I trade currencies, and down time at midnite (usually more than 10 minutes) can cost you.