T-Bills Trading on IB

C

COYS

I am futures trader but recently I have decided to also invest the cash I have at IB (that I use for margins) in T-Bills. However, the T-Bills trading platform offered by IB seems bizarre to me. I can see a bid-offer on screen and I can hit the bid or the offer and get filled, so far so good.

However, if I put in a buy limit order for a value between the bid and the offer then it doesn't seem to be registered. The order would show on the screen (TWS/Mosaic), however it seems to be completely ignored when it comes to matching it with a sell order. E.g., say, the bid/offer on was at 99.79900/99.80700 and I put a limit buy order at 99.80600, then I would see trades being matched at levels below my limit order (e.g. at 99.804 or 99.8045) throughout the day but my order not being filled. This has happened every time on several occasions. Moreover my limit order does not affect at all the bid-offer I see on the screen even if I improve the bid.

I had a lengthy message exchange with IB about this through their message centre which lasted about 2 weeks (due to the time it took them to reply each time) and their explanation was basically that they cap orders in order "to protect clients as well as IB from losses associated with significant and rapidly changing prices". In fact they said that they had capped in each instance my buy limit orders at the bid on screen. [The whole conversation is rather strange, but did not want to post it here so I don't make this post too long]

I don't have much experience with bonds trading but this reasoning seems bizarre. I have now over $300k face value of T-Bills and I have not seen it move by much more than $100 in a day. IB does not impose any such restrictions if I put a limit order for 100 Crude Oil Futures or 1000 Eurodollar futures which are infinitely more volatile. Moreover I don't see the quantity on the bid size increase at all, so not sure it is even true that they cap my buy limit order at the bid.

Does anyone know what is happening here? It is not even a lot of money we are talking about here, but I would just like to understand it.

[I realise this post does not quite fit the forum description but I could not see a more appropriate one. Happy for a moderator to move this if necessary]
 
Bond trading in general is a joke at IBKR, a rigged game. I believe it is rigged for the banks everywhere though, and not just IBKR for the exact reason you cite. The banks fleecing their own customers and ignoring the NBBO. I know that my response is not helpful, but I share the same frustration with you on corporate bonds.
 
Dude, you are trying to save something like 1 dollar on (for example) a 100K purchase. Why are u wasting your time? It is a dealer market, not a futures exchange. U are not going to figure it out. Just buy the T-Bills at the offer and stop thinking about it and wasting the IB customer service people's time.

That said, I do wish IB customers were able to participate in the regular T-Bill and Bond auctions directly.

COYS said:
However, if I put in a buy limit order for a value between the bid and the offer then it doesn't seem to be registered. The order would show on the screen (TWS/Mosaic), however it seems to be completely ignored when it comes to matching it with a sell order. E.g., say, the bid/offer on was at 99.79900/99.80700 and I put a limit buy order at 99.80600, then I would see trades being matched at levels below my limit order (e.g. at 99.804 or 99.8045) throughout the day but my order not being filled. This has happened every time on several occasions. Moreover my limit order does not affect at all the bid-offer I see on the screen even if I improve the bid.



[I realise this post does not quite fit the forum description but I could not see a more appropriate one. Happy for a moderator to move this if necessary]
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Why are you buying bills? They barely return anything at all, specially after commissions and taxes. You need to go out at least 2-3 years to get any resonable rates
 
atrocious said:
www.elitetrader.com/et/index.php?threads/ib-futures-price-capping-denied-ability-to-trade.285931

Read the above thread, make no mistake this will happen in futures too.

Am I the only one who thinks it's repugnant that IB continues to modify prices on *HELD* customer orders without customer consent on account of "price caps?"

PS - It's absolutely bizarre they would apply this to T-bills
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really shocked by what I read in that link you posted, luckily I did not personally encounter this on futures yet. but yes, even more bizarre that they cap T-bills (though obviously less costly).

MrN said:
Dude, you are trying to save something like 1 dollar on (for example) a 100K purchase. Why are u wasting your time? It is a dealer market, not a futures exchange. U are not going to figure it out. Just buy the T-Bills at the offer and stop thinking about it and wasting the IB customer service people's time.

That said, I do wish IB customers were able to participate in the regular T-Bill and Bond auctions directly.
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It is not so much about the monetary value (which by the way is certainly more than $1 per 100k), but more about their ridiculous explanation and the principle. Nothing to do with it being a "dealer market". IB blatantly just rips their customer off with a price cap that they claim is there to protect their customer.

Daal said:
Why are you buying bills? They barely return anything at all, specially after commissions and taxes. You need to go out at least 2-3 years to get any resonable rates
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They do actually return a little bit if you buy the 1 year T-Bill and hold it maturity but the main reason is to protect myself better against the broker going bankrupt.
 
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