Problem with IB REST API? Any alternatives?

[MercForHire]

Hi everyone, I am building an app running on Mac OS that needs to connect to my IB paper account to place orders.
However the "place order" endpoint doesn't seem to work, always getting

{"error":"You currently do not have trading permission for this instrument type. Update Trading Permissions from the Trade Configuration page in Account Management."}

I even called their customer support and they admitted that this has been broken for over a month and they are working on it.

What do you think is the best way for an external app to place trades on a paper trading account to test out its strategy? I don't mind switching to another broker just for testing purposes.

I know NinjaTrader lets you place trades by creating files, is that method reliable/quick enough?

 

[nooby_mcnoob]

I thought the rest api was only for special people

 

[guru]

Maybe use the regular/older IB API, although not as simple as REST.
Otherwise you could try Alpaca.

 

[MercForHire]

I figured it out, turns out I need to pass raw text instead of JSON for the params
IE:

{ "acctId": "12345", "conid": 346577750, "secType": "FUT", "cOID": "test003", "orderType": "MKT", "listingExchange": "GLOBEX", "outsideRTH": false, "side": "BUY", "price": 7000, "ticker": "NQ", "tif": "GTC", "quantity": 1, "useAdaptive": false}

 

[carrer]

I figured it out, turns out I need to pass raw text instead of JSON for the params
IE:

{ "acctId": "12345", "conid": 346577750, "secType": "FUT", "cOID": "test003", "orderType": "MKT", "listingExchange": "GLOBEX", "outsideRTH": false, "side": "BUY", "price": 7000, "ticker": "NQ", "tif": "GTC", "quantity": 1, "useAdaptive": false}

So the customer service guy was lying?

 

[MercForHire]

So the customer service guy was lying?

They didn't lie, the bug is their server can only parse raw text file instead of a properly formatted JSON. Anyways, only programmers can understand the difference.