Is IB that good or that bad?

if you do enough volume, say 500 or more turns per month, tTansact is very good. Mostly very experienced traders there.

IB never crashes on me. I don't understand why others have problems with it. maybe they are using the WEB version? OK, not completely true. I occasionally lose the data feed, but this lasts about 30 seconds, and it happens maybe once per month.

Note: I only trade futures.
 
Quote from FortuneTeller:
Try IB for yourself. Don't listen to others especially if they come on here with their first post bashing IB.
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Bashing is slander, and statements based on factual results are not slander. I never bashed IB. Either you have difficulty reading English, or simply misunderstood my post. Instead of listening to me, try the various platforms and see for yourself.
Cheers.

Quote from mad_badger:
If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.
...
As for IB, I too read the negative and positive reports, and will continue reading and forming opinions.
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Quote from mad_badger:

richrf --
I too am pondering the same questions you've raised.
One thing I have noticed b/w the various well known brokers is the differences b/w their platforms. I have "test-driven" several: Scottrade Elite, MB Trading's Navigator, Schwab Streetsmart Pro, IB TraderWorkstation, among others.
IB TWS easily stands out -- as the slowest of them all. And before someone asks, no, its not my system.

TraderWorkstation is Java based, Java is "heavy", and I can see and feel the lag. Both the web-based demo version and the locally installed demo version of TWS are cumbersome and slow. I am not talking about order execution, but rather, the actual interface and platform itself.

If you don't believe me, try it for yourself. Download all the demo versions from the different companies. Compare. Try clicking around on menu's, opening up charts and trading windows, etc... Then go try the same steps on a different computer, to assure yourself that the results are consistent.
I can't work with a platform in which I can visibly see the lag b/w the time when I try to open a menu by clicking on it and the time when it actually opens the menu or the associated dialog window.

As for IB, I too read the negative and positive reports, and will continue reading and forming opinions.

Meanwhile, I won't touch TWS with a 10 ft pole.

Those other platforms may suck, but at least they respond quickly enough where my eyes can't notice the lag.
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And your preffered broker is?...
 
Yes, IB's TWS load time is relatively slow as compared to a few other borker platforms.

But IB's quote update and order execution is above par. Especially in fast markets. Pop up windows, menus, and pages "blink" up on any system running a minimum of Pentium IV mobile 2 ghz, 1GB RAM, Java 6.

One trick though is if you are running on windows is to enable DirectX draw to handle the programs GUI. (you may not notice a difference at first or if you are a light user of the program.)

Here's how it's done:

Right click on the shortcut you use to launch TWS. Click Properties.

You'll see a string that looks like this:

-cp jts.jar;pluginsupport.jar;jcommon-1.0.0.jar;C:\WINDOWS\system32\javaw.exe -cp jts.jar;pluginsupport.jar;jcommon-1.0.0.jar;jfreechart-1.0.0.jar;jhall.jar;other.jar;riskfeed.jar;rss.jar -Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true -Xmx256M jclient/LoginFrame C:\Jts

Set noddraw=false so that it will use directx.
 
Quote from mad_badger:


I can't work with a platform in which I can visibly see the lag b/w the time when I try to open a menu by clicking on it and the time when it actually opens the menu or the associated dialog window.
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It has to be your system. My menu's open as fast as I click on them.
 
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