Is trading at IB anything like their demo. I am having nothing but problems getting trades executed. Is this just the demo or are there real problems with the software?
Don't go by the demo in terms of usefulness and stability. Since quotes and trades in the demo are "mock" so to speak, they're not reliable in terms of how well the real trading is. The demo I believe is mainly to help get you accustomed to the layout and functions. You may notice in the demo that you can't pull up certain stocks or quotes, but rest assured that you can pull up and trade any stocks or options you want in a live account.
Since you have had experience with IB let me ask you this. I want to trade the QQQs. In the demo QQQ is quoted 43.65 to 43.78, last trade at 43.76. I try to put a limit buy order in to buy at 43.73. I get a message "The order price "43.73" does not conform to the minimum price variation for this contract". This is wrong. This stock trades in pennies, and furthermore, there are other times when I can enter this order and it will go through. What is the problem? It happens a lot. I want to trade this stock in real life but I cannot open an account if I have this kind of problem. Is this just a demo problem? Thanks.
A quick question about IB. If I put a Stop-Limit order in case the stock doesn't go as planned, if I close the TWS and open it again, will it still be there? Is the Stop order held on the client side or server side? I would like to be able to place stops for my swing trades without having the TWS open like you can on Datek (place order, close browser). Thanks!
jsmith You have to elect GTC in the order field for the stop to stay there, otherwise the stop defaults to a Day order when it is first entered and will expire at the end of the trading day. IB keeps clients' stop orders in their own servers and do not send it to the exchanges or ECNs. Another cool feauture of the IB software is their OCA (One Cancels All) feature. This allows you to put in a stop and a sell/buy order (to lock in profits) at the same. I used it today and it worked really well.
stevenb, sounds like the QQQ is a demo issue. There are many active QQQ traders using IB w/o complaints. jsmith: re orders: retail accounts orders are day orders. Thus if you lose connection, your order will remain open till the market closes that day. I beleive the same is for after hour orders - they stay open until the end of that session.
If you reconnect are you open orders shown in the order line? Also, how does IB distinguish between a early hours/regular session/after hours order? For example, if I want to place an order that ONLY applies to the regular session, but I want to place the order during the early session. Is this possible? Finally, looks like IB is adding some more trading platform technology to the arsenal...see http://www.interactivebrokers.com/html/companyInfo/trade_tech_press.html
Volunteer, There is a "Pending" page in the Trader Workstation that displays your open orders. So if you log off and log back on, your Pending page will come up first showing your orders still open. Since I don't often leave open orders unattended, I can't accurately comment on the pre-market/after hours order procedures, but I'm sure def will be able to help you out with that.
zboy, can't say for sure about pre-open/after hours orders if you disconnect as I haven't tried that. I'll talk to someone on Monday but I'm fairly certain it would work the same way. If I remember I'll test it with the E-minis over the weekend. Only question is whether or not pre-open orders get purged before the market opens. volunteer, regarding the deal with trading technologies. The TT platform is a highend platform that I beleive will mostly cater to active option traders. I imagine details on the linkage and how to sign up will be posted on IB's and TT's websites shortly.
Def: Will IB implement TT's X_Trader Platform or interface? I think is IB could use such an interface similar to X_Trader and keep 1$ commissions, it will be a great leap forward for IB. We have told IB thousands times by email to put up a drop down box for choosing execution routes instead of having to fill a page with same symbols with different routes. hsanson