Interactive Brokers Troubleshooting

[village idiot]

I am not 100% sure how the actual balance on which you are paying interest works with IB. However if you subsequently deposit more cash into your account and that takes your cash balance to over the amount you have spent on equities I would be very surprised if you still had to pay interest on the original difference.

 

[alex21]

Hi

I've started to trade VIX futures/options recently in IB. I can see/use only VIX options with expiration date 10/06 (in TWS just now). Where are VIX options with expiration dates 17/06 and 24/06 ?? The underlying for them is supposed to be july VIX futures. I missed them ...

I found the thread where VIX options are discussed, but probably it is better to ask in the "IB troubleshooting" branch. Sorry if that is the wrong place...

 

[village idiot]

alex, there are two types; 'Futures options' which next expiry is the 10th june, and just 'options' which have the other expiry dates you seek.

so assuming you are pulling the line up by typing 'VIX' in the first box on the lhs, then scroll down and selct 'options' rather than 'futures options'

edit; actually that might not be the answer to your question as you seem to be looking for weekly options, cant help there

 

[alex21]

alex, there are two types; 'Futures options' which next expiry is the 10th june, and just 'options' which have the other expiry dates you seek.

so assuming you are pulling the line up by typing 'VIX' in the first box on the lhs, then scroll down and selct 'options' rather than 'futures options'

edit; actually that might not be the answer to your question as you seem to be looking for weekly options, cant help there

Thank you for the reply. However I know that there are "just" options on the VIX index and there are options on VIX futures. My question was regarding the the second type. The first ones have monthly series for expiration, the second - should have weekly. BUT now there is just one weekly option for VIX futures - with expiration date 10/06 and there are no any further options. There could be 2 reasons for that - either IB does not transfer the data from the exchange or CBOE decided to finish weekly VIX futures options because (for instance) of small turnover/liquidity. Maybe somebody knows the answer (?)

 

[excite]

Today I made the first transaction in IB, however, the margin does not look right and I could not place further order with my account. Specifically, I initially had AU$10,000 cash, and today's transaction worth AU$3874, commission $6, but I am having the following account information:

cash: $6120
Current initial margin: $3874
Current maintenance margin: $3874 (why? apparently IB used my cash)

The more ridiculous thing is that IB does not allow me to place another order worth $6000, because my Equity with loan ($9994) is insufficient to cover the margin requirement (3874+6250), though the current buying power showing in my account is $24480. What is wrong with IB? I can even make the transactions with a cash account, but could not with a margin account?

 

[Ibbz]

Today I made the first transaction in IB, however, the margin does not look right and I could not place further order with my account. Specifically, I initially had AU$10,000 cash, and today's transaction worth AU$3874, commission $6, but I am having the following account information:

cash: $6120
Current initial margin: $3874
Current maintenance margin: $3874 (why? apparently IB used my cash)

The more ridiculous thing is that IB does not allow me to place another order worth $6000, because my Equity with loan ($9994) is insufficient to cover the margin requirement (3874+6250), though the current buying power showing in my account is $24480. What is wrong with IB? I can even make the transactions with a cash account, but could not with a margin account?

Is your base cash set to AUD? I had a similar issue on my Paper account with Equity with Loan when I had USD dollars which I converted to AUD but I had to wait until it was settled before I could trade in AUD.

 

[bathuu]

Hi Guys,

I am just wondering that is there any way to save quotes / like in watchlist / in portfolio section of TWS? Or simply is it possible to use quotes in portfolio section as permanent watchlist, without having to insert quotes for everytime when open TWS. I could not find any 'save' button or an option that saves quotes in portfolio section, except the quotes that I have holdings or sell and buy order on it, seem to stay in my portfolio section permanently.

Cheers

 

[skc]

Hi Guys,

I am just wondering that is there any way to save quotes / like in watchlist / in portfolio section of TWS? Or simply is it possible to use quotes in portfolio section as permanent watchlist, without having to insert quotes for everytime when open TWS. I could not find any 'save' button or an option that saves quotes in portfolio section, except the quotes that I have holdings or sell and buy order on it, seem to stay in my portfolio section permanently.

