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IB interactivebrokers.com - how is your experience?

  • #41
  • Edited 5:57pm Jan 31, 2011 2:28pm | Edited 5:57pm
Thanks for your view, roughtrader. I'm not sure the platform is as bad as it appears at first sight - one of the posts above mentions that the Demo platform is attached to a vastly inferior datafeed to the real thing. Sure, the graphics aren't as pretty as some, and setting it up isn't very intuitive, but how it works in actual trading is what interests me.

On the minimum deposit side, I personally think that a high minimum deposit requirement is probably a good sign rather than a bad one. I've been looking at every broker's site, every opinion on brokers, and every complaint and conspiracy theory about brokers I can find for the last three weeks, and here's what I've observed:

ECN brokers with higher minimum deposits, and 'low spread plus commission' fee structures (as opposed to 'commission in the spread' brokers with low minimum deposits), are generally, but not exclusively, the ones which are most often recommended by people trading real money with them (I haven't come across enough posters trading a Currenex account to relay a view on those). Opinion from those who declare themselves to be profitable and/or professional traders appears to be that for most people, a small account plus high leverage is a recipe for going bust, even if you have extraordinary luck and know when to quit. There must come a point below which a broker can't make enough from padding the spread on small trades, and that creates the temptation to get your money by other means. Also, it appeared to me that most complaints about brokers concern low deposit high spread brokers - and most of those brokers (in which 70-80% of clients lose money, according to October figures) use MT4. Oanda is one of those that doesn't use MT4, and nearly 50% of their clients make money, according to their figures. Call me supertitious if you like, but however user friendly it is, I think I'll avoid MT4, without concerning myself as to whether or not all the software conspiracy theorists are right or not.

Enough from me, and apologies for getting OT - any more opinions please from traders who have used Trader Workstation, NinjaTrader or other platforms on IB accounts for real trading?

Max
  • #42
  • Feb 1, 2011 9:36am Feb 1, 2011 9:36am
Hi.

I am using live IB account.

I was choosing between many brokers, but finally I have chose IB, because their commissions, data and execution references. (I have checked many forums and review...)

About their platform TWS:
In my opinion is very good for KISS strategies, but I am still using it parallel with demo account on other broker with MT4. I have there some indicator, which are not in TWS.

I also would like to add to previous written, their have also mobile platform mTWS, and I am using it, quite offen on my cell phone. So I am in touch with trades


PS: One negative is they are switching their data flow between 2200-2215 GMT (server checkings).
  • #43
  • Feb 1, 2011 7:13pm Feb 1, 2011 7:13pm
Quoting maxr
Thanks for your view, roughtrader. I'm not sure the platform is as bad as it appears at first sight - one of the posts above mentions that the Demo platform is attached to a vastly inferior datafeed to the real thing. Sure, the graphics aren't as pretty as some, and setting it up isn't very intuitive, but how it works in actual trading is what interests me.

On the minimum deposit side, I personally think that a high minimum deposit requirement is probably a good sign rather than a bad one. I've been looking at every broker's site, every opinion...
I used NinjaTrader with IB. Ninja version 6.5 didn't worked well with IB, but Ninja version 7 now works fine. With Ninja you can do all sort of orders.

Another option is the (now) free Multicharts version.
  • #44
  • Feb 1, 2011 7:41pm Feb 1, 2011 7:41pm
Quoting OldQuant
Tested, but on inbound tickPrice and tickSize events only....

Sounds like a no-brainer to me. However there seems to be no download available for IB Gateway standalone for windows. If you click on the link it just makes you download TWS4.0.

If I click on the Login->IB Gateway from the main web site, it loads up a java gateway app but when I tried to connect from Ninjatrader, it just spawns a new TWS4.0 java app.

Seems to me like they want to make everyone use TWS regardless.
We're all stories in the end. Just try to make it a good one.
  • #45
  • Feb 22, 2011 5:34am Feb 22, 2011 5:34am
Quoting Craig
It is all described on the site, but basically, when you buy and sell currencies you end up with odd amounts of each denomination, depending on what you do. Most brokers will automatically re-balance your account into (for example) USD. IB does not do this, so as you trade you end up with amounts of EUR, JPY etc which need to be reconverted into your base denomination (USD for example).
So one has to be careful, as you pay commission and spread on the re-balance as well as the original trade. This however is a negligible cost depending on how it...
thx alot craig for your reply! (i was offline for a couple of months)
trading is like dancing, don't think and just listen to the music!
  • #46
  • Feb 23, 2011 6:50am Feb 23, 2011 6:50am
IB no longer have UK specific contact numbers - it appears all services for Euro clients are now provided from Switzerland, expect for API support, which is based in US. As a non account holder (yet), I phoned their Euro contact number to ask which software platforms they support other than their own. I got straight through to a very well informed technician who gave me immediate answers without asking for account numbers etc - that's an improvement on my previous experience of their UK operation.

