IB's Data Feed is Useless With ButtonTrader, NinjaTrader, ect...

[traderob]

Quote from franklin:

I watch the IB feed very closely at the sub-second level for all US index futures, and I doubt that we're missing much. Eurex, however, is a completely different story, but that is not IB's fault.

The few times when you might be missing something are when the market is moving fast, but those would also be the times when IB would need to snapshot data just to keep up with the market (better that than to fall behind!), so I doubt they will ever be able to provide a "free" feed that is tick-by-tick (or at least not anytime soon). I'm amazed they manage to do what they do.

Franklin,
This is the conclusion I reached too.

 

[version77]

Quote from stock777:

Still no answer to my question. What's all the fuss about? Yes, I saw the post about trailing stops based on the yadda yadda. What kind of micromanaged trading are you guys doing, that you think seeing every single trade and tick and not simply accurate b/a size and price can't handle?

Tradestation appears to deliver every trade in its time and sales feed. But I don't detect any particular edge in * information * content vs. IB .

Have you ever used NinjaTrader, ButtonTrader or any of the
others with IB that I have mentioned? If you have, then you
would know what we are talking about. Otherwise you would not
which is cool because I hope too many don't find out...

 

[version77]

Quote from nononsense:


The two tier solution proposed by John is very good of course. But you will have to pay for this.

I for one will pay extra for a better feed from IB.... And I bet a
whole bunch of others would too...Lets put it to a vote on IB!...

 

[nononsense]

Quote from version77:

Have you ever used NinjaTrader, ButtonTrader or any of the
others with IB that I have mentioned? If you have, then you
would know what we are talking about. Otherwise you would not
which is cool because I hope too many don't find out...

version77,

Allow me to be the devil's advocate. Maybe NinjaTrader,ButtonTrader or any of the others are not the "best" connector to the IB API. Isn't this what John means by saying:

"Yet that's pretty much what they are doing, and what their developers are marketing to the public when it comes to many of the 'cleverer' features. Buyer beware!"

I have my own application written to the IB API and I don't see any need for unsubstantiated pipe dreams. I have nothing against IB pumping through more ticks, provided they keep or even better timing accuracy that many of us seem to be happy with right now. As for me, to tell whether a few more ticks would better my trading, I would first have to do a lot of hard working and good looking.

Who came first? IB or these ***Traders? Let these ***Traders go and look for better faster and maybe even cheaper brokers. This would permit them to show off the superiority of their products. It ain't that simple though! Why did these ***Traders not provide for feed connections to "better" data providers while placing orders to the IB API. Technically this is very feasable. Cost goes up for users though, which dampens the attraction of ***Traders for the cheapies. Don't let the tail wag the dog.

nononsense

 

[stock777]

Quote from version77:

Have you ever used NinjaTrader, ButtonTrader or any of the
others with IB that I have mentioned? If you have, then you
would know what we are talking about. Otherwise you would not
which is cool because I hope too many don't find out...

Haven't used them, have demoed them (long ago btw), and Im quite sure 98% of futures traders know these are out there.

So they give you some kind of edge which requires each and every 1 lot to be fed into them? wow:eek:

 

[version77]

Quote from nononsense:


I have my own application written to the IB API and I don't see any need for unsubstantiated pipe dreams.

nononsense

Yes, nononsense YOU don't see any need for a better feed from
IB because you would have to rewrite your software and also
re-backtest your system. Cool. So IB should stay in the dark ages
just for you? Here is a statement from you earlier:

"But please, NO experimentation with other "clever" schemes that nobody has any experience with. Stick to what you offered for many years now. You owe this to your customers."

Selfish if you ask me... Then again, it Would suck if everyone else
would gain an advantage over your current system...

You can't hold back IB. IB is bigger than you... And they don't owe
you a damn thing...

 

[version77]

Quote from nononsense:

version77,

Allow me to be the devil's advocate. Maybe NinjaTrader,ButtonTrader or any of the others are not the "best" connector to the IB API. Isn't this what John means by saying:

"Yet that's pretty much what they are doing, and what their developers are marketing to the public when it comes to many of the 'cleverer' features. Buyer beware!"

nononsense

This is not what John is saying. At the moment he wants Ninja
Trader's developer to hook up to Esignal's data feed. Ray says it
is on his list. But if you also read his posts, he is saying IB could
better it's feed so NinjaTrader, ect will work the way it could if
the data was tick by tick instead of a snapshot feed...

 

[John Lydon]

Quote from version77:

Yes, nononsense YOU don't see any need for a better feed from
IB because you would have to rewrite your software and also
re-backtest your system. Cool. So IB should stay in the dark ages
just for you? Here is a statement from you earlier:

"But please, NO experimentation with other "clever" schemes that nobody has any experience with. Stick to what you offered for many years now. You owe this to your customers."

Selfish if you ask me... Then again, it Would suck if everyone else
would gain an advantage over your current system...

You can't hold back IB. IB is bigger than you... And they don't owe
you a damn thing...

The beauty of my two-tier idea is it's simplicity. IB doesn't have to rock the boat or change their business model. Anyone who likes things as they are can stay as they are. Just have IB poll user demand and add a couple of servers (with a fixed number of users per server) to pump out a great quality, fast and reliable tick-by-tick datafeed. I'd gladly pay $100-$200 a month for this. I wouldn't even ask them to include charting. Basic & cheap Sierrachart works for my needs!

Why not move with the times IB? Maybe this idea should be sent to IB management. Would they listen though, and/or would they even understand the reasons behind it? i.e. a move towards increasing user demand for more sophisticated third party front-end order interfaces? (X-Trader type stuff for "the rest of us"). I would think there's a big market for it. Sure the bug guns will gravitate to the extra reliability and speed of the X-Trader type platforms. But the smaller traders may be willing to "put up" with IB at a much lower cost (to them), while still having access to clever order entry and trade management features.

Seems perfectly logical to me that IB should do this, but what the hell do I know!

 

[version77]

Quote from stock777:

Haven't used them, have demoed them (long ago btw), and Im quite sure 98% of futures traders know these are out there.

So they give you some kind of edge which requires each and every 1 lot to be fed into them? wow:eek:

So you don't use IB. Why are you even on this thread then? The
stop that took me out on Thursday had 14 trades at a price that
IB's feed didn't even display. Guess how many other trades and
prices IB does not provide? A lot... Volume figures are missing and
misleading too. And you don't care? If you want to accept what is
mediocre then go ahead...

 

[version77]

Quote from John Lydon:


Why not move with the times IB? Maybe this idea should be sent to IB management. Would they listen though, and/or would they even understand the reasons behind it?

IB will listen. I remember when IB gave in to traders wanting
trailing stops. If they can send out a snapshot feed, they can
send out a tick by tick feed... I bet they are working on one right
now...