Cheers

The portfolio is what it is... your holdings. It can't be modified as far as I know.
Why not just create a new page with the list you want? If you want to see your holding and P/L as well you can add those to the columns.

With saving setting, under Configure | Lock and Exit | check auto save and store setting on server if so desired.

 

[bathuu]

The portfolio is what it is... your holdings. It can't be modified as far as I know.
Why not just create a new page with the list you want? If you want to see your holding and P/L as well you can add those to the columns.

With saving setting, under Configure | Lock and Exit | check auto save and store setting on server if so desired.

Thanks SKC,

Awesome, it worked, I just have turned the default 'Untitled' page into my live watchlist.

Cheers

 

[blue0810]

TWS Watchlist :

Trading Tools ->Watchlist

 

[skc]

Can someone help me with this...

On the TWS I detached one of my pages and accidentally closed it (instead of re-attaching it). How do I bring it back?

 

[captain black]

Can someone help me with this...

On the TWS I detached one of my pages and accidentally closed it (instead of re-attaching it). How do I bring it back?

You can restore page settings from previous days. This will restore all pages from previous days so not sure if it will help? The quote below is from the User's Guide.

Restore and Save Page Settings

To restore trading pages and tickers you had set up on a previous day, you can elect to restore the entire settings file, which includes all trading pages and their tickers.
Note: Restoring a page file completely replaces all of your current trading pages with those from a previous day.
To restore settings

1. On the File menu, select Open Settings File.
2. In the Open dialog box, click on the day's file you want to use to replace the current set of pages and tickers.
   To view the actual dates the files were saved, click the Details icon on the top right of the box.
3. Click Open. Your current trading pages and tickers are replaced with those in the file you selected.

 

[skc]

You can restore page settings from previous days. This will restore all pages from previous days so not sure if it will help? The quote below is from the User's Guide.

Thanks. Unfortunately the page wasn't in the settings file. I guess the setting file was saved after the page was "closed". Yet the page still exist somewhere because I can't name a new page by the same name.

 

[bathuu]

Hi guys,

I am just wondering how can sell or buy order be switched its place in TWS, when you click on bid or ask column respectively. What I want is buy order when clicking bid column instead of ask column and similarly sell order when clicking ask column. OR Alternatively, how can I change default buy order price not to the top of ask line, but top of bid line. The reason is everytime I place buy order by clicking ask column in rush, I tend to make a mistake of forgetting to adjust the price for my order and simply buying straight from sellers instead of queuing at the top of the bid line.

Thanks guys.

 

[captain black]

Hi guys,

I am just wondering how can sell or buy order be switched its place in TWS, when you click on bid or ask column respectively. What I want is buy order when clicking bid column instead of ask column and similarly sell order when clicking ask column. OR Alternatively, how can I change default buy order price not to the top of ask line, but top of bid line. The reason is everytime I place buy order by clicking ask column in rush, I tend to make a mistake of forgetting to adjust the price for my order and simply buying straight from sellers instead of queuing at the top of the bid line.

Thanks guys.

You can change the order presets to Buy at Bid or Sell at Ask when you click the bid/ask column. Click on the "Configure" button in TWS. Then select "Presets". Choose your instrument (eg. "Stocks") then under the "Primary Order" section change the "Limit Price" to "Bid". This will also set the limit price for a sell order to the ask price.

 

[bathuu]

Thanks Captain Black,

It worked. Although it did not really change as Buy at Bid or Sell at Ask when you click the bid/ask column. It switched buy order's limit prices to bid column, which is sufficient enough for avoiding this simple, yet costly mistake

 

[gav]

Anyone else having trouble logging in to IB today?

 

[captain black]

Anyone else having trouble logging in to IB today?

Just logged in ok here.

 

[gav]

Thanks CB. It's claiming my username or password are incorrect, which I know is not true (and I don't have caps lock on). I'll have to give them a call tomorrow.

 

[cutz]

Hi Folks,

Anyone know how to get the European series ASX equity oppies up, or if they are even available on TWS ?