Anyone using IB for forex trading?

[auric]

What interface do you use for your Ib account do you use their software or have you developed one

having started to trade forex with IB Brokers my front end
i use for futures TSIM+ is not configured for Forex
The developer will add forex (idealpro) if there is enough interest
have a look at his web page and if interested drop him an email to
add forex;



http://www.tradingsimulation.com/tsimplus/

 

[JonnyT]

I may offer a simple Front End for IdealPro for free if anyones interested?

JonnyT

 

[coolTrader]

I thought you could add whatever product you wished to add to it under edit symbols.

 

[auric]

I thought you could add whatever product you wished to add to it under edit symbols.

does not work with ideal pro have tried and emailed the developer hence the post to see if there is an interest ,
most of the other frontends i found are to much over the top for what you need and charge you a rental instead of buy out right .

jonnyt I would be interested in your frontend offer

 

[JonnyT]

My Frontend is very simple. One click market order to enter, reduce, increase or exit a position.

It includes current profit, running profit for open trade, number of trades etc.

JonnyT

 

[samtron]

My Frontend is very simple. One click market order to enter, reduce, increase or exit a position.

It includes current profit, running profit for open trade, number of trades etc.

JonnyT

JonnyT
Silly question, I know, but why do you need a separate front-end when you can use the hot keys function on TWS?

Can I take you up on the freebie offer?

 

[yambo128]

My Frontend is very simple. One click market order to enter, reduce, increase or exit a position.

It includes current profit, running profit for open trade, number of trades etc.

JonnyT

Can I get your progrsm please

 

[a_gnome]

Has any here had experience of working forex limit orders on IB? I was just wondering how often one got filled on the right side of the spread e.g. if market is 47/51 and you are bidding 47 then you get filled even though the offer never gets down to 47. Avoiding the spread would make a huge difference.

I presume that how often this happens depends on how many people are trading IB forex and you probably can't rely on getting filled but it would be very interesting to know the average daily number of trades for each rate on IB.

 

[nine]

Just get to the front of the queue ... so if it was 47/51 when u wanted to enter then try 48.

But the spreads are really tight now so you need something like EUR/JPY to see those gaps.

 

[a_gnome]

Just get to the front of the queue ... so if it was 47/51 when u wanted to enter then try 48.

Understood. My question is really if you enter a bid at 48 how likely are you to get filled and this depends on how many people are actively trading FX on IB. It there are multiple market orders per minute in both directions then you are pretty likely to get filled but if there are only a few an hour then its probably not going to happen.

I suspose that the only answer is to "suck it and see" unless someone has already tried this.

 

[igor123]

Hi everyone,

Is live spot forex order execution as slow as in the demo. I mean in the demo it takes 10-40 sec for the order to get filled , and that is very slow for an ECN.

 

[josbarr]

what type of order?

 

[igor123]

what type of order?

Market.

 

[Rhody Trader]

I've just started using IB myself in the last couple weeks. I've been an Oanda trader for forex for a few years now, and still rate them very highly. The switch to IB was simply to accomodate trading across markets from a single account. My market exectutions have been fine, but I get slippage on stop orders which I don't get with Oanda.

I do have a question for the experienced IB users. Can I get my forex positions and their P/L to show up on my Portfolio page? If so, how.

 

[MikeW]

I've just started using IB myself in the last couple weeks. I've been an Oanda trader for forex for a few years now, and still rate them very highly. The switch to IB was simply to accomodate trading across markets from a single account. My market exectutions have been fine, but I get slippage on stop orders which I don't get with Oanda.

I do have a question for the experienced IB users. Can I get my forex positions and their P/L to show up on my Portfolio page? If so, how.

RT,

Right click on a trading portfolio window & the Trader Workstation Configuration window comes up, you can simply 'check' the column info you want displayed.

Cheers
MikeW

 

[Rhody Trader]

RT,

Right click on a trading portfolio window & the Trader Workstation Configuration window comes up, you can simply 'check' the column info you want displayed.

Cheers
MikeW

I probably should have been more clear. I can see futures, stock, and option positions just fine. My forex trades, however, do not even appear on my Portfolio page. If I enter a trade, I have to go check my Trades listing to see that it was done.

 

[JonnyT]

A little quirky but...

I've just started using IB myself in the last couple weeks. I've been an Oanda trader for forex for a few years now, and still rate them very highly. The switch to IB was simply to accomodate trading across markets from a single account. My market exectutions have been fine, but I get slippage on stop orders which I don't get with Oanda.

I do have a question for the experienced IB users. Can I get my forex positions and their P/L to show up on my Portfolio page? If so, how.

No you don't get slippage!

You haven't read the manual!!!!

Here are the contents of an email from IB after I complained:

On IdealPro, sell stop orders are triggered two consecutive ask prices at the stop price, buy stops buy two consecutive bids. This may account for the difference between the actual execution price vs the expected price.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

Regards,

Ben C
IB Customer Service

 

[Rhody Trader]

No you don't get slippage!

You haven't read the manual!!!!

Here are the contents of an email from IB after I complained:

On IdealPro, sell stop orders are triggered two consecutive ask prices at the stop price, buy stops buy two consecutive bids. This may account for the difference between the actual execution price vs the expected price.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

Regards,

Ben C
IB Customer Service

No slippage. Yeah, right. When I get a fill at my order price, I'll be stunned.

 

[a_gnome]

No you don't get slippage!

On IdealPro, sell stop orders are triggered two consecutive ask prices at the stop price, buy stops buy two consecutive bids. This may account for the difference between the actual execution price vs the expected price.

It seems a bit strange for a sell order to be triggered by the ASK price hitting the level as when your order then becomes active you will sell at the BID price. You'll generally be getting a fill which is worse than your order price by the spread. Not that this necessarily matters as one can always adjust the order by the spread to compensate, but it seems to me to be a bit counter-intuitive.

 

[JonnyT]

It seems a bit strange for a sell order to be triggered by the ASK price hitting the level as when your order then becomes active you will sell at the BID price. You'll generally be getting a fill which is worse than your order price by the spread. Not that this necessarily matters as one can always adjust the order by the spread to compensate, but it seems to me to be a bit counter-intuitive.

Yes it is confusing but once you understand the operation you very very rarely get slippage on such orders in my experience given the liquidity.

i.e. On GBP if the spread is 3 but the order 3 pips lower or higher accordingly to effect the stop at the price you want.

The other good thing is that you will not get filled on quotes, you only get filled if the market as actually traded at the quotes.

JonnyT