Interactive Brokers TWS : the bug that can blow your account in one click

MoreLeverage

I was not talking about modifying a live order. The issue I experienced and described occurred when modifying an order (its size) in the process of preparing the order before transmission.
I do not know whether any similar issue occurs when modifying a live order, don't recall anything going wrong with that, on the version I use, as I usually just modify whatever I want by typing and re-send the order right away, no pressing ENTER. Then again when I modify a live order it's usually not the size but the price.
 
Sorry I have been busy with the funny markets. But now I am back to tell you all about IB's response and their "advice" about my problem which fixed nothing and instead transformed my TWS in a timebomb.

When I called them, I got the Johnny on the phone and explained this unbelievable situation, that because of a flaw in TWS I was now short hundreds of shares in after-hours instead of long. The Johnny isn't the coolest guy at IB, he sounds like he was a marine sergeant in a previous life. No way to discuss with him, he 's the one I think who hung up on me once or twice. Anyway I recall telling him I wanted someone to get back to me about the issue and that I considered asking for a refund of all the commissions I spent correcting those erroneous trades (seems like the least they can do). I told him they should get back to me via the message center with an explanation of what was going on , and acknowledgement of the issue. After inquiring about my TWS and java version he said there was no issue whatsoever I should have upgraded and should be running the latest version he said .

The discussion heated up as I insisted that they look into the matter and get back to me with an explanation, and I told him (since I planned to close a big part of the position in after hours and wait for the next day open to close the rest ) that someone better get back to me first thing in the morning. He said he would not open a ticket as the issue was done and over with ! There wasn't anything to add, goodbye !


So there I was reporting a serious problem putting customers' funds at risk , and they didn't want to investigate the matter.
 
Last edited:
Tabernak said:
Move your mouse straight to Transmit and click on it
More...

Ah! That's the thing: I always TAB off input fields after modifying them before doing anything else, so I guess that's why I never experienced what you're describing. Maybe it's because I was a programmer first, that I have such habits of not trusting anything...
 
I am back (after a little vacation) and luckily my account hasn't been destroyed yet by TWS (crossing fingers). Must be because I have been very scared of the funny markets these past couple of weeks and when I traded, it was very, very small. And I know exactly what to do to avoid the erronuous trades of the past.

The advice given by IB to upgrade my version of Java has caused a host of problems and could turn out to be another timebomb.One browser I use no longer recognizes java, all java apps have become a bit slower, and above all, TWS has become slower, along with my other broker's
platform (also using java) with frequent 10 second freezes after inactivity. Imagine the potential consequences in this kind of market .

I have two options, either I try the latest TWS version hoping that version will work better with the new java version or I go back to the old java version (which thank god I kept , it doesn't appear to interfere with the newer version). I have reasons to worry about new problems after I downloaded the new TWS versions so I am not sure. On the other hand, at some point I will be forced to upgrade anyway (these IB developers must stay relevant and keep producing, even if that doesn't do any good to the customer). Problem is, I can see some day in th enot too distance future when the *new* java version required won't be compatible with my system.

I recently looked at my statements, I spent something like $1000 in commissions and fees in one year, and this is how IB thanks me, putting my money at risk so developers can build "the best" platform, so the stock price can keep going up . I think you should write to your congressman, I would like to see a Senate banking committee on the issue of electronic brokerages putting technology advances and their stock price ahead of customer funds safety.
 
Last edited:
I decided for now to go back to my previous version of java, however when I tried to simply delete that folder, java was just binned and it didn't switch to the previous version although I had gone into the console and checked previous version.
So it appears I need to uninstall the new java version to be able to switch to the old one still installed. But I fear that by doing that, all java versions will stop working, i.e the system won't recognize the older version still present, and I will be in even more trouble (the add/remove program function in Windows AFAIK doesn't always remove every little bit of a program sometimes causing problems) .

Can anyone guide me or let me know if my concern isn't warranted and I can go ahead and uninstall java 1.7xx.

Thanks IB for the wasted time and aggravation trying to fix my freezing TWS.
 
If you have installed different versions of Java (e.g., 1.7 and 1.8) then, most likely, you're going to have to go to the properties of your TWS shortcut on the Desktop and point to the javaw.exe directly from your Program Files (or Program Files (x86)) path, not the one located in windows\system32, for example.

