Simultaneous IB TWS acct use question

I'm considering having an assistant help me placing orders using IB TWS. I have 2 individual accts and was hoping I wouldn't have to make any changes as far as setting up new accounts.

I use both accounts myself but figure if I had help, then the other person could input orders on the same accts using a different pc.

Can 1 account/TWS platform be open and used on say 2-3 computers? Is there maybe some setting I'm not aware of?

Would I *have* to open this ''friends & family" acct or some type of advisor acct? (I'd rather not).

Thanks!

 

Here's an idea. On computer number 1, open TWS. Then, on computer number two, try opening TWS for the same account. I think this would solve your dilemna.

 

So you're saying tws *can* be used at the same time on 2 pc's using the same acct?

 

It has been my experience with previous versions of TWS that only one instance per account can be open at a time.

The second instance will not log in....

 

No, sorry, I was being sarcastic. What I want to say is that you should just try it first to see if it works. I think that would be the quickest solution to your question.

Sorry for the sarcasm.

 

Thanks. That's what I suspected. Maybe some IB guy could chime in and tell me the best way to set it up with the least trouble?

 

You can request for a second user to be created in the account management website. The second user must then subscribe to data (in the account management website logging in as the second user) to be able to see quotes and to trade. From the way they explained it the second user on the account will not get hit with the $10 a month fee if you have enough commissions for both accounts ($30 per account for a total of $60). So far this seems true, I haven't been hit with a $10 fee.

If you run into issues, open a trouble ticket with IB in their account management menus -- they should be able to walk you through it.

Again from what I understand two instances of TWS can be open at the same time on the same machine, but each userid can log into only one TWS instance at a time (no matter where TWS is -- on the same machine or different machines). Thus you'd need a second user to be able to log into the second instance of TWS.

SSB

 

Once the first person is logged in, the second person can't log into the same account.

Maybe the 2nd person can use the web interface. Or do the Friends and Family Account thing with Multiple Advisors.

 

That's too bad. I was hoping the 2nd user idea mentioned by SSB might work. Sanjuro, I take it you've tried logging on as a second user on a different pc and could not at the same time?

 

I created a second user, but have never used it. I have never been charged an extra set of data fees for that user. AFAICT, there is no place to separately subscribe to data for each user - this is done on a per-account basis. In the past, it was even the same across all accounts for the same person/type.

My understanding is that you are, in fact, able to log into the same account with each user name at the same time.