TWS - any way to customize OCA length?

Discussion in 'Trading Software' started by illiquid, Sep 25, 2003.

  1. When using auto-stop orders, is there any way to customize the length of the OCA number that is randomly generated? 10 digits is a pain in the ass to type in and kind of unnecessary.
     
  2. No one knows? Def? :)
     
  3. I agree. That would be a big help!

    Here's usually how I enter my order:
    1. Click on Bid/Ask to create the order line
    2. Attach Auto-stop, which by default is 8 ticks away from the entry price.

    Now, I may not transmit the order right away in order to fine-tune the entry price, so I may move the price up/down. What would be great is if the stop-price of the "attached" stop also moved up/down with the order price until it was Transmitted.

    Thanks,

    -FastTrader
     
  4. This might not be the most popular view, but I would ask IB NOT to implement any of these bells and whistles. If you want the functionality you can do it through the API. Why inflate TWS itself with tons of features, megabytes, java classes? TWS is using enough of the CPU as it is.
     
  5. Lobster; adding simple features like limiting the OCA length is not going to have any effect on CPU usage.

    -FastTrader
     
  6. That would be nice too, if the attached stop would automatically be set to a certain number of ticks away from the actual entry price, instead of being set to the price when you loaded the trade. I don't think this would count as a bell or whistle, but just a proper implementation of an auto-generated stop order, since whoever is using auto-stop order would always want the stop a certain number of ticks away.
     
  7. Woody

    Woody

    You might want to consider using Bracket Trader or Ninja Trader. Those programs do exactly what you are asking for.
     
  8. As I recall, Xpresstrade has a pretty sophisticated order system with all kinds of different bracketing order types and multiple levels of autogened orders that can be based on the execution price of the prior order in a chain. They use a browser based interface and they're commissions are a lot higher than IB, but you might want to take a look at it to see how another system handles the various permutations for order entry.

    IB should also have their technicians look at it and copy the most valuable features from it into TWS.
     
  9. You might get the vote of a majority of programmers for this statement, but I wouldn't be so sure about that. Those same people will tell you MS Windows is not supposed to crash. The way Java is designed, every little modification can eat up a lot of CPU time. Look for example at TWS as it is now. I'm not saying I could make it better myself, but if you compare what it does with the amout of CPU power it demands, after all is said and done, you cannot help but wonder if it would not be possible to have the same functionality with one tenth of the CPU usage.
     
  10. Someone changed the auto-generated OCA length to 8 digits from ten -- good job! Is it too much to ask for 5? :)
     
    #10     Oct 2, 2003