Interactive Brokers (IB)

[dao]

Start a new thread for discussion on IB since we discuss quite OT in SCB thread. Hope all will share the experience of using IB.

For me, I have not started using IB. But I am looking for alternate broker instead of local broker for my futures trading. IB is one of them that I will like to explore.

 

[Wolfnet]

Start a new thread for discussion on IB since we discuss quite OT in SCB thread. Hope all will share the experience of using IB.

For me, I have not started using IB. But I am looking for alternate broker instead of local broker for my futures trading. IB is one of them that I will like to explore.

IB is good for trading most future contracts available out there in this world and they are generally a lot cheaper than most other retail brokers.

What makes IB so versatile is that u can trade almost any instrument out there. However, if you are or intend to be a pure futures day trader, you might be better off opening an account with dedicated US futures brokers. Always ask before opening an account with futures brokers whether they provide span margins. So far the most reliable one that people recommend is Advantage Futures. There is also deepdiscounttrading and cunningham futures clearing. Typical commissions would be around $2 - 2.50 a contract. Do note that with these futures brokers you would have to choose which trading platform you want to use with them and some are really expensive like Xtrader TT or CQG which can easily cost $1000++ a month.

Philip Futures, Ongfirst and UOB also provide cheap futures trading but only if u are a TMI which cost about $2k a year for membership with SGX i think.

Two problems I have with IB is that their charting is the worst ever (super hard to use) and executing trades on their platform is not the fastest. It is mainly caterred towards investors or funds or longer term day traders and not scalpers. A lot of people combine IB feed with 3rd party programs out there for charting (ninjatrader or multicharts etc) or DOM trading (zeroline trader or button trader etc). Do note that when using external software for charting, IB limits the amount of data per minute so if you have too many charts open some of the charts will not load and the system will slow down.

One good feature IB has is that if you are a good programmer u could create your own trading platform with their API. U also can trade via microsoft excel. IB provides sample trading spreadsheets and documentation using DDE or ActiveX. You do not need to be a stellar programmer but if you have decent VBA and excel skills you could create trading spreadsheets that could execute 100 orders with contingent orders with just a mouse click instead of manually putting it all in or if you are godlike with your VBA, you could even write algos to your spreadsheet which could help u trade on its own.

 

[Shiny Things]

For me, I have not started using IB. But I am looking for alternate broker instead of local broker for my futures trading. IB is one of them that I will like to explore.

IB's probably a pretty good pick for low-volume futures - 85c per side ($1.70 round-trip) on US contracts if you pick their all-in rate. They're not cheap outside America - Aussie and SGX futures, for example, run $3-$5 a side - but Phillip Futures seems to be 3-4 times higher than that, and Ong First don't even post their commission rates online, which, WHAT?

The automatic sweep from the (uninsured) futures account to the (SIPC-insured) securities account every night is pretty nice too, if you're worried about them doing an MF Global with your money.

I mostly use IB for buy-and-hold equities, but they've been perfectly good the couple of times I wanted to do a bit of STIR futures trading as well.

 

[Wolfnet]

The automatic sweep from the (uninsured) futures account to the (SIPC-insured) securities account every night is pretty nice too, if you're worried about them doing an MF Global with your money.

Wow! Thanks for the info. I have been using IB for a few years and I never knew of this haha. I feel more assured about my stuff in IB. Just read up and I like the fact that IB does not keep more than 5% of customers cash with any one bank.

I had half the mind to buy US equities with IB and transfer some of my holdings to SCB and possibly DBS vickers if possible so that I do not have too many shares with any one broker.

 

[Shiny Things]

Wow! Thanks for the info. I have been using IB for a few years and I never knew of this haha. I feel more assured about my stuff in IB. Just read up and I like the fact that IB does not keep more than 5% of customers cash with any one bank.

The sweep's pretty new, actually - they only started doing it after the MF Global kerfuffle. The only catch is that it's not switched on by default: if you want to enable it, go to Account Administration / Excess Funds Sweep, and select "Sweep excess funds into my IB securities account".

