Best Thread Interactive Brokers

Actually, one more question. Margin requirement for trading is $2000, so theoretically one can open account with 10000 and then withdraw 8000 (or less) and that would be ok and enough for trading, is that right?
 
How much historical data do Interactive Brokers provide for forex? I'm not too bothered about tick data, just backtesting 5-minute charts on Ninjatrader.
 
DrDeath said:
Actually, one more question. Margin requirement for trading is $2000, so theoretically one can open account with 10000 and then withdraw 8000 (or less) and that would be ok and enough for trading, is that right?
Click to expand...
Yes, strangely, although you may not withdraw your funds for 3 business days after wiring funds in... "As per US regulations, in order to trade in a margin account you must have at least USD 2,000 (or USD equivalent)". This however may not be sufficient for your actual margin requirements, depends what you're trading and how long you hold. The ES (S&P500 future contract) for example takes about $2000 to open an intra-day position, but $4000 to hold overnight. In reality, and to trade effectively, you will need substantially more IMO.
 
Interactive brokers European connection crashed today...

....as many of you will be aware.I had just placed a market order to sell 9 Ym contracts.As i was entering a stop loss....TWS 's feed crashed.Help line either online or on phone took ages and kept disconnecting.They were useless .Damage was US$ 4k.Those guys really ought to have a mechanism so that if there is a feed problem all orders of those affected are automatically dealt with..ie in my case they should have bought 9 YMs to square my position.Lesson learned:cheap isnt always cheerful.Thanks IB.
 
Sorry to hear about this which is obviously a major concern. Can you say a bit more with regard to details as this may help others for future reference:

What time did this occur ?
I know that IB have different servers and if you know how you can connect to other servers. Also which phone number did you use to contact them ?


Paul
 
Trader333 said:
Sorry to hear about this which is obviously a major concern. Can you say a bit more with regard to details as this may help others for future reference:

What time did this occur ?
I know that IB have different servers and if you know how you can connect to other servers. Also which phone number did you use to contact them ?


Paul
Click to expand...


Thanks.Well it was a disaster waiting to happen i say to myself philosophically.

It happened at 17:08 GMT ,i had just placed a market order to sell 9 YM futures and was just about to input a protective stop when the system disconnected.I tried connecting a few times whilst keeping an eye on the price(not that i could do a whole about that).Simultaneously i tried to connect to technical assistance chat while at the same time called 0080042276337.Both took an age but eventually after 10 minutes got thru on chat.The guy took my number and called me by phone.He said he would put me through to the order department and assured me no commission would be paid on this manual deal(...these guys obviously didnt appreciate the situation i was in) Basically he fluffed around likeaheadless chicken.In the meantime the YM was making an unfortunate surge upwards.He put me on hold and i waited until about 5 minutes later the line disconnected.So i rung the number again 080042276537-and 10 minutes later i got through to someone else.But the line disconnected.I tried again and this time i got through to someone of competence/authority who could do the trade himself(ie buy back 9 YM contracts)..tho of course i had to go through the usual security checks yet again.This manual order was done at 17:42 GMT ....so it took 30 minutes all in all.

These guys should really have not only a system which kicks in once there is connection failure to sort out obviously distressed trade positions butin the meantime they should have a 911 kind of number for volatile,time sensitive instruments like futures.They treated the whole thing as if i had bought 50 citibank shares.No sense of urgency whatsoever.

The excuse for the connection failure was that it was some sort of trans Atlantic internet failure.Nice try .

Anyway thats it.Reconnection was established about 18:00 GMT.


I plan to contact IB about some sort of compensation ("gesture of goodwill").As my losses would have been substantially less if a competent system was in place for such occurences.

Re servers: i know they have 3 or 4 but have neverbeen informed you can switch from one to the other.
 
OK I suggest that you also keep a copy of their US helpline number which is the one I call. I normally get help in 30 seconds and it is in position #1 on both my landline and mobile. Also you could have used the chat facility which would have been quicker than the time you waited. In the event that something happens I use all means possible to get to the person I need but first I always call the US number.


Paul
 
Trader333 said:
OK I suggest that you also keep a copy of their US helpline number which is the one I call. I normally get help in 30 seconds and it is in position #1 on both my landline and mobile. Also you could have used the chat facility which would have been quicker than the time you waited. In the event that something happens I use all means possible to get to the person I need but first I always call the US number.


Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks for the phone number advice.I will sort it out straightaway.

Regarding chat....i did use it and it was via that that the guy called me back.Pity it wasnt a very constructive conversation and ultimately the line went dead.Probably just as well as he was having problems understanding the urgency of the situation.

cheers
 
TWS ChartTrader

I'm using the demo account of TWS and every trade I make puts a volume marker on the chart, completely covering the latest price action. Is there any way of turning this off? Or is this a demo-only limitation? It's practically impossible to trade safely without being able to see what's going on...

Thanks.
 
fifty2aces said:
How much historical data do Interactive Brokers provide for forex? I'm not too bothered about tick data, just backtesting 5-minute charts on Ninjatrader.
Click to expand...

You can backfill up to 12 months back, but IB have the past months put restrictions to how much backfilling you can do - due to miss-use.

The historical data is ment for backfilling and not for collecting of historical data used for backtesting. You can perform max 8 backfill sessions within 5 minutes at present.

If you need to backtest on algorithms, choose a platform which offers historical data for backtesting, or alternativly, provide you with the possibility to use your own historical data. However - historical data are not easy to get hold on, and are quite costly.
 
The last post is a little misleading.

While it is correct that backfill will get pacing errors if you take too much information too quickly it can be used to get really good (30 second bars) historical information.

With Sierra Chart I set the backfill a year back and then fill until I get pacing errors. Then I wait 5 minutes and restart the process from wherever the pacing errors stopped the data. Takes a while but its good data and essentially free.
 
Anyone have problems accessing TWS platform this weekend? is it normally off line at weekends?
 
Yes. Its off all weekend(s). You'll find the hours under support on the web site.
 
how much interest i will get paid per day for 10K account?

can i day trade Forex with 10K account?
 
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