Taking partial profit - IB TWS

I think this is the oldest feature request. I saw this request last century, not joking. There was a simple app made to deal with it, Bracket Trader. It still works and works well.

I think they will not implement it because in the API it is easy. From the TWS UI, there are a few exceptions conditions, e.g. 3 contracts and 50% <> a round lot. All easily fixable, but they might think it is not worth their time to deal with a retail client's feature request. It has been a long time and other UIs probably have it. On the other hand the Algo offerings have been steadily increasing. I am waiting for the IB Algo detection Algo so you can do the Algo versus Algo play.
 
Hey Bad_Badness, thanks for the reply. I'm such a newb I have no idea what you just said...

What I think you said is that there's a 3rd party app named Bracket Trader...if so where do I find it and how would I go about connecting it to my TWS platform? Thanks or this in advance.

My goal is to be able to jump in if I see a level that might either retrace quickly and be able to scalp more effectively. Thanks for the help!
 
Hey, so I went to the website. Do they support Mac? It looks like its only for PC.

Have you found other work arounds that don't use this app?
 
Nothing as fast. You could roll your own for the Mac I guess. But otherwise you have to recreate the orders and adjust the orders in TWS. It is pretty easy to generate order vai the hot keys. Managing them with the OCA field is harder and takes time (10 seconds at most). But that is time you probably don't have based on what you want to do.

Another way is just create three hot key. BUY Market, SELL Market, Close Position. Then just hit the right keys at the right time. Best of luck.
 
Multicharts has this great order type where you set a stop loss for the full position, a profit taker for 50% of the position, and then automatically set a trailing stop for the remaining 50% at the profit take threshold once it is reached. Sadly, that last part only stays active while MC is running, so it's less useful for us swing traders. I've been trying to replicate that functionality directly in IB, to no avail.
 
Yep, and I've done that. But I don't know of a way to --- in one order screen --- create a setup that sells 50% of the position at target and set that adjusted stop for the other 50% when target is reached. In MC, I can easily pre-define that order type/exit strategy, so it's a one-click affair.

I know it's splitting hairs, because I can do all this in IB by just submitting two exit orders. But I like the convenience of doing it at once :)
 
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