IB TWS sucks for Options trading

T

tigerwu

Does anyone use TWS for trading and managing options positions? It is so antiquated. There's no way to feed a live rate curve or div curve. Can not even use implied cash to value options! Is there a good third party solution to this? I would hate to spend a lot of time programming something up myself! Thanks in advance.
 
Thanks. But I am trying to stay with IB. Just wondering if anyone has an off the shelf solution, something similar to Orc trader etc.
 
Quote from tigerwu:

Thanks. But I am trying to stay with IB. Just wondering if anyone has an off the shelf solution, something similar to Orc trader etc.
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You know that Orc Trader is $5700/month plus a co-location, plus buying a high end server. If you lease the server, your around $9000-10,000 per month all in. If your trading with over $5MM, might be worth the overhead. Under....I'm not sure.

God luck.....Bob
 
Hey, rmorse, why'd you get a whole new handle to pump your firm? Why couldn't you stay with your old handle? Kinda sleazy of you to make a new handle to troll for business without being a paid advertiser, especially when you used to be one. Speaks volumes about your professionalism.
 
I trade options all the time with IB and think it's just fine. I do my analysis offline with other tools and trade spread orders through TWS with no 3rd party software.

You can't beat Thinkorswim for their user interface, but I'll stick with IB's way cheaper commissions. I've grown used to TWS over the years so I just can't justify paying the extra commissions.
 
Orc trader is that much now? It was 2 or 3k when i was using it a few years ago. I just need a front end derivatives app that plugs into IB and uses their infrastructure. Its impossible to manage a proper options book with multiple underlyers using TWS. Their greeks calculations are all suspect to me. For ex. How do u calculate implied vols without futures ref?!
 
Quote from ASE1245:

You know that Orc Trader is $5700/month plus a co-location, plus buying a high end server. If you lease the server, your around $9000-10,000 per month all in. If your trading with over $5MM, might be worth the overhead. Under....I'm not sure.

God luck.....Bob
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Hard to believe they can justify and garnish that fee !
What specifically makes them able to do that ?
 
Quote from tigerwu:

Does anyone use TWS for trading and managing options positions? It is so antiquated. There's no way to feed a live rate curve or div curve. Can not even use implied cash to value options! Is there a good third party solution to this? I would hate to spend a lot of time programming something up myself! Thanks in advance.
More...

You may want to look at Options City software http://www.optionscity.com/

They are mainly used by marketmakers with direct access to exchanges, so I dont know if it is a viable solution for customers. But it is some really great software allowing you to do many things.

Microhedge might also meet your needs as well.
 
Quote from stevegee58:

I trade options all the time with IB and think it's just fine. I do my analysis offline with other tools and trade spread orders through TWS with no 3rd party software.

You can't beat Thinkorswim for their user interface, but I'll stick with IB's way cheaper commissions. I've grown used to TWS over the years so I just can't justify paying the extra commissions.
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Some are using TOS software for analysis and placing trades with IB....best of both worlds.
 
Quote from syswizard:

Some are using TOS software for analysis and placing trades with IB....best of both worlds.
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Actually I did that but stopped after a while. I knew it was only a matter of time before they disabled my unfunded live trading account, so I moved to other analysis tools.

With all the 3rd party tools available for IB, I'm surprised someone hasn't created an option-friendly front end and put it out for sale.
I'd do it myself but I have a bajillion projects going on and can't justify another.
 
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