Interactive Brokers Mobile Trading Solutions help/advice

Does anyone use mobile trader in Australia?

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1300

I’m looking at the easiest way of being able to access my account and place orders whilst on the go but also don’t Want to carry something as big as a laptop, my needs are pretty simple I just want to access my account just before a market opens as I need that opening price, then I place my order for the day with attached stop and that’s it, however I need to access at 9-50am for the Spi, 10-45am for the Nikkei, 11-30am for Singapore etc.

Im thinking to use a mobile phone, at present I just have a basic phone with no internet access so before I go out and upgrade and sign up for a plan thought I would ask on here if anyone is using them for trading, or an Ipad mini or similar or any other suggestions or advice.

Thanks

P

Re: Interactive Brokers Mobile Trading Solutions help/advice

Pager said:

Does anyone use mobile trader in Australia?

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1300

I’m looking at the easiest way of being able to access my account and place orders whilst on the go but also don’t Want to carry something as big as a laptop, my needs are pretty simple I just want to access my account just before a market opens as I need that opening price, then I place my order for the day with attached stop and that’s it, however I need to access at 9-50am for the Spi, 10-45am for the Nikkei, 11-30am for Singapore etc.

Im thinking to use a mobile phone, at present I just have a basic phone with no internet access so before I go out and upgrade and sign up for a plan thought I would ask on here if anyone is using them for trading, or an Ipad mini or similar or any other suggestions or advice.

Thanks

P

Click to expand...

Pager, I have an iPad and the TWS app. It should be fine for your needs. I use it as a backup to exit positions in case of connectivity issues.

CanOz
EDIT: you may want to also pick up a stylus to use with the app, its much easier and you make fewer mistakes...

Re: Interactive Brokers Mobile Trading Solutions help/advice

CanOz said:

Pager, I have an iPad and the TWS app. It should be fine for your needs. I use it as a backup to exit positions in case of connectivity issues.

CanOz

Click to expand...

I was thinking of the Ipad or Iphone, I will check it out and hopefully the phone or the mini Ipad will suit my needs when away from my PC, will have to get my teenage Daughter to show me how it works first though

I was using a broker but having too many issues with them screwing up orders on an all too regular basis so although I will retain them I want to be able to do things myself and not worry about another **** up then being told my orders are on a "not held" basis as im paying low rates for having execution only service meaning I have to fight tooth and nail to get any kind of adjustment when a mistake happens although if they totally forget (and it has happened !) then they do do the right thing.

If the Ipad/phone thing works then I will need to set up a business account with IB as I only have a personal account at present and from what I know that’s going to be a long and frustrating experience

Cheers

P

Re: Interactive Brokers Mobile Trading Solutions help/advice

I just bought the wife an iPad mini for Christmas and it arrived last week...its a nice piece of kit with an awesome screen.

With the TWS, there could be some limitations on the types of orders you can use so have a good look at the app first. I know they are adding functionality to it frequently.

Cheers,


CanOz

Re: Interactive Brokers Mobile Trading Solutions help/advice

Make sure you fully exit out of the app when you're done using it too, as in officially "exit", not just hit the main screen button on your device, the app stays on and can download quite the amount of data if left overnight, like I found out LOL.

Re: Interactive Brokers Mobile Trading Solutions help/advice

I also use it on an iPad (iPad 2) and prefer it to the desktop version, though I don't do anything complicated. I find it very reliable and first started using it when I had intermittent problems using the desktop version. It was a life saver.

Re: Interactive Brokers Mobile Trading Solutions help/advice

Pager said:

I was thinking of the Ipad or Iphone, I will check it out and hopefully the phone or the mini Ipad will suit my needs when away from my PC, will have to get my teenage Daughter to show me how it works first though

I was using a broker but having too many issues with them screwing up orders on an all too regular basis so although I will retain them I want to be able to do things myself and not worry about another **** up then being told my orders are on a "not held" basis as im paying low rates for having execution only service meaning I have to fight tooth and nail to get any kind of adjustment when a mistake happens although if they totally forget (and it has happened !) then they do do the right thing.

If the Ipad/phone thing works then I will need to set up a business account with IB as I only have a personal account at present and from what I know that’s going to be a long and frustrating experience

Cheers

P

Click to expand...

HI mate this is off the topic however you mentioned about business account its easy if yor a sole trader and you are trading as your full name. if it isnt enjoy the process of alot of documents required all of them have to be certified. Remember that you will be charged for PRO DATA Fees so i had to go through the process of opening another account personal one to get non pro. Lucky everything was the same was open in a few days

hope this helps

Well in the end I went for a smart phone, I wanted something with 3G as well as wifi and thought the tablets although good were far too bulky to carry around as well as a phone.

Looked at several phones but thought the price tag on the Iphone 5 and Galaxy 4 were crazy, sure they are great phones, then a friend said he had heard good things about a new phone from Alcatel who are more associated with land lines but are one of the worlds biggest telecommunications company’s.

