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Interactive Brokers - experiences and opinions

  • #701
  • Oct 2, 2015 5:29am Oct 2, 2015 5:29am
I don't trade forex in IB because their way of charging over night interest rate is unfair.
  • #702
  • Oct 2, 2015 5:43am Oct 2, 2015 5:43am
RE the minor FX crosses, why bother with them?

I mean, if one can't make profits with the 5-10 big majors, why should one be able to make money with some of the smaller crosses?

Yes, if you're a market maker or similar I can understand but not with general retail trading.

Plus, many of the smaller crosses are generally priced off the majors in some form or another.

Granted, some people just aren't fans of certain crosses but surely not all of the bigger ones.

if you like volatility, plenty available in Cable or EUR-AUD. Hell, Crude and Dax are pretty good as well, in fact some say the Dax is the most beautiful market in the world. I don't know about that, but it can set up beautifully.
Road To Wisdom? To err and err and err again, but less and less and less...
  • #703
  • Oct 2, 2015 6:01am Oct 2, 2015 6:01am
In this particular case where we saw spikes on IB that were at least 150+ ticks above the generally agreed daily high printed by at least 5 leading FX providers (which were at most within 2-3 ticks of eachother), the pair in question is GBP.NZD. On the fateful day of China collapsing 10 %, a similar discrepancy happened even on NZD.USD

I am a derivatives trader and not really specializing on FX, but I thought NZD.USD and GBP.NZD were quite popular ?.. Going off 150 ticks off market in any exchange traded future would be the end of that broker's business... If this happened say on CL or FESX or FGBL or any single exchange traded product really, no client would be able to take that broker seriously from that point on...

So it brings into question the legitimacy of FX markets in general if IB can get away with these massive spikes without catching massive repercussions from its client base, even if it's just on NZD pairs, which I didn't think were considered too exotic...
  • #704
  • Oct 2, 2015 6:19am Oct 2, 2015 6:19am
Vis. If you're not happy with IB and some of its FX pricings why not forget about them and go with someone who you are happy with?

IB is in my opinion an excellent broker but others rightly or wrongly don't agree. So vote with your feet and go with another broker.
Road To Wisdom? To err and err and err again, but less and less and less...
  • #705
  • Oct 4, 2015 1:50pm Oct 4, 2015 1:50pm
Quoting Calculus
Vis. If you're not happy with IB and some of its FX pricings why not forget about them and go with someone who you are happy with? IB is in my opinion an excellent broker but others rightly or wrongly don't agree. So vote with your feet and go with another broker.
I'm actually very happy with Interactive Brokers in Futures and Options trading. I'm just curious to hear some opinions on why they are slacking off on their fx liquidity, and whether this type of unreasonable off market spikes is a problem inherent to second tier pairs in the FX markets in general...
  • #706
  • Oct 4, 2015 11:03pm Oct 4, 2015 11:03pm
Vispilio: I understand what you're saying. It's true that in the forex market, any broker can quote whatever they want, and nobody can say anything about it, as there isn't any exchange and any official price. About this event, nothing says that it isn't IB themselves that are responsible for the spike. IB is a public company, and you can have a look at their reports, they openly state that they are earning money by market making. It seems to be mainly on options, but they can act as a market maker on the Fx side too.

Nothing states on their website that they can't be the other side of your trade.
  • #707
  • Nov 9, 2015 2:30pm Nov 9, 2015 2:30pm
I use interactive brokers and am quite happy with their service. Their service seems stable and prices are quite cheap. It is a more professional platform for institutional and higher net worth clients.. So it's not for everyone.
Regards,
Brian
  • #708
  • Nov 9, 2015 11:56pm Nov 9, 2015 11:56pm
Quoting Mevo
Vispilio: I understand what you're saying. It's true that in the forex market, any broker can quote whatever they want, and nobody can say anything about it, as there isn't any exchange and any official price. About this event, nothing says that it isn't IB themselves that are responsible for the spike. IB is a public company, and you can have a look at their reports, they openly state that they are earning money by market making. It seems to be mainly on options, but they can act as a market maker on the Fx side too. Nothing states on their website...
IB is 2 different things: A well known brokerage firm and a public company --- the public company OWNS the brokerage firm and another firm (Timber Hill) for market making.

