IB TWS greeks going bad.....!!!

tommcginnis

tommcginnis

"They know about it.
It is a big deal.
They are working on it."

Would be nice to get this out on a bulletin, fercripsake.

Basic story:
brought up TWS (963.3h "stable") and observed missing SPX greeks and IV from one expiry on one Quote Monitor page. Then the other expiry(s), then the other Quote Monitor pages.

Logged out; rebooted; all the usual stuff. Finally called IB, and after some checking, was found to be a known issue, and they've been on it for (maybe??) 24 hours.

Watch your data! If it manifests on your outfit, it seems to move fast. (A buddy uses 949.3d still! And no issue for him thus far.)
 
its called, use LVX... the more I use TWS, the more I am tinkering with the idea of using excel for OE for the spreads I care about... but that would mean learning VBA, and I am not a fan of VB.. but TWS is just buggy... went to put on a currency calendar the other day and it rejected it because I hadnt defined a combo.. their response was, programmers going to look at it... couldnt enter it and wasnt about to leg in... opportunity lost.. oh well.
 
I still don't understand why ppl still a) trade with them or b) when they do so, still use TWS although a truckload of other analytical software is out there.

Yeah, the good ones cost money, but guess what? Save a drink or two or ditch that stupid ass netflix subscription an shell out a couple of bucks for proper infrastructure. Doesn't need to be Optionvue or ORC.

But why on earth would you use this ancient piece of spaghetti code, knowing that this thing could blow up in your face any moment???

I was an avid IB user 15 years ago when Petterfy still had a little bit of interest in his company and they were trading via TimberHill and I already had my moments back then.

Imagine you are long CL overnight, turn on your computer in the morning, checking quotes for breakfast....just to find out that your account shows a balance of -200k and no position in CL.
Ring customer service, nobody picks up the phone, after a couple more tries you get the service rep, but he has no clue what actually happened.

3!!! days later they found out they had a bad tick (CL at zero) which whiped out my entire balance, put my account in negative territory and at the same time the automated margin call closed the position to make sure account stayed negative.

I can asure you that they weren't shy to remind me a couple of times that I owe them 200K...

This company is like Microsoft. Revolutionary in their golden days, but now they got old. TWS has so many versions that even they don't know what exactly this thing is and honestly...it never was really stable.
Their datafeed has always been shit and I did not even think, that anybody would even remotely consider using their models for options trading, given how awefully off they are.


The only reason to use IB nowadays is for safety of funds, the backoffice stuff for money managers and small funds and the ability to trade everything from one account for OK - fees.
But if you are into sensitive stuff, use leverage and need a reliable infrastructure, run as fast as you can.
 
MrMuppet said:
I still don't understand why ppl still a) trade with them or b) when they do so, still use TWS although a truckload of other analytical software is out there.
Yeah, the good ones cost money, but guess what? Save a drink or two or ditch that stupid
...
...The only reason to use IB nowadays is for safety of funds, the backoffice stuff for money managers and small funds and the ability to trade everything from one account for OK - fees.
But if you are into sensitive stuff, use leverage and need a reliable infrastructure, run as fast as you can.
More...


They don't hold your hand -- that is true. You have to find that elsewhere, and pay for it.


At any event, scratched out the laptop TWS and loaded "Latest" (971?) and no difference.
Ah, well.
I would love to know that, should missiles fly towards/from Pyongyang, I could work in a fully-powered machine, but.....I've spent a lot of time connecting pricing to deltas, so it's time to put that to work.
 
tommcginnis said:
They don't hold your hand -- that is true. You have to find that elsewhere, and pay for it.


At any event, scratched out the laptop TWS and loaded "Latest" (971?) and no difference.
Ah, well.
I would love to know that, should missiles fly towards/from Pyongyang, I could work in a fully-powered machine, but.....I've spent a lot of time connecting pricing to deltas, so it's time to put that to work.
More...


I not need my hands held, I tell you that. I was using TWS to it's full extend, some instances running on a virtual machine on a server farm, connecting 3rd party, self coded stuff via API.

It's not that I'd like "service" as in "which button do I have to press" or "which option should I buy". When I trade, I need to get stuff done in the case things go haywire...and IB cannot provide that.
In addition, using TWS is like a ticking time bomb. Due to the fact that it has so many updates on updates and updates, you never know when deep down, some old piece of code has a conflict with a new one and the entire thing blows up in your face.

And of course it's not going to happen when the ES has a 5 handle range...

I really was a fan of them. Cheap, feature rich, multi product account. But I went through so much trouble with their frontend that I'll never go back.


P.S.: And when the rockets are flying, you better have your options book in excel to disect your position and eliminate the dangerous short strikes...fiddling around with greeks is not suggested in this situation. Regards, short gamma 2008 crash survivor ;)
 
MrMuppet said:
I still don't understand why ppl still a) trade with them or b) when they do so, still use TWS although a truckload of other analytical software is out there.
....

The only reason to use IB nowadays is for safety of funds, the backoffice stuff for money managers and small funds and the ability to trade everything from one account for OK - fees.
But if you are into sensitive stuff, use leverage and need a reliable infrastructure, run as fast as you can.
More...

you kind of answered the question yourself... one of the reasons why I like LVX with LTSP and IBKR custody, is that they are providing the market data.. not sure if that means I execute only off their data or off IBKR as well, but on the account I have with LVX I dont pay MD fees to IBKR..

IBKR has gotten worse, I hit a restricted ETF on my IRA the other day because RM decided to not allow certain ETF that are LP/GP. I ask for a list, their answer " we dont have one"... mind you, there is one, otherwise their risk system wouldnt have denied my trade... its just sad they have gone down hill so much... but you still cant beat their costs... I dont need them to hold my hand, so I am fine with it... but when their Order Entry doesnt work right and I lose $$$ because a trade didnt go through or because they need to be reverse calendars or because I cant enter a fly and have to leg the calendars, then thats when I start getting cranky..

but again... custody... I dont trust my IRA with anyone else, and cant beat the costs.
 
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MrMuppet said:
...

It's not that I'd like "service" as in "which button do I have to press" or "which option should I buy". When I trade, I need to get stuff done in the case things go haywire...and IB cannot provide that.

P.S.: And when the rockets are flying, you better have your options book in excel to disect your position and eliminate the dangerous short strikes...fiddling around with greeks is not suggested in this situation. Regards, short gamma 2008 crash survivor ;)
More...

Your stories remind me of my own long list of experiences.
In point of fact, I have been very lucky over time -- and perhaps no more so than today when, as the market turned (and I'm assessing -- OR TRYING -- coming market conditions), my inability to have the numbers guiding my analytics was only comforted by ye ol' net liq. a'climbing, climbing, climbing. Were it falling, falling, falling............ yeah. You're right: I'd be singing a different tune.

AND HERE IT IS, 9:00PM ET, AND WE'RE DOWN 10 SPX POINTS.
(If this is a contest, you just WON.)
Sheeeeee-it.
 
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