Interactive Broker TWS setups, hotkeys and subscriptions

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

Hi guys,

I've been working on a nice dark setup that works for me on InteractiveBrokers TWS platform including :

• 3 monitors for active trading ( screenshot and XML attached below )
• 1 monitor for watchlist + spy + scanner + portfolio
• Tons of Hotkeys !

And I 've been working heavily to setup hotkeys using Andrews' methodology :

• Buy long at the Ask + 0.03
• Sell short at the Bid - 0.03

I implemented this on IB TWS using a similar approach but using :

• Buy long at the Ask with limit buy + 0.03
• Sell short at the Bid with limit sell - 0.03 (check the screenshots below )

Here are the main hotkeys : (screenshot and XML attached below)

• New orders generators :
  • Ctrl + [ 1 .... 0 ] : LMT buy at ask limit + 0.03  >> from 100 shares to 1.000 shares
  • Shift + [ 1 .... 0 ] : LMT sell at bid limit - 0.03  >> from 100 shares to 1.000 shares
• Orders general management :
  • Ctrl + Q : cancel all orders and close full position at market price but you can exit position using the opposite order ( Buy for Shorting and Sell for Longing )
  • Ctrl + C : cancel all active or pending orders for active chart
  • Ctrl + U : partial placement every X cents with Y exits
  • Ctrl + Enter : submit / transmit / update changes
  • Tab : Select next order (inside chart)
• Order price changes :
  • Ctrl + Home : move 0.02 up the limit price of the selected order
  • Ctrl + End :move 0.02 down the limit price of the selected order
• Order size changes :
  • Ctrl + RePag : add 100 shares to the current selected order size
  • Shift + RePag : add 20 shares to the current selected order size
  • Ctrl + AvPag : substract 100 shares to current selected order size
  • Shift + AvPag : substract 20 shares to current selected order size
• If you have NO position opened yet
  • Right clic on chart + Buy : enter long with $11.000 (default position) at the price selected on the chart after second clic (LMT order)
  • Right clic on chart + Sell : enter short with $11.000 (default position) at the price selected on the chart after second clic (LMT order)
  • Ctrl + S : Stop sell with $11.000 position for a short position at the selected price below current price (if placed above current price will sell inmediately)
  • Ctrl + B : Stop buy with $11.000 position for a long position at the selected price above current price (if placed below current price will sell inmediately)
• If you have a position already opened
  • Right clic on chart + Buy : close short position with LMT order at the selected price on chart
  • Right clic on chart + Sell : close long position with LMT order at the selected price on chart
  • Ctrl + S : Stop Loss to close a long position at the selected price on chart (whole position)
  • Shift + S : Stop Loss Limit ($0.10 range) to close a long position at the selected price on chart during premarket (whole position)
  • Ctrl + B : Stop Loss to close a short position at the selected price on chart (whole position)
  • Shift + B : Stop Loss Limit ($0.10 range) to close a short position at the selected price on chart during premarket (whole position)
• New AutoHotKeys Script : **
  • F4 : Histogram / Volume by price indicator
  • F5 : Refresh chart information
  • F6 : Draw an horizontal line
  • F7 : Remove all the drawings and personal annotation from the chart
  • F8 : Draw fibonacci lines
  • F9 : (De)activate Chart Trader
  • F10 : (De)activate Chart Trader on smaller charts (yes menús are different)
  • F11 : (Un)show completed trades marks
  • F12 : Show window name
• Youtube video (7m) with fast explanation and examples (spanish with subtitles) : https://youtu.be/1gflAufNMxI
• Youtube video (1h20m) for the spanish community in BBT (with subtitles) : https://youtu.be/DOSHys3WoRk

 

To access chart hotkey setup : File menu > Global configuration > Charts > ChartTrader > Hotkeys

To download this hotkeys and layout :

1. Download the text file attached : tws.txt
2. Change the extension to XML
3. File menu > Layout / Settings Recovery > Custom > Select file
4. Do not forget to save your current setup before for roll back if needed

** AutoHotKey is a Windows Software that provide a simple macro script language to write down any kind of macro process that can be done over and over again. This software is 100% free and independent from TWS, however I managed a way to use a script that will only activate the above function keys on TWS windows. The function will be launched in the window which is inmediately under the mouse pointer, so be sure that the mouse is where it should be if you don't want any other function on TWS to be launched. This Script is very straight foreward and it has some comments inside to let you know what can be done with the keys and menu functions. I personally hated using the context menu or the main manu of the chart and click 3 times just to draw a simple horizontal line, but TWS has no support to many many basic commonly used tasks AND I DECIDED TO WRITE MY OWN 😉

To add on top of it the new AutoHotKey Script :

1. Download and install AutoHotKey 1.33 software from : https://www.autohotkey.com/
2. Download the Custom Script file for TWS at the end of this post : TWS-AutoHotKeys.txt
3. Open it with some text editor like WordPad, Notepad or SublimeText and check line 30 to add you own TWS Account Number
4. Change the extension to AHK
5. After launching TWS on your Windows PC, double click on the Script icon (which I personally store in the desktop).

