IB and stop orders

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mazirus

A strange thing happened to me today on three different occasions. My stop loss was hit and never triggered. I left it hanging for about 5 seconds then cancelled the order and did the trade myself. These were all Stop Market orders and I was wondering if this has happened to people before. They were all set on BEST execution, so a possibility is that I didn't give the order enough time to go through. 5 seconds seems like a lot for a market order though.
Has anyone experienced this problem before? It was scary not being able to rely on my stops to get out of trades. Any advice about this would be much appreciated.
 
Maybe it just needed more time. I got one of my stop loss market orders hit on MERQ at an even number and took about a .4 slippage on 1000 shares. Buy stop at 53 on 4/19 where it took off in the middle of the day. I would recommend even number or halves for your stop. There should be more orders sitting there for it to hit.

Joe
 
IB has handles stop orders differently for NASDAQ and NYSE stocks. If you have questions on your stop, I suggest you e-mail details of the order and time of the stop to the helpdesk who can look at the audit trail to see where it went if/when triggered. (help@interactivebrokers.com)
 
I have had the same experience!! and you are right it is scary! On more than one occasion I have had stops go untriggered (stop and stoplimit)..I have just quit relying on them and enter all trades myself..since I found they could not be trusted to trigger. I also was using best..I think I will try setting stops with Island or redi and see if I have any better luck. I have been with IB for a while and only recently had some bad experiences (hanging quotes, bad quotes, and the whole system hanging up, plus the stop problem)You certainly can not get any timely help and they seem uninterested when you report a problem..It's always "the programmers are working on it"
It's tough enough without being hindered with such problems.
Good luck to all
BP
 
Thanks for the replies.

def, these trades were all on JNPR. Does IB handle stops differently than other brokerages? In this I mean, when stop is hit, it becomes a market order. Am I correct?
Could have been that I did not give it time enough to fill as jsmith was saying. All I needed to know is that stop orders do work.
I don't know if the helpdesk will be able to help in this matter because after 5 seconds of not executing I cancelled the stop and executed the order my self. If this happens again and the stop does not get executed I will contact them.
Thanks again.

p.s. Do stops sit on the IB servers or on the Trader Workstation software?
 
I could have sworn that IB sent out a memo about a month ago concerning stop orders. If I remember correctly, they don't work if you use best. You have to use a specific route. Does anyone else remember getting this memo?
 
If I put a stop on IB through ISLD does it become a limit order at the current market price? ISLD doesn't have market orders.
If this is the case, you risk not getting filled if the stock is moving fast.
 
they should work using best.

IB handles NASDAQ stops differently than most brokers:

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/html/companyInfo/stop_ord.html

4. In regards to NASD stocks, in the case of buy stops IB will elect stop orders only after we see a bid at the stop price and subsequently confirm a second bid. Only after we confirm a second bid will we send in the order. Likewise, in the case of sell stops IB will elect stop orders only after we see an offer at the stop price and subsequently confirm a second offer. Only after we confirm a second offer will we send the order.

as far as sending the info to the help desk they can check an audit trail after the fact to see if you stop was triggered, where it was sent and thus give you an idea of what happened. Depending on where it was sent would depend on the speed of the fill.

IB does simulated stops so it has to submit a limit order. personally I like stop limits if the underlying is liquid as it submits the order at your stop limit price.


 
Def,
Helpful as usual.

I think this is the right way to do it. I always use Stop loss orders and sometimes stop to get in a trade on NYSE.
It works very well.
If you watch your system anyway, it is good to place the stop orders. I find it easy to check on my page if anything is [or should be triggered].

Be careful to define the ticket in the order window, not on
the line. They are tricks there, for instance the limit price specified is the limit of the order, not the stop trigger !
This is the most common mistake and explains why sometimes the stop is not elected [the stop election price is wrong].
The best way is to call the 'ticket' dialog definition. It is longer and not suitable to everybody. But it works I use it everyday.

The rule for Nasdaq stops is very relevant. I remember other brokers with conditional orders which triggered my automatic orders because of out of market ticks. IB's rules should protect you against that.

vpineomatrix
 
There are definitely problems with IB's stops on NAZ stocks. For this reason I will have to focus on NYSE trading now as those stops are stored with the specialists. Many times the stops are trade through and never triggered.

Well, maybe after we have the Naz super montage, the stops will be more reliable.

Trading is much easier when you can focus on finding the right set ups... watching every tick just drains your mental energy.
 
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