Max
  • #47
  • Mar 2, 2011 3:13pm Mar 2, 2011 3:13pm
I tried their demo before and I thought it was very bad, that was before I found out their redicilously high deposit limit on new acounts, which btw are 10000 dollars! so by finding that out, I didn't even consider joining with them!
there is no way I would deposit that kind of money to a for me "new broker" before even test them out with a modest sum first. so my experience is, bad software and to high risk
Bulls are stupid Animals!especially when Im short!
  • #48
  • Mar 3, 2011 3:40am Mar 3, 2011 3:40am
I'm working my way through their demo software with the manual. It's not instantly user friendly like say MT4, but it is very configurable. Two things I don't like on TWS charting are a) that you can't display just the current Bid price on the chart Y axis - it's 'last' or 'bid and ask', and with their tight spreads on Forex the latter means you can usually only see the Ask 'cos it covers the Bid. - and b) you can't configure a horizontal line across the chart from current price. But, if you don't like it you can use a wide choice of 3rd party software with IB, like Ninja Trader or Multicharts.

I'm not sure why $10K should seem like a high risk initial balance. IB's business model (low ECN spreads + commission) demands volume, and they aren't set up for very small accounts, nor do they do much hand holding (although my limited experience of current support is OK). If you day traded stocks you'd need an initial deposit of $25K whatever broker you use. Also, a) You don't have to risk it all just because it's there, and b) is $10K sitting in their bank more of a risk than paying a 3-4 pip spread for GBPUSD on an MT4 'bucket shop' account with zero transparency rather than 1 pip + small commission with IB's ECM model?

Max
  • #49
  • Mar 3, 2011 9:43am Mar 3, 2011 9:43am
Quoting maxr
I'm working my way through their demo software with the manual. It's not instantly user friendly like say MT4, but it is very configurable. Two things I don't like on TWS charting are a) that you can't display just the current Bid price on the chart Y axis - it's 'last' or 'bid and ask', and with their tight spreads on Forex the latter means you can usually only see the Ask 'cos it covers the Bid. - and b) you can't configure a horizontal line across the chart from current price. But, if you don't like it you can use a wide choice of 3rd party software...
IB charts is very very "bare-bone" and is a pain in the ass to configure. People who trade with IB usually use other chart packages like Ninja Trader, I find. But otherwise, it's not bad as a broker.
Make your losses in demo. Earn your profits live.
  • #50
  • Mar 3, 2011 5:25pm Mar 3, 2011 5:25pm
Quoting roughtrader
I tried their demo before and I thought it was very bad, that was before I found out their redicilously high deposit limit on new acounts, which btw are 10000 dollars! so by finding that out, I didn't even consider joining with them!
there is no way I would deposit that kind of money to a for me "new broker" before even test them out with a modest sum first. so my experience is, bad software and to high risk
lol, your "new broker" is one of the oldest and most respected in the industry. They've been in the brokerage business for more than 30 years. Their deposits are insured. It's no doubt one of the best brokers a retail client can open an account with.
  • #51
  • Edited 3:14am Mar 4, 2011 3:04am | Edited 3:14am
Can someone please explain to me what IB does with 'odd lots' and conversion back into the account base currency that is different from other brokers?

Say for example my account is based in GBP, and I decide to go long 100,235 EURUSD (I think you can trade any size with IB?), which as I understand it is 4 x IB's 25K minimum 'unit' for routing to their IDEALPRO ECN (as opposed to their IDEAL 'odd lot' system), plus 235. What happens from there please?

Are all orders for less than the 25K min for IDEALPRO automatically routed to IDEAL? If you get a partial fill on an order big enough for IDEALPRO, or filled at more than one price level, does it tend to be in chunks of 25K, or can it be any size? In other words, are IB using 25K as a 'lot' on IDEALPRO, so it makes sense to scale out in units of 25K?

By the way, TWS's FX window shows an icon when IDEAL offers a better price than IDEALPRO, and it's not uncommon to have that showing on one side of a major pair at mainstream hours - suggesting that the inside prices on the two systems aren't all that different at those times, even if the liquidity is different? I guess that may not be the case outside London/NY hours, though.

Finally, can you set TWS to display just the IDEAL market liquidity? default is IDEALPRO

Max
  • #52
  • Mar 8, 2011 1:32am Mar 8, 2011 1:32am
Quoting maxr

On the minimum deposit side, I personally think that a high minimum deposit requirement is probably a good sign rather than a bad one.

