IB new forex spreads

Has anyone noticed that certain FX pairs appear to be "closed"? Why would this happen. I have never experienced this with other FX brokers and was of the understanding that the way interbank works, this would never happen. Can anyone shed some light?

Also, IB quotes, while they are fairly tight, why are they so far off from other FX brokers (some times 40-50 pips off). I should say that I have been comparing this with the demo. But the demo is 15 min delayed yet the prices I am seeing from other FX providers where never even close to what IB is quoting at the 15 min delay. Any ideas here?

Something just doesn't feel right here and any clarification would be welcomed.

MK
 
Quote from MidKnight:

Has anyone noticed that certain FX pairs appear to be "closed"? Why would this happen. I have never experienced this with other FX brokers and was of the understanding that the way interbank works, this would never happen. Can anyone shed some light?

Also, IB quotes, while they are fairly tight, why are they so far off from other FX brokers (some times 40-50 pips off). I should say that I have been comparing this with the demo. But the demo is 15 min delayed yet the prices I am seeing from other FX providers where never even close to what IB is quoting at the 15 min delay. Any ideas here?

Something just doesn't feel right here and any clarification would be welcomed.

MK
More...

The demo is not a reflection of the real market. If you were to see a 40-50 pip difference, go ahead, trade at IB vs the other firm and lock in the arb.
 
Please do not take the eDemo system seriously, of what you will get in the real-account. The eDemo does not function exactly to what is offered in realtime, and it does not show 15 minutes delayed quotes. (you can not compare it to the FXgame of Oanda, for instance).

What you see in eDemo (certainly in the weekends and outside RTH) is some sort of a recording, played back (so that is why you can see 50 pips off, because it might be yesterday or longer ago). And it does not have all the tickers as well.

Also: be aware that the Bid/asks are coming from other users (of that eDemo system). So when there are no other connected participants there is not much action. (although in case of the FX-tickers the bid/asks are from the tape, so the quotes are folowing more realisticly than for instance Stocks and Options).

In anyway: the intention of IB-eDemo is to learn to use TWS, and for API-programmers to test their basic functions. It is not for "learning to trade" or to "see what quality of quote-stream IB offers", and should not be used for that.
If you want the last, you should just open an account (you do not need to trade, because there are very powerfull API-based simulators, which are much better than the eDemo).

Hope it helps.
 
Thanks def, and Hoi for the detailed explanation - this cleared up my concerns. I knew there had to be some sort of explanation because it was just looking too wierd.

Thanks again.

MK
 
@ Def,
When I think about it: The eDemo-quotes are delayed or from tape because of the rules of "quote distribution" (and subscription issues).
But real-time FX-quotes are free for every one. I see no reason why IB should not consider to offer real-time FX quotes through eDemo (other than hardware costs).
 
Quote from Hoi:

@ Def,
When I think about it: The eDemo-quotes are delayed or from tape because of the rules of "quote distribution" (and subscription issues).
But real-time FX-quotes are free for every one. I see no reason why IB should not consider to offer real-time FX quotes through eDemo (other than hardware costs).
More...

The downsides:
- piggy backing and/or hogging of the limited number of demo login's to view free quotes if you don't have an account
- draining of resources
- complaints about poor data if we decide to bring the demo system down
- programing time (albeit probably not much).

The positive:
- a good simulator
- easy comparison to other brokers

I think the utilization of resources would be the deal killer for the immediate future.
 
def

where can you get the e demo ? is the e-demo the same as tws ,because when i try the tws demo all i get is the stock quote .


thanks
168
 
"edemo" is the user-name of the single-account demo TWS.
You need to request the tickers that you like to use, so Future tickers or Cash-tickers you need to request.

Insert-ticker (menu in the grid), and then EUR, CASH, USD, IDEALPRO will insert the EUR/USD ticker.
 
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