Problem with IB buy stops

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onelot

On Friday, 12/13/02 I had problems with stop orders not getting sent to the globex for some time after price had hit my price level. For instance I had an order in to buy at 901.25 ES and after price hit the stop the order indicator didn't turn green for 1 minute and then finally it was sent and I was filled immediately. My thought was that there was a problem on IB's server side that was not picking up on the price level getting hit. Luckily, the slippage on that trade was minimal. It looks like it got sent when price was on the way back down and hit 901.25 for the second time... I got filled at 901.50. This happened two more times, so I decided it would be better to stop trading for the day.

When I spoke to IB customer serice they told me that I did not know the difference between stop markets and stop limits and told me that my fill prices were great fills. I tried to tell them that they could have easily been horrible fills and that the fills were not my concern. The first representative obviously had enough of my ignorance and disconnected himself (I was using chat). The second one gave me a hard time for a while until I was able to convince him that it was a problem and he pledged to do something about it. Saying he was sending the problem to the programmers to see if they can fix it. I asked him to send me an email to let me know when the issue has been solved. I haven't received anything yet. I don't really care if I do, as long as the problem gets fixed.

Anyway, the point of this point is twofold. Firstly, I was wondering if anyone else has been experiencing or have experienced this problem. Secondly, I'm posting this to publicly make IB and other members aware of this problem and to hold IB accountable to trying to fix it.

This is not, in any way, a slander of IB's service or brokerage but rather a first hand account of my recent experience. All in all, I really really love IB... before this I had experienced zero problems. Frankly, I could care less if their customer service is poor or great because the way I see it... I don't want to have to spend a lot of time talking to them. If I did, then there would be a problem that would have me questioning their reliability.

Ok, that's enough. Comments. Questions.
 
I tried a couple market stops the other day, and got a tick of slippage (unusual). The limit stops are the way to go if you can put up with the extra work.
 
my concern isn't so much with the fill price... i account for slippage and expect it, but usually never get it.

but, yeah i hear ya...I think it was ddefina that posted about using limit stops as they were native... stubbornly I continue to use market stops... i hope i've learned my lesson

but i also tend to think that I shouldn't HAVE to do that...
 
stop limits are native and would be triggered by the exchange.
stop markets are resident on the IB servers.

Make sure you check your config parameters as it may be possible that you stops are configured by double bid, ask or last. In the end the only way to truly determine if your stop should have been triggered is to look at the audit trail and time and sales. If there indeed was a problem and info was sent to the programmers, the odds are that programming will fix it, normally 1-2 days or if local to the TWS then on the next release.

FWIW, in my experience, more often than not when people complain of stops not triggering these days, it has more to do with understanding the triggers as opposed to the software. With that said, if you are anyone sees a stop that you believe should have been triggered, feel free to PM or e-mail me and I'll ask someone to study the details, get back to you and if we do find a problem, will pass the details along for a fix.
 
def,

I appreciate you responding. I was hoping you would :).

I'm going to check my configuration to see if something perhaps changed. I doubt that's the problem as all my trades prior to these worked out fine, and I made no manual changes. I'm pretty certain it was a glitch.

I'm going to email you my executions tomorrow when I can get into the TWS and I'll also send you some T&S screen captures so you can get an idea.

Again, I appreciate the help and I'm glad IB has someone here on the forum who's so cool.

onelot
 
Stops and stop limits with IB, I don't understand.

Now I know exactly what the stops are but their implementation is what I need some advice on.

Take the SP at 910

a) Buy 1 SP at 915 on stop

b) Buy 1 SP at 915 stop limit 920 (920 is an arbitrary level)

Are people saying that stop b is the preferred choice because globex holds it and not IB. If so why wouldn't globex hold stop a, this I can't really understand.

Also if people are advising that stop b (stop limits) are the best then I assume that you put the limit price a few points over/under the actual stop trigger level.

Thanks
 
It is just Globex's implementation as they do not support market orders and require the trader to place a limit. If you want to simulate a market order, use a very wide limit. personally i'm not a fan of market orders as there is a remote chance that you'll get a horrendous fill if you get stopped out if the book gets wiped clean.
 
Def

Thanks, so how would you or anyone else use a stop on the miniSP.

Say the market is at 910 and you want to place your buy stop at 915? And assume that this was a short position that you wanted to cover and not a long position to enter.

Would you go;

+ 1 at 915 stop limit some level say 920

Thanks
 
OK, no problem, but I'm not asking this question in relation to actual stops, but how to use them in conjunction with how the IB platform operates.

Thanks
 
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