Price improvement with IB

O

Option Trader

Is my understanding correct that IB may not offer price improvement for options unless the order is >50 contracts?
http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/orders/block.php?ib_entity=llc

The link says the following:

Block Orders

Description
Block orders can be used for large volume limit orders that consist of at least 50 contracts.


Exchanges
Native: Simulated (by IB):
ISE


TWS Links
For information on how to create block orders, please refer to the

Example

You want to buy 10,000 contracts of XYZ for the best possible price. When you transmit the order, use the Order Ticket to select Block Order. This ensures that your order is made public and may result in a price improvement.
 
u gotta direct your orders trough box to stand a chance of gettin' price improvement since it is the only exch that quotes in decimals...never got shit on all the other exchanges.
 
I thought BOX was only for options, and therefore not by decimals, rather by pennies?

Is what you're saying really so? I thought IB's smart route is supposed to find you the best fills!?
 
Quote from Option Trader:

I thought BOX was only for options, and therefore not by decimals, rather by pennies?

Is what you're saying really so? I thought IB's smart route is supposed to find you the best fills!?
More...

well...u were talkin' about options innit. [yes, meant pennies by the way]

yeah, ib prefers to direct to philly since they got a sweet deal with the exch. so, even tho they should be workin' to get u the best possilble price it aint gonna happen for biz reasons, but u knew that already didnt u.
 
No, I didn't know that, and am surpised.
You might recall some months ago when you had a thread about BOX and the high % of price improved trades, and my own conclusion then was that it did not indicate anything, because you can say the high % comes because BOX was selected when the broker already knew it was offering price improvement.
 
Quote from Option Trader:

No, I didn't know that, and am surpised.
You might recall some months ago when you had a thread about BOX and the high % of price improved trades, and my own conclusion then was that it did not indicate anything, because you can say the high % comes because BOX was selected when the broker already knew it was offering price improvement.
More...


listen, it is a known fact box quotes in pennies and obviously most likely to offer price improvement, nevermind statistics on their website tell u get a better price somethin' like 50-60% of the times; wouldn't it make sense to default direct to box instead than philly....u bet it would.

your arguments also make a case for box as best route.
 
Are you saying that when you personally directly route to BOX you get 50-60% of the time price improvement?
And does that overcome the extra IB fee for direct routing?

If this is the case that you directly route, you're probably far better off by another broker.
 
I believe IB should modify SMART so that routing decisions fully take into account the possibility of price improvement, both for equities and options.
 
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