Best Thread Interactive Brokers
DTI_Losing_Trader
Newbie
- Messages
- 9
- Likes
- 0
I use Esignal and Ninjatrader for charts connected to IB. IB's charts have tons of features but arent easy on eyes....Cant beat IB for execution and price however
THANKS why do you use Esignal and ninjatrader because the both are giving good charts?
DTI_Losing_Trader
Newbie
- Messages
- 9
- Likes
- 0
Hi Esignal provides historical data I cannot get from IB. Ninjatrader is free and has excellent charts. I use volume and tick charts in my system for setups and signals. IB on on intraday will not give you premarket data just starts when you open it up.......
good evening
if I understand you use NT for real time charts for free (are you sure they have the quote than IB charts) and you use Esignal for historical charts (with a difference between one or two pips with IB charts) and you pay for that (how much).
but as a front end are you using TWS?
I think I will use NT for real time charts (if I am sure of the quote I mean the same than IB quote) and button trader for the front end
for historical charts I will see.
DTI_Losing_Trader
Newbie
- Messages
- 9
- Likes
- 0
125 a month for esignal gives me anything on Globex its plenty TWS is my frontend
as a Canadian easiest way for me to play futures
as a Canadian easiest way for me to play futures
DTI_Losing_Trader
Newbie
- Messages
- 9
- Likes
- 0
ps I copied my mentors setup and it works for me nicely!!
This is my first post so, if I am posting in the wrong place or there are any other issues, please let me know.
The strategy that I’m testing at the moment is to trade US Options with entries and exits based on price action of the underlying Stock.
To achieve this I’ve been experimenting with the paper trading account and IB’s DDE API using conditional orders for both entry and bracketed exits (stop and profit).
I’ve watched the webinars, read the documentation, had some communication with API Support, and generally experimented a lot but it seems to be very much “1 step forward, 1 step back”. So, I’m hoping to benefit from some real world experience.
One of the hindrances to progress is that the US market is open when I should be sleeping, so I’ve just taken a subscription to ASX data so that testing can proceed during my proper waking hours.
Please bear with me as this is going to need the issues dealt with as they arise.
On Friday, I set up some test BUY trades and was watching the screen (Conditional Orders tab) when the condition changed to TRUE – instead of the order being processed (Transmit was set to 1) the Order Status changed to “Inactive” and stayed that way even though the market was open. And nothing happened in TWS.
The IB documentation is not very enlightening so, can anyone please give me some guidance as what may have caused this status of “Inactive”.
Graham
The strategy that I’m testing at the moment is to trade US Options with entries and exits based on price action of the underlying Stock.
To achieve this I’ve been experimenting with the paper trading account and IB’s DDE API using conditional orders for both entry and bracketed exits (stop and profit).
I’ve watched the webinars, read the documentation, had some communication with API Support, and generally experimented a lot but it seems to be very much “1 step forward, 1 step back”. So, I’m hoping to benefit from some real world experience.
One of the hindrances to progress is that the US market is open when I should be sleeping, so I’ve just taken a subscription to ASX data so that testing can proceed during my proper waking hours.
Please bear with me as this is going to need the issues dealt with as they arise.
On Friday, I set up some test BUY trades and was watching the screen (Conditional Orders tab) when the condition changed to TRUE – instead of the order being processed (Transmit was set to 1) the Order Status changed to “Inactive” and stayed that way even though the market was open. And nothing happened in TWS.
The IB documentation is not very enlightening so, can anyone please give me some guidance as what may have caused this status of “Inactive”.
Graham
Hello. I'm actually a beginning trader and taking apprenticeship from someone in futures trading. My mentor wanted to trade online but isn't much capable of using a PC, let alone run a program like IB. So I have to do the task for him. Cutting to the chase, here's how he wanted his system of trading set up.
- have 48 different commodities shown as individual charts and trade from them.
- for each contract, there would be 6 different charts showing different timeframes from 1 min Candlesticks to 5 Yr Daily.
