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I have a couple of odd message returns that I see occasionally and was wondering if anyone else has come across them: 1) Call to /one/user endpoint. Sometimes returns: 'Failed to load countries' (GET returns 500) 2) Call to /iserver/auth/status. Sometimes returns: "Expecting value: line 1...

Curious how other folks handle this. Posted in separate thread instead of the IB thread as I wanted input from other folks who may not use IB. Question: What king of setup do you use as a backup for your primary trading platform? Possibilities I can think of: 1) Split your funds. Run off 2 (or...

Thanks. Hadn't seen that before. The few times I've been on their status page when an issue has been happening, it was never shown.

How do you determine that?

Your limit orders won't mean anything when the stock gets halted. Don't think it can happen? Take a look at 7/29 KODK (which had like 5 or 6 halts in a couple hours) or 9/23 SPI (1400% gain in a day at one point). Both went to the moon and gave back most of it on the same day. Also, can you...

Did you try the online chat to ask IB directly? I keep hearing that their customer service sucks, but other than it being a bit slow to get a rep during market hours they are typically reasonably helpful. Other questions: 1) Do you have multiple accounts (or sub-accounts)? I don't think data...

You might want to stress test your portfolio as you may be in for a rude awakening in the event of a drop. You mentioned that you started writing puts several months ago, but we've been in an uptrend since April/May. A cash-secured put is a reasonable trade given that you want to own the...

The last time I talked to customer service about this (a few months back, I believe), I couldn't get a definitive answer. They made it sound like it was at their discretion and could be a couple of hours prior to close. You definitely want to keep an eye out for that little red item in your...

When you say "put spread", are you trading debit or credit spreads?

If both ITM at expiration, they will be a wash. You better be sure they are going to be ITM, though. After hours action can change your position as well. Also, you need to be careful on spreads if you do not have sufficient funds. I'm assuming you have a margin account since you are trading...

It may not be an advantage over SPY, but ES is subject to SPAN margin, which can be a big advantage if you trade SPX (10x SPY). Say you wanted to leg into a spread that's far OTM (say 2300). For SPX, that'd take 230k unless you have portfolio margin (which you can't get in an IRA). The margin on...

You'd be best to just check with IB directly as to the specifics for the cash account. I have a margin account, and that's how it operates. Premarket opens at 4am EST. Based on past experience, I have always had time in the pre-market to unwind a position. Specifically, this was always a short...

How so? It doesn't sound like the OP wants/intends to take delivery. In this case, the broker will sell the required number of shares first thing Monday morning (check with IB, but I think it is within the first 10-15 minutes). They will charge a commission for this just as if you had placed an...

You will be assigned unless it was a cash settled option. You mentioned SPY, so you will be long shares since you were long a call. IB will adjust your account soon after market open to bring your account inline with the requirements. Also, you don't need those online calculators. IB (and...

Sure...Assuming you get filled at a reasonable price. Stop orders become market orders when the stop price is hit. Nothing says you get filled at that price. The OP mentions a "near instantaneous" drop of 5000 points. That's a near 20% gap down at current levels. Even 9/11 type events don't...

Are you using a "stop" order or a "stp-lmt" order? In an actual "flash crash", a stop order could be your worst enemy. These types of crashes are going to be either: 1) Some major disaster after which you've got bigger problems than your portfolio, or 2) (more likely), some short term thing...

Sure you can. It's called a "cash secured put" and you can most certainly do it in an IRA. You just can't short a call outright although you can basically get the same thing by doing a vertical spread with the long side far enough away.

Are you actually asking for someone to fill out the entry for "long stock" + "short stock?"

First? They are 1/10 sized contract on the Sp500. Basically SPX/10.

Not my term...I may have actually misquoted, but I think it still applies. In the Atticus chapter in "Traders of the new era", he said: "I buy a lot of garbage puts". And someone on ET (KevinS, maybe) said something like "always buy your wings" or "never forget your wings".