Interactive Brokers Troubleshooting

[pavilion103]

I opened an account this week and I am trying to workout the best way to visually display the program.

I've gone through a tutorial and it looks like the imagine on the left (of my picture below). The image to the right (the black one) is the way that my program is currently displaying.

How do people display theirs and is there a way to get it like the display on the left?


IB account.jpg

[pavilion103]

In fact my setup look so different to the one on the tutorial that is makes the tutorial useless.

Can someone please tell me the best way to set this up so that I can learn how to use it. And then where to go to learn how to use it?


Also is the paper trading supposed to work just like the real trading with the same data? Because no data is coming up for my paper trading account.

[blue0810]

Some links that will help you:

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en...s/twsguide.htm
http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en...?ib_entity=llc

Just close mosaic and TWS only.

[pavilion103]

Some links that will help you:

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en...s/twsguide.htm
http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en...?ib_entity=llc

Just close mosaic and TWS only.

Thanks. All sorted.

[pavilion103]

I have a couple of questions. This is the first time that I've used IB

The first first one is that I entered this position in CBA on the simulator
LONG 100 @ 54.60
Why does it buy at 54.60 if it hasn't traded at this level? Can someone please explain how this works?

IB CBA.png


2. I entered and exited two trades in the same manner. But one says the exchange is SMART (COMMISSION 6.00). The other says SMART + 1 (COMMISSION 24.24). How/why did this occur?

smart+1.png

[blue0810]

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

555*54.59=300297*0.08/100=24.24

[skc]

I have a couple of questions. This is the first time that I've used IB

The first first one is that I entered this position in CBA on the simulator
LONG 100 @ 54.60
Why does it buy at 54.60 if it hasn't traded at this level? Can someone please explain how this works?

Is your data live or delayed?

[pavilion103]

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

555*54.59=300297*0.08/100=24.24

I'm wondering why it went through the exchange SMART +1 rather than SMART when I followed the same process.

So you are suggesting that this is just the regular 0.08% commission. Maybe because I hadn't placed any trades to large I was used to just always getting the $6 commission, but this one was substantially larger than the others.
That makes sense.

[pavilion103]

Is your data live or delayed?

Data is live.

I placed it at 54.55 and it filled immediately at 54.60. I don't know why this occurred.
A similar thing happened with a subsequent trade on CBA. I'm scratching my head to work out why!!!

Would it just have something to do with the bid/ask prices? Is this normal slippage?

[blue0810]

Order type STP or LMT ?

[pavilion103]

Order type STP or LMT ?

The order type was a stop limit.

Is this to do with normal slippage (excuse my ignorance)? or does it actually have to trade at 54.60 for me to be filled at that?

[blue0810]

You can run Audit Trail to see your trades in more details
From main menu: Account->Audit Trail.
Just in case:
http://individuals.interactivebroker...p?f=orderTypes

[skc]

The order type was a stop limit.

Is this to do with normal slippage (excuse my ignorance)? or does it actually have to trade at 54.60 for me to be filled at that?

So your stop trigger was $54.55 and you got filled at $54.60?

5c spread for 500 shares on CBA at that time of the day while not impossible, is probably unlikely.

In real life obviously it needs to trade at $54.60 for you to get a fill, but with sim I am unsure.

[pavilion103]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm working my way through it all. The answers have been of great value. No doubt I'll have some more questions over the next couple of weeks as I get used to it. I was on the phone to IB for 40 minutes last night too.


I have a question regarding the screenshot below. It appears that the profit and loss below is calculated on the bid price. Why is this? Is there any way that it can be displayed as calculated on the 'last' price.

In this case the bid price at the end of the day here is way above the current price and not reflective of true profit.

IB profit and loss bid.png

[CanOz]

Pav..on another issue, if you get your platform setup the way you like, remember to backup your settings file. Just save it into a folder on your hard drive somewhere.

Cheers,


CanOz

[Trembling Hand]

I have a question regarding the screenshot below. It appears that the profit and loss below is calculated on the bid price. Why is this? Is there any way that it can be displayed as calculated on the 'last' price.

In this case the bid price at the end of the day here is way above the current price and not reflective of true profit.

Think its this one. De-select.

TWS P&L.gif

[pavilion103]

Think its this one. De-select.

TWS P&L.gif

That one was already deselected for me. I tried selecting it also. It didn't alter the profit/loss in anyway. Strange. I can't seem to click on anything in there to get it to work!

[pavilion103]

IB informed me that it can only be calculated based on the bid/ask price. I'm not sure if anyone has had any other experiences but this is what the call centre has told me.

[skc]

IB informed me that it can only be calculated based on the bid/ask price. I'm not sure if anyone has had any other experiences but this is what the call centre has told me.

That's untrue. It can be based on the bid, ask or last depending on the prices.

Share last traded at $2.00. Bid at $1.98. Ask at $2.02. P&L is based on last at $2.00.
Share last traded at $2.00. Bid at $2.01. Ask at $2.02. P&L is based on bid at $2.01.
Share last traded at $2.00. Bid at $1.95. Ask at $1.98. P&L is based on ask at $1.98.

During pre-market matches, P&L is calculated based on Bid due to the overlapping auction depth. P&L is somewhat wrong during this time.

Well that's how it works on my IB platform anyway.

[blue0810]

For me the right place to check P&L :
From Main menu -> account window .
You can download it to your PC as *. csv file .