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Interactive Brokers - experiences and opinions

  • #881
  • Edited 3:35pm Jun 10, 2020 3:03pm | Edited 3:35pm
Quoting BlondePeach
{quote} Hiya @Xamarass Do you mind clarifying whether you get the data feeds from 'datafeeding=Oand' as you mentioned it IDfeeds? How OandA offers the data feeds? How do you get into conclusion that IQfeeds is superior to IB's data as if you get performed a test result over a specific period of time? May I see the results of your experiments for my own records, please? or at least you may clarify why you get into this conclusion and by what factors that you believe is correct? Please I never want to doubt you, I never mocked your results, just what...
Hi BlondePeach please have a look on the OANDA website you, have several options to get hist data and realtime data, I choose the API connection offered for free and simply by connecting the the broker to oanda (MCs support oanda connection , that broker is in the list of broker tecnically liked to MCs) and with a quick setup you can open your chart feeded with Oanda real time date. Why Oanda superior ? simply compare the two charts and you will have no dubt (number of year hist/gap/number of bars available on 1 min charts. Then if you want the download directly from the charts the OHLC data you can see in details what I mean, please simply download this dataset and compare. Then if you want to compare with IQfeed (means fxcm) you will discover again more stability in the price sequence, no missing bars etc...
Please send me your mail (pm) and I will send you mmy calc. Have you just realized that when you develope systems with IQfeed data you have sistematically a better perferomance vs other suppliers ? (I didn't checked esignal and other provider, recently I compare IB, Oanda, fxcm, dukascopy, LMax; few broker supported in MCs). Please consider here I'm talking about forex no futures.That's simply my opinion based on my experiance and calc.
  • #882
  • Jun 24, 2020 4:32am Jun 24, 2020 4:32am
i got an answer from IBKR

" Dear Mr. xxxxxx,<BR><BR>Thank you for your message.<BR><BR>Please note that the data you receive within the platform is currently delayed and is updated every 15-20 minutes, which may be causing the discrepancy to the which you are referring. <BR><BR>Should you require assistance on further topics, you could use the search box on our website - ibkr.com or contact us directly using any of the options listed under ibkr.com/support<BR><BR>Kind regards,<BR>Anais<BR><BR>IBKR Client Services <BR>


So, the problem is not real and just present on demo plateform if he's right, i couldn't believe the guys who were saying it was a liquidity problem on minor pairs and i was right

I'll open an account with them and after some months i'll try to remember to give you a feedback of my experience,

good trading to you lads
  • #883
  • Aug 21, 2020 3:45am Aug 21, 2020 3:45am
Quoting BlackPip
Can you list brokers who provide Interactive Brokers platform as a whitelabel? I have found captrader and lynxbroker from Germany. Are there any other ones in Europe and elsewhere? Thanks.
Prorealtime for Europe
  • #884
  • Aug 21, 2020 5:54am Aug 21, 2020 5:54am
Quoting thomasz1
hello, i'm planning to open an account with IBKR to trade futures and forex, BUT i'm really preoccupied by some spikes i see on charts (not present with other brokers), like on usdtry 2019 and many others i guess. They're proud to have huge liquidity,etc but it seems that the standard shit happens with them also, So, can you enlight me on this broker, is reasonable to trade forex with them, or can i just trade futures currencies ? Or they do usual manipulations for forex section like fxcm,etc. and get fines every year ahah ? {image} i see also a...
hi Thomasz, be carefull to trade forex with IB, reporting is almost impossible to be interpretated as all trades are aggregated @currency level and the query system to develope customized report is not helping. Try the demo first and be sure to be happy with that. At the end you will not be able to rebuild the history of your trading (tha's for forex only, for futures is fine). Anyway the broker is ok but very poor support (in my opinion).
In particular if you are a quant trader with lots of strats on on cross it will cost you hours to undestand the situation and never with a complite clear picture. I hope the broker will work on that to improve.Cheers
  • #885
  • Aug 22, 2020 6:38am Aug 22, 2020 6:38am
Quoting nkotb5
{quote} Prorealtime for Europe
Yes.. but they mark up.

Take the original and not someone additional sucking your profits!
I use IB since 2018 and I have zero problems even with bigger positions.
Just zhe TWS is a bit overcomplicated,
that s the only thing I have on the table.