The broker firm is US regulated, which prevents anything but real broking. They even can`t offer CFDs - only their foreign subsidiary IBUK can do this to non-US customers.
  • #709
  • Nov 28, 2015 1:22pm Nov 28, 2015 1:22pm
Quoting actalis
IB is great for futures or intraday FX, but their swap rates are ridiculously expensive. I posted the following example in another thread for someone who didn't think IB was 3x more expensive than other brokers: I was actually being kind by saying it's only 3x the rates, it's actually often worse than that, basically the difference between getting paid vs. getting charged... I'll indulge you with an example: Let's assume you hold a long position overnight of GBP100K at 1.5000 GBP/USD FXCM (and most FX brokers) applies an Interest Rate Swap which...
I am glad to havecome over your post cause thats exactly the point I tried to clarify in order to decide on a safe forexbroker to enlarge my account.
I too hold positions for weeks and month and rolloverrates are absolutly crucial and could eat up easily more than the profit of a trade. .
So finally I recognize that IB is also no solution for me.
Any other advice ?
  • #710
  • Dec 4, 2015 11:10pm Dec 4, 2015 11:10pm
Quoting rany
I too hold positions for weeks and month and rolloverrates are absolutly crucial
Then if I were you, I would just switch to trading currency Futures and IB is actually a good broker for this...
  • #711
  • Dec 5, 2015 10:19am Dec 5, 2015 10:19am
Quoting actalis
{quote} Then if I were you, I would just switch to trading currency Futures and IB is actually a good broker for this...
IB is not too bad as a broker both in Forex and Futures. They operate as an ECN in Forex. Their spread is pretty tight and doesn't deviate much for very long even during news time. Their execution is instant so the slippage is really low almost non-existant; you really get what you see. BUT that's all 2 years ago when their trading platform TWS is crap. They have recently made "some" improvements to the platform and since everything cost money I dunno if their execution quality and/or spread is still this good. It's yet to be seen. Just with any forex brokers, I cannot say with 100% certainty that they don't stop-hunt so I don't usually trade with a SL.

Since Futures is all traded on central exchanges so there is less issues of price and execution manipulations and IB is a pretty reputable broker in the Futures industry with one of the highest Futures trading volume and IB is a self-clearing broker on CME. The ONLY beef that I do have with IB regarding Futures is its ridiculously high margin on some of the most liquid futures instrument like CL and 6E. CL is 2333 and 6E is even more ridiculous at 7xxx. That's just maintenance margin; their overnight margin is a killer and that's very prohibitive to us retail traders and unnecessarily so.
Make your losses in demo. Earn your profits live.
  • #712
  • Dec 20, 2015 4:21pm Dec 20, 2015 4:21pm
Can someone help me explain what quantity I should enter for the currency pairs for IB? I am very confused with it especially when it involved JPY currency. I used FXCM demo account, it seems in FXCM, the quantity is related to the number of pips. But when I put 10k for EURUSD order, it's very different from 10k from USDJPY or EURJPY pairs.
  • #713
  • Dec 20, 2015 4:52pm Dec 20, 2015 4:52pm
Quoting sw88
Can someone help me explain what quantity I should enter for the currency pairs for IB? I am very confused with it especially when it involved JPY currency. I used FXCM demo account, it seems in FXCM, the quantity is related to the number of pips. But when I put 10k for EURUSD order, it's very different from 10k from USDJPY or EURJPY pairs.
EU will have a higher $ amount per pip than UJ or EJ.
EU is $10/pip @ 1 lot.
UJ & EJ are $8.19/pip @ 1 lot.

