Problem with IB REST API? Any alternatives?

Hi everyone, I am building an app running on Mac OS that needs to connect to my IB paper account to place orders.
However the "place order" endpoint doesn't seem to work, always getting

Code:

{"error":"You currently do not have trading permission for this instrument type. Update Trading Permissions from the Trade Configuration page in Account Management."}

I even called their customer support and they admitted that this has been broken for over a month and they are working on it.

What do you think is the best way for an external app to place trades on a paper trading account to test out its strategy? I don't mind switching to another broker just for testing purposes.

I know NinjaTrader lets you place trades by creating files, is that method reliable/quick enough?

 

I thought the rest api was only for special people

 

Maybe use the regular/older IB API, although not as simple as REST.
Otherwise you could try Alpaca.

 

I figured it out, turns out I need to pass raw text instead of JSON for the params
IE:

Code:

{ "acctId": "12345", "conid": 346577750, "secType": "FUT", "cOID": "test003", "orderType": "MKT", "listingExchange": "GLOBEX", "outsideRTH": false, "side": "BUY", "price": 7000, "ticker": "NQ", "tif": "GTC", "quantity": 1, "useAdaptive": false}

 

So the customer service guy was lying?

 

They didn't lie, the bug is their server can only parse raw text file instead of a properly formatted JSON. Anyways, only programmers can understand the difference.