Why do IB spread charts not show the high and low tails?

M

mberrync

My preferred trading strategy utilizes the highs and lows of bars. I was surprised to see that the spread charts on IB do not print the high and low tails. I often see spread charts shown only as a line chart of closes but am not sure what purpose there is in not showing highs and lows on candle charts. On the spread chart the bars do go up and down just like an outright chart so they are occuring but the highs and lows are not recorded as tails on the chart.

Could the tails be easily added to the software for those of us that use this information in our spread trading? I understand that one can use reqular stops on both native and synthetic spreads on IB. It would be great to be able to see the highs and lows for use with entering stops.

mberrync
 
If there is little traffic, there may not be sufficient quotes.
I suspect if you attempt the same chart with a 1-hour candle, you'd have no issue.
And if you attempt it with a 10-minute candle, you'd have much less issue.

If you are using a high or low or difference in your trading, then you have probably carried over a prior OHLC without noticing. If the underlying moves (sharply) and the options stagnate, this could lead to big trouble.

Let us know your solution. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
I am referring to and asking about futures charts and not options charts. It happens on all time frames. I was looking at the synthetic NQ-YM and RTY-YM spreads. Native spreads chart the same way. The spread bars printed as the outrights proceeded regardless as to whether there was an actual trade occuring in the actual spread or not. I just do not understand if the opens and closes can be printed why cannot the highs and lows also be printed on a spread chart similar to an outright chart? Esignal created spreads show the high and low tails. It would be helpful to see them on IB charts also rather than switching back and forth.
 
tommcginnis said:
If there is little traffic, there may not be sufficient quotes.
I suspect if you attempt the same chart with a 1-hour candle, you'd have no issue.
And if you attempt it with a 10-minute candle, you'd have much less issue.

If you are using a high or low or difference in your trading, then you have probably carried over a prior OHLC without noticing. If the underlying moves (sharply) and the options stagnate, this could lead to big trouble.

Let us know your solution. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
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Most likely IBKR has a good reason, not enough traffic/volume........ I've noticed IBD still uses plenty of black + grey charts, cheaper to print than thier excellant red, white + blue barcharts. IBD NEVER prints the open price= i do, myself,candlecharts.....................................................................................................
 
mberrync said:
I am referring to and asking about futures charts and not options charts. It happens on all time frames. I was looking at the synthetic NQ-YM and RTY-YM spreads. Native spreads chart the same way. The spread bars printed as the outrights proceeded regardless as to whether there was an actual trade occuring in the actual spread or not. I just do not understand if the opens and closes can be printed why cannot the highs and lows also be printed on a spread chart similar to an outright chart? Esignal created spreads show the high and low tails. It would be helpful to see them on IB charts also rather than switching back and forth.
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As @bone will tell you (better than I will try here), spread charts calculated using ordinary charting tools will typically only indicate the open and close spread prices reliably because they are synchronized in time and you are plotting the price series on a time scale. IOW, you know the price of both legs at the open time and the close time, so you can calculate the spread prices at those times. However, the high and low for each leg is not necessarily the high and low of the spread price (aka, the difference in prices between the legs).

Determining the spread price high and low within each bar would require calculating the spread prices across the time intervals between the open and close times, then taking the max and min values of this range as the high and low. This is a feature of charting programs with a full implementation for spread charts.

If you are plotting a symbol for the exchange implied spread, then any charting program should work since the implied spread symbol reflects all intra-bar prices correctly.
 
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