From SB to IB?

TWS users,
I'm about to open an IB a/c and would like to learn how to use it properly. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best place for a total beginner to start learning how to use it
Thanks,
hampy
 
hampy,

just play around with the demo version.

I think what puts most people off TWS is that they are used to the simplicity of spreadbetting where you either buy or you sell and that's it! With IB you have far more order options (stops, limits, stop-limits etc) and you need to understand how these work. IB's own documentation is pretty clear.
 
Use their demo. It's available via the website, and while it runs off delayed prices, it's wonderful for learning how to get up and transmit orders, stops, etc.

I keep mine very simple - all I do is hit the T button to transmit a buy or sell at market.

All the default settings are changeable - I always use market so that is my default.
 

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What does anybody think about IB demo trade platform, i know its 15 minute delay, thats not my issue, there seems to be two ways of execution( i may be wrong about this ), theres the bit above the ticker section and then theres the order 'button' at the top if my memory serves me right. The bit above the ticker section seems as though its a straight market action, quick and easy, buy or sell where as the the top bar...well i dont know, can anybody shed any light on this. Cheers, PeeDee.
 
Iv'e had a bit of a play around with IB TWS demo, and stopped being lazy, and have found that it does seem to become clearer the more you look into it, but not that clear! There are a few things i'd like to know about the demo. I made a couple of trades one being NQ( Nas100futs, i hope )on the globex exchange and the other was YM, i think it was ECBOT, not to sure off the top of my head. One thing i noticed was they both offered LMT trades immediately and not MKT is this the norm and is it up to you to change this. The other thing was when i looked later at my trades it listed a hell of a lot of trades that i had not made. Is this something to do with the demo, i deleted all the other pages and have only got a U.S. Futs page now, i hope this will correct any problems, or is the demo rubbish or the more likely, is it me. Any advice will be much appreciated, thanks, PeeDee...P.S. hope this all makes sense!
 
Demo is just that. You're probably better off removing all the cr*p, and then adding back what you need. Get a page set up that you like.
It gets you used to hitting the right buttons. Nothing more.
 
On the real IB platform you can set your own defaults, so for example if you want your order to default to a market rather than a limit order then this can be done.

One other tip is that you can set out the order in which the columns are displayed. You would be well advised to move the "Transmit" column farther to the right than it is in the default setting. The reason for this is that quite a few people have accidently hit the transmit function when meaning to do something else. If it is away from the other columns this is much less likely.


Paul
 
I'll tell you something, hitting that "T" button at the wrong time doesn't half make you concentrate on the market :cheesy:
 
www.ninjatrader.com

In my opinion, its fantastic.

Choose instrument, strategy (which enters both stops and targets at the same time you enter the position), and click buy or sell. You can have auto-reverse at stops and targets if you want, trailing stops etc etc (OK Skim, maybe there is a little bit of fear there, but I'm still a relative newbie! :cheesy: )

Yes I do still confirm that the orders have gone through correctly in TWS when I open and close a position, because I dont trust ANY software these days, but personally it makes it easier for me to do, and Ninja takes up less space on my desktop than TWS.

Obviously I've printed this screenshot on a saturday morning and as such its not connected to TWS so there arent any numbers, but you get the idea.

For $30 a month I think its a steal (no, I'm not connected in any way with ninja, I just think its brilliant).
 

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rossored:

It's quite OK (good, in fact) to have stops in the market - I was just talking about peeps who say that they need to have a stop in place within a second of placing a trade in case it goes against them. That is the fear element - one second without a stop!

Their fear is based on the fact that they do not know or trust their system sufficiently well, know they cannot trust themselves to exit a trade manually but wait to be stopped out, and have a fear of being wiped out by a spike which happens once in a blue moon.

If you are trading within your 2% (or whatever) money management strategy, then you will know that you cannot possibly be wiped out if you lost an Internet connection, if IB went down, or if the exchange was bombed.

It's exactly the same with the fear of flying - everyone concentrates on the fact that airplanes have been known to fall out of the sky. They don't concentrate on the fact that they are more likely to be killed by a horse than by flying. :D
 
Mmm, is Ninjatrader frontend( i think that's the right term ), if it is i'm not to keen, it's like overlay software to TWS and from what i can gather if things go pear shaped nobody is liable. Or is this being over precautious, i don't know, i thought the hard part about trading was getting your technique right not choosing your trading platform. But anyway thanks peeps!
 
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