Interactive Broker TWS setups, hotkeys and subscriptions

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

@SirPatrick when and how does that happen ?? before sending the orders or after sending them and trying to modify them ??

I run over some erratic behaviour every now and then when I try to set a stoploss (by default) with any order (hotkey) .... I just removed the information from the preset panel under settings and add it manually (if I want) after creating the order I want to send .... then, check and last but not least : ctrl+intro to send all to the market

 

[patan 0]

FWIW, there is one way that could be used to close portion (%) of position by using Chart Traders's Buttons. Not the hotkeys we need, but better than inputting order from scratch.

In Chart Trader, select New, and select from pull down menu action "Reverse Position". By default there is 100% (to reverse one's position 100%), however, this field can be edited. make sure you enter half of what you intend to close, for instance for 50% of position, enter 25; for 10% enter 5 and so on.

[Sapperstien 74]

21 minutes ago, patan said:

FWIW, there is one way that could be used to close portion (%) of position by using Chart Traders's Buttons. Not the hotkeys we need, but better than inputting order from scratch.

In Chart Trader, select New, and select from pull down menu action "Reverse Position". By default there is 100% (to reverse one's position 100%), however, this field can be edited. make sure you enter half of what you intend to close, for instance for 50% of position, enter 25; for 10% enter 5 and so on.

Oh thats awesome. Too bad its not a hotkey per se. But its something. Kyles DAS hotkeys are best. IN the method you mentioned you cant keep parabolically scaling out of percentage of position left. 

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

Adding L2 to TWS is not easy ... at least I needed a couple of calls and a chat with IB tech support to undestand how they work ... When you are a newbie like me, everything is new and sometimes they don't provide the best possible information...

Connecting the L2 in TWS is as "easy" as connecting all these data packs in the client portal (web access with the real account) :

Level 1 real time : price and spread plus charts :

• NYSE (Network A/CTA) (NP,L1)
• AMEX (Network B/CTA) (NP,L1)
• NASDAQ (Network C/UTP) (NP,L1)

Level 2 real time with depth of market :

• NYSE ArcaBook (NP,L2)
• NYSE OpenBook (NP,L2)
• NASDAQ TotalView-OpenView (NP,L2)
• IEX Depth of Book
• Cboe BZX Depth

Total Cost : around 65USD/mo

You will need to activate a new window in your layout and setup the colors ... here are my final layout for a given stock with L2 + T&S ... dark theme with BBT indicators (VWAP + 9 20 50 EMA + 100 200 SMA) ... I added Pivot levels as well as I found that large/mid stocks (and institutional traders) use them very often even if they are not an important level in the day chart...

Edited November 8, 2019 by aurbano
hide the account no.

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

@Sapperstien that is incredible !!! what are the techs at IB thinking ? the action is available as a button but not as a hotkey !!?!?!?!? very sad !

I ended up using the scale hotkey for exits however I need to manually change the size of each one sometimes. I have custom hotkeys for price and size change in chart orders so it is fast

[saso 0]

Thanks @aurbano for the info about connecting L2 to TWS.

I was searching about this and I couldn't find it.

Is there any way to indicate entry and exit point on the graph like DAS trader do (with the small little triangle)?

 

[Sapperstien 74]

9 hours ago, saso said:

Thanks @aurbano for the info about connecting L2 to TWS.

I was searching about this and I couldn't find it.

Is there any way to indicate entry and exit point on the graph like DAS trader do (with the small little triangle)?

 

Yes, under edit on a normal chart you select chart parameters. Then show my trades in about the middle of the screen on the right side->show as triangles in the drop down menu

[Sapperstien 74]

So because TWS doesn't allow for partialling out with a Hotkey what ive gone and done is make a hotkey to buy 100-1000 shares (in 100 share increments) using the numbers 1-0. And I just do the mental math. Like a 25% partial on a 400 share trade is flattening the position by 100 shares. Its pretty easy to do this math in your head on the fly. No where near as efficient or effective as Kyles DAS keys for example but its something. 

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

@Sapperstien that is right ... I do exactly the same (whenever the market agree with me and I am not stoped out)

@saso as our friend said, you can add your trades doing so, control which timeframe /window show them using the menu and control de fade color (red/green for me) over the avg.price of a given position in the global settings too. No way to set up a hotkey for partials but you can do it with a button (I don't understand why) so that you can reverse the % of the position that you want. Then activate ChartTrader over a chart window to use that button.

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

Hi folks,

I 've been asked several times to update the lastest settings for TWS that I've been using where I removed most of the Moving Averages and added Camarilla Pivots to the charts. Also moved on with some colors arrangements to simplify the view and sized down the "new orders hotkeys" to adjust the new daily strategies I've been using on pursuit of 80-85% of the daily $ATR(14). Remember to modify the file extensión from .txt to .xml before updating your TWS settings.

Camarilla pivots with dashed lines with daily ranges for 5m, 15m and 1h charts and weekly ranges for daily chart :

• S1, S2, S4, R1, R2 and R4: dimmed heavily so they are almost hidden. If you want to remove them, use the right click over them and select "Hide"
• S3 and S4: dashed dark orange - daily expected range.
• Pivot Point or central pivot: dashed green line
• S5 and R5: dashed light gray line - price is heavily extended.

