why do people complain about IB TWS crashing so much?

[risktaker]

OldTrader,

I still keep getting the "pink-outs" or "disconnects for 10 sec at a time even with this latest 871 version I installed this morning.

In fact, this "pink-out" crap or disconnects/reconnects probably cost me at least $500 just today.

It's very frustrating when you have a 5000 share order or an entire basket waiting to be executed because TWS has your order "frozen" because of this problem.

Happens to me at least 5-6 times a day.

And it's not on my side because I run 2 TWS's side by side and what I notice is that they don't both do this at the same time so it's doubtful it could be my computers/internet connection and of course this was not an issue with older versions of tws.

Quote from OldTrader:

Doesn't sound like a separate issue to me. What am I missing?

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/releaseNotes/TWS_Notes_871.php?ib_entity=#871_fix

 

[MajorUrsa]

Quote from demoship:

I've never had a pinkout either that was IB's fault, every time i've had a pinkout was because my router crashed.

I think that is something that really should never happen. Can't remember I had that ever.

Ursa..

 

[risktaker]

Can someone explain the reason for the 9:30PST server break?
That's actually a daily occurrence but it's hell of annoying. It seems to go out for about 5 minutes?

What's that all about?

Quote from atticus:

Yeah, the pinkouts and the 9:30PST server drops are pretty annoying. I know it's IB on the pinkouts as I have a T1 and a fiber connection to my home.

 

[JangoFolly]

Quote from OldTrader:

Doesn't sound like a separate issue to me. What am I missing?

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/releaseNotes/TWS_Notes_871.php?ib_entity=#871_fix

Two different IB reps told me that it's not a TWS issue and that the problem lies in their servers.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1433783#post1433783

The pink-outs don't result in frozen quotes or a loss of market data. The book just keeps flying along, but you can't enter/cancel orders and fills are not reported until the pink-out is over. They're definitely separate issues.

 

[gurucandidate]

I have been with IB for at least 5 years but I don't remember TWS crashing more then twice.

Regards,

GC

 

[Wayne Gibbous]

Quote from atticus:

Yeah, the pinkouts and the 9:30PST server drops are pretty annoying. I know it's IB on the pinkouts as I have a T1 and a fiber connection to my home.

I wonder if the problems are regional for you and the others that experience pinkouts? Could it mostly be West Coast connections to IB? (But who knows how all of the different ISPs route...)

I live in California but I connect to IB thru HughesNet Satellite and my Op Center (where the IP goes terrestrial) is Germantown, MD. I think atticus connects from Tahoe. Where do you guys with problems connect from?

The reason I'm asking is that my API logs any data errors and dropouts and I have experienced only a couple on Monday (Apr 23rd) this week. Why do I have fewer problems, even with a shitty ISP like HughesNet? Gotta be a reason...

Is there a regional router/server/mirror or whatever that could be overloaded or faulty? Maybe you guys with problems can post TraceRoutes to IB servers? Anybody know the different IB addresses TWS connects to?

Any of you guys use Proxy Servers? (Tools --> Options --> Connections --> LAN --> Proxy Server) I often have trouble with mine. They are used for different "acceleration" schemes. Does TWS go through a proxy?

Hopefully there are some savvy IP network guys here that can offer some clues to troubleshoot these problems. Good trading to all.

 

[rover]

try transact futures. www.tfutures.com

 

[syswizard]

Quote from gurucandidate:

I have been with IB for at least 5 years but I don't remember TWS crashing more then twice.

Regards,

GC

Uh...crashing is much different in nature than a service outage.
TWS = workstation software
service outage = SERVER software (and communications)

 

[kostia00]

We have found that a certain piece of load-balancing hardware that distributes the incoming TWS connections over a pool of servers was misconfigured, and was dropping connections when TWS would get busier and less responsive.

The hardware has been reconfigured as of Monday Apr 30th, and we see the number of disconnects went down significantly. There are still some disconnects attributable to two copies of TWS running on two computers for the same user name, and some disconnects would always be attributable to ISP problems. If you believe you are getting disconnects not caused by either ISP or second copy of TWS, please PM me your user name and we at IB will investigate.

 

[mde2004]

I have no complaints either and have been with you guys for a year now. The platform has nothing but improved since I started trading on TWS.