Use the script below if you want to see how much 1 pip is worth.
The script is for MT4 but the value will be the same on any platform.
Attached File(s)
File Type: ex4 spread_and_pip_cost_checker.ex4   7 KB | 656 downloads
File Type: mq4 spread_and_pip_cost_checker.mq4   2 KB | 661 downloads
  • #714
  • Dec 21, 2015 4:49am Dec 21, 2015 4:49am
Srt: The guy asks the question for IB, so I'm not sure an MT4 script will really help him.

Sw88: That's forex 101: In a forex pair, the first currency determines the quantity, the second one the "pip value". You can think about a metal, for example gold: XAU/USD is Gold in USD. So when you buy/sell, you will buy/sell a certain amount of GOLD, and the profit/loss will be in USD.

It's the same with EUR/USD for example: You buy/sell a certain amount of EUROS and the profit/loss will be in USD.

Srt is correct: 1 pip per lot on EU will always be $10
1 pip per lot on UJ or EJ is in fact 10 JPY, so in USD it's 10/UJ (it will be different according to UJ value)

For IB, you select 100.000 of the first currency for 1 lot (10.000 for 1 mini lot and 1.000 for 1 micro lot)
And no, EU, UJ and EJ pip value are NOT different on FXCM, IB or any broker.
  • #715
  • Edited 1:34am Mar 7, 2016 1:22am | Edited 1:34am
Quoting Forexia
{quote} IB is not too bad as a broker both in Forex and Futures. They operate as an ECN in Forex. Their spread is pretty tight and doesn't deviate much for very long even during news time. Their execution is instant so the slippage is really low almost non-existant; you really get what you see. BUT that's all 2 years ago when their trading platform TWS is crap. They have recently made "some" improvements to the platform and since everything cost money I dunno if their execution quality and/or spread is still this good. It's yet to be seen. Just...
Forexia, would it make sense to trade globex e-micro futures with a capital of 30k-40k USD..

For a retail guy to trade globex e-micro fx futures, what is the minimum capital needed? I know 30k USD is pushing it. Will 40k USD be comfortable if I scalp e-micro fx futures, with just 2 open e-micro postions opened at anyone time, & close out intraday..

I am also unsure if posted margin for each opened trade is included in the Pattern Day Trader's net liquidation value of at least 25k USD?

Day Trader
1) Must fulfill the net liquidation value of >$25k USD (https://www.interactivebrokers.com/e...745&p=daytrade)
of which net liquidation value = Total cash value (which includes futures P&L) + commodities options value

2) Must post margin for trades (https://www.interactivebrokers.com/e...arginnew&p=fut)
seems like IB's intraday & overnight margins are the SAME. Eg m6E inital intraday/overnight margin is 726.479 USD


eb
  • #716
  • Mar 7, 2016 5:54am Mar 7, 2016 5:54am
Quoting econbizer
{quote} Forexia, would it make sense to trade globex e-micro futures with a capital of 30k-40k USD.. For a retail guy to trade globex e-micro fx futures, what is the minimum capital needed? I know 30k USD is pushing it. Will 40k USD be comfortable if I scalp e-micro fx futures, with just 2 open e-micro postions opened at anyone time, & close out intraday.. I am also unsure if posted margin for each opened trade is included in the Pattern Day Trader's net liquidation value of at least 25k USD? Day Trader 1) Must fulfill the net liquidation value...
The contract size of M6E is 12,500 so $30,000 in the account is plenty - for 2 lots your leverage is 25/30 or less than 1. The NAV of the account (includes floating gains/losses) will determine whether you are above the 25K level for PDT, so if you start with 30K and have more than 5K of open and/or closed losses you are below the 25K level. The initial/intraday margin reduces your buying power by 2 x 726.48 (currently 3/7/2016)) when you open 2 lots of M6E.
  • #717
  • Mar 7, 2016 6:00am Mar 7, 2016 6:00am
Quoting econbizer
{quote} Forexia, would it make sense to trade globex e-micro futures with a capital of 30k-40k USD.. For a retail guy to trade globex e-micro fx futures, what is the minimum capital needed? I know 30k USD is pushing it. Will 40k USD be comfortable if I scalp e-micro fx futures, with just 2 open e-micro postions opened at anyone time, & close out intraday.. I am also unsure if posted margin for each opened trade is included in the Pattern Day Trader's net liquidation value of at least 25k USD? Day Trader 1) Must fulfill the net liquidation value...
First that $25K daytrader requirement is for daytrading stocks ONLY and it doesn't really apply to Futures. They introduced it to kill off the daytrading industry and they succeeded.

