IB Questions

B

blueem

I just opened an account with IB to trade E-Minis. After digesting all of the available info on the IB website, I have a few questions.

1. If you have no open positions, can you use the SELL action for shorting (as opposed to using the SSHRT action which has no definable hotkey)?

2. On a swing or position trade, can you use the GTC Time in Force for protective stop orders? It appears that overnight protective stops are not allowed . . .

"The reason that we do not allow overnight E-mini stops is that in the early morning hours there are so few limit orders on Globex that it would be very easy for an aggressive trader to move the price by say 10, 20 or even 50 points. He could set off the stops and fill them at an unreasonable price."

-Thomas Peterffy, Chairman, Interactive Brokers Group (3/29/01)

3. If a GTC protective stop is entered, does it become active again during regular trading hours the next day?

4. My account shows that I have a trading limit of one contract. I haven't tried to change this yet, but will it be a problem? I funded the account for 20K which should allow for trading of up to 4 contracts. Does anyone know the calculations that IB uses to establish trading limits? What type of trading limits do other EliteTrader users have?

5. What is the best way to contact IB? I wanted to check to see if my wire was received and tried to use their online Funds & Banking Chat. I kept the window open for 30 minutes and never received a response. Is this the typical level of service other are receiving. If so, what happens during an emergency when you absolutely have to get hold of IB (e.g. losing your Internet connection during a trade)?


I am sure that these are all novice questions, but you have to learn sometime :-)
 
To get a hold of them:
email or call
i find that calling is best for funding -- follow the phone tree prompts

the rest of your questions...? i trade stocks

i have no complaints with the response time on the phone -- however i have never been hung out to dry in a position, or experienced a system failure -- but then what broker can provide the support for such unusual occurences?

If you loose your connection, and it is not a widespread problem, call -- they are pretty fast.

but i suggest you have a back-up connection and power supply, as well as a pre-programed speed dial on your cell phone! (calls will be answered in the order they are received!)

regards/greg
 
Originally posted by blueem
I just opened an account with IB to trade E-Minis. After digesting all of the available info on the IB website, I have a few questions.

1. If you have no open positions, can you use the SELL action for shorting (as opposed to using the SSHRT action which has no definable hotkey)?

--> the sshrt key is for non-clearing accounts that need to declare short sales. For your account, just sell as you wish. The system will take care of the uptick rules, the proper flagging, etc.

2. On a swing or position trade, can you use the GTC Time in Force for protective stop orders? It appears that overnight protective stops are not allowed . . .
--> yes. IB doesn't trigger stops at night due to the reasons specified below.

"The reason that we do not allow overnight E-mini stops is that in the early morning hours there are so few limit orders on Globex that it would be very easy for an aggressive trader to move the price by say 10, 20 or even 50 points. He could set off the stops and fill them at an unreasonable price."

-Thomas Peterffy, Chairman, Interactive Brokers Group (3/29/01)

3. If a GTC protective stop is entered, does it become active again during regular trading hours the next day?

--> yes, but I think the initial gtc stop needs to be placed during normal market hours. After this, it will become active each day thereafter

4. My account shows that I have a trading limit of one contract. I haven't tried to change this yet, but will it be a problem? I funded the account for 20K which should allow for trading of up to 4 contracts. Does anyone know the calculations that IB uses to establish trading limits? What type of trading limits do other EliteTrader users have?

--> you can request an increase in your limit size via the IB website. Size limits depend upon the financial information you provided and whether or not you signed the arbitration agreement.

5. What is the best way to contact IB? I wanted to check to see if my wire was received and tried to use their online Funds & Banking Chat. I kept the window open for 30 minutes and never received a response. Is this the typical level of service other are receiving. If so, what happens during an emergency when you absolutely have to get hold of IB (e.g. losing your Internet connection during a trade)?

--> You can always try calling but I'd suggest e-mail or the chats after market hours. Wires rec'd before 3 PM should show up in your account information that day. If rec'd after 3PM the following day. When you log in, you will be able to see your account status.

I am sure that these are all novice questions, but you have to learn sometime :-)
More...
 
I just opened a small IB account today and had some problems. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

1. I assigned some hotkeys (up for increase price, down for decrease). I found that they work sporadically. If I highlight the order line they may or may not work. I had to go into the ticket several times. I tried everything from doubleclicking the line to clicking somewhere else then returning.

2. What does it mean when the entire TWS turns purple and you are unable to enter symbols? I had to completely log out then back in to get it to work. I could enter the symbol but the system kept asking for an exchange...I typed in NASDAQ to no avail...I never got a quote. This worked once I re-entered the system.

