|
PureBytes Links
Trading Reference Links
|
Why any futures trader uses IB is beyond me given the way they handle
stop orders. Unless they've finally made the long-awaited change of
sending stops native to Globex (judging by the comments it seems not)
then in my opinion, it's a mess because your stop is only held on IB
servers which means:
- your order will only get sent to Globex as a market order when the
stop price is triggered. In the best of cirucmstances (when it works)
this means that your fill takes the lowest priority. All stops at
the same price held directly on Globex will be filled before your
order is. Orders held native on globex are timestamped and queued.
Even if you sent your IB stop order four hours earlier, Globex
doesn't even know about it until after the price is hit ...because
only then does IB actually send it off. Bottom line? time lag in
getting the order off (even if <1 second) and bottom of the pile
priority, all mean increased risk of a tick slippage. At $12.50 ES,
what good is your extra $1 commission saving?
- Your stop relies on IBs own datafeed to trigger it and send it to
Globex. A problem with their datafeed means your order can go
unexecuted. My understanding is that it's not a true streaming
datafeed but rather a snapshot every second or so. What if the
snapshot misses your stop price? Or what if the feed goes down for
10 seconds around the time your stop would be triggered? Your stop
goes unfilled that's what!
Contrast this to the situation where your stop is held directly on
Globex. It's been timestamped and received by the entity actually
doing the execution. It will receive preferred filling. Your PC
could blow up, your brokers servers could explode ...and nonetheless
you are guaranteed to get executed. The worst that happens is that
your brokers order software goes iffy (it happens to them all) and it
says your order is still working. But if you KNOW your order was
sent to Globex you have total peace of mind that the truth is you
were executed and they just aren't showing it yet. You can relax that
any software glitch has no material impact on you. Contrast that to
IB where you are sitting there with a "working" order and wondering:
"was I filled?", "is the system just slow?", "am I still in the
market?". Who needs that hassle in their life?
To me, it's such a basic fundamental to have your stop orders only
rest on Globex servers ...trading with them on a brokers' servers or
keeping them on your PC is just insanity. Pay an extra buck or two
and use a J-Trader platform* that holds stops directly on Globex.
IMHO the commission savings of IB just aren't worth the extra risk of
$12.50 slippage, the extra risk of unexecuted orders, and the mental
stress it puts on your ability to successfully trade, when problems
do occur. There's enough stress in trading without worrying whether
your orders are filled or not.
S.
*Not all versions of J-Trader can send stops directly to Globex (some
versions only hold them on your PC), but stand alone version
2.8.0.6.D does offer this capability.
On Mon, 10 Feb 2003 14:29:06 -0800 (PST), Alex Matulich wrote:
>Is there a way to fail-safe this problem? I can understand wanting
>to place a stop order at the same time one places an entry order, so
>that if your power goes out, your network goes down, your computer
>blows up, or whatever, you still have that stop order protecting
>you.
>
>However, If your data feed is running and everything's working fine
>on your end, the software can place a market order to close an open
>position, duplicating the already-open stop order. That way, since
>both orders would be "to close," if one of them executes, the other
>should simply fail and not execute because there's no position to
>close.
>
>On the other hand, does IB make an adjustment to your account if
>the stop order doesn't convert to a market order after the price is
>touched?
>
>I don't use IB, but I'm considering them.
>
>-Alex
>
>
>Jerry War wrote:
>>I have had this happen many times. I have complained about it to no
>>end.
>>They gave me the same BS that their programmers were looking into
>>it but
>>after repeated calls to find out the resolution, I just got more
>>BS.
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "MT" <mtzianos@xxxxxxxxx>
>>To: <omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 5:06 PM
>>Subject: IB TWS problem with stops
>>
>>
>>>Hi List,
>>>
>>>Since last Friday noon, I've had several instances where my
>>>regular
>>>(simulated) stops for Globex traded emini SP wouldn't be activated
>>>(triggered) by IB. Instead the market would go through the stops
>>>and TWS
>>>would still the stop as an active order! It doesn't always happen,
>>>but
>>>it happened to me more than once.
>>>
>>>I've notified IB and their programmers are looking into this bug,
>>>but I
>>>thought it'd be useful for others to be aware of it.
>>>
>>>Regards, M
|