Max
Hi! thanks for the reply
but Im sorry but I just can't agree,
just because a broker have a higher minimum deposits amount,
doesnt mean he is more reliable than brokers offering less,
it could just as well be that he want to steal more money from you, LOL
ofcource if 10000 dollars is pocket money for you this is not a concern,
but there is a lot of people out there, including me, 1 year ago,
which are interested to start with forex but they doesn't have so much money,
so it certanly wasn't a good sign to me,
I would say this probably goes for the majority of people, with forex being such a boom as it is,
they are tempted to trade with the huge leverage that forex give to speculate and possibly build up a capital for the future,
brokers like Ib totally shut these people out, 10000 is a lot!
and a lot more than usual people have to play with,
it is not necesary to have that kind of money to play forex
I don't understand how the Ib people think? they must be really stupid,
if people want to trade and loose their money why not let them?
I mean, a guy with a 1000 deposit vs a guy with a 10000 in their acount
both pay the equally amount of commisions, so why negate the little people?
if they think the 10000 acounts last longer and are of more value to them,
they better think again because when the little guy has blown his acount
he will deposit another 1000 again and again,
when the guy with the 10000 has blown his acount he will probably vomit if he hear the word "forex"
but Im sure Ib is a good broker "if you dont mind loosing 10000"
Bulls are stupid Animals!especially when Im short!
  • #53
  • Mar 8, 2011 2:25am Mar 8, 2011 2:25am
IB caters to more than just smalltime retail. Why would they want to waste their resources on $1k accounts that generate minimal commissions?
  • #54
  • Mar 8, 2011 3:05am Mar 8, 2011 3:05am
Quoting jagui
lol, your "new broker" is one of the oldest and most respected in the industry. They've been in the brokerage business for more than 30 years. Their deposits are insured. It's no doubt one of the best brokers a retail client can open an account with.
, i know, i trade with citibank i don't think these small time traders understand the real world.
  • #55
  • Edited 7:11am Mar 8, 2011 6:12am | Edited 7:11am
Quoting roughtrader
...just because a broker have a higher minimum deposits amount, doesnt mean he is more reliable than brokers offering less, it could just as well be that he want to steal more money from you, LOL...

I would say this probably goes for the majority of people, with forex being such a boom as it is, they are tempted to trade with the huge leverage that forex give to speculate and possibly build up a capital for the future,

I mean, a guy with a 1000 deposit vs a guy with a 10000 in their acount
both pay the equally amount of commisions, so why negate...
Roughtrader - I agree with you on most of this, and these are the reasons I think there should perhaps be a minumum account balance for Forex trading as there is for stock day trading (that's 25K).

Every time I attend an educational FX event I meet people who have blown up small accounts, often by their own admission because they didn't apply money management at all, or just 'went for it'. I've also met some people who have successfully progressed to trading accounts of $100K - $1M, often by starting with say $10K, then adding some capital they had right from the start plus trading profits. I've never met anyone trading a $100K account who started with $500, and I haven't personally met anyone who has quickly blown up a large account. OK, they must both be out there, but they don't appear to be common. I've noticed one big difference - the medium to large account holders I've met treat it like a business, whereas too many of the $1000 account traders I've met say (as you suggest above) "OK, I blew the account, I'll have another go when I get some cash", and then they go and do it again. Talking to traders at these events suggests that the common experience is Small Account + High Leverage = Doom.

If you work out how many trades a day you need to do to make a living, using the 1%-3% maximum loss per trade which many recommend using to determine trade size (along with the stop for each trade), $10K looks like a very small account, and it hardly seems worth trading a $1K account except for the practise.

I suppose all this depends on whether you think that traders deserve to lose their money if they don't inform themselves enough, or whether they should be protected from themselves.

Max
  • #56
  • Mar 8, 2011 4:08pm Mar 8, 2011 4:08pm
IB requires $10K to open, not to maintain.
So next month pull out half of it.
I think their minimum is $2K for futures contracts, good luck finding margin at that. But less for options and probably fx.
  • #57
  • Mar 9, 2011 3:28am Mar 9, 2011 3:28am
Quoting Mr J
IB caters to more than just smalltime retail. Why would they want to waste their resources on $1k accounts that generate minimal commissions?
I suggest you read my post again, because there is a great deal of comissions to be earned if IB just could open their eyes, there are by the millions more smalltimers out there than big investors such as you
Bulls are stupid Animals!especially when Im short!
  • #58
  • Mar 9, 2011 3:35am Mar 9, 2011 3:35am
Quoting maxr
I've never met anyone trading a $100K account who started with $500, and I haven't personally met anyone who has quickly blown up a large account.
Max

I can guarantie that you will never hear anyone admit to blowing up a 100.000 dollar acount on forex if I did, I would certanly not tell anyone
Bulls are stupid Animals!especially when Im short!
  • #59
  • Edited 5:30am Mar 9, 2011 5:18am | Edited 5:30am
Quoting roughtrader
I suggest you read my post again, because there is a great deal of comissions to be earned if IB just could open their eyes, there are by the millions more smalltimers out there than big investors such as you
10K is not a big investor in the real world it's small to average. IB set these requirements as they only want to deal with certain size traders. If they felt that micro and nano traders were important they would already be taking them....

Good Trading.....
  • #60
  • Mar 9, 2011 10:32am Mar 9, 2011 10:32am
Quoting roughtrader
I can guarantie that you will never hear anyone admit to blowing up a 100.000 dollar acount on forex if I did, I would certanly not tell anyone
LOL! I guess that's true. But from what I've learned of Forex so far, I wouldn't consider myself a big investor if I had $250K available. I guess 'medium' might cover it - there are brokers who wouldn't let me in the door with that.

I fully sympathise with traders who would like to trade a smaller account with a 'proper' ECN, but with the current commission rates I guess they just don't make enough to justify it - however, from other posts it sounds like the competition is bringing out some good MMs anyway?

Max
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