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IB new forex spreads
- Thread starter oktiri
- Start date
I agree this is essential for any active FX trader. Isn't the first time this has been requested either...Still a tip top product, just a wee bit rough around the edges for active trading.
Regarding spreads, was pleasantly surprised to see tight spreads in most markets last night (2 pips was extremely common) even several crossrates.
MK
Regarding spreads, was pleasantly surprised to see tight spreads in most markets last night (2 pips was extremely common) even several crossrates.
MK
Quote from Steve_IB:
I posted this screenshot on the other thread.
Euro during Asian hours is usually 1 pip, sometimes 2. Yen also seems to be mostly 1 pip.
Thanks a lot. Great service. :eek:
I guess that means during US/European hours its also 1 pip, sometimes 2 pips?
With the lowering of comms and tightening of spreads, IB's spotfx seems to be the preferred choice over oanda, refco etc which are unreliable and have a platform thats severely lacking. Soon the entire spot fx will move over to IB. ^_^
Quote from CPTrader:
However, the liquidity seems low - typically 3m by 3m compared to about 15-20m by 15 - 20m on currenex.
Have others noticed this?
How does IB plan to address this?
The 3m you see at the inside is a little misleading. There's displayed liquidity behind that 3m - you can see this by looking at the market depth, $/Euro usually has about 13m displayed on either side.
Also if you take out the inside quote it will usually be immediately refreshed at the same price. There's enough liquidity there for anyone.
If you are trading $10m+ per order or you feel the liquidity does fall short of your trading size, please PM me giving me full details and I'll see if we can help you out.
JayS - I'll post the IPE markets on another thread
Summary of IDEAL Pro FX
No Dealing Desk ///
- You can call in to close positions only. This is a huge disadvantage.
- Requires calling international telephone numbers to Asia or Europe depending on the time of day
- Trading desk staff is for all IB securities/markets, not dedicated FX dealers.
No Real-time P&L ///
- Account interface updates P&L on a sporadic basis
System Access Limitations ///
- You must be on the Hong Kong server (No access to the system from 4:05-5:00 PM EST) or the US server (No access to the system from 11:45 PM - 1 :00 AM EST). (You can call the trading desk to close positions. Stops and Limits are in effect. )
- Market Data Rest: The market data is reset at about 11:30 PM EST, processes are started back up at Midnight EST.
The data will start coming up once the actual trading systems are back online.
That is usually anywhere from 12:30 AM to 12:45 AM EST. (You can place orders without seeing dealing rates, great. You can call the trading desk to close positions. Stops and Limits are in effect.)
**** IDEAL Pro FX Closed - Everyday, The market is closed from 5:00-6:00 PM EST. (No trading. Stops and Limits are in not in effect. ) Consequently, account(s) with other broker(s) are required to protect capital.
With all of these limitations, trading must be managed with navigation around these times of day.
Statements ///
- Between the Account window, the audit trails, and the statements there are times of the day where you can not see the trades that you executed. Whereas other brokers provide immediate easy access to this information, IB has this complicated combination of access.
- Trades executed have IDs that are no longer available after trade date outside of a log file. IB loses the trade ID after some amount of time. This as opposed to accounting where every trade has an ID forever.
Altogether, these are unnecessary, incredibly distracting impairments to trading.
Trading ///
- There are times where market orders take on the order of 10-30 seconds to fill. These are market orders which are well within the displayed bid or offer size.
- There have been times a bid or offer placed does not show up in the system. It should always show when it is the best.
- Preparation of orders is efficient and flexbile. Modification of stops and limits is fast.
No Dealing Desk ///
- You can call in to close positions only. This is a huge disadvantage.
- Requires calling international telephone numbers to Asia or Europe depending on the time of day
- Trading desk staff is for all IB securities/markets, not dedicated FX dealers.
No Real-time P&L ///
- Account interface updates P&L on a sporadic basis
System Access Limitations ///
- You must be on the Hong Kong server (No access to the system from 4:05-5:00 PM EST) or the US server (No access to the system from 11:45 PM - 1 :00 AM EST). (You can call the trading desk to close positions. Stops and Limits are in effect. )
- Market Data Rest: The market data is reset at about 11:30 PM EST, processes are started back up at Midnight EST.
The data will start coming up once the actual trading systems are back online.
That is usually anywhere from 12:30 AM to 12:45 AM EST. (You can place orders without seeing dealing rates, great. You can call the trading desk to close positions. Stops and Limits are in effect.)
**** IDEAL Pro FX Closed - Everyday, The market is closed from 5:00-6:00 PM EST. (No trading. Stops and Limits are in not in effect. ) Consequently, account(s) with other broker(s) are required to protect capital.
With all of these limitations, trading must be managed with navigation around these times of day.
Statements ///
- Between the Account window, the audit trails, and the statements there are times of the day where you can not see the trades that you executed. Whereas other brokers provide immediate easy access to this information, IB has this complicated combination of access.
- Trades executed have IDs that are no longer available after trade date outside of a log file. IB loses the trade ID after some amount of time. This as opposed to accounting where every trade has an ID forever.
Altogether, these are unnecessary, incredibly distracting impairments to trading.
Trading ///
- There are times where market orders take on the order of 10-30 seconds to fill. These are market orders which are well within the displayed bid or offer size.
- There have been times a bid or offer placed does not show up in the system. It should always show when it is the best.
- Preparation of orders is efficient and flexbile. Modification of stops and limits is fast.
Hi,
While I agree their product has certain disadvantages compared with other FX offerings. The things you mentioned need to be addressed. But there is also some good points which you completely neglect to mention here.
