Best Thread Interactive Brokers

[dcraig1]

I am looking to open another account, and what is great about IB is they offer you one account that lets you trade all instruments, and that your account is insured.

I have some questions though.

Can you use them if your computer set up is a Mac ?

Do their charts allow you to trade off of them, ie point and click ?

Do they have a position sizing calculator ? (Here is where I want to enter, there is my stop loss, and that should set be back no more than 2% in my account kind of money management thing.)

Thanks

The charts are not very good, and you would be much better off with QuoteTracker or Sierra or other alternatives, which run off IB feed.

I don't think there is the kind of position sizing calculator you want, but I think they have just introduced some portfolio risk metrics. I haven't looked at the details, so can't comment.

 

[BSD]

Thanks for the answers guys

 

[firewalker99]

The charts are not very good, and you would be much better off with QuoteTracker or Sierra or other alternatives, which run off IB feed.

I don't think there is the kind of position sizing calculator you want, but I think they have just introduced some portfolio risk metrics. I haven't looked at the details, so can't comment.

Good advice, I've got little to add to that except that IBCharts is also worth a look, it's free and it offers a lot of charting possibilities. It obviously runs off the IB feed too.

 

[tune]

Good advice, I've got little to add to that except that IBCharts is also worth a look, it's free and it offers a lot of charting possibilities. It obviously runs off the IB feed too.

Is there a replay function on this? Can't find it in their blurb.

 

[BSD]

Thanks Firewalker you too for your reply.

Do they have a position sizing calculator ? (Here is where I want to enter, there is my stop loss, and that should set be back no more than 2% in my account kind of money management thing.)

Re the position sizing calculator, that is something that is really handy and makes life much easier.

If there is someone here from IB reading this, and if this solution does not exist yet, this is a suggestion I would really like to make as I am sure most of your clients will appreciate having something like this.

What would be ideal is an automated tool.

You initially define how much you are willing to risk per trade that runs into your stop loss, 2% or whatever of your account.

Then when you open a order mask, all you have to do is enter your entry price, then your stop loss level, and those two parameters then automatically provide you with your desired position size, that will have you exit a losing position at your desired money management level of 2% of your account.

 

[firewalker99]

Is there a replay function on this? Can't find it in their blurb.

As for as I know there isn't. The product version is till the same as 2 years ago, but apart from replay it does about everything I want it to.

 

[Trader333]

Markus,

What are you requiring from the position size calculator ? I use IB as a datafeed into TS2Ki and I have a position size indicator that will tell me what size to use based on a volatility measure I use for the market I am trading.


Paul

 

[dcraig1]

Thanks Firewalker you too for your reply.



Re the position sizing calculator, that is something that is really handy and makes life much easier.

If there is someone here from IB reading this, and if this solution does not exist yet, this is a suggestion I would really like to make as I am sure most of your clients will appreciate having something like this.

What would be ideal is an automated tool.

You initially define how much you are willing to risk per trade that runs into your stop loss, 2% or whatever of your account.

Then when you open a order mask, all you have to do is enter your entry price, then your stop loss level, and those two parameters then automatically provide you with your desired position size, that will have you exit a losing position at your desired money management level of 2% of your account.

Pretty easy with the API if you have any programming skills. You could probably put it together in Excel.

 

[BSD]

Hi Paul, Craig,

afraid I have zero programming skills, so using IBs API is definitely out of the question.

Basically I want the platform to calculate my position size for my trade.

I want to define in user preferences or whatever IB's equivalent is that I always want to risk an amount of say 2% per each and every trade I take.

If my stop loss is hit, I lose 2% from my account.

The way that 2% is translated into my position size is the difference I input into the order mask between entry price and stop loss price.

The 2% loss is always the same, but if my stop loss is further away from my entry my position size will be smaller.

If my stop loss is closer to my entry my position size will be larger.

Thats what I want that position sizing calculator to calculate, preferably on an automatic basis, the platform knows that my risk is 2% for all trades, all I have to do now is tell it that I want my entry here, I want my stop loss there, and then have the platform come up with the according position size that will see me losing my accepted 2%.

 

[Trader333]

I want to define in user preferences or whatever IB's equivalent is that I always want to risk an amount of say 2% per each and every trade I take.

As others have said, this can be done in Excel with IB data being fed into it. Do you know how to put the formulas into Excel ?


Paul

 

[BSD]

As others have said, this can be done in Excel with IB data being fed into it. Do you know how to put the formulas into Excel ?

Hi Paul,

to be honest I like to keep things as simple as possible, that is have everything clicky and pointy on the platform itself, without having to go open Excel everytime just because I want to place a trade.

;-)

When I started out at Oanda they didn't have a position sizing calculator, that was suggested, and in about a month they had one in the platform.

I am very very happy with Oanda, BUT they do not have account insurance which is a major issue for me, while IB do, that's why I want to add them as another broker now if things will work out platform wise.

