Dear traders I come to you for help, I keep hearing "market data connection lost" and a second later "market data connection reastablished", every 15-30 seconds during US RTH. I trade from booktrader ladder, and there is a delay of sometimes several minutes, up to about 15 minutes, while I have a live account and live data subcribtion. I see this whenever the market hit new highs/lows, and the booktrader takes sometimes up to 15 minutes later to get there (average between 3 minutes up to 15 minutes). Everyone can imagine how devastating this can be if you ONLY rely on Interactive brokers as your datafeed supplier. During ETH, I have a little bit lesser problems, but during US opening/close and during us trading hours from 09:30-16:00 ET I have "data connection lost" about 1 second later "data connection reastablished", I have this every 15-30 seconds. I will never blame IB for my loss, but I stopped trading futures, with IB, while I did 30-50 roundturns every trading session. Ever since I changed to trading stocks, I still experience the same problem, and I cannot imagine me being the only one having this problem. My account has grown to wel over 6 figures, but I am having more and more problems, as I am making more money every day with more money at stake. Interactive brokers can't seem to be able to solve the problem, and keep saying it is my Internet service provider (which is BS) cause there are lots of ways checking internet stability. I have tried everything, Latest TWS, Stable TWS, BETA TWS, but nothing seems to get rid of the problem. I am so desperate that have windows installed completely new this weekend oct 4th 2020. But when I have the same problem again after this new installation, which I think will persist, I will have to draw my conclusion, that IB & me are not meant to make money together anymore . After this weekend, if the problem still persists, it can't be my computer so it must be with IB. I will keep you guys updated. If anyone in here experience the same problem and solved it. PLEASE HELP ME!!!! Help/suggestions mail me at Phuong_rdam@yahoo.com Thank you all so much for you time, effort and help in advance. Phuong from Europe
Hi jharmon, Thank you for you reply and suggestion, but it's not the internet connection. I have the same trading setup in Asia. New computer i7core 32GBram.....First I thought it was the internet connection, cause I was in Asia from januari till July, but coming back to Europe I have this same issue. I have had several specialist looked at my connection already. They don't think it is the Internet connection. I was hoping for a solution. Thank you for your time and effort though.
Here are something to check: Which server at IB you are connecting to? Does this happen with paper, which is a different server. Which connections are lost? Farm? Data? All? You are hard wired right? Try another machine to rule out your network adapter hardware. Or try the wireless if you are wired. It does not have to trade only connect. Ping the server when this happens or even when it does not? To eliminate IB. Firewalls? Your router prioritizing traffic? Can you make it happen by downloading-streaming over your bandwidth? (longshot since bandwidth is usually not an issue, but sometimes it get "pinched down to nothing". Best of luck.
I also think the possibility is high that you have a network related problem. VPS or even a VPN might help if your local internet provider is doing something odd. Two suggestions on improving net reliability. 1. Suggest getting someone with real comm software and networking chops to actually put an TCP/IP Sniffer on your net (with all other apps shut off) and have him determine precisely which end of the session is not behaving. (Fastest way to ditch the guessing/finger pointing). 2. After that gets fixed, look into having him set up a ‘Dual WAN’ router with connections to both your first internet provider and a second internet provider that can provide a route “redundant and diverse” connection. Neither sharing any common equipment or circuits to the Net. An example of the second would be a satellite data provider that offers a VSAT (very small aperture terminal). VSATs are not super cheap, but with the trade exposure you are carrying with reliability issues, you might pay for a year of VSAT fees with a bad market turn while you are twisting offline. Maybe a local terrestrial internet service might be available too at lower cost than VSAT. Don’t cheap out on the net guy, router or uninterruptible power for all your computer/comm equipment if you’re holding size risk. I’ve set this up before for critical needs and with two, ‘diverse’ connections running 99.95+% uncorrelated uptime, you will go for years at 100% uptime without network outages blocking your trades. Certainly more reliable than Win10.
How does your computer connect to the internet? Are you using Wifi or a wired connection from your computer to your router? What kind of connection do you have from your router to the ISP (internet service provider)? Is that a wired connection, or are you using a mobile phone connection? Are you sharing one internet connection with multiple people/computers? What other software is running on your computer wen you are using TWS? To which IB data farm are you connected? Is that the data farm in Asia or in Europe? Your description gives the impression that your internet connection has intermittent disruptions: one moment it works, then next moment it is down, etc.
Thanks to all TRADERS in here, First of all I would like to thank you all for the input. I will certainly look into all your advice/tips. Unfortunately, I am not a computer wizz. I am better at Trading/scalping , but for that everything has to run accordingly. Some more info: The thing is, I have this same problem when I was in Asia for 1/2year, with a NEW build pc, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX 2x16GB 3200, Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M.2 SSD.....(Nov 2019), so I don't think it could be the PC. The pc I am using now, is almost similar to the one mentioned above, just as fast but a year older. My connection, is hard wired, NO Wifi, I have a margin account, with live datafeed for all US instruments, so NO paper account. The internet is Download ~255 Mb/s, Upload ~26 Mb/s, Ping ~18ms. No other software running beside TWSlatest/Beta/Stable. NO VIRUS software (since I don't do anything else on this pc), Firewall ON but I don't think is the issue, cause the issue mostly/only occurs, during US RTH and that is around 15:30-22:30 CET (09:30-16:30 US Easter Time). My region setting is Europe, but my time setting is US ET (NewYork time), for right time in my charts. One thing I found out is that my pc, somehow cannot open the Interactivebrokers.com website. After clearing all history in Chrome, I will be able to open the website only once, but the second time, I see "Site is unavailable". Interactivebrokers.co.uk is not a problem. ANYONE have any idea about this issue? When problem still persists, after completely new installation of Windows, on my harddisk I still have a few options. -I am considering Glassfiber connection, but it takes about 2 weeks to have that all set up, without any guarantees. -Second/NEW PC -Another broker, which will be my last resort (, since I think IB is the best by lack for any better. (I trade futures, Options, but because of this issue, I am forced to trade stocks only, because with stocks, not every second delay is deadly) Reading all your tips, I have to conclude that i am the only one with bad luck , I can not, and WILL NOT accept this issue, how frustating it might be to solve. Once again, MANY THANKS for the input so far, and I do appreciate any further suggestions or tips. Phuong_rdam@yahoo.com for any tips or suggestions / or pm is also ok. THANKS Greetings from SAD SAD Phuong from Europe
BTW, when looking into DATA, I see all green "connected button" they DON'T get orange or red. Sometimes, all figures, turn into "?" marks or there is a blank or "?"mark wave running through my TWS classic window. When the issue occurs. I used to have another IB account and another LYNX account (Same TWS, using IB login portal, but with another Username/password). Could there be a trace in my PC relating to my older accounts? I closed those 2 accounts, because of the same issue.