This isn't an Interactive Brokers issue. You have Oracle to thank for how they messed up your system with multiple Java runtime installs. Same thing happened to me. The Java runtimes installed in your Program Files paths are fine and work. Just setup that TWS Desktop shortcut to point to the runtime you want to use.
 
I smell a lot of BS in this thread by OP. Sounds more like the frequent IB bashing to me than anything else

* OP could not coherently describe the problem nor how do reproduce the bug

* OP has not produced a video or other means to understand what he is talking about

* He then switches to issues of Java versions

* possible problems and solutions in this thread fly all over the map from key strokes through different java versions to key press frequencies suggesting hardly anyone actually understood the actual bug nor how to reproduce it, myself included.

Was it not Feynman who spoke the true words: "if you cannot explain a complex issue in very basic and simple terms and ways then most likely you have not understood the problem yourself"

PS : did I forget to mention that it's not super credible to bash a broker that has been out there for a little less than 2 decades via very confused talk and 17 posts so far? ....
 
Well then your B.S.detector doesn't work sorry. Mine on the other hand works very well you see, don't know why . Always has. And I question the motives of your reply. Or maybe you just have a reading comprehension problem, a very frequent problem nowadays, like ADHD. "Not credible to bash a broker that's been out there for 2 decades" ? So what problems happen everywhere, even at the better firms. You've got a few employees who don't do their job or a culture of arrogance that develops , happens all the time in many places.It's no secret IB's CS has had issues that surface periodically, it's no secret that IB 's commitment to keep making strides in software development has led to very serious issues, (e.g I recall an automated API user on ET suffering big losses) . It's no secret IB kind of disregarded the calls over the years to focus on rock solid reliability which is the most important thing to users. It's no secret , the CS agreement is designed so it will be very hard to make them accountable in case of a glitch. So after all, what happened to me is not very surprising. We all experienced some bugs at IB.
What's unbelievable in my case is the severity of the issue combined with the
absence of any reaction , investigation on the part of IB, and the way it was dealt with by CS in electronic messages. They kept saying they would get back to me and then they would close the issue.

Maybe I will post a vid, somewhere. The issue is that it didn't come out very well, I should do it all over. And I don't like to post vids, especially of something as confidential as a brokerage account and frankly I have spent enough time on this. I have nothing to gain posting a vid . My intention is not to hurt IB's reputation in an unnecessary way by posting a video . It's simple, you must be able to replicate the problem , and if you can't then it means your TWS and java versions work well enough and you don't have to worry about this particular bug.
 
Last edited:
"Very serious issue" ...are you sure you are not blowing up a mosquito to an elephant? The only serious issue I see in this thread is that you could not make yourself understood and nobody could replicate your issue, an issue most here did not understand in the first place.

Tabernak said:
Well then your B.S.detector doesn't work sorry. Mine on the other hand works very well you see, don't know why . Always has. And I question the motives of your reply. Or maybe you just have a reading comprehension problem, a very frequent problem nowadays, like ADHD. "Not credible to bash a broker that's been out there for 2 decades" ? So what problems happen everywhere, even at the better firms. You've got a few employees who don't do their job or a culture of arrogance that develops , happens all the time in many places.It's no secret IB's CS has had issues that surface periodically, it's no secret that IB 's commitment to keep making strides in software development has led to very serious issues, (e.g I recall an automated API user on ET suffering big losses) . It's no secret IB kind of disregarded the calls over the years to focus on rock solid reliability which is the most important thing to users. It's no secret , the CS agreement is designed so it will be very hard to make them accountable in case of a glitch. So after all, what happened to me is not very surprising. We all experienced some bugs at IB.
What's unbelievable in my case is the severity of the issue combined with the
absence of any reaction , investigation on the part of IB, and the way it was dealt with by CS in electronic messages. They kept saying they would get back to me and then they would close the issue.

Maybe I will post a vid, somewhere. The issue is that it didn't come out very well, I should do it all over. And I don't like to post vids, especially of something as confidential as a brokerage account and frankly I have spent enough time on this. I have nothing to gain posting a vid . My intention is not to hurt IB's reputation in an unnecessary way by posting a video . It's simple, you must be able to replicate the problem , and if you can't then it means your TWS and java versions work well enough and you don't have to worry about this particular bug.
More...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top