They'll still keep enough money in the futures account (aka the "commodities account") to cover your futures margin, but everything else will be swept into the securities account so it's covered by the SIPC insurance. If IB goes tits up, the money in your futures account should be segregated, but the money in your securities account will be insured - SIPC insures you for cash and securities up to $500k USD total.

I think shifting your shares to SCB or DBS might be overkill unless you're over the SIPC limit. I looked at doing this as well, and the amount of hassle involved in getting dividends credited to a USD account at DBS seemed to make it not worth the trouble. (That, and I don't want to encourage DBS by paying their extortionate thirty-bucks-a-trade brokerage.)

 

[Wolfnet]

The sweep's pretty new, actually - they only started doing it after the MF Global kerfuffle. The only catch is that it's not switched on by default: if you want to enable it, go to Account Administration / Excess Funds Sweep, and select "Sweep excess funds into my IB securities account".

They'll still keep enough money in the futures account (aka the "commodities account") to cover your futures margin, but everything else will be swept into the securities account so it's covered by the SIPC insurance. If IB goes tits up, the money in your futures account should be segregated, but the money in your securities account will be insured - SIPC insures you for cash and securities up to $500k USD total.

I think shifting your shares to SCB or DBS might be overkill unless you're over the SIPC limit. I looked at doing this as well, and the amount of hassle involved in getting dividends credited to a USD account at DBS seemed to make it not worth the trouble. (That, and I don't want to encourage DBS by paying their extortionate thirty-bucks-a-trade brokerage.)

Thanks for the info Shiny Things! IB has too many options that I miss out on things like this. Going to select funds sweep for my IB account. I just noticed that you can sweep it into either the commodities or securities account...hmmmm...I will go ask the IB live chat about it as I mainly trade futures.

If I may ask again, how much of a hassle is it for you to transfer your stock holdings to DBS and getting dividends credited into a USD account in DBS? I have never invested in stocks b4 (only day traded them) so I thought the dividend credit thingy should be automatic and the only thing I needed to worry about was if there was any transfer fees for stockholdings.

I think I will be paying a visit to SCB and DBS to get a breakdown of everything and charges.

Thanks so much for your info again!

Cheers!

 

[Sinkie]

IB is good for trading most future contracts available out there in this world and they are generally a lot cheaper than most other retail brokers.

What makes IB so versatile is that u can trade almost any instrument out there. However, if you are or intend to be a pure futures day trader, you might be better off opening an account with dedicated US futures brokers. Always ask before opening an account with futures brokers whether they provide span margins. So far the most reliable one that people recommend is Advantage Futures. There is also deepdiscounttrading and cunningham futures clearing. Typical commissions would be around $2 - 2.50 a contract. Do note that with these futures brokers you would have to choose which trading platform you want to use with them and some are really expensive like Xtrader TT or CQG which can easily cost $1000++ a month.

Philip Futures, Ongfirst and UOB also provide cheap futures trading but only if u are a TMI which cost about $2k a year for membership with SGX i think.

Two problems I have with IB is that their charting is the worst ever (super hard to use) and executing trades on their platform is not the fastest. It is mainly caterred towards investors or funds or longer term day traders and not scalpers. A lot of people combine IB feed with 3rd party programs out there for charting (ninjatrader or multicharts etc) or DOM trading (zeroline trader or button trader etc). Do note that when using external software for charting, IB limits the amount of data per minute so if you have too many charts open some of the charts will not load and the system will slow down.

One good feature IB has is that if you are a good programmer u could create your own trading platform with their API. U also can trade via microsoft excel. IB provides sample trading spreadsheets and documentation using DDE or ActiveX. You do not need to be a stellar programmer but if you have decent VBA and excel skills you could create trading spreadsheets that could execute 100 orders with contingent orders with just a mouse click instead of manually putting it all in or if you are godlike with your VBA, you could even write algos to your spreadsheet which could help u trade on its own.

Any link to iB's API?? Can it be easily found online??

 

[d5dude]

IB's probably a pretty good pick for low-volume futures - 85c per side ($1.70 round-trip) on US contracts if you pick their all-in rate. They're not cheap outside America - Aussie and SGX futures, for example, run $3-$5 a side - but Phillip Futures seems to be 3-4 times higher than that, and Ong First don't even post their commission rates online, which, WHAT?