Last updates :

Oct, 25th 2024 - Added two YouTube videos with examples (in Spanish with subtitles)
Aug, 29th 2020 - Fixed AutoHotKey macro script to avoid using the macros outside TWS
Aug, 28th 2020 - Added base subscriptions screenshot for L1 or SIM
Aug, 27th 2020 - Added new Setup file with hotkeys fix
 

 

 

 

 

 

If you wanna add option chanin information activate this options detailed here :

tws_2020ago.txt TWS-AutoHotKeyScript.txt

Edited October 25, 2024 by Paul aka Aurbano
add youtube video links

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

After posting this entry, I thought that most of the people in this room using IB would like to replicate the color style used by @Andrew Aziz, @WilliamH, @Norm and @Brian Pez .... so I started tunning my IB TWS platform to look as close as possible to theirs.

It took me some time to realize that possitive volume bars and chart bars share the same color spec and cannot be turned white as the background in any way so I used white grey. TWS take contrast into consideration and change your colors even if you don't want to... For sure, there are more thinkgs to change but this is a "beta" version hehe

I used 9 20 and 50 EMA + 100 and 200 SMA with a blue VWAP and some pivot points indicators + close of the prev day, all replicating our moderators platforms ...

Hope you like them guys !

🙂

Disclaimer: I won't mantain the white theme hotkeys etc etc .... this was only a prove of concept.

settings_tws_white.txt

Edited August 27, 2020 by Paul aka Aurbano
disclaimer

[WilliamH 67]

hahahah. LOVE it. Easier for me to read that charts. . . . but honestly, what matters most is how it looks visually to you! Make sure you set up your platform best for your own eyes and brain to process the information.

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

On 5/17/2019 at 8:53 PM, WilliamH said:

hahahah. LOVE it. Easier for me to read that charts. . . . but honestly, what matters most is how it looks visually to you! Make sure you set up your platform best for your own eyes and brain to process the information.

Thanks @WilliamH .... you are right ! I 've used to darker colors as I worked as a software developer for 15+ years ... so I will stick with my dark theme ! hehehe

I just wanted to share it for anyone to avoid the painfull color and hotkey setup

[BBT Member 001 27]

i've spent like 5000000 hours trying to change it to white lol.

I dont know who started using white candles for green ones but i love it

[Sheela 31]

I prefer darker theme. As I am in the process of switching from TOS to DAS, I felt DAS default darker theme has very vibrant and intensified deeper colors and need to be soften. Since it is trail version just for a week or so, not spending much time on changing all those. Trying to get familiar with main components. Will have to spend good amount of time once I get original ver. installed. 

 

[FlourishingWeee 44]

TWS is terrible at letting you personalize the appearance of things.  It's a real nightmare to deal with colors.  I tried to put it in white too but it's just nowhere as clean as DAS or TradingView lets you do it.

Also, I've never seen a Times & Sales so useless... can't get the text to be in color like in DAS.  I'm really considering the switch to DAS but I'm afraid I'll miss some stuff like the fact that I can place trades directly on the chart with a shortcut and a mouse click.

[Sheela 31]

Below is TOS version of my DAS except the hotkey buttons which I don't have on TOS.  Happen to add all those buttons to give little flexibility with the orders on using my under PDT account. For now I am not using BP% calc in my order scripts(which might change once the full account is setup) to give little flexibility on changing the order size based on trade setups.

 

[patan 0]

aurbano, do you have a hotkey to close portion % of position ?

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

1 hour ago, patan said:

aurbano, do you have a hotkey to close portion % of position ?

hi patan, sadly TWS has no way to bind a hotkey to close portion % of a given position... I 've been forced to do it manually using the sell or the buy hotkeys with the proper size... and closing all the position (Ctrl+Q) whenever I wanted to close all.

However, you can close a % of a position using limit orders in "chart-trader" or using the portfolio window ( right-click -> close % ) .... It is not that fast, and it is not functional for scalping ... My close full position hotkey is used only as an emergency fallback as it uses market order for ultrafast reliable exit at any price .... When I use a 200 or a 300 shares position I use to close in 2 or 3 steps using the 100 share hotkey (with limit orders) .... Yes guys, I agree with you all that  TWS is slow and have really weird things, however it forced me to leave scalping behind and focus on bigger slower plays.

[SirPatrick 9]

@aurbano I'm finding that when I enter a trade with a stop loss set (I have a hotkey that buys/sells and sets a stop loss at the same time), trying to partial out (via closing portion or selling/buying) ultimately removes my stop loss. Are you having this happen to you?

