anyone here trading the QQQs with IB's smart routing via API or otherwise? What kind of slippage are you seeing with your market orders? If you trade the SPY I am interested in hearing about that too.
I found the simplest and best thing to do is just use Island....no matter what just bid or offer a penny above or below and use isld.
I found slippage on short sales to be especially horrible. It seemed like I always got a fill just shy of the inside market every time, with slow fills to boot. I switched to ISLD and now I get filled where it should be.
I wouldn't go so far as to say no slippage, but I agree ISLD is the best route for trading the QQQ. In a fast market things will slip around a bit, but not much, and you're not going to do better elsewhere.
tech, are you talking about IB's smart routing? You don't say which exchange you found so horrible. Maybe I should look for another broker for stocks with an API that supports personalized routing, if such exists.
Smart routing - yes. I think it routed through the NYSE which would explain the nonsense. The Island is the only way to go with the Q's. You can set a global ECN/exchange or by each ticker. I'm not a scalper so all my standard Naz daytraders are set to 'smart' routing except the QQQ. IB's a great broker - today there were some connectivity issues on and off but those aren't too frequent. They've recently started up a decent message board, too, staffed by IB people. Def visits here on occasion but it's a hit or miss. Their board addresses a lot of issues from TWS enhancements (and bugs) to evrything else. The only problem from what I've read is if you're a daytrader w/less than 25k. Then their rules tend to get strict regarding settlement, etc, especially in a cash account.
I trade 1k lot of SPY and DIA, if smart route to NYSE or AMEX, slippage can be from 5 cents to 10 cents. Sometime you get price improvement as well. Are you trying to scalp or looking for longer time frame (1-5 minutes)