OK IB - What Is Going On?!!!

O

OrderBlaster

It's time for a straight answer to a straight question IB! Why have you recently decided to hold all Globex stop-limit orders on your servers, rather than send them to Globex as native orders immediately upon receipt?

Please don't insult my intelligence by pretending that such orders are still sent immediately to Globex and this is a cosmetic colour change only. You see, once in a while, a rep lets the cat out of the bag by writing stuff like the following:

"Dear Trader,

Yes. We posted a bulletin last week advising that native order status color for native stop and stop limit orders will be dark blue and no longer green (regardless if order has been received at the exchange or not). Only once the stop order has been triggered order status color will change to green.

We will update our website with this information shortly.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

Regards,

IB Customer Service"

Now let's get one thing clear, I'm not talking about the OCA order type. All I am talking about is a single stand-alone stop-limit order placed directly into TWS with no other orders anywhere in sight. Such an order is now colour blue (IB server). A week ago it was colour green (sitting on Globex).

I WANT TO KNOW WHY THIS ORDER IS NOW BEING HELD ON IB SERVERS WHEN IT SHOULD BE SENT IMMEDIATELY TO GLOBEX.

Thank you.
 
Quote from OrderBlaster:

I WANT TO KNOW WHY THIS ORDER IS NOW BEING HELD ON IB SERVERS WHEN IT SHOULD BE SENT IMMEDIATELY TO GLOBEX.

Thank you.
More...

Are you so sure that the order is not working on Globex? It could be that IB has changed the meaning of the colors. For example, blue just means that the stop hasn't been hit yet. Green means the stop is hit and is actively trying to get filled.
 
Quote from sprstpd:

Are you so sure that the order is not working on Globex? It could be that IB has changed the meaning of the colors. For example, blue just means that the stop hasn't been hit yet. Green means the stop is hit and is actively trying to get filled.
More...
There is so much confusion being spread by IB reps it isn't true. Take another look at the IB reply in my first message. He talks about it being blue, then going green when the price is hit. Which is the exact definition of an order resting on IB servers until the last second when it goes to the exchange.

Then think about it logically. Suppose the order WAS immediately sent to Globex upon receipt, then why would IB want to change the colour from green to blue? All that would do is confuse traders and make it impossible to visually differentiate between native and non-native orders. So if they are sticking with the story that a dark blue colour could now also mean native as well as non-native ...then it's equally a disaster. Traders need to know where there orders are located!

They recently told us that a stop-limit if part of an OCA order then it will be held on IB servers as colour dark blue (non-native). Now they are trying to saying that a stop-limit not part of an OCA will still be sent immediately to Globex yet have its colour changed to dark blue? Gimme a break!

I reckon there is some monkey business going on behind the scenes. Did IB get complaints from other brokers to Globex for something, and did IB in their haste, take out a sledgehammer solution and wack all stop and stop-limit orders onto their servers?

Let's hope IB comes out and definitively clears this important issue up. Because the story that both non-native and native orders will now be the same colour, makes absoluetly no sense at all.
 
The native limit stops are immediately sent to Globex.

The change in color was made to actually avoid the confusion. IB used to display simulated stop orders as follows:
- dark blue when the order was accepted by the server
- green when the order was triggered and limit or market-order (which ever applicable) was sent out and acknowledged by the exchange

We now made it consistent. i.e. when the stop order is received by the entity responsible for its triggering, we display blue. When the entity triggers the order, we display green. In the case of native orders, the entity is the exchange. In the case of simulated orders, it is IB.



Quote from OrderBlaster:

There is so much confusion being spread by IB reps it isn't true. Take another look at the IB reply in my first message. He talks about it being blue, then going green when the price is hit. Which is the exact definition of an order resting on IB servers until the last second when it goes to the exchange.

Then think about it logically. Suppose the order WAS immediately sent to Globex upon receipt, then why would IB want to change the colour from green to blue? All that would do is confuse traders and make it impossible to visually differentiate between native and non-native orders. So if they are sticking with the story that a dark blue colour could now also mean native as well as non-native ...then it's equally a disaster. Traders need to know where there orders are located!

They recently told us that a stop-limit if part of an OCA order then it will be held on IB servers as colour dark blue (non-native). Now they are trying to saying that a stop-limit not part of an OCA will still be sent immediately to Globex yet have its colour changed to dark blue? Gimme a break!

I reckon there is some monkey business going on behind the scenes. Did IB get complaints from other brokers to Globex for something, and did IB in their haste, take out a sledgehammer solution and wack all stop and stop-limit orders onto their servers?

Let's hope IB comes out and definitively clears this important issue up. Because the story that both non-native and native orders will now be the same colour, makes absoluetly no sense at all.
More...
 