- save and load trendlines made for any and all contracts in the fastest time possible (i called up IB's customer service and they say the only way to save trendlines is to save it as a general setting).
Yeah, it definitely sounds like I'm hogging the PC down with all these charts running at once, especially in Java. In his defense, he really needs a bird's eye view of all the commodities he trades on a regular basis as it helps him pinpoint certain contracts he can take positions without switching back and forth from different contracts, which take up a lot of loading time. Hope you guys can provide suggestions on how to fix this dillemma.
- have 48 different commodities shown as individual charts and trade from them.
- for each contract, there would be 6 different charts showing different timeframes from 1 min Candlesticks to 5 Yr Daily.
- save and load trendlines made for any and all contracts in the fastest time possible (i called up IB's customer service and they say the only way to save trendlines is to save it as a general setting).
Yeah, it definitely sounds like I'm hogging the PC down with all these charts running at once, especially in Java. In his defense, he really needs a bird's eye view of all the commodities he trades on a regular basis as it helps him pinpoint certain contracts he can take positions without switching back and forth from different contracts, which take up a lot of loading time. Hope you guys can provide suggestions on how to fix this dillemma.
Adamus
Experienced member
- Messages
- 1,898
- Likes
- 97
You really need 48 * 6 charts open? I use NinjaTrader and switching timeframes is so quick it would actually be slower to switch to another window the way you intend.
You can do it I'm sure but you need big screens, probably several, and a high performance PC, and a charting package to connect to IB TWS, because TWS charts are really poor quality, and I'm sure you can find a charting package that will let you work with trendlines the way you want.
So your mentor is going to spend a lot of money on hardware and software.
It's probably best to try out the hardware setup first with just two screens rather than splash out straight away for 6 or 8 screens.
The guy might not even like working with more than one screen. But then how else is he going to it? Finding the window you want amongst 48 others, especially if they are stacked up on the taskbar with abbreviated titles, wouldn't be easy on one normal screen.
I didn't update the thread after making all those posts last month. Anyway the conclusion was in the end I left it for a week due to holidays etc. When I came back my account base currency had switched from GBP to Euro - which I had tried to do before through Account Mgmt as suggested by their support. Anyway now that the change seems to finally have stuck things seem to be working smoothly, I can trade and exchange currencies.
We currently have 4 large screens so to accommodate the 48 contracts we need, though the problem with loading all those contracts at once is that it really slows the PC down. My PC runs on a Pentium 4 3.4 Ghz Processor and nearly 4 GB of RAM. But from what I'm told, even if we invest on a PC with a Quad Core Processor, it will still slow down because IB uses Java.
We used to have Ensign software to provide us with charts, but it's a pain to use because the charts are inaccurate and usually gives bad ticks - a lot. Metatrader is another, but the number of contracts we can get off it a so limited. Activetrades is the only broker I know that even provides Futures contracts.
According to him, rather than trade one contract like CL and make a profit there, for example, which could take hours because of "fishing", it's better to trade on multiple contracts to increase odds of a profit, especially ones that are relative to another. Let's say I take up CL and made the trendlines and positions using my 6 timeframes (1 min, 5, 15, 60, 4 hr, Daily). I then go back and look at the 48 charts at a glance (usually minute charts) and find another one of interest (rather than just look at the numbers in the main window). Open up the contract with the 6 timeframes and then take my trendlines and/or positions there. If I see a movement in Heating Oil when i return to my 48 contract charts, it may affect my position on CL, so I check both contracts to see what's up. And so on and so forth.
Switching from one contract to the next isn't a problem as I arranged my 6 timeframe windows in one group so it's easier to swap contracts. The problem would be trendlines as they can only be saved as a Setting and it takes about 30sec-1:30+ to reload each setting with IB.