[Sapperstien 74]

On 5/10/2019 at 2:47 PM, aurbano said:

Hi guys,

I've been working on a nice dark setup that works for me on InteractiveBrokers TWS platform including :

• 3 monitors for active trading ( screenshot and XML attached below )
• 1 monitor for watchlist + spy + scanner + portfolio
• Tons of Hotkeys !

And I 've been working heavily to setup hotkeys using Andrews' methodology :

• Buy long at the Ask + 0.05
• Sell short at the Bid - 0.05

I implemented this on IB TWS using a similar approach but using :

• Buy long at the Ask with stop limit buy + 0.05
• Sell short at the Bid with stop limit sell - 0.05 (check the screenshots below )

Here are the main hotkeys : (screenshot and XML attached below)

• Ctrl + [1....0] : stop buy at ask limit + 0.05  > from 100 shares to 1000 shares
• Shift + [1....0] : stop sell at bid limit - 0.05  > from 100 shares to 1000 shares
• Ctrl + Q : cancel all orders and close full position at market price but you can exit position using the opposite order ( Buy for Shorting and Sell for Longing )
• Ctrl + C : cancel all active pending orders for active chart
• Ctrl + Up : move 0.02 up the limit price of the selected order
• Ctrl + Down : move 0.02 down the limit price of the selected order
• Ctrl + Enter : submit or update changes
• Tab key : Select next order (inside chart)
• NO position opened yet !
  • Right clic on chart + Buy : enter long with $11.000 (default position) at the price selected on the chart after second clic (LMT order)
  • Right clic on chart + Sell : enter short with $11.000 (default position) at the price selected on the chart after second clic (LMT order)
  • Ctrl + S : Stop sell with $11.000 position for a short position at the selected price below current price (if placed above current price will sell inmediately)
  • Ctrl + B : Stop buy with $11.000 position for a long position at the selected price above current price (if placed below current price will sell inmediately)
• Position already opened !
  • Right clic on chart + Buy : close short position with LMT order at the selected price on chart
  • Right clic on chart + Sell : close long position with LMT order at the selected price on chart
  • Ctrl + S : Stop Loss to close a long position at the selected price on chart (whole position)
  • Ctrl + B : Stop Loss to close a short position at the selected price on chart (whole position)

To access chart hotkey setup : File menu > Global configuration > Charts > ChartTrader > Hotkeys

To download this hotkeys and layout :

• Download the text file attached
• Change the extension to XML
• File menu > Layout / Settings Recovery > Custom > Select file
• Do not forget to save your current setup before for roll back if needed

 

settings_tws_you.txt

Interesting. Never thought of doing stop buys with a 5 cent slip limit. 

I've always done ask plus $0.05 offset. But I guess with their requirement to fill at NBBO your way can actually get you zero slippage if the conditions are right. 

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

On 10/13/2019 at 2:04 AM, Sapperstien said:

Interesting. Never thought of doing stop buys with a 5 cent slip limit. 

I've always done ask plus $0.05 offset. But I guess with their requirement to fill at NBBO your way can actually get you zero slippage if the conditions are right. 

That was the idea my friend ... IB works quite well in order fullfilment actually in both the simulator and the real account...

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

On 6/28/2019 at 7:29 AM, patan said:

aurbano, do you have a hotkey to close portion % of position ?

it is not possible to close % of a position on IB TWS ... I called the support team, wrote them via the support chat and no one gave me a good answer ... No way to automaticly calc the position the sign and send the order with a hotkey, HOWEVER, you can do that using the right button of your mouse over any ticket in the portfolio window... Select Close and then % ... it is easy and fast, but not as reliable as a hotkey (in terms of speed execution).

I try to keep myself out of any scalp strategy, so to me it does not matter if I cannot program a hotkey to close a % of a position.

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

On 6/2/2019 at 7:35 AM, Yann said:

TWS is terrible at letting you personalize the appearance of things.  It's a real nightmare to deal with colors.  I tried to put it in white too but it's just nowhere as clean as DAS or TradingView lets you do it.

Also, I've never seen a Times & Sales so useless... can't get the text to be in color like in DAS.  I'm really considering the switch to DAS but I'm afraid I'll miss some stuff like the fact that I can place trades directly on the chart with a shortcut and a mouse click.

I've been in the exactly same position for months mate ... however ... chart-trader utility is so so cool that I hardly ever move to DAS trader ... i updated my hotkeys so that orders are not send inmediatly and added 4 hotkeys to move the price and the quantity up or down ..... another 2 hotkeys to add bracket orders or stoploss and the last one to send all .... now my trading is more paused and reliable .... ZERO IMPULSE as I need to think and develop a strategy... Before I usually found myself reacting to a candle move and that was awefull for my trading stats...

Here is an update about my new hotkeys (red) ... I use Ctrl or Shift + [1-0] to set up a buy/sell order (without sending it to the market) .... then I can use other hotkeys like Ctrl+O to set up a bracket (target + stoploss) ... move between the 3 orders with tab, change the price with another hotkeys and last send all the data to market with ctrl+intro

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by aurbano
update