Quote from IBsoft:

The native limit stops are immediately sent to Globex.

The change in color was made to actually avoid the confusion. IB used to display simulated stop orders as follows:
- dark blue when the order was accepted by the server
- green when the order was triggered and limit or market-order (which ever applicable) was sent out and acknowledged by the exchange

We now made it consistent. i.e. when the stop order is received by the entity responsible for its triggering, we display blue. When the entity triggers the order, we display green. In the case of native orders, the entity is the exchange. In the case of simulated orders, it is IB.
More...
With all due respect - that is as clear as mud. Let's keep it simple with an example. I am trading the ES and I place a STOP-LIMIT order to buy above the market. The colour shown in TWS is (now) dark blue ...and my order stays that way for 30 minutes until the price is triggered. For those 30 minutes before the price is reached, where is my blue stop-limit order being held?

Please check with management before answering, because I sense that some reps are reading from a script and are giving out inaccurate information. No disrespect to you personally but this is a really important matter.
 
Globex Stop-Limit is held by Globex during those 30 minutes.
Globex Stop-Market is held by IB. (Globex does not offer native Stop-Market).

Quote from OrderBlaster:

With all due respect - that is as clear as mud. Let's keep it simple with an example. I am trading the ES and I place a STOP-LIMIT order to buy above the market. The colour shown in TWS is (now) dark blue ...and my order stays that way for 30 minutes until the price is triggered. For those 30 minutes before the price is reached, where is my blue stop-limit order being held?

Please check with management before answering, because I sense that some reps are reading from a script and are giving out inaccurate information. No disrespect to you personally but this is a really important matter.
More...
 
How can we tell if there is a problem somewhere, such that my stop limit order is held on IB's servers rather than on Globex?

I had such a problem several months ago. It was apparent to me because of the difference in colors. My stop limit orders weren't being sent to Globex. They were being held IB's servers instead. This was a bug on IB's side, which was eventually fixed by IB's programming staff.

If the color now is blue for orders held on IB's servers, and on Globex, I will no longer be able distinguish between the two.

I personally would find it more helpful if confirmed orders held on Globex (or the whatever the exchange may be, NYSE, AMEX, etc) are a different color than those that are held on IB's servers.

-- MMM
 
Quote from IBsoft:

Globex Stop-Limit is held by Globex during those 30 minutes.
Globex Stop-Market is held by IB. (Globex does not offer native Stop-Market).
More...
Something is absolutely not right with this picture. Here’s another response from an IB rep to a trader talking about about using a stop-limit order on Globex when part of the OCA order type.

“Dear Trader,

Both stop and stop limit orders are native orders on Globex. However when placed as part of an OCA group one of the orders will be held on the IB servers and its order status will be shown as dark blue. The other order will reside as a native order with Globex and will be shown as green. This is designed to prevent having orders on both sides of the market. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

Regards,
IB Customer Service”

What you seem to be saying is this:

- SOMETIMES a stop-limit order will be dark blue and not sent directly to Globex (held on IB servers) e.g. part of an OCA order type
- SOMETIMES a stop-limit order will be dark blue and sent immediately to Globex e.g. an independent order not part of the OCA order type

- SOME orders sent immediately to Globex will be shown as colour green (e.g. Limit order)
- SOME orders sent immediately to Globex will be shown as colour dark blue (e.g. Stop-Limit order that is not part of the OCA order type)

IN SUM, COLOUR BLUE COULD MEAN:
- Stop-Limit order held on IB servers
- Stop-Limit order held at Globex
- Stop market order held on IB servers

Please Lord, tell me that I’ve got it wrong somehow!!!! I want a different colour to show me when an order is at Globex compared to on IB servers. Just like you have always done. Why have you messed everything up with this confusion as to what the hell a blue colour means?

It seems like you are ******* with us. You are saying “trust me, your blue order is at Globex”. Sorry but I don’t. You are asking me to believe that a native (now blue) stop-limit order goes green when the price is touched ….which by pure coincidence is exactly how an IB server held stop order behaves. Gimme a break. Something is amiss here …
 
My advice: IB best go back to the previous way of showing blue
and green colors the way they used to or traders will start a
mutiny on the IB...

P.S. Does this new policy have something to do with the fact that
BookTrader cannot/will not/doesn't have the ability to use stop
limits? Only has stops on IB servers... ?

If so, hmmm......
 
Quote from OrderBlaster:

You are asking me to believe that a native (now blue) stop-limit order goes green when the price is touched ….which by pure coincidence is exactly how an IB server held stop order behaves. Gimme a break. Something is amiss here …
More...

If this is true then it puts IB traders in the back of the que on stops and targets. Nice... :mad:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top