The automatic sweep from the (uninsured) futures account to the (SIPC-insured) securities account every night is pretty nice too, if you're worried about them doing an MF Global with your money.

I mostly use IB for buy-and-hold equities, but they've been perfectly good the couple of times I wanted to do a bit of STIR futures trading as well.

Ongfirst's comm rates are about the same as philip futures, its slight cheaper but not by much.

 

[d5dude]

IB is good for trading most future contracts available out there in this world and they are generally a lot cheaper than most other retail brokers.

What makes IB so versatile is that u can trade almost any instrument out there. However, if you are or intend to be a pure futures day trader, you might be better off opening an account with dedicated US futures brokers. Always ask before opening an account with futures brokers whether they provide span margins. So far the most reliable one that people recommend is Advantage Futures. There is also deepdiscounttrading and cunningham futures clearing. Typical commissions would be around $2 - 2.50 a contract. Do note that with these futures brokers you would have to choose which trading platform you want to use with them and some are really expensive like Xtrader TT or CQG which can easily cost $1000++ a month.

Philip Futures, Ongfirst and UOB also provide cheap futures trading but only if u are a TMI which cost about $2k a year for membership with SGX i think.

Two problems I have with IB is that their charting is the worst ever (super hard to use) and executing trades on their platform is not the fastest. It is mainly caterred towards investors or funds or longer term day traders and not scalpers. A lot of people combine IB feed with 3rd party programs out there for charting (ninjatrader or multicharts etc) or DOM trading (zeroline trader or button trader etc). Do note that when using external software for charting, IB limits the amount of data per minute so if you have too many charts open some of the charts will not load and the system will slow down.

One good feature IB has is that if you are a good programmer u could create your own trading platform with their API. U also can trade via microsoft excel. IB provides sample trading spreadsheets and documentation using DDE or ActiveX. You do not need to be a stellar programmer but if you have decent VBA and excel skills you could create trading spreadsheets that could execute 100 orders with contingent orders with just a mouse click instead of manually putting it all in or if you are godlike with your VBA, you could even write algos to your spreadsheet which could help u trade on its own.

Yea IB charts are garbage, scalpers who want to do one click trade on the price ladder cant use IB's platform too, because they don't offer such an option (need 2 clicks in total to confirm a trade). I think its ok for non scalpers though, but I suppose this also depends on the instrument itself, anyway much of the market doesn't move fast enough to matter these days. ES range rarely exceeds 7 points nowadays.

 

[Wolfnet]

Any link to iB's API?? Can it be easily found online??

Here you go .

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=programInterface

Cheers

 

[Sinkie]

Here you go .

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=programInterface

Cheers

Charting software for Interactive Brokers | Online Stock Trading Blog - Trading Graphs

some charting softwares to for sic

 

[dao]

I am using Metastock using QuoteCenter live data, trading both SIMSCI and DAX, with Phillip securities. I start to dislike Metastock and Phillip. Metastock was great 10 years ago but not anymore. It didn't improve with new technology. Still stuck with very old technology, user interface. Same for Phillip. It was great 10 years ago then they first started phone trading, internet trading. Not again didn't improve with new technology.

TMI is about $100 per month, though you need to pay 1 year upfront. Rate is low compare without TMI. If you are going to trade with Phillip, Ongfirst, it is better to sign up TMI. $100 per month is worth about 4 round turns.

I like IG markets the best. Good reports for me to anlyse/review my trading. Very details about every move I made : how I adjust my limit, my stop loss, open position, close position. Charting software very intuitive to use, trade on chart, easy to create alert, even auto-trade base on alert (if you want). But it is not a open exchange. They are the market maker.

I just open tradestation. The rate for DAX, S&P is as good as TMI rate. No Asia market though, just US and Europe. Will provide some feedback on tradestation after i spend some times on it. One thing I know is it is expensive to transfer fund in and transfer fund out.

Will definitely explore IB for other shortcoming of tradestation, such as Asia market, cheap to transfer fund in/out.

I am currently focus on futures, but will explore forex later.

 

[Sinkie]

Anyone tried connecting metastock to IB before??

 

[Wolfnet]

Anyone tried connecting metastock to IB before??