A trader should havea bit experience with trading
to get the benefits right... . definetly not for newbies.
Risiko birgt immer auch die Chance.
  • #886
  • Aug 29, 2020 10:29am Aug 29, 2020 10:29am
Quoting Xamarass
{quote} hi Thomasz, be carefull to trade forex with IB, reporting is almost impossible to be interpretated as all trades are aggregated @currency level and the query system to develope customized report is not helping. Try the demo first and be sure to be happy with that. At the end you will not be able to rebuild the history of your trading (tha's for forex only, for futures is fine). Anyway the broker is ok but very poor support (in my opinion). In particular if you are a quant trader with lots of strats on on cross it will cost you hours to undestand...
ty for the answer, i'll do that, the plateform is quite complicated (like the guy below said) and i'll have to find a good management tool,etc.
but i think the time investment will be profitable
  • #887
  • Aug 29, 2020 11:33am Aug 29, 2020 11:33am
IB is GOAT who wants to donate all the fortune to Institutional traders
  • #888
  • Sep 5, 2020 11:18am Sep 5, 2020 11:18am
Quoting BlondePeach
{quote} Hiya @Xamarass and all IB users, Part of the tech-support team is the one who does the price manipulations(the 1% who are hand in hand with business-owner/funder/CEO/CXO). it's like you call the p¬oli~ce and claim against one of them who assaulted you. While you should file to the court. This also confirms that IB is less price manipulator than others. Programmers advise please; How is this connection through the IB's Native Python, Python(actually) and Java connections to IB or IB's TWS? Tnx and best of luck
Hi BlondePeach, I'm not a supporter of any specific broker, but if you are trading "big" (for my pocket means 1 std lot !) I think IB is good for commission. If you are trading small (let's say 0,1 std lot) you problabily can find better and relable solution (for forex and future). Regarding the price manipulation I don't think IB is a good example. The reputation is generally good and if you don't feel confortable with that broker you probably will not confortable with any other broker. Based on the kind of trading you are doing, you can decide to adopt a 3rd party platform, but in my opinion that's in case you are writing your algos. The TWs is likely structurated enough to allow you a discretionary trading. The API via Python is likely a good choise if you are skilled in coding but I'm not. What IB is reporting out is an increasing of request for that interface. I'm using the IBgateway as API and is pretty stable but not perfect (in demo trading). CHeers
  • #889
  • Dec 11, 2020 9:51am Dec 11, 2020 9:51am
Interactive Brokers suffered a server outage earlier this week. Apparently there was a a “significant failure in multiple segments of a highly resilient data storage system”. I hope connection has been restored by now and everything is working properly.
  • #890
  • Feb 27, 2021 2:50pm Feb 27, 2021 2:50pm
Hello, Good morning to everyone!

What do you think about Interactive Brokers to trade stocks on US and Europe? In fact, I'm thinking about using it to buy stocks in all the countries they admit.
1) - What about on every kind of their commissions? How much for an order of 30.000,00 Euros, for instance, in NYSE? (Can you help me? Can you tell me how exchange to USD is done? And if that implies using margin or it is just a conversion without any kind of trading in forex (without margins)?
2) - using a margin account, are we always using margin even that we have the 30.000,00 Euros in deposit fund to cover all the cost (never above 30.000,00 euros? Or are we always using margin?
3) - when we have a EUR based account and we want to buy shares from a NYSE quoted company, does the exchange to usd operate automatically while when executed the order to buy stocks? Or do we need to convert money first to USD and after buy the stocks?
4) - That exchange from EUR to USD represents that we are exposed to margin on forex?
5) - What about costs (comissions) on these kind of operations to buy stocks on NYSE, for instance? How much on all comissions for a 30000,00 euros order?

I'm thinking about changing my broker.
Does anybody have here experience to help me understanding how Interactive Brokers operates on stocks?
Thank you very much to everyone.
  • #891
  • Sep 2, 2022 7:04pm Sep 2, 2022 7:04pm
Has anyone experienced trade rejection issues with Interactive Brokers in US. I just had my AUDCAD 25k position rejected, the explanation given by IB below.
Any idea what all that explanation means? Thanks

"If you are a US Client and not an approved Eligible Contract Participant (ECP) or you do not have approved Cash Forex trading permissions, your FX order could be rejected if the execution would create a Leveraged Forex balance in your account. There would be a Leveraged Forex balance if your account held a net short absolute value amount in terms of your account's base currency. In order for a "Forex" transaction to be considered leveraged there must be one of the following:
-A short balance in a non-base currency position
-The sum of all short non-base currency positions (absolute value in base equivalent) must exceed the sum of all positive non-cash asset values
-The sum of all short non-base currency positions (absolute value in base equivalent) less the sum of all positive non-cash asset values exceeds the account's Net Liquidation Value.
Kind regards,
Buy low , Sell high
  • #892
  • Sep 3, 2022 11:02pm Sep 3, 2022 11:02pm
ismail, IB got out of the retail forex market 6 years ago.

