I have read from an IB rep saying that maximum liquidity is ~0700-1500 EST. I assume this is because the banks that provide liquidity are American based. Is IB stictly focusing on American banks for liquidity or are they also focusing on relationships with banks around the world, thus providing a tighter market and increased liquidity throughout the trading day? MK
if you look at the screenshots posted in this thread by Steve (IB) you will see the markets are tight in european and in asian hours too ... whether they are even tighter in USA hours I have not looked ... but maybe some other IB USA REP can post a screenshot during say 9:30 am EST or 11 am EST
Hi SethArb, Ok, you are correct about the spreads. Just when I see IB rep saying that max liquidity is in the US hours of operation that always makes me uneasy. Why? Because I do not live in the USA and would like to have good service in non-US hours. I am just going through terrible terrible service with TradeStation on their Forex platform and do not want to switch brokers only to have the same crappy service. Thanks for your post. MK
I've been watching the spreads pretty closely during US overnight hours and they have remained just as tight. A third liquidity provider is on line as well now. These are GLOBAL banks and from what I've seen, the spreads are comparable to the interbank rates throughout the entire overnight session.
Thanks def, When is the shutdown? I remember you saying that IB expanded the hours? and is going to expand them to 24 hours? I have to buy and sell in 25k lots/increments? correct? Also when is the margin rates going to change from 5% to 2%?
we're hoping to be operational to 23 hours within a few weeks. 24 will come thereafter. 25K increments - no. just a 25K minimum. Not sure about the margins. I'll have to check on that.
The minimum is $25k, however, you can trade any amount above that, e.g. $25,010 is fine. Margin should be adjusted within one week. It will be 2% for most currencies.
Thank you for your answers. So basically, I can trade any random amount above 25k. I get it. You guys are basically operating just like Interbank then. There are no standard contracts at all. Your website was not clear. So basically, If I put in a bid to buy 50k dollar/yen everyone can see this? cuz you are an ecn? correct? It appears that all the action is transparent on my screen. Is there a particular currency order entry module that I can pull up in IB?? For instance, it appears that I can use Booktrader. Or just the quote grid. Is there something I am missing? Thanks for answering all the questions on here.
To Steve and Def: Is it possible to implement the charting (and thereby the backfill) of all the IDEALPRO-tickers (including all the 28 crosses). This is currently missing in TWS and we see it as quite essential to have charting of the FX-tickers. Thanks for considering. Hoi (ButtonTrader)