Originally posted by ez_go_win
ddefina,
I posted a similar topic about the crazy IB stops a bit ago, and was shown the link below which shows that the stops for NYSE and AMEX are triggered differently than those for the Nasdaq. They are "simulated last price stop orders", so I believe they get triggered when the stock trades at or beyond your stop price.
http://www.interactivebrokers.com/html/retailAccount/products.html
Now we already know about IB's "simulated 2 price bid/offer stop order". So why can't they use the "simulated last price stop orders" for Nasdaq? Must be because of those wacky ECN trades that occasionally take place outside the National Best Bid/Offer (NBBO) and therefore would create those false stop triggers. But I would think that would be relatively easy to fix -- for a stop to be triggered on Nasdaq, the trade must take place at or inside the NBBO.
And I totally agree with you about that change in stop algorithm bringing them pretty close to perfection!
Are there enough users of IB out there who are not satisfied with IB's stop algorithm on Nasdaq? We can come up with a form letter (ddefina already has a good start on his post), post it on here, and we can each send it to IB management. If we have enough folks to complain about it and therefore stuff up their email box with big volume, I'm sure they'll give it serious consideration.
Def <-- is there a specific email address for IB management which will be most effective?? Thanks.
Here is a letter I wrote today to IB explaining my bad fill this morning, and suggesting using the NBBO as another safety net for stop election:
Dear IB Management:
I've suggested a change before to your stop algorithm, and it met with a cold reception. My understanding of your position on Stops is that the use of the "Ask" for triggering Buy Stops causes inadvertent fills occasionally, which IB has been forced to cover losses on. This is a completely understandable position. A solution a couple of traders and I came up with for using the "Ask" for triggering Buy Stops is to add one more step to the Stop Algorithm: In addition to the Buy Stop being elected upon the ASK hitting the election price, the ASK must also be equal to the NBBO or within so many cents outside of it. This should eliminate erroneous triggers outside of the true market range.
As it stands currently, slippage and bad fills occur on a regular basis. As an example, this morning (02/12/2002) I set a Sell stop for CEPH @ 56.03, attempting to have it trigger at 55.99 (beneath yesterday's support). Unfortunately, the stock traded with a smaller spread than expected (.01 instead of .04) and triggered my stop @ $56.02, getting me short just before it took off the other direction. I covered my short position at 57.48 and subsequently went long, but lost 1.46 points on the short leg of the trade. The low for the day so far is $56.02! This has happened many times to me, but since I consistently make money, I don't complain. If I could have more precision in my trades, this would not occur.
Please consider looking into this simple change, and perhaps everyone can be happy. Great service you provide!
David DeFina