Effective September 1 2016, Interactive Brokers will require that only accounts held by "Eligible Contract Participants" may open leveraged forex positions.

An “Eligible Contract Participant" generally is an individual or organization with assets of over $10 MM (or $5 MM if trades are hedging). See KB2731 for the definition of an Eligible Contract Participant.

If you are or may be an “Eligible Contract Participant”, please review KB2732 for instructions on how to complete a required questionnaire to continue trading leveraged forex.

If you do not qualify as an “Eligible Contract Participant”, after September 1, 2016 you will be able to close your existing leveraged forex positions but you will not be able to do any additional leveraged forex trades.

NOTE: This Notice does not apply to currency trades that are un-leveraged “conversions" of one currency to another. This Notice also does not apply to margin trades for stocks denominated in foreign currency. Those trades are not affected by this Notice.

Interactive Brokers Client Services
  • #893
  • Sep 9, 2022 4:59pm Sep 9, 2022 4:59pm
Quoting Percival
ismail, IB got out of the retail forex market 6 years ago. Effective September 1 2016, Interactive Brokers will require that only accounts held by "Eligible Contract Participants" may open leveraged forex positions. An “Eligible Contract Participant" generally is an individual or organization with assets of over $10 MM (or $5 MM if trades are hedging). See KB2731 for the definition of an Eligible Contract Participant. If...
WHAT? I've been trading with IBKR FX for years with no problem. I used both IBKR and IBKR Canada. I never heard of KB2731

The only hassle is that if you earn EUR/AUD/CAD/ETC, you need to manually exchange them back to USD. So you need to calculate your position every time. Not a problem if you a math genius.
  • #894
  • Sep 9, 2022 5:00pm Sep 9, 2022 5:00pm
Quoting ismail
Has anyone experienced trade rejection issues with Interactive Brokers in US. I just had my AUDCAD 25k position rejected, the explanation given by IB below. Any idea what all that explanation means? Thanks "If you are a US Client and not an approved Eligible Contract Participant (ECP) or you do not have approved Cash Forex trading permissions, your FX order could be rejected if the execution would create a Leveraged Forex balance in your account. There would be a Leveraged Forex balance if your account held a net short absolute value amount in terms...
Don't trade with 25k. Trade with lot only on IBKR. The minimal commission is 2 dollar per side. If you trade with 25k you have an effective spread of 0.2+0.4*4=1.8 hefty

IBKR used to lowest possible commission for both retail and institutional trader. However the day has gone. Many other brokers have lower costs for stock trading and many other brokers have lower cost for FX trading.
  • #895
  • May 28, 2023 7:44am May 28, 2023 7:44am
Quoting Trader915
I'll add my 2 cents.... Regarding the price spikes on the Turkish lira it will be difficult to tell this late afterwards if they really occurred live or not. I have never had any issues with price spikes that were specifically only occurring on IB's platform. I've been trading with IB for many years and while they are not perfect, this is by far IMO the best broker available for anyone trading 100K positions or larger outside of a real tier one prime broker. But again, good luck getting a agreement with them as a sole trader entity regardless of...
Thanks for the insights..

Could you please confirm if Interactive Brokers provide the "Trade Receipts" for every trade we place with them?

Regards
Stay Positive
  • #896
  • Jun 1, 2023 2:37am Jun 1, 2023 2:37am
Quoting forexjoy
{quote} Thanks for the insights.. Could you please confirm if Interactive Brokers provide the "Trade Receipts" for every trade we place with them? Regards
If you referring to a receipt of how they filled your order (internalized vs passed on to certain LP) then I severely doubt it.

When I traded with IB it was through their UK subsidiary that offers Spot FX as supposed to their branch for EU clients (IB Ireland) which only offer CFD FX.
I never had any serious issues with execution with IB (again, traded spot FX) but did catch them co-mingling data feeds in their order book which made the order book appear more liquid with better TOB than it actually was. I shortly after left them for a PoP provider.

IB is excellent for global access to exchange traded financial markets (futures, options, stocks etc) but occupy an odd spot in the Spot FX/CFD FX space.
They offer tight spreads but these could only be expected to be honored if you trade Spot as they could, and probably will, fill CFD orders slightly worse. They charge (last time I used them) $20/Mil with a minimum of $2 per order which made orders lower than a standard lot (100,000) better executed elsewhere and larger orders +10 lots (+1,000,000) better executed with provider who offer more tailored liquidity streams as IB does not except for their old and outdated Large size order facility.

