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A word to the wise for IB bond traders....in a total bonehead move, today IB
shut down entering positions in the sep contract while it was still the most
active. Here's an email I sent to Don at IB tech support. Any bond traders
there should beware near rollover day.
Chris
I am writing about your policy of shutting off entry into contracts that are
near expiration. As a concept, this is fine. However you have to get the
dates right. In bonds today you did not. At some point you cut off trading
in the sep contract while it was still the most active contract. I have no
problem if you have a policy such as this. But you must not restict trading
in the top step, active contract too early. If you look at a chart of zb u3
vs. zb z3 for today 8-26 it is plain to see that there is little activity in
the dec contract, even late in the day. As I write this, the bid ask spread
for the dec contract is two ticks, vs one tick for the sep contract. So I
can't trade bonds in the post-pit session today without paying twice the
normal bid-ask. This isn't right. The policy is a good idea, but you have to
execute it properly. Done at the close of rollover day, I am sure all would
welcome it. I did not suffer a loss over this, but it is important that you
realize the mistake that was made. I am sure that you will hear from others
as well.
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