Pimp my IB account ...

Discussion in 'Trading Software' started by CALLumbus, Apr 19, 2011.

  1. CALLumbus

    CALLumbus

    Hello,

    I am a futures scalper and until now I have used Interactive Broker's TWS as my trading platform.

    Now I have tested a demo account with Mirus Futures. The account offers a Ninatrader/Zenfire combination and I am very impressed.

    I really want to use now this combination for my real trading. Problem is that I want to keep my account with IB because I have a very nice commission structure with them, Mirus cannot offer me the same.

    Since I am not so good with the technical stuff: is it possible to setup a Ninjatrader/Zenfire-combination that I can use with my IB-account in the background ? It should really look feel like this Demo that was offered to me by Mirus, with the same platform, speed, functions (I want these tickcharts now !), but with my Interactive Brokers account in the background.

    What products would I need, and how can I set this up, is there some guide or help for this in the internet ?

    Thanks in advance to all that can help me !
    CALLumbus
     
  2. nkhoi

    nkhoi

    nothing you have all you need, plenty of trades have multiple accounts running on the same machine.
     
  3. CALLumbus

    CALLumbus

    nkhoi, I dont understand what you mean ?? I dont want to use multiple accounts, I want only my IB-account, but I want that it looks like the frontend that Mirus-futures is offering, which is Ninjatrader with Zenfire datafeed.

    So my question is can I trade my Interactive Brokers account with Ninjatrader and use Zenfire or Kinetick as datafeed ? How do I set this up ?? Is it even possible ?
     
  4. NT + IB is certainly possible - I do it. I've never done NT + IB + zenfire feed, but I bet it can be done.
     
  5. Get Sierra Chart or Ninja to give you a front end to IB.

    If you need true tick charts then you can get tick data from a number of data vendors described on Sierra's website.
     
  6. cstfx

    cstfx

    In order to use this properly, you need to buy or lease a multi-broker license for NinjaTrader - one broker is your zenfire feed and another is your execution broker. Zenfire feed is only offered by brokers thru their accounts (I have never seen Zen-fire offered separately). You would need to open an account with the broker (say Mirus - it could be minimally funded, like keep only a couple of hundred in it) and chose IB as your executing broker in the preferences. It can be done, but it is a hassle.

    FWIW, you can get a TT and Ninja setup with Velocity and the costs are pretty near what you pay at IB depending on what you are trading (ES: 2.01 IB vs 1.91 Velocity, before volume discount breakdowns). Many traders also swear by the TT feed over zenfire.
     
  7. classact

    classact

    Just a quick question: if you trade forex on IB via NT, is there any benefit of getting (better?) tickdata from another source? Since forex isn't traded on a centralized exchange, I would assume any feed provided other IB would give quotes that are a bit skewed from IB's quotes?

    Sorry if I'm missing something blatant here - just looking for confirmation.
     
  8. cstfx

    cstfx

    Yes, you are correct. IBs forex data is relevant to their trading only. Any other data feed would not be honored by the broker. IB uses 10+ different vendors so their data is pretty much what you would expect from another ECN, tho maybe slightly skewed. The only benefit to a different source would be to ascertain the overall accuracy of the IB data, but you wouldn't be able to trade off it.
     
  9. nkhoi

    nkhoi

    don't make it complicated, just have 2 accounts, mirus/zenfire for charting, IB for order entry. The bonus is you will have 2 data feeds for cross checking purpose.