Adamus
Experienced member
- Messages
- 1,898
- Likes
- 97
I'm suggesting you try NinjaTrader, it will probably do what you want, if that's what you really want to do. You download the trial version first and hook it up to IB TWS. You can get excellent help from their support forum.
Others might suggest other packages, but that's the one I know. Alternatively just google for "interactive brokers charting package". It won't matter that IB is Java if you use another package to hook up to it and run the charts.
This issue is now sorted, while I was subscribed to the data, I didn't have approval to trade those specific instruments.
Now for my next problem.
I'm using the Conditional Orders page in DDE API
A normal order is a conditional BUY with 2 bracketed SELLs (Profit & Stop).
Initially, all is fine - when the BUY order is activated and filled, the relevant columns are correctly populated i.e. Status, Filled, Remaining, Avg Fill Price, Last Fill Price.
However, if the spreadsheet is closed and re-opened, these columns all show a value of 0 even though the position is still open.
Given that there is a test for equality between Order Quantity and Filled before a bracket SELL order is activated, a SELL order is never going to happen.
Any ideas, please
Graham
Now for my next problem.
I'm using the Conditional Orders page in DDE API
A normal order is a conditional BUY with 2 bracketed SELLs (Profit & Stop).
Initially, all is fine - when the BUY order is activated and filled, the relevant columns are correctly populated i.e. Status, Filled, Remaining, Avg Fill Price, Last Fill Price.
However, if the spreadsheet is closed and re-opened, these columns all show a value of 0 even though the position is still open.
Given that there is a test for equality between Order Quantity and Filled before a bracket SELL order is activated, a SELL order is never going to happen.
Any ideas, please
Graham
We decided to try using Ensign Software for charts as my mentor is familiar with it (the really OLD version, at least). Now it's just a matter of figuring out if IB and/or Ensign can provide Interday Trends such as Advance/Decline Graphs, Trins, etc.
uhomeuhome
Junior member
- Messages
- 19
- Likes
- 0
I am quite a newbie. I want to ask is IB really reliable?
I lives in Hong Kong. Today I placed a sell market order for one of my stocks in the last minute before the market close.
What came out is that, instead of traded in the bid price, only some of my stocks were sold in the ask price. I bet they transmit my market order as limit order. But how can that be? Shouldn't they match my order with the biding queue and fill all of them immediately?
I called the customer service and the other side called she would have a look and would call back later. However, I received no reply and their office is now closed.
Moreover, I'm not able to login my account management now.
I lives in Hong Kong. Today I placed a sell market order for one of my stocks in the last minute before the market close.
What came out is that, instead of traded in the bid price, only some of my stocks were sold in the ask price. I bet they transmit my market order as limit order. But how can that be? Shouldn't they match my order with the biding queue and fill all of them immediately?
I called the customer service and the other side called she would have a look and would call back later. However, I received no reply and their office is now closed.
Moreover, I'm not able to login my account management now.
Adamus
Experienced member
- Messages
- 1,898
- Likes
- 97
IB is normally very reliable.
I have no idea what the Hong Kong Stock Exchange execution mechanism looks like, so you might be right, or you might just be unlucky if it's a thinly traded stock. I know IB has a Hong Kong markets disclosure document which we are all meant to read - maybe it's got some useful info in it.
re customer service - they're not so hot. You have to keep hassling them.
re account management website - you should have 24 hour access but I found they have bugs in their website. Try logging in with a different browser.
By the way in Hong Kong you are right on top of their Far East servers. You should be able to get great connection speed.
I have no idea what the Hong Kong Stock Exchange execution mechanism looks like, so you might be right, or you might just be unlucky if it's a thinly traded stock. I know IB has a Hong Kong markets disclosure document which we are all meant to read - maybe it's got some useful info in it.
re customer service - they're not so hot. You have to keep hassling them.
re account management website - you should have 24 hour access but I found they have bugs in their website. Try logging in with a different browser.
By the way in Hong Kong you are right on top of their Far East servers. You should be able to get great connection speed.
Similar threads