 

[BSD]

This, but in the platform kinda thingy:

Risk Management Position Size Calculator | Mataf.net

 

[Allien]

Same problem

This problem persists. The volumes are all wrong.
Regarding the CME volume I think CME is sending packages of data and it is not clear if the amount on the last size is real or not and this is the way IB transmits them. But it would be nice that they could solve this.
Regarding the overall volumes I have reports where we can see that the volumes are all wrong. It´s absolutely sure that volumes are wrong, I have reports or logs to prove it.
I have several feeds, I confess that Ib feed is the most stable , Esignal drops the line to often as well Iqfeed. Neither one delivers the right volume.
Or... the probem is from exchanges. I understand. If a seat costs $5 million on Nyse why would the members give away reliable data from exchange? They are summing the volumes and they are sending it in blocks or packages. When a package of 1000 Eminis arrive at the ASK you cant know whether it was really 1000 at the ASK or if it was 800 at the ASK and 200 at the BID , but the time IB send the message of volume , it delivers 1000.

Well...

 

[Allien]

This problem persists. The volumes are all wrong.
Regarding the CME volume I think CME is sending packages of data and it is not clear if the amount on the last size is real or not and this is the way IB transmits them. But it would be nice that they could solve this.
Regarding the overall volumes I have reports where we can see that the volumes are all wrong. It´s absolutely sure that volumes are wrong, I have reports or logs to prove it.
I have several feeds, I confess that Ib feed is the most stable , Esignal drops the line to often as well Iqfeed. Neither one delivers the right volume.
Or... the probem is from exchanges. I understand. If a seat costs $5 million on Nyse why would the members give away reliable data from exchange? They are summing the volumes and they are sending it in blocks or packages. When a package of 1000 Eminis arrive at the ASK you cant know whether it was really 1000 at the ASK or if it was 800 at the ASK and 200 at the BID , but the time IB send the message of volume , it delivers 1000.

Well...

 

[dcarrigan]

This problem persists. The volumes are all wrong.
Regarding the CME volume I think CME is sending packages of data and it is not clear if the amount on the last size is real or not and this is the way IB transmits them. But it would be nice that they could solve this.
Regarding the overall volumes I have reports where we can see that the volumes are all wrong. It´s absolutely sure that volumes are wrong, I have reports or logs to prove it.
I have several feeds, I confess that Ib feed is the most stable , Esignal drops the line to often as well Iqfeed. Neither one delivers the right volume.
Or... the probem is from exchanges. I understand. If a seat costs $5 million on Nyse why would the members give away reliable data from exchange? They are summing the volumes and they are sending it in blocks or packages. When a package of 1000 Eminis arrive at the ASK you cant know whether it was really 1000 at the ASK or if it was 800 at the ASK and 200 at the BID , but the time IB send the message of volume , it delivers 1000.

Well...

have been looking at market delta, they say that by taking data on the bid and ask there packages can tell if volume is on the bid or ask. floor trader i was reading about says he wouldnt be without it for electronic trading. all imo. time and sales on ib shows if the trade was buy or sell.

 

[nine]

I know a number of traders (some very good) who have spent time looking at market delta and abandoned it because of a combination of low statistical validity and problems with the software provided. Like much else in trading things look good at a cursory glance but prove profitless in the long run.

It is at its best for very short term scalping.

 

[davidc123]

I read earlier in this post that if you make a swift withdraw from IB and your branch isn't available in the list provided then you can choose any and it will be diverted to your account because the IBAN code you provide has your account details in it.

I'd just like to say that this definitely isn't the case. I made my first IB withdrawal last week and had to divert it through a different branch, but the money didn't turn up. After lots of calls and emails I managed to track it down and it has now been returned to IB, so i'll probably have to pay for the next transfer. Apparently they had sent it to this bank's Financial markets department, not a branch, so they obviously weren't going to forward it on to me.

I suggested to IB on the phone that they remove this option from their suggestions, and they laughed sarcastically and said 'it wasn't right for you but it may be right for someone else'. Personally, I'd be amazed if someone actually has a current account open with their Financial Markets deparment.

 

[cherriman]

IB BookTrader - functionality ?

Hi,

I've just found IB's BookTrader and have tried to find documentation on it but have failed.

I'm mostly interested in the Histogram. I opened one using my real account and one using the SIM; these were different but I opened them at different times. I assume they collect data from the time they are opened ?

If that is the case, can one backfill the current day or prior days ? By the same token, how does one delete data ?

Also, are there any recommended plays for using the Histogram ?

Thanks in anticipation.

Eric

 

[nupommy]

Is anybody having trouble with IB today?

Can't log in to TWS, website won't download... as a matter of fact several US based sites are down (as far as I am concerned).

Internet problem?

PS I'm in Cheltenham

 

[firewalker99]

Is anybody having trouble with IB today?

Can't log in to TWS, website won't download... as a matter of fact several US based sites are down (as far as I am concerned).

Internet problem?

PS I'm in Cheltenham

Nope, everything with IB fine here.