How to enter spread future trades on Interactive brokers

M

mario0887

Hi all,

Wondering if something could provide step by step instructions on how to buy future spreads in one order as i want to mitigate huge margin requirements. I've been fiddling around with IB/TWS and the app and i did come across spread trader but its confusing and the debit/credit when plugging in the spreads seems wrong/confusing.

I want to focus on entering calenders buy/sell front month/back month and wondering if anyone currently trades these and can advise how to enter them on either TWS or app. Ive been paper trading them to get the feel of it and even with paper trading i get extremely frustrated when trying to enter these trades. Seems like a trade should be going my way and i end up entering it wrong and confusing myself. Tried call the main line but they arent very helpful or at least the person i spoke to wasnt.

Thanks in advance
 
Type the name of the futures contract (ex: ES) and hit <enter>. You will get a list with similar instruments. When you select "futures", you have 6 options. First 3 are "ES MAR", "ES JUN", "ES SEP" and more. At the end of the list you have "Futures Spreads". Use that one.
 
andrew black said:
Type the name of the futures contract (ex: ES) and hit <enter>. You will get a list with similar instruments. When you select "futures", you have 6 options. First 3 are "ES MAR", "ES JUN", "ES SEP" and more. At the end of the list you have "Futures Spreads". Use that one.
More...

Seem to still have issues as for some reason it defaults to the contract ahead. Example trying to buy CL Apr sell CL Dec it defaults to May/Jan. very confusing
 
how are the spread margins compared to the CME SPAN margin with IB (i know outrights are more) but what about calendar spreads or even more complex spreads - do they margin appropriately?
 
I personally tried the IB auto spreader a decade ago and found it terribly lacking. I hope it has improved. Certainly was nowhere on the same playing field as TT AutoSpreader or CQG CTS-IC. It frequently got hung on legs (ouch) and it lacked the sophisticated matching engine, order entry flexibility and tools as compared to TT.

orangelam said:
Do you know whether IB provide something like a sniper to fills multiple legs? Say 4 legs?
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andrew black said:
Type the name of the futures contract (ex: ES) and hit <enter>. You will get a list with similar instruments. When you select "futures", you have 6 options. First 3 are "ES MAR", "ES JUN", "ES SEP" and more. At the end of the list you have "Futures Spreads". Use that one.
More...
I have followed these instructions and it worked.
1. insert a blank line
2. enter futures symbol (eg MCL)
3. select Futures
4. then futures spread
5. go to tab Calendar Spread
6. enter months and quantities
upload_2022-12-13_22-12-13.png
 
As an add-on
You may wish to create a virtual security to examine your spread
1. insert blank line
2. right click in line and select virtual security
3. enter your expression (Double quotes around symbols as you type)
so you type "MCL" - and it will bring up the selection box
enter minus sign
"MCL"
give it a name
e.g. ~Feb- Jan MCL

upload_2022-12-13_22-15-39.png


here is a chart for this
upload_2022-12-13_22-16-28.png

the up and down off-white is the difference
(I added a moving average - the orange
and second security Jan 23 MCL - the voilet
 
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