So had a look and although it doesn’t have as much on it as the iphone/galexys at only $199 from dick Smith I bought one on the spot and what a good buy, great connectivity, easy to use and a 4.5 inch screen and mobile trader runs fine on it, every bit as good as my wife’s S3 and a quarter the price of a new iphone.

For a trader on the go who’s not bothered about all the fancy gadgets and games and just wants to check email, browse the web and log into trade you really cant go past this phone for the price IMO, here’s a link to DSE

http://dicksmith.com.au/product/EM5193/

Unreal Pager, its identical to my Huawei!

I guess they're re-branding them Alcatel.

Great little phone, agree.

Mine was free

I think they're about 500-800 CNY here.

CanOz

has anyone used the IB mobile apps on both the iphone 4 and galaxy s4 and can compare the two? if you run the android version on the galaxy s4, is it able to take advantage of the galaxy's bigger screen size and resolution to show more information? or do both versions show the same stuff, the galaxy s4 just shows it bigger?

i currently have a 2 year old iphone 4, but here in singapore most people seem to be on the galaxy these days. i'm thinking about making the switch (and giving my iphone to my parents, who still insist on using those ancient antique phones - you know the ones with an actual number pad not a touch screen!) as the screen size looks puny next to the galaxy (some of the guys at work have one). also the start button just refuses to work half the time. if the android version on the galaxy is able to show more stuff, that would just about seal the deal.

Sharkman

I tried the Android version of mobile trader on my wife’s Samsung S3 and it worked fine, the bigger screen is of course useful and charts, depth etc are very clear, if you have the Iphone 4 then download the app from the IB site and run the demo version, its all free to try and then play around, that’s what I did and its very easy to get to use and its exactly the same as logging into your own account.

Cant comment on the iphone app but after trying the Android version that was it for me, as my comments above its very good but I also expect the apple app is very good as well.

Weather it’s a Android or Iphone I think it depends what you want a smart phone for, for me all I wanted was a well built phone with a decent size screen, be able to use TWS when away from home, some internet browsing, Email and a bit of facebook all the games and stuff doesn’t interest me although the GPS may be useful so could not see the point of spending above what I wanted the phone for.

I looked at the S4 and iphone 5 but unless you’re a real phone geek or wanting all the gaming etc cant see the point in paying top dollar for them, especially as seeing that in a year or 2 the price will likely halve as the latest phones are released, but if you do a lot of stuff and want big memory and storage then it may be worth it, having looked at both though, the S4 looks the better phone to me.

CanOz said:

Unreal Pager, its identical to my Huawei!

I guess they're re-branding them Alcatel.


CanOz

Click to expand...

Hi CanOz

Very similar but not identical, saw the Huawei you are talking about when looking around, it is a nice phone as well but its not a re brand, only drawback with the Alcatel is that’s its still new so no accessory’s like covers, cases available yet so will have to be a bit more careful with it.

Re Pager: sorry, i probably didn't explain myself very well. was hoping someone has used both the iphone app and the android app *on the galaxy* and could compare the two - i already use the iOS TWS app to trade my real IB account on my 2 year old iphone 4. have been doing so ever since i bought the phone. but am thinking of upgrading to the s4 when it's out and using the android TWS app to trade on that instead. just wanted to make a comparison first.

app usability is mostly ok (except for what i'll go into below), but the iphone 4 screen size can be rather limiting. charts as you mention is one area that definitely benefits from a bigger screen, but was interested to find out if the data screens could fit more columns etc. on the galaxy vs the iphone, or whether you still get the same spread of information, just in a bigger font.

the other thing is order entry. i find it rather cumbersome on the iphone app. the bulk of my trades are ASX option trades. to do that you have to select the underlying, go to the next screen, select the expiry month in one of those scrolling widgets, go to the next screen, select call/put and strike in two more of the scrolling widgets side by side, go to the next screen, then do other stuff like contract size, day only/good til cancelled, limit or market, and the like. i reckon i'd find it much easier with all aspects of order entry on the one screen, with windows style UI controls rather than scrolling widgets, which with the galaxy's greater resolution and physical screen size, might be more realistic.

plus, sometimes the scrolling widgets don't work reliably - for eg. when selecting call/put, you have to make sure the scroller "locks into place" first before you continue. many times i have gone in looking to trade puts, and in haste i quickly swipe the call/put selector down so it goes past the bottom of put (the selector is a vertical list with call on top) and quickly move on to the next screen. but if the highlight bar hasn't "locked into place" yet and is not exactly centred on put but slightly past the bottom of it, sometimes it thinks i want to trade calls instead. very dangerous - i *almost* get caught out by it every time it happens. haven't actually been caught out yet, thankfully - just as well i have it always pop up that confirmation screen before it sends the order to the exchange. this probably wouldn't be an issue if they'd done it as a radio button, but a radio button would probably only make sense if you're doing it as a windows style form entry screen rather than a series of scrolling widgets.