Interactive Broker Time & Sales

[Stev86]

Hi Folks,

Quick question for anyone who has used/currently using IB as their platform.

Great broker for me so far but one problem I have ran into is the Time & Sales tape, it's not exactly clear cut which makes it very difficult to read especially when trades are going through rapid. So buys go through as green, sells as red which is standard but the confusion here is that there are huge portions that go through as white, massive amounts and because they show as "white" and not "red/green" I have no clue if the order is a buy or sell, so really it's useless for fast day trading.

Any ideas/input on this one is much appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[Mr. Charts]

Every order is both a buy and a sell.
Colour is related to whether the trade was done at the bid or the offer price.
White usually means the price was in between or occasionally wasn't determined.

Actually, in my experience using it over very many years, it is usually very helpful for "fast day trading", so I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you on that

 

[Gustavo_ZAM]

Personally I'm unfamiliar with IB's platform but I believe i can provide some insight. Our Traders operate with Sterling Trader Pro and on the Time and Sales windows, it displays print time, price, size, and market where it was executed. Green prints are based on uptick trade, red prints are downtick and orange prints are broken lots. Each market has its own letter assigned, indicating where the trade was executed. This can all be adjusted and personalized, as i imagine is the case with IB.
Hope this helps

 

[awe]

If you haven’t already, change the colouring so that the whole price is red or green rather than the useless dots. This is done in the display settings in the global configuration in TWS.

As for there not being much red or green and lots of white - that’s just the way it is sometimes. You just have to keep watching and waiting or move on. I find having level 2 open next to the tape also helps show where the pressure is - if any.