Warning: Don't trust IB's TWS Portfolio page or Trades Report for positions
- Thread starter chud
- Start date
I'm glad it hasn't happened to you, but it had never happened to me either through tens of thousands of trades until this recent instance. Where was it stated that the account management window trumps the portfolio page, trades window, and execution report when trying to determine your position? How do we know which one of these will display the "real" position in the future? It seems that this could easily change as it suits IB.
As long as IB refuses to take responsibility for confirmed bugs that can directly cause catastrophic damage to your account, it seems like I'm walking through a minefield when trading with them. I was hoping someone, preferably from IB, would be able to convince me that this is not the case, but so far it hasn't happened.
Seems to me that your "confirmed bug" is confirmed only a customer service rep. But what doesn't seem to be happening is people coming out of the woodwork with all these problems that you describe. I would think a "confirmed bug" would result in many, many complaints about this same issue. Where are they?
I had a problem recently in which I called customer service. They took several stabs at correcting it...none of which worked. At the time though they were certain that their fix would do the job. Later it turned out that DAV, one of IBs employees, was able to duplicate my problem, and it was fixed immediately in the next modification of that build. In other words, the fact that it comes out of a customer service guys mouth doesn't mean you can take it to the bank.
You should be able to use your audit trail. Refresh my memory, did you do that?
Otherwise, if you feel like it's a minefield, you should leave IB. I'm not concerned. I check my account window throughout the day.
OldTrader
Every time someone posts about an IB glitch or bad experience, you show up with a post like this. I kept my mouth shut for a few years.
But here, the OP has explicitly stated that IB first refused point blank to compensate and then agreed to partially compensate. Do you seriously think that a company like IB would offer one red cent if they didn't know that they bore blame?
Since this is clearly a case where IB tried to screw the guy for an error caused by their program and then later said 'yes, alright, we admit it', couldn't you just stay out of this one thread? Just this once?
I am an IB customer and I realize that many of the threads that bitch and moan about IB are started by people who don't know what they're doing and who are basically at fault, but IB has had its problems and will have further problems in the future, just like any broker. You don't need to come on every fucking time and say shit like 'If this were really a bug, why wouldn't others be crawling out of the woodwork to complain? Where are they????' Clearly you know dick about how software works - a program can have a bug that only causes problems under certain specific circumstances or at certain very specific times (down to the second).
Sheesh. I used to think you're an IB employee but now I think you're just an IB lapdog.
Just my 2 cents.
I have had trades not post in the trades page but show in the portfolio. They were on the web page confirms. I have also had a few orders that were hung as transmitted and not acknoledge that were locked in TWS but actually working. Had to call and have them cancelled. All in the last update. Next time I see it, I'll do a better job of documenting it. I have sent in errors over the last 4-5 years and had them fixed. Took some time though. Not perfect but ...
This is sometimes reproducable if you have an order filled on scale order that is set to re-establish your position after a profit target and you are logged out and then you log in after the fill, I don't always see the fill but sometimes I do.
I saw that they have new version out, I guess I'll give it a try.
FWIW 99%
1%
I have had trades not post in the trades page but show in the portfolio. They were on the web page confirms. I have also had a few orders that were hung as transmitted and not acknoledge that were locked in TWS but actually working. Had to call and have them cancelled. All in the last update. Next time I see it, I'll do a better job of documenting it. I have sent in errors over the last 4-5 years and had them fixed. Took some time though. Not perfect but ...
This is sometimes reproducable if you have an order filled on scale order that is set to re-establish your position after a profit target and you are logged out and then you log in after the fill, I don't always see the fill but sometimes I do.
I saw that they have new version out, I guess I'll give it a try.
FWIW 99%
1%I think OldTrader and other IB defenders may just have too much of a personal stake and position in IB. They really don't realize that IB's success and failure doesn't really depend on what one posts on these boards. If anything, an open discussion will improve the response and performance of IB's software.
Personally, I have had a handful of positions not showing up in TWS after leaving TWS running for overnight sessions in the first week of April. There were no major losses although some extra commission was lost due to extra trades made without TWS showing them. I stopped trading using IB for a week and tried to figure out what happened. The only thing that showed any improvement was to restart TWS every session after the midnight server disconnect.
Too bad you didn't continue to keep your mouth shut, because frankly an emotional diatribe/personal attack like this does you a disservice.
Let me state a few facts:
1. Having an audit trail serves to shed light on what took place, or at least to rule out certain types of things. This was one of the points in my post, and in a previous posters post in this thread. The OP disregarded the original question by the previous poster, so it leaves us in the dark on this important issue. So when you post your emotional diatribe against me, I note you do not refer to the audit trail. Are the facts important to you? Do you not want anyone trying to get at the facts in one of the 'bash IB' threads?
2. The OP calls this a "confirmed bug". He evidently got this information from a customer service rep. I simply pointed out that what a customer service rep says may not be the gospel. This isn't to put down the customer service reps, but their knowledge is not necessarily technically all-inclusive, nor even equal to another reps knowledge. So I personally would want more than a customer service reps word regarding most matters.
3. In my first post in this thread I simply agreed with another poster regarding the use of the account window to monitor positions. I have used it for 9 years without a hitch. I repeated that in my second post after the OP directly addressed that issue. Do you think this is information that is unwarranted? Personally I thought it was helpful.
4. Was this a bug...a problem inherent in the software? Or was this some type of glitch caused by a random set of events taking place in the OPs software in combination with TWS? I'm guessing the latter, since it doesn't appear to happen very often based on what I read here on ET. Just a guess though. Again, it might have been helpful to have that audit trail. But in your expertise, if it were a glitch, is this the responsibility of IB alone? Understand that if you read the paperwork you signed, you waived your rights on technical problems...right or wrong. So when you start to discuss compensation, the fact is that you waived your right to it. That said, IB has compensated some people. We've seen it here on ET, and some of those cases were clearly not solely IBs responsibility. Perhaps you should go read the archives if your memory is failing you on this point.
Here, they made an effort to partially compensate the OP according to him. Does that make them "guilty" of something? I don't think so. It's clearly more than they have to do. But he turned it down. So what's his bitch exactly? Just piecing this together (and open to changing it if new info is introduced), it looks like this guy made a claim that he couldn't prove, didn't have his audit trail. He convinces me that something happened, he just is unconvincing as to how it happened or why. Evidently he convinced IB as well, because they offered him some compensation, which he foolishly turned down.
My recommedation to the OP, as before, still stands. If he truly felt that using TWS was a "minefield", then he should close his account. I would not trade somewhere where I had that feeling. On the other hand, I have approximately 9 years of mostly problem free trading with IB. I don't view it as a "minefield". I think occasionally they have problems, that they are interested in addressing, just as I mentioned about a problem I had recently that was actually a "bug".
We all read these threads because we're all users of TWS. If you have some type of information to impart regarding this problem, I would encourage you to post it. Otherwise, if your purpose here is to attack me or anyone else, I recommend that you do as you have been doing....keep your mouth shut.
OldTrader
I don't suppose that it occurred to you that some folks might have a different view of things that you do....that it doesn't represent a personal stake and/or position in IB. LOL.
How did you leave your TWS "running for overnight sessions" with experiencing the midnight server disconnect?
OldTrader