I haved not tried IB with Metastock but have used IB with amibroker, ninjatrader, multicharts and sierracharts and it works well if you are looking at less than 10 or so charts but anything more it will just slow down as there is a data download limit. So far I still like IB with ninjatrader but multicharts is catching up in terms of functions and userbility. Amibroker is a bit complicated to use and is caterred to programmers.

I am currently using eSignal but with delayed data (by 10 mins). Suits me fine as I trade on weekly candles and do not need such timely data. eSignal also allows me to chart spreads properly and is a lot cheaper than CQG.

 

[Sinkie]

I haved not tried IB with Metastock but have used IB with amibroker, ninjatrader, multicharts and sierracharts and it works well if you are looking at less than 10 or so charts but anything more it will just slow down as there is a data download limit. So far I still like IB with ninjatrader but multicharts is catching up in terms of functions and userbility. Amibroker is a be complicated to use and is caterred to programmers.

I am currently using eSignal but with delayed data (by 10 mins). Suits me fine as I trade on weekly candles and do not need such timely data. eSignal also allows me to chart spreads properly and is a lot cheaper than CQG.

just curious, for charting applications like amibroker, ninjatrader, multicharts and sierracharts, how do you all send order? is there a buy/sell ticket within the charting applications??

 

[Wolfnet]

just curious, for charting applications like amibroker, ninjatrader, multicharts and sierracharts, how do you all send order? is there a buy/sell ticket within the charting applications??

U have to pay to use ninjatrader's live trading. Otherwise paper trading and charting is free. Ninjatrader has a DOM to trade with which is pretty nice.

As not multicharts and sierracharts, I have only sampled their charting and have not really used their trading at all. I think u can trade live with multicharts and now they also have a DOM to trade with (new feature).

I dun think u can trade with Amibroker.

You can probably get more information if you google them up. I ended up not using any of them as I am perfectly happy with IB's interface and my trading is not scalping.

eSignal also allows u to connect with IB feed if you are on delayed data but it is not cheap (100++ a month). Only reason why I use it is because they chart spreads. CQG is too expensive at around $1000 a month i think(b4 data too).

 

[saha-med]

How are SG stocks held when trading with IB? As a nominee?


*Touch wood... one day IB gg how? There is no record of your stocks held?

 

[Wolfnet]

How are SG stocks held when trading with IB? As a nominee?


*Touch wood... one day IB gg how? There is no record of your stocks held?

Lemme go and ask IB. I am also not so sure cause this SG share trading is quite recent.

 

[Shiny Things]

Going to select funds sweep for my IB account. I just noticed that you can sweep it into either the commodities or securities account...hmmmm...I will go ask the IB live chat about it as I mainly trade futures.

You want to sweep into the securities account so you get the SIPC insurance on your spare cash - that's the point of the sweep option. IB will always keep enough cash in your commodities account (the futures account) to cover margin calls, and the rest will have insurance coverage.

If I may ask again, how much of a hassle is it for you to transfer your stock holdings to DBS and getting dividends credited into a USD account in DBS? I have never invested in stocks b4 (only day traded them) so I thought the dividend credit thingy should be automatic and the only thing I needed to worry about was if there was any transfer fees for stockholdings.

It should be, but when I asked about this, they started talking about having to manually bank the dividend cheques and that was when I said "stuff it I'll keep them at IB thanks all the same". If it turns out you can hold US stocks at DBS and still get automatic dividend crediting, then let me know, because I'd be interested in that.

The actual transfer isn't too much of a hassle - it's just filling in forms. But since all my holdings pay dividends (some of them monthly), I don't want to have to stuff around manually banking cheques and paying extortionate overseas cheque fees.

 

[Shiny Things]

How are SG stocks held when trading with IB? As a nominee?

Yep - they're held in street name at IB, similar to how Stanchart does it (except without the annoying regular tech failures).

*Touch wood... one day IB gg how? There is no record of your stocks held?

Uh, not sure what you're asking here. You mean, what would happen to your holdings if IB went tits up?

(If that's what you're asking, then your cash and your US stocks would be covered by the SIPC's coverage. I don't know if Singaporean stocks held by a US broker-dealer would be covered, though.)