My goodness! After 15 years, you still don't have a backup. You don't need to complain about a technical problem when you have a backup. Let other people do the complaining. avoid generating negative emotions. negative emotions will cause us to lose $$$ in trading.
Here is a minimalist Medved Trader chart window. We very much care about screen real estate Just how much to show on a window is user configurable.
Ninjatrader only works with TWS 10.16, motivewave works with the TWS stable 10.19 version and presumably later versions that auto update. Not all CBOT futures contracts work with motivewave. Both have free versions.
I've used IB --and other platforms -- for more than 20 years. IB has always been better, with more features, and spends more money than other online brokers. I admit the past 1-2 years, I've had some issues, but I've opened and closed 3 other accounts during that time period, as they were much worse.
UPDATE: Re my Sierra issue: despite several back-and-forth postings with Sierra support board, they did not help; but later I solved the problem. For some reason, from one Sierra "disconnect," again about 4:15 pm each afternoon to the next morning, on just 3 - 4 future symbols, there was an option that went to NO, which I always had as YES, related to incorporating data from overnight. Apparently that YES also will backfill from when I start Sierra about 5 am, using data from 6 pm prior night. Why Sierra support did not query if those options were all set to YES, I can't explain. Still, it may have been a bug in their new program, as I had to download their newest version, in order to adapt to the change in IB exchange ID. (IB changed GLOBEX ID to just CME.) Mark, re CQG, I used them for several years, & preferred their ladder / BookTrader vs IB, but I always had IB account, order entry, & Sierra charts, also open, as a backup, for the many times I could not place an order via CQG. CQG, whether downtime, change in features, etc, was no more stable than IB. That may have changed over last time I used CQG, about 7 years ago. Whether IB, CQG, or any of the dozen of other platforms I've used over many years, I never understood why they do not send a text, or e-mail to all users, that they are having problems. There have been times where IB is down, & active discussion on this site about issues, but going to IB "System Status" page has no indication. Just poor customer service /tech support, but seems universal.