I wonder whether limit and stop orders at IB are local or native? If I send a limit or stop order to IB before going off for the night, will the order be kept at IB's server, or in the exchange? If, in a black swan situation, IB went down, would my order still be executed when the price level was hit? Thanks.
Depends on the exchange. Some exchanges dont support native stop orders. Some exhanges only support native stop limit orders. Some might support both or neither. See the IB website to find which types of orders are native and which are simulated by IB.
Again, which exchange (CME or eCBot)? As Businessman said, if you go to the IB website and look under Products/Futures you will find the detail information as to which orders are allowed and whether they are native or simulated. If all else fails, read the instructions.
Unlike some other brokerages, IB goes to great lengths to disclose where particular orders are held http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/exchanges.php?exch=globex&ib_entity=llc http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/exchanges.php?exch=ecbot&ib_entity=llc Orders that are native to the exchange ***should*** be filled even if every IB server crashes at the same time.
Ah, but what are you trying to accomplish? Let's say it is the Sunday night before Black Monday in Oct 1987. And you want to protect against the impending "Black Swan" (the largest single one-day decline in the DJIA) about to happen within the next 24 hours. SP futures will gap open at -7% from their Friday close hours before New York opens. Let's imagine you have a long equities position you need to close. A stop limit will not work native order will not hit your limit price. A simulated stop on IB will, but human nature will compell you to log on, intervine and re-enter you position because a 7% gap open loss seems ridiculous. You would have been wrong. Other times, you may have been right. Protecting against Black Swans with stops is very difficult, if not impossible. ?