IB Stop, reliable??

C

cclee

Hi there,
I was trading QQQ this morning and encountered something bizarre.

Market was trading around 34.9-ish, and I entered in a Stop entry to short at: 35.24.

With everything set up, I sat around watching the marke for maybe 10 minutes. Right before I was heading off, my stop was suddenly triggered! I was triggered and got a short position at $34.80. My short sell stop is at $35.24, and the prices were *nowhere* near there!

Are stops just generally unreliable through IB? Does this happen often? Does anyone have any ideas why it would happen?

Thanks for your help.
 
You should have used a short sell limit order at 35.24. A sell stop order becomes a market order to sell once the stock trades at or below your stop price.A buy stop order becomes a market order to buy once the stock trades at or above your stop price.
 
Generally, IB stops have been reliable for me. For the QQQ and SPY you could consider setting the stop on the NYSE. That way you avoid all the "way-out" ECN quotes that happens on QQQ on occation.
 
***Market was trading around 34.9-ish, and I entered in a Stop entry to short at: 35.24. ***

If you want to short at 35.24, then just put in a short sale order
there. Since it's above the current market.

You would use the stop sell order only if you wanted to short
below the current market price once it reaches it.

Putting a stop sell order for above the market price will be
automatically triggered because it is activated when the ask
trades at or below the stop price.
 
cclee: “I was triggered and got a short position at $34.80. My short sell stop is at $35.24, and the prices were *nowhere* near there!”

The other guys are right. I misread your post. You can’t sell stop above the market or buy stop below. You gotta use a limit or an MIT order for that.

“Are stops just generally unreliable through IB? Does this happen often? Does anyone have any ideas why it would happen?”

As I said earlier, I fairly regularly had problems with stops when I was actively using IB to trade the Q’s, stocks, and, to a lesser degree, when trading futures. I had to try and limit the use of stops because it was so damn unnerving and frustrating.

I can’t remember ever receiving a satisfactory explanation as to the cause of my problems. Keep in mind, though, that my experiences are a bit dated, now. I haven’t been with IB for some time. Some traders seem to have endless problems with IB and others get along great. Can’t explain it.
 
Hi everyone,
You're totally right. I had a mental lapse and made a mistake. On the bright side, it's nice to know that the stops *are* working, haha. What confused me was the market order/stop not triggering right away as I transmitted it.

The reason why I chose to (mistakenly) use Stops to short is because I wanted to stagger a protective buy stop order above. And since lmits don't guarantee a fill, I didn't want to end up long stocks, instead of shorting it.

For example:
Current Price: 10.00
Short Limit: 11.00
Buy Stop (stoploss) : 11.50

If the market runs past my limit and does not fill me, I may end up buying at 11.50 if I get there.

Thanks again!
 
Stops work 99% of time now. There were problems 5 months ago, but these have been rectified. My main complaint still is the "Ask" triggers Sell Stops and the "Bid" triggers buy stops, so prepare for slippage or estimate the spread on your stops.
 
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