If you're an EU client you could request any information you're entitled to as per MIFID 2 requirements and they would be forced to oblige. However, as an EU client you would be limited to CFD FX only and the execution will be more murky. However that would not be an IB exclusive issue as it would be the same with potentially every broker who offers CFD FX as supposed to Spot FX. That being said, I'd rather use IB for CFD FX ( if your ticket size is between 1-10 standard lots) than most other brokers due to their track record, risk aversion and access to global markets.

Hope this helps.
  • #897
  • Jun 1, 2023 11:16am Jun 1, 2023 11:16am
Quoting Trader915
{quote} If you referring to a receipt of how they filled your order (internalized vs passed on to certain LP) then I severely doubt it. When I traded with IB it was through their UK subsidiary that offers Spot FX as supposed to their branch for EU clients (IB Ireland) which only offer CFD FX. I never had any serious issues with execution with IB (again, traded spot FX) but did catch them co-mingling data feeds in their order book which made the order book appear more liquid with better TOB than it actually was. I shortly after left them for a PoP...
Really appreciate the time you have taken to answer my query.

I am based in New Zealand, so the EU restriction may not apply to AU/NZ Clients. I am only been trading SPOT so no problems there either.

Following are my key points which i have used to evaluate the FX Brokers.

Reputation: I have no issues with IB they are highly regarded by big volume traders. So no problems there...

Jurisdiction: Again not sure about since they have so many subsidiaries around the World; not sure if its up-to the client to chose their jurisdiction or upto IB.

MT4 Support: One of the issues i found with IB is that they don't support MT4 which could be OK for some but currently i am stuck with MT4. Although now 3rd party bridge is available which is quite handy (Developer from Germany offers this)

Leverage: I am not sure what Leverage/Margin they provide but it won't surprise me if that's less than 30x compared to other brokers which provides 500x and even 1000x.

Negative Balance Support: Not 100% sure how that works if the brokers is sending 100% of trades to the liquidity providers. I suppose brokers use some sort of hedging mechanism to prevent any internal losses.

Ease of Deposits/Withdrawals: Again they have not specified the deposit methods on their website but i am sure it will be standard Swift Bank Transfer. I prefer the Local Bank transfer method which speeds up the time it takes for the broker to reconcile the Deposit/Withdrawal but in most cases local transfer is processed the same working day.

Account Currency: I know its not a big deal for most traders but for Kiwis its an issue since most brokers don't support NZ demoninated accounts. It saves lot of $$$ , time and hassle to open an account directly in NZ since we don't have to convert the deposits/withdrawals for every transaction. I have a feeling IB offers accounts in NZ$.

Brokerage: IB's Tier based brokerage is among the lowest i have seen; so i am happy with that as well.

There are several other factors but i have listed the main ones above.

Among all the brokers i have checked IB have ticked pretty much most of my boxes.

I'd welcome any traders from New Zealand & Australia who are currently using IB as FX Broker to kindly share their personal experience in this thread.


Regards
Stay Positive
  • #898
  • Jan 9, 2025 11:57am Jan 9, 2025 11:57am
Hope this thread is still active?

I opened account with Interactive Broker last year in 2024 to trade options and diversify in case of outages. I made some money and was looking to withdraw some profits. However, every tab I press gives me a QR code to scan and I need to install IBKR mobile app to scan it.

SO, IB is forcing everyone to download the mobile app to get at anything other than the trading platforms. They say that this is for 2 step verification but sending sms text to a phone which has your account information seems to open the door to hacked accounts if your phone gets hacked.

There is no email support, no chat support, no online customer service without scanning a QR code. The 800 customer support has so much static it sounds like it's being transmitted to the moon and back. And I have a tough time with the static trying to understand the service rep with very, very heavy accent.

Back to my question. Does anyone use IBKR mobile app and do you feel it is secure?

It seems a shame the IB spent money on a terrific Desktop platform and a powerful Traders Work Station only to lose clients because of easily exploited holes in security and lack of customer support.

I guess I will look for another broker. I currently use Schwab, Tasty, and Forex. Anyone else have recommendations?
Ecclesiastes 1:9
  • #900
  • Mar 26, 2025 10:32am Mar 26, 2025 10:32am
Quoting newbegger
SO, IB is forcing everyone to download the mobile app to get at anything other than the trading platforms.
Even the trading platforms. I just made a test trade on their ibkr desktop and had to log-in via the app.
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