With regards to the global e-micro futures, I don't know since I don't trade those ones. I usually trade the real contracts as their trading volume and thus volatility is higher. For me, volatility is the key. Sorry I am not that much of help to you there. In terms of trading capital, $30K - 40K should be fine of course the higher the better.

Good luck!
Make your losses in demo. Earn your profits live.
  • #718
  • Apr 17, 2016 7:20pm Apr 17, 2016 7:20pm
I am new to IB TWS. I saw a huge spike down in AU in demo account. Is this real? I don't see it in Pepperstone live account....
(1H)
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
  • #719
  • Apr 17, 2016 7:30pm Apr 17, 2016 7:30pm
I am also very new to currency futures. I opened an AU contract chart. Why is the chart so illiquid?
Am I watching correct chart?
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
  • #720
  • Edited 5:50am Apr 18, 2016 5:26am | Edited 5:50am
Quoting heispark
I am new to IB TWS. I saw a huge spike down in AU in demo account. Is this real? I don't see it in Pepperstone live account.... (1H) {image} {image}
The top chart is cash AUD.USD. Pay attention to the session times (open/close). For IB there is a 15 minute daily maintenance where all products are closed for trading between 5-5:14:59 PM Eastern time, reopening at 5:15 PM. What time does Pepperstone open? My Oanda chart showed a gap but not as large as shown on the IB chart you posted. I think that first bar has bad data. Note the start time of the first and second bars are the same 17:15-17:16. You can delete the bad bar by right clicking on the bar and choosing Remove bar, or edit the data by choosing Replace Bar Data - my low price on data collected from IB via the API was 0.7660. I don't use IB's charting but on data I collect from IB via the API it didn't show the excessive spike down below 0.75 so the API data is fine, just the charting data collection is messed up.

It is important to be aware of currency session times in terms of Eastern time for IB because of the 15 minute maintenance, and the CME hours which are offset 1 hour from Eastern time: (bottom section)

http://www.forexmarkethours.com/GMT_hours/02/

Note that with IB, 15 minutes for the FX cash and 1 hour for FX futures, there is no coverage of the AUD or NZD open. Here was my AUD.USD API collected IB data at the open (see pic) at 1 tick resolution - low price was 0.7660.
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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Quote
I am also very new to currency futures. I opened an AU contract chart. Why is the chart so illiquid?
Am I watching correct chart?

You're looking at the mini contract M6A (10K multiplier) which isn't as liquid as the main contract (symbol AUD, 100K multiplier). Note the Globex closes between 5-6PM Eastern time daily which may show up as an opening gap. If you're new to futures you should spend some time studying the contract specs, calendar, margin requirements and volume info at the source: (lots of useful info on the CME's site)
http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/fx/e...fications.html

Compare this M6A contract to AUD (CME symbol 6A) specs and volume numbers and you'll see why the M6A chart appears less liquid (3.3K volume on Friday vs 135.9K volume for the larger contract), so you might want evaluate whether to use limit orders for that contract to avoid wider spreads - the usual caveats with limit order fills and adverse selection apply. Note in the CME site specs that the times are listed in CT or central time 1 hour offset from Eastern.
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