Taking partial profit on IB TWS

[danjuma]

I am totally curious now. Why don't you take screenshots for me?

Okay, referring to image 5, looks like I can modify the quantity. Not sure what I did wrong before that made it to be greyed out. Anyway, going to the conditional tab (image 6), you can not add a new condition (option greyed out, but you can edit a condition. So highlighting the price condition and amend the price for the partial take profit, and then transmitting the order, a new sell order is not created. Instead the original buy order is replaced by the new sell order! (image 7). One other thing also, where or at what point is the stop loss meant to be attached? It just seems such a long convoluted process.

 

[hhiusa]

Okay, referring to image 5, looks like I can modify the quantity. Not sure what I did wrong before that made it to be greyed out. Anyway, going to the conditional tab (image 6), you can not add a new condition (option greyed out, but you can edit a condition. So highlighting the price condition and amend the price for the partial take profit, and then transmitting the order, a new sell order is not created. Instead the original buy order is replaced by the new sell order! (image 7). One other thing also, where or at what point is the stop loss meant to be attached? It just seems such a long convoluted process.

Judging by your pictures you skipped a few steps. Also I think you are using a the web trader instead of the trader workstation. The web trader has less functionality than the TWS app. Secondly, I noticed that your account number begins with DU. Does this mean that you don't have a open account with IB. The demo account has a very low functionality. If this is not the case, then I think you should re-read my instructions carefully.

 

[danjuma]

Judging by your pictures you skipped a few steps. Also I think you are using a the web trader instead of the trader workstation. The web trader has less functionality than the TWS app. Secondly, I noticed that your account number begins with DU. Does this mean that you don't have a open account with IB. The demo account has a very low functionality. If this is not the case, then I think you should re-read my instructions carefully.

Hi hhiusa, thanks of getting back.
No I am not using the web trader. I am using the TWS desktop app.
It is not a demo account. It is a paper account associated with my live account. You can not open a paper account without having a live account with IB, and the paper account is exactly the same (full functionality as the live account) except that you are using paper money.
Not sure exactly what steps I have missed. I will re-read your instructions again. Thanks

 

[hhiusa]

Hi hhiusa, thanks of getting back.
No I am not using the web trader. I am using the TWS desktop app.
It is not a demo account. It is a paper account associated with my live account. You can not open a paper account without having a live account with IB, and the paper account is exactly the same (full functionality as the live account) except that you are using paper money.
Not sure exactly what steps I have missed. I will re-read your instructions again. Thanks

I know that; however, your screenshots show you have less options than in my screenshots. I was just making sure we had covered the bases. Why kind of market data do you have? Did you set up your paper account to have access to that market data. There is an option in your live account to share market data with the paper account.

If you click the "Scale" tab you can enter inital component size (half of the shares) and enter subsequent component size (remainder of the shares). Additionally it will allow you specify how far the price increments are.

You said that you only want it to sell half as a stop loss measure, but what if it continues to drop? Do you want it to sell the rest at a secondary lower price. If so, then you can use scale trader for this purpose. For example, if you buy 100 @ 131.00 and it subsequently falls below your flow of 130.00, then it will sell 50 @ 130.00. If it continues to fall you can have your scale trader set up to sell the additional 50 @ 129.00. If you wish to make !% upon the trade as well you can attach another order. The auto-cancel parent will cancel your stop loss sell order if the price improves to your desired price.

I will upload a video when the market opens.

 

[danjuma]

I know that; however, your screenshots show you have less options than in my screenshots. I was just making sure we had covered the bases. Why kind of market data do you have? Did you set up your paper account to have access to that market data. There is an option in your live account to share market data with the paper account.

If you click the "Scale" tab you can enter inital component size (half of the shares) and enter subsequent component size (remainder of the shares). Additionally it will allow you specify how far the price increments are.

You said that you only want it to sell half as a stop loss measure, but what if it continues to drop? Do you want it to sell the rest at a secondary lower price. If so, then you can use scale trader for this purpose. For example, if you buy 100 @ 131.00 and it subsequently falls below your flow of 130.00, then it will sell 50 @ 130.00. If it continues to fall you can have your scale trader set up to sell the additional 50 @ 129.00. If you wish to make !% upon the trade as well you can attach another order. The auto-cancel parent will cancel your stop loss sell order if the price improves to your desired price.

I will upload a video when the market opens.

Hi hhiusa, thanks for the response. My paper account is set up to access the same market data as my my live account.

You said that you only want it to sell half as a stop loss measure,..

That statement is wrong. What I want to do hypothetically:
Buy say 100 shares of XYZ at $50
Stop loss for the 100 shares at $45
Partial take profit of 50 shares at $60

So if price goes in my favour and hit $60, close half (50 shares). If price instead went against me and hit $45 stop loss, then the trade gets closed for a loss.


Thanks

 

[hhiusa]

That statement is wrong. What I want to do hypothetically:
Buy say 100 shares of XYZ at $50
Stop loss for the 100 shares at $45
Partial take profit of 50 shares at $60

Thanks

 

[danjuma]

hhiusa, firstly thank you very very much for taking a big chunk out of your time to create the step-by-step guide above. It is not often you find people so willing to assist in such a manner. So once more many thanks. Now, it looks like your solution is to use the scale trader, which I find to be a bit different from what I really want. The scale trader seems to be primarily a tool to use in buying shares in batches at incremental prices, which is not really what I want. I want to buy all my shares all at once at one price, and sell half after price increases to my partial profit target. Thanks

 

[hhiusa]

hhiusa, firstly thank you very very much for taking a big chunk out of your time to create the step-by-step guide above. It is not often you find people so willing to assist in such a manner. So once more many thanks. Now, it looks like your solution is to use the scale trader, which I find to be a bit different from what I really want. The scale trader seems to be primarily a tool to use in buying shares in batches at incremental prices, which is not really what I want. I want to buy all my shares all at once at one price, and sell half after price increases to my partial profit target. Thanks

Dude view each picture closely. I set it up to buy 200 shares "all at once" and then you use scale trader to sell half when it reaches one price then the remainder when it goes even higher. I used the auto-cancel parent feature to cancel to stop loss order if your scale trade goes through. I was unable to upload a video since apparently that is only way you will see. You said you wanted to buy 200 XYZ @ 100.00 sell 100 @ 101.00 and then sell 100 @ 102.00 also you wanted a stop loss order for say 200 @ 98.00. If the sell order is placed at the higher price it will auto-cancel the stop loss order for 98.00. I cannot make it any easier.