Just remembered, another issue with lag used to be this, after an order is placed Dom freezes for a while & when it starts updating again it plays back price changes at x multiple original speed. That was totally unreliable & unusable, I know X_trader is a sophisticated bit of kit, but I couldn't understand or believe the broker, because there was no ping issues with my charting from IQ Feed. Signal travels via same Internet provider and X-Trader had latency issues & IQ Feed didn't. That's why I couldn't believe what broker was telling me about latency.
TWS keeps log files called log.Mon.txt, log.Tue.txt etc. in the IBJts directory. Open the latest one and look for gw1.ibllc.com (US), gw1.ibllc.ch (Switzerland) or gw1.ibllc.com.hk (Hong Kong). This tells you which server TWS is communicating with.
Looks to me some kind of buffering in the software, during a thread-lock (database-locked for processing the Order). Then after the thread is done, it unlocks and the buffer is released at full speed. In other words: a software issue (not caused by communication-latecy).
No...but you can check your Ini-file in the TWS-directory (trace the Peer). But even then. You will be re-directed after the Server-connection without knowing where to. Anyway: if you haven't done anything special, at the moment you opened your IB-account, then you will be on the Server in your region.
you should see it in the log file ( in TWS dir) or open a chat with IB support, they will tell you what server you are logged in
The advantage HFT co-located traders have are near instantaneous executions of market orders. #1 The order matching algo's used by the exchanges gives the highest priority to Market Orders. #2. Co-location provides access to the least delayed DOM data. They will see a new resting order of a remote trader before the trader gets their order confirmation. #3. They have the ability to bypass Exchange based order matching of limit orders - cut in line and get an instant fill on market orders projected against their faster snapshot of the DOM data. #4. They limit their exposure to risk of slippage to 10ms or less based on their low latency updates of Level 2 data. #5. The entire order execution process is low latency. By the time the remote trader gets their order confirmation they have already execute and cleared the trade and probably up to 30 more. #6. They have a speed advantage to keep offers on the exchange order books and quickly cancel and replace. #7. They do not need to use broker simulated orders. ie trailing stops as they can do it themselves. The competitive advantages of co-location are open and available to all traders at minimal costs.
I have two European clients who use Schneider - one used to be a bank trader, and the other was prop; both are now trading their own accounts. Their business is well suited to higher volume traders. Personally, I've traded Liffe and Eurex since 1997 in Chicago using TT, Echo, Patsystems and never really encountered appreciable latency issues - and in the early to mid-2000's I traded on average about 200K RT's per month. All major regulated electronic exchanges in the US and Europe are going to have alot of ECN infrastructure between both continents. Given the volume you mentionedt you'd be trading I couldn't see it being an issue for you. The traders I know who are worried about latency are paying for dedicated lines and co-located servers.
So, are you still with Advantage Futures ? I see their customer segregated funds constantly changing +/-10 % at CFTC FCM reports. How are the EX Mizuho / Ex Merril guys doing their job ? And is Compliance still a pain in the.....?
Joe and Terry are doing just fine. Compliance is, well, Compliance. Having traded with Gennady for over three years I got to know them quite well! Considering all the dislocation in the industry, those cap changes aren't surprising - they actually have quite a bit of small to mid-size fund business and of course prop clearing. Jim and Ed went over to Crossland.
IB traders, How do you measure your latency? I'm in UK and I trade ES @ globex.... How can I measure what is the latency ? Thanks