Confused with IB

T

tradebanzai

Today I've tried IB's TWS for the first time. I'm papertrading options. And was a bit confused with how options are getting filled with this broker. Let's say we have bid-ask 3.00-3.10. So when I created a limit buy order at price 3.10, I got filled at 3.10. In TOS you almost always get filled at price between bid-ask, so it would be 3.05. When I tried to set 3.05 as a limit price in IB, a window appered saying I can't do it: "Doesn't conform to the minimum price variation for this contract". What does it mean? Am I doing something wrong? Is there any possible way to get filled between bid and ask?

Thanks

PS When the price was 3.40-3.60 I got filled at...3.60! (in TOS it would be 3.50 guaranteed).
I've also tried market order - the same result.
 
Quote from tradebanzai:

Today I've tried IB's TWS for the first time. I'm papertrading options. And was a bit confused with how options are getting filled with this broker. Let's say we have bid-ask 3.00-3.10. So when I created a limit buy order at price 3.10, I got filled at 3.10. In TOS you almost always get filled at price between bid-ask, so it would be 3.05. When I tried to set 3.05 as a limit price in IB, a window appered saying I can't do it: "Doesn't conform to the minimum price variation for this contract". What does it mean? Am I doing something wrong? Is there any possible way to get filled between bid and ask?

Thanks

PS When the price was 3.40-3.60 I got filled at...3.60! (in TOS it would be 3.50 guaranteed).
I've also tried market order - the same result.
More...
why would anybody sell you @3.05 when you bid 3.10?
Make sure you spend some time papertrading before you throw other people your money....
 
Slowwwwly step away from the trading platform Son. No one will get hurt.

Options over $3 in price only trade in 10 cent increments.


And nothing in life is guaranteed. It's an auction market.
 
Quote from TorontoTrader2:

Slowwwwly step away from the trading platform Son. No one will get hurt.

Options over $3 in price only trade in 10 cent increments.


And nothing in life is guaranteed. It's an auction market.
More...

To his defence IB is actually a bit special now - they recently started to allow to trade with 1c increments for any options - but I am not sure how it works when it is routed outside IB to exchange. The one thing I know is that from the end of Jan07 this will become a market standard (finally!)
 
I've been papertrading in Thinkorswim for half a year and I almost always got filled at midprice. Are they cheating me?
That's why i'm surprised with IB and asked here.
 
Quote from tradebanzai:

I've been papertrading in Thinkorswim for half a year and I almost always got filled at midprice. Are they cheating me?
That's why i'm surprised with IB and asked here.
More...
mate i do not know where you swim or what you think but when you lift offer then you lift offer - full stop. No reason why you'd get a Thanksgiving discount ex post.
 
Quote from tradebanzai:

I've been papertrading in Thinkorswim for half a year and I almost always got filled at midprice. Are they cheating me?
That's why i'm surprised with IB and asked here.
More...

I think you can set the range level, I think Tom said midprice is most realistic.
 
Quote from dhpar:

mate i do not know where you swim or what you think but when you lift offer then you lift offer - full stop. No reason why you'd get a Thanksgiving discount ex post.
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You're right, there's no reason. But the fact is. And I have no idea how they do it. I thought that bid and ask price are just minimum and maximum prices of different exchanges, it's a range. And usually you got filled inside of this range. Maybe I'm wrong. But still the fact is that they fill me at midpoint. Do they cheat me? (I'm asking seriously)
 
That is papertrade. It is hard to say which one is better (the worst case or the mid). I prefer to get filled at the worst case, and if I make profit with the worst case, it means I will make money when I trade real.

When I trade real with TOS, I find it hard to get filled at mid.
 
Quote from tradebanzai:

I've been papertrading in Thinkorswim for half a year and I almost always got filled at midprice. Are they cheating me?
That's why i'm surprised with IB and asked here.
More...

You're getting those fills because that is how the TOS papertrading simulator has been coded, you may or may not get those fills in real life. IB's simulator may have been coded to give you fills differently when your order is between the spread. It's really pretty silly to compare the fills of simulators and think that they will significantly predict reality.
 
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