3. I had a stop order that was BEST routed and it took over 3 minutes for it to activate after the stop was passed. This was not good.

4. I had a stop order that was .15 from being hit. When I transmitted another order below, the color (on the unrelated stop order) went from dk blue to light blue. I don't think this should have happened.

5. I receieved an error message several times when the (3 minute delayed) stop order was trying to activate. Something to the effect of "Rejected, Field #49 must be completed." I missed that one as well.

Aside from the quirkiness above, the system seems to work pretty well.

I'd appreciate any feedback you guys can give me on any of these.

 
Originally posted by ktm
I just opened a small IB account today and had some problems. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

1. I assigned some hotkeys (up for increase price, down for decrease). I found that they work sporadically. If I highlight the order line they may or may not work. I had to go into the ticket several times. I tried everything from doubleclicking the line to clicking somewhere else then returning.

You must chose buy or sell before changing the price. Perhaps this was the problem.


2. What does it mean when the entire TWS turns purple and you are unable to enter symbols? I had to completely log out then back in to get it to work. I could enter the symbol but the system kept asking for an exchange...I typed in NASDAQ to no avail...I never got a quote. This worked once I re-entered the system.

When your system turns purple it means your connection to IB via the internet is not stable or overloaded.

3. I had a stop order that was BEST routed and it took over 3 minutes for it to activate after the stop was passed. This was not good.

Stops with Nasdaq stocks are a bit quirky but do prevent triggers on bad ticks. On the web site there is a detailed explanation on how they trigger. Once you understand how they trigger you should be ok.

4. I had a stop order that was .15 from being hit. When I transmitted another order below, the color (on the unrelated stop order) went from dk blue to light blue. I don't think this should have happened.

I'm not sure on this one but it may have to do with the margining and your account balance. If you are not sure an order is still active, you can contact the help desk and they can look at the audit trail.

5. I receieved an error message several times when the (3 minute delayed) stop order was trying to activate. Something to the effect of "Rejected, Field #49 must be completed." I missed that one as well.

I have never heard of this. I'd suggest sending an e-mail to the help desk with specifics of the order (time, symbol, size, etc) and the error message so they can track it down.


Aside from the quirkiness above, the system seems to work pretty well.

I'd appreciate any feedback you guys can give me on any of these.
More...

hope that helps
 
Just a follow-up to error 49.

I contacted IB Tech Support and they walked through my connection. "Field 49" being rejected is a connection problem. Some packets are being lost. If your connection is being heavily taxed, you may get this error from time to time. (I am running on a backup connection at 56K since my cable Internet provider got blown away by Code red and is still down.)

The solution is to retry at a time when your connection is less taxed. It does not seem to affect orders as of yet.

Tech support at IB was great.

Thanks Again
 
>my cable Internet provider got blown
>away by Code red and is still down

You're getting fed a line on this one. Code Red only cripples through massive group attacks once a month, designed to tie up resources. Once the group attacks stop, everything is fine again.

So, any one server can be involved in 2 ways:

A: Victim
B: Attacker

The virus "recruited" *attackers* which then were to launch on a single website (initially designed to be the White House web site).

If your cable company was infected as an attacker (most likely), then (A): simply turning the server Off then On again resets it (halting attack mode) until the next month. A 5 minute patch job from Microsoft.com fixes the problem completely (until the next iteration of course)

If your cable company was a victim (very VERY unlikely), then by now (actually, by a LONG time ago) the attacking computers would have been located, reset and patched.

JB



 
It wouldn't be the first time they've fed me a line. It's Cox Communications (Roadrunner) and I have very little positive to say about them. I have cable and high speed internet through them. In the last two months, the cable has been completely out for 13 days of about 60 and the internet connection for all of my County (of 1Mil people) has been unusable for two weeks now. They claim "the service is working...it's just slow". When I hook up, my firewall gets immediately pounded and the traffic light stays lit constantly. You can load web pages but it takes about 10 mins to load 1 page...yeah it works alright.

We are looking for a satellite provider or other solution for both TV and high speed internet. I will start another thread later today to solicit some input on high speed connection alternatives from the home...I'd like to hear what some other folks from here are doing.

Thanks
 
I use RoadRunner through Time Warner Cable (San Diego)and you couldn't pry it from my cold dead fingers.

Faster than a T-1 at all hours (2500kbps) reliable as heck and when it cause a problem for one day they voluntarily gave me a FREE MONTH.

I love these guys.

JB
 
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