Moving averages :

• 100 sma in dark red
• 200 sma in dark green

New orders generators : [mod >> smaller sizes than before ]

• Ctrl + [ 1 .... 0 ] : LMT buy at ask limit + 0.03  >> from 10 shares to 100 shares
• Shift + [ 1 .... 0 ] : LMT sell at bid limit - 0.03  >> from 10 shares to 100 shares

Here is a screenshot of my actual setup :

 

2022-01_dark.txt

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

hi folks! #options is something to understand even if you don't trade them at all... some moderators introduced several new concepts recently and some of them are sharing important information during mentoring sessions related to TWS options trading. So I decided to add some more info here for the TWS newbies.

HOW TO ADD OPTIONS INFORMATION TO TWS :

1) Under the top right corner click on the account icon and select : user settings

2) On the left column select "Market Data Subscriptions" :

3) On the top header of the left column, select "Current GFIS Subscriptions >> Configure" .... (the gear icon on the right)

4) Under "North America > Level 1 (NBBO)" : Add "OPRA (US Options Exchanges)"

NOTE : monthly fees on this data is only $1.5 and it will be waived if you expend more than $20/mo in comissins during trading... so consider them free 😉

 

[Cecile 0]

Hi @Paul aka Aurbano,

I recently opened an account with Interactive Brokers and I have been doing some research on the data subscriptions.

I just found your post and for level 2 I see you subscribed to:

• NYSE ArcaBook (NP,L2)
• NYSE OpenBook (NP,L2)
• NASDAQ TotalView-OpenView (NP,L2)
• IEX Depth of Book
• Cboe BZX Depth

But doesn't Nasdaq TotalView-OpenView contain all the data from NYSE ArcaBook and OpenBook already?

From the Nasdaq web page:

Quote

Nasdaq TotalView — the standard Nasdaq data feed for serious traders — displays the full order book depth on Nasdaq, including shows you every single quote and order at every price level in Nasdaq-, NYSE-, NYSE American- and regional-listed securities on Nasdaq.

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

Hi @Cecile

I did manage those subscription after a phone call to the IB Support Team (long time ago). Please feel free to contact them and update thia information if anything changed.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Paul aka Aurbano
mispelling

[crystal_castle 0]

On 5/10/2019 at 4:47 PM, Paul aka 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 + 0.03
• 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 6.41 MB · 56 downloads TWS-AutoHotKeyScript.txt 2.49 kB · 47 downloads

Hey Brother, great write up, wish i saw it sooner, i spent a lot of time creating something similar on my own and it wasn't easy 😄

Few questions:

1) When you use your Sell Stop / Buy Stop orders - did you figure out a way to code them so they are auto-created with your current position size (when you fire the hotkey)? Currently i have to manually do this, and then manually update the stop orders if i take partials - it's very distracting trading ORBs.

Ex: in a long for 400 shares, fire sell stop hotkey, pick price on chart, update share size, hit Transmit; 

2) For your entries, why did you take the approach of transacting at the bid/ask +- 0.03, instead of using a market order? Were you getting significant slippage with market orders?

3) Have you experimented with the bracket order functionality? This might be a work-around of my problem in #1. My understanding is they follow a One-Cancels-All paradigm. So you can do something like: hotkey to get a market long, and it will auto add a SL - 1.00 and TP + 1.00. And the brackets will be canceled if you manually close the position. I've been told this exists but i haven't been able to code it yet. 

Appreciate any feedback mate!

[Paul aka Aurbano 83]

To @crystal_castle ,

1) When you use your Sell Stop / Buy Stop orders - did you figure out a way to code them so they are auto-created with your current position size (when you fire the hotkey)? Currently i have to manually do this, and then manually update the stop orders if i take partials - it's very distracting trading ORBs. Ex: in a long for 400 shares, fire sell stop hotkey, pick price on chart, update share size, hit Transmit;

I did. I do not send orders to the market as I create them ... I have hotkeys for LMT orders, size change, price move and then only then, another hotkey to submit the order. Plus another hotkey I can press before sending the main order to add OCO (profit, stoploss). In TWS you can move between orders in the chart using TAB. Please watch the 2 videos I recently added to the first/main post.

Also use settings to auto populate new orders according to the actual position.

2) For your entries, why did you take the approach of transacting at the bid/ask +- 0.03, instead of using a market order? Were you getting significant slippage with market orders?

I do not use market orders .. never ever ... I plan my entries and exits to a level and I don't want slipage...

 

3) Have you experimented with the bracket order functionality? This might be a work-around of my problem in #1. My understanding is they follow a One-Cancels-All paradigm. So you can do something like: hotkey to get a market long, and it will auto add a SL - 1.00 and TP + 1.00. And the brackets will be canceled if you manually close the position. I've been told this exists but i haven't been able to code it yet. 

Yes ... actually it is pretty easy to setup a market order with a predefined profit and stoploss. Under the same settings in global configuration you can setup a global configuratión and then one for every ticker you usually trade if you want to be more specific ... very easy