My Fill of FTSE

[JonnyT]

Hi folks,

Tried to place an order for the FTSE Futures today (my first real FTSE future order) and didn't get a fill within a minute (Market Order).

Lost a 30 point trade because of this

Is this common?

How long does it normally take to get a fill?

I'm used to the emini's where you just don't have to wait.

Thanks

JonnyT

 

[options]

Who you using to trade through JonnyT?

 

[JonnyT]

Interactive Brokers

 

[options]

I thought you were.

No, this isn't normal.

market orders are normally instant.
even limit orders as long as they are close to the price only normally take a couple of seconds.

This is assuming you are not trading more than 5 contracts at a time.

Even when using a underpowered/dial up standby computer the above only takes a little while longer. Market orders have never been more than 3 secs in my case.

Only thing I can think of, is if you are using the desktop version and on installation you didn't take the europe site and the order is pinging back and forth.

I'll let you know if I think of anythink else m8.

 

[JonnyT]

Hi options,

I did chose the US option when I installed TWS. I wouldn't have thought it would make that much difference!

The order was for a single contract.

I'll try again and see what happens!

Thanks for the reply.

JonnyT

 

[Henry]

Agreed, not normal for IB / FTSE. I generally get a fill on a market order within a couple of seconds, and a limit in well under 10 seconds (assuming the market does shoot away from the limit price of course).

H.

 

[ianp]

Hi Jonny,

market orders are filled in seconds, I use easy2trade ,
I am about to change to ib maybe not such a good idea !!



ian

 

[JonnyT]

Just placed the first FTSE trade. Fill almost instant.

However I had an heart attack when TWS immediatly showed me I was down £2000

After much checking it looks like a bug in TWS...

JonnyT

 

[JonnyT]

Another quirk!

I got stopped out, the price did go past my stop but when the fill came it was at 0.5 points less than my stop so saved me a fiver!

Is this normal?

JonnyT

 

[TBS]

Depends on what is happening in the market, certainly I have had more price improvements recently than for a long time - but also some horrible fills if the market is moving away from you really quickly.

All part of the game.

 

[waytogo]

ianp

Can I ask why you are changing from Easy2trade to IB? I have just opened an account with E2T after finally giving up on spreadbetting companies. Are E2T in any way unreliable?

 

[ianp]

Waytogo,

I like easy2trade but I want to day trade U.S. stocks as well as
ftse futures so I need $25000 in ib account , so it seems silly to
have margin with 2 brokers ..


ian

 

[Helenqu]

I'd have thought that the huge commission charges with e2t would rule them out for most people.

 

[RogerM]

Had no problems with virtually instant fills on ftse, sometimes a point in my favour on a limit order. I use the European site, and the TWS standalone s/w. The profit/loss column is in pennies - so yep, 2000 down is £20, or 2 pts for a single contract. Gave me heart failure the first time as well.

I'd suggest that you ALWAYS input a "catastrophe stop" into the system (if not using a trading stop) as the telephone backup is not very quick - and suspect it would be none existent if the system went down.

 

[JonnyT]

Hi Roger,

My current PnF system has a 9 point stop entered once the trade has been filled.

JonnyT

 

[craigh]

Roger

I currently use the web based TWS from the US IB web site and I trade the ftse futures aminly. Should I be logging in from the UK web site instead for more reliability?

Craig

 

[FTSE Beater]

Hi Craig

I would say it's best to run TWS from your computer i.e. download it, and run from your hard drive.

HTH

PS: Sorry Roger if I jumped in

 

[oatman]

Jonny T, re your better fill on a Stop, it happens during the nano second between your order entering and getting filled and a bigger market order going in the other way. The size order takes out bids or offers to it's limit level. Unlucky if he's the same way and gets in first though!
ps. 9 point stop could be whippy.

Be lucky,

 

[RogerM]

Craig, I use TWS4 standalone normally, and have only used the web based platform a couple of times. My initial perception (and it's nothing more than that) is that TWS was a little quicker than the web, but not noticably. This was for US shares - haven't traded the ftse future thru the web, only TWS4.

FTSE Beater - no problem.

 

[RogerM]

The 100 ema (yellow) works quite well on the 1 min chart for the ftse as well.