Need help with IB documentation...

T

theakson

Hi All
we're probably shifting all our accounts to Tastyworks BUT thought we'd ask here just in case we missed something. We are active traders but NOT daytraders. Our trading style is dte 45days, 75-80% p(otm), selling premium, mostly options. We spend more time considering trade entry. So using TOS was GREAT until they cancelled our security dongle. We've been using IB for about a year now and we find the interface to be antiquated and the documentation bland. The result is that we just do the minimum to trade and aren't using many of the "tools" they provide properly. This is our fault and we would like to give it one more go before moving on to tastyworks. If someone can tell us the most effective way to use IB's documentation/teaching materials to do the following.

1 show the historical vol for 20, 10, 5 day as columns on a watchlist.
2 select an option strategy ( straddle, strangle, vert put, vert call) and show the PREVIOUS 5 trading sessions for that strategy.
3 show the futures curves for crude, vix, fed rates

Please not we aren't asking HOW to do the the above but the most effective way to use IB's documentation to find the solution. We think that IB's tech support, in our recent experience, is the worst in the industry. It's been so bad that we are actually progressing it with Greenwich directly after the labor day holiday. We don't have many large accounts but even little guys like us have a voice, at least that's what our chum up there tells us.
 
Little guys do have a voice but don’t have the problems you have. They may have some other problems, but that’s where the brain comes in and you have to be able to solve those problems, otherwise no documentario will be sufficient for you. You need act like a carpenter that can solve problems, not like a junior carpenter’s assistant who needs everything to be documented and explained in detail.
In terms of IB/TWS documentation, your questions are examples of billions of possible ways of using a product, and no documentation will ever tell you how to do everything someone may think of. You wouldn’t be even able to imagine how many more questions and ways to use TWS other people may think of, as you seem to be focused on your own questions and surprised that they aren’t documented. While even IB may not be able to imagine how many ways people may use their product.

Re: 1.What if, for example, the product doesn’t have “historical vol for 20,10, 5 day columns”? Shouldn’t you be asking whether such a feature exists before even asking where it’s documented?

2. I often look at 5-day, but also 1-month and even minute-by-minute charts for such option strategies before placing my orders. Didn’t need any documentation for this specific process, but each part of this process is likely documented (didn’t need those either, just clicked around).

3 and any other questions: Google “Interactive Brokers (your question)”.
 
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1 all stocks have 20 10 5 historical volatility. It's a calculation.
2 we are not chartists. Dr Andrew Lo pretty much put that chestnut to bed.
3 not really an approach we would consider given the results we've seen so far
 
theakson said:
1 all stocks have 20 10 5 historical volatility. It's a calculation.
2 we are not chartists. Dr Andrew Lo pretty much put that chestnut to bed.
3 not really an approach we would consider given the results we've seen so far
More...


1. All stocks have billions of possible calculations. People even sell some calculations and indicators. The question is which ones are available as columns, not which ones you may think of. So again your question should be which calculations or indicators are available as columns, not where specific one is documented...

2. I’m not a chartist either, just said that I do what you asked how to do, and I didn’t use documentation. I only use those option history charts to determine fair option price as the price may be fluctuating. I don’t analyze anything else on those option strategy/history charts.

3. Google always worked for me, unless there are indeed some processes that aren’t documented or available. That’s where additional searches and figuring things out comes in. In some cases you may just need to determine that specific feature isn’t available.
 
1 We know that stocks have many calculations, that's why we were specific. On the tos platform we had the the thinkscript language to calculate watchlist columns. I wanted to know how to get at IB's variant of that. I've written a calc for the API which is ok but we wanted to see how to change the HV value that IB offers.
2 What you described is NOT what we wanted to do and that's our fault. We were not clear. All we tend to do is just select a strategy and chart it. We wanted another, linked chart, which would show the previous 5 sessions trading behavior for that strategy.
3 Google results seem to be "odd" try it yourself with a simple task like :
interactive brokers "charting the vix futures curve"

 
1. That was a bit of my point too. You’re asking where to find documentation for something that doesn’t exist. IB doesn’t have scripting features.

2. You’d use the Strategy Builder to select a strategy and specific option strikes & date for that strategy. Then add it to a watchlist, then chart it.
This is an example of a process that may not be documented, but each part of it is likely documented.

3. Looks like you’re using Google incorrectly and may first need to find documentation for that :)
You’re using quotes that indicate that you’re looking for that specific phrase, so obviously you won’t find anything that includes your specific phrase. Google doesn’t need quotes to understand what you’re searching for.
https://www.google.com/search?q=interactive+brokers+vix+futures+curve
(though not many relevant results when there is no such feature)

Also, every platform has issues and lacks features, so many people use couple platforms or external products to lookup additional information. For example I use ToS to look at options strategy P&L, while trading only at IB.
 
1 as we said right from the top "we're checking we didn't miss something" We use the API which is pretty good but we wanted to make sure we couldn't just run the calcs inside TWS or mosaic.
2 Strategy builder is just annoying to us after Tom Preston's work on the TOS platform. We're moving that whole aspect over to tastyworks which is the next gen product.
3 I agree we screwed up on the google search, your result was MUCH better than ours. I have NO idea why I put quotes around that! Chalk it up to stupidity caused by exposure to IB tech :-)

You have helped a lot thanks.
 
Why don't you build your own tool that can do what you want? You are then not tied to any specific broker and can choose them based purely on execution.
 
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we do build our own tools. Mostly in Python and Pandas, more recently with Julia. The questions were targeted at the IB brokerage and should be present in a mature environment like TWS. We were just making sure that we weren't missing something.
 
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