IB Fail Again ... or perhaps not

[JonnyT]

IB Fail Again

This week I have been manually trading a new system on EUR

Today I had a stop order (not Stop Limit) to exit a long at 1.2187

The market went straight through my stop price with out giving a fill.

I've contacted IB and have yet to receive any explaination how this happened and what they are going to do about it.

This simply should not happen.

JonnyT

 

[Buk]

hmmm, can't rightly recall if it was you who mentioned something along these lines before Jonny??!....have certainly heard similar probs with them recently, not good huh?....think I'll stick to 'devil I know'....this game is hard enough as it is, without worryin bout entry/exit problems....good luck with em!

 

[Skimbleshanks]

Do you have the little box ticked - the one which means that stop orders will be actioned out of regular market hours?

Configure, Order, Stop Trigger Confirmation, and the box is right at the very bottom.

 

[JonnyT]

No it wasn't checked, just my look if that is the problem!

JonnyT

 

[Trader333]

JonnyT,

I would be interested to know if it was as Skim said or something else. If it is something else then this is not good news for all IB customers so please keep us informed.


Paul

 

[Skimbleshanks]

I'm sure that if there was a genuine problem (rather than user error) boards such as Elite would be red hot with complaints.

 

[JonnyT]

Skim,

I have had genuine problems and they completely fobbed me off and refered to to there terms of business. i.e. No liability for anything.

A stitch up

On this occaison it seems it was my fault. Never used a stop on Globex outside what they call normal trading hours. However the EUR/USD future is busy during London hours and in my view could be deemed to be normal!!!

JonnyT

 

[BBB]

You may want to look at Man, GNI or Refco if you are thinking of changing brokers. They need you more than you need them.

Never take their first quote of round turns - they will usually negotiate lower commissions especially if you say "well IB only charge x"

Its up to you. Does the cost on a missed trade every month or so make slightly higher commissions worth while?

Whats going to happen when the next time it happens your on the wrongside of a 300-500 pip move in a fast market. Ouch!

 

[donaldduke]

You need to factor this in to your system.. At the end of
the day screw ups will always happen. You have to
factor these things as slippage in your system.

Look at the Turtle trading system, the guys were told
to use mental stops and if the market went sharply through
the price not to worry and get out when the market calms down...
And that system was still profitable.

 

[Skimbleshanks]

JonnyT:

I've read a few brokers' terms and conditions of business, and they're all the same - they take no blame for anything even if it is their fault, and you the punter takes all the blame even if its not your fault. It's a take it or leave it thing, and it's no surprise that every SB company, direct access broker, old-fashioned telephone broker has an almost-identical set of T&Cs.

I look on it all as a cost of doing business with them, so factor in the risk of something like that happening. In other words, I realise that I'm going to make a stupid mistake now and again, and just live with it. My very first broker-related mistake years ago cost me £2k, so by comparison my more recent mistakes are peanuts! LOL

 

[raf110]

Jonny T,

How do you feel about using J-Trader. A number of American brokers use J-trader and offer low commissions (some as low a $5.00 round turn).

There is a catch (isn't there always) most companies ask for around $200 -$400 a month for the platform.

If you are interested I have a list of brokers that will charge $50 and will rebate this fee if you trade 250 lots a month. Not bad if your getting 5 bid/offers on all markets for $50. commissions are $5.

 

[sasforex]

Sounds pretty bad that this happened, did you put this stop on over the weekend for example? I know that it is difficult to cover stops over the weekend and they are not always guaranteed.

I live in the US and work over here too, how does it usually for you guys in the UK are you paying large commissions on your trades for example?

Hope you sorted this out

 

[options]

Nil coms. Guaranteed stops, no slippage.

Minus side is 4 pip spread.

 

[DaxTrader]

Jonny T

The same thing happened to me, luckily I was watching and saw it go through the trigger price without filling it, so was able to mkt order it.

Then I read the info (after the event, ) about checking the box for stop trigger outside mkt hours as Skim points out.

Totally my fault, and nothing to do with IB. The lesson is " Read the instructions before you start".

The other point to watch is the stop trigger method, I had mine set as the top one, ie "Last method".

This works fine except that in the morning in less liquid conditions, it can go bid and offered below your stop without triggering the stop if nothing actually trades there, so maybe the bottom method ie "double bid/ask" might be better in the morning.