- Not counterparty
- Interest differentials are handled properly instead of always charged like some FX offerings
- Tight spreads most of the time
- Ability to trade between the spreads
- And most importantly for me....since this thread started, they have been continually improving this product. I see no reason why this habbit of theirs should stop.
MK
While I agree their product has certain disadvantages compared with other FX offerings. The things you mentioned need to be addressed. But there is also some good points which you completely neglect to mention here.
- Not counterparty
- Interest differentials are handled properly instead of always charged like some FX offerings
- Tight spreads most of the time
- Ability to trade between the spreads
- And most importantly for me....since this thread started, they have been continually improving this product. I see no reason why this habbit of theirs should stop.
MK
MH: In response to your post:
No Dealing Desk
- Yes you can only call in to close positions. However, we also have trading platforms available via a PDA or Mobile Phone, so you should easily be able to open positions.
- We will shortly be offering local 24 hour dialing for US customers. Nevertheless, international call rates are extremely cheap these days.
- Trading desk staff are adequately trained to take FX orders. I do not see it how it is a disadvantage that trade desk staff are sufficiently trained to also take stock, futures, bonds and options orders.
System Access Limitations.
- The daily server reset is no more - it's only about 5 minutes. This went into effect on Monday. We will be announcing this shortly.
=-Hours - we will be going to 23.5 hours a day very soon. You can always trade the futures if you really need to trade in that break.
Trade Reports:
-You can easily get all execution reports from the TWS. File>>Export Previous Days reports can retrieve previous days.
-Trade ID's, I don't understand why you would need a trade ID to be kept forever. The trade ID's we have a more for internal purposes, so I'm not sure what you would do with them.
Executions:
Your comments concern me. It shouldn't take that long to fill orders, and your orders should always be displayed. If you have issues, please send the information to help@interactivebrokers.com providing full details of the order - ideally send the TWS audit trail.
No Dealing Desk
- Yes you can only call in to close positions. However, we also have trading platforms available via a PDA or Mobile Phone, so you should easily be able to open positions.
- We will shortly be offering local 24 hour dialing for US customers. Nevertheless, international call rates are extremely cheap these days.
- Trading desk staff are adequately trained to take FX orders. I do not see it how it is a disadvantage that trade desk staff are sufficiently trained to also take stock, futures, bonds and options orders.
System Access Limitations.
- The daily server reset is no more - it's only about 5 minutes. This went into effect on Monday. We will be announcing this shortly.
=-Hours - we will be going to 23.5 hours a day very soon. You can always trade the futures if you really need to trade in that break.
Trade Reports:
-You can easily get all execution reports from the TWS. File>>Export Previous Days reports can retrieve previous days.
-Trade ID's, I don't understand why you would need a trade ID to be kept forever. The trade ID's we have a more for internal purposes, so I'm not sure what you would do with them.
Executions:
Your comments concern me. It shouldn't take that long to fill orders, and your orders should always be displayed. If you have issues, please send the information to help@interactivebrokers.com providing full details of the order - ideally send the TWS audit trail.
Steve_IB:
I sometimes use the IB mobile trader.
It's solid, but is starting to show its age. It hasn't been updated in over a year. Any chance of an update to take
advantage of the more powerful PDAs and greater bandwidths to add some more features? (charts, configurable quote sheet, etc.)
In the forex land, metatrader mobile trader is pretty good example.
I sometimes use the IB mobile trader.
It's solid, but is starting to show its age. It hasn't been updated in over a year. Any chance of an update to take
advantage of the more powerful PDAs and greater bandwidths to add some more features? (charts, configurable quote sheet, etc.)
In the forex land, metatrader mobile trader is pretty good example.
Quote from Steve_IB:
MH: In response to your post:
No Dealing Desk
- Yes you can only call in to close positions. However, we also have trading platforms available via a PDA or Mobile Phone, so you should easily be able to open positions.
\
Summary of IDEAL Pro FX II
- Meant to add the ability to bid or offer anywhere.
- Have not tested the robustness of stop orders, but I am skeptical. While no firm guarantees stops, there are brokers out there that de facto do.
- I do not understand how having some PDA/mobile telephone access is in any way a substitute for computer based access. Talk about slow...
- The market data reset is not 5 minutes at this time.
- There is a giant difference between an FX dealer and someone on the trading desk for all market/securities.
- Trade ID's are for audit purposes, record keeping and problems associated with trades.
- I see the report option now. thanks.
- Never a response on the P&L. I know the calculations are very difficult...
**** The point is, one should consider whether the advatages of IB vs. all of these current disadvantages. If you think it is worth it, place your capital at risk while they ramp up. I regret my decision to do so. In fairness, it there is a significant cost to trading on a new system with everything that is supposed to be similar different in many ways. I am not pleased with how much energy I have expended to learn what I know at this time about IDEAL Pro FX ****
- Meant to add the ability to bid or offer anywhere.
- Have not tested the robustness of stop orders, but I am skeptical. While no firm guarantees stops, there are brokers out there that de facto do.
- I do not understand how having some PDA/mobile telephone access is in any way a substitute for computer based access. Talk about slow...
- The market data reset is not 5 minutes at this time.
- There is a giant difference between an FX dealer and someone on the trading desk for all market/securities.
- Trade ID's are for audit purposes, record keeping and problems associated with trades.
- I see the report option now. thanks.
- Never a response on the P&L. I know the calculations are very difficult...
**** The point is, one should consider whether the advatages of IB vs. all of these current disadvantages. If you think it is worth it, place your capital at risk while they ramp up. I regret my decision to do so. In fairness, it there is a significant cost to trading on a new system with everything that is supposed to be similar different in many ways. I am not pleased with how much energy I have expended to learn what I know at this time about IDEAL Pro FX ****