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I have had a love-hate relationship with IB's Trader Workstation for years. Over the past few months, I can't figure out how to make a trade using it and have resigned myself to logging into their internet portal to trade (which limits your choice to "Market" or "Limit". I can find all sorts of windows on TWS, including one for open orders, and I can trade anything I already own from the portfolio window, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to execute a trade on a new equity.

Any help (or supporting the fact that I really am insane) would be appreciated.

Jeff

You can click the order button on top left corner, the cursor will default to "Financial Instrument" where you type a ticker symbol and press tab, select "stock" or whatever you want with the mouse click for the name that comes up that you want. Then select Buy or sell, quantity, order type, etc.

You can also select an empty line in your portfolio view in the Financial Instrument column and type in a ticker, press tab, select what you are trying to trade (stock, option, warrant, etc..) - that will add it as a row in your portfolio. Then right click that ticker and select BUY or SELL, move across the row to adjust Quantity, Day/GTC, Limit/Market/midprice, algo, etc, Price for limit, select transmit

Yes, I used to use a blank line on the "portfolio screen", but seem to have run out of them. Which screen (there are a bunch of candidates) do I find the "order button on top left corner".

Thanks,
Jeff

I use a trader workstation "classic" TWS java application launched from the desktop of my mac. The order button is a big button in the top left corner of the java app, just below the "minimize" buttons, "File", Edit, etc..

If you need more rows to find an empty row, can you just scroll down or change the size of the window to be taller?

OFF TOPIC:
Why do you own so many securities?! LOL

Also, if your "portfolio" tab is full, you can click the "+" to make a new tab that will have all empty rows, use one of those rows to make your order. It will show up on Portfolio tab once you have a position in it. You should be able to scroll if you have more positions than vertical space

I use the "classic" layout of TWS, the downloaded Java program.

Steps to buy a new stock for me would be like this:

Create a new quote tab if I want, more likely use any free line on an existing quote tab.
(If you need a line between existing quote lines, just click on a line and hit your "insert" button)

Click leftmost column of a blank line, type in the ticker.
Pick the specific security with that underlying ticker from the pop-up, normally the default (stock, smart routing), sometimes options. If it's an option, there will be a second pop-up window for expiry, strike, put/call.
The quote line will populate itself with the bid, ask, last, etc. The set of rows you see can be customized, but you don't have to.

To buy, I click the current "ask" number. (to sell, click the "bid"). An order row appears below the quote row. I choose the default order type (limit), enter the limit price I want, and click the transmit button on that row. Nothing happens till you click "transmit". Never use a market order for anything, it's like taping a "kick me" sign on your back.

To change the limit, just type in a new one and click "transmit" again.

After a couple of hours it all seemed natural, the only thing that I had to work harder to remember was to click "ask" to buy, and "bid" to sell. A post-it helps! And don't click at random place on the window, or order lines will pop up, which seems scary. Again, nothing really happens unless you click "transmit".

This is the "fancy" way to do it, which doesn't use the order window. It's nice after you've used it for a day. Fewer fields to stare at and check, since you normally want the defaults like "day order" anyway.

Jim

Thank you all - I'll give it a whirl next time I trade.

In answer to why I own so many different stock - well, it's been my style since I was a kid. I generally feel that the rah-rah stocks everyone are following are already too expensive by the time I get into gear. I'm more likely to try to identify a shift that will take place "sometime in the future". It has worked numerous times for me - the major drawback is that sometimes I lack the patience to outwait my convictions.

But why so many issues? While I can guess what will happen pretty well, I find it more comfortable to lay bets on all the likely beneficiaries than to try to pick a single winner. If the dynamics off the shift is world-wide, then it makes sense (to me, at least) to place bets on the leading firms in multiple countries. One of the "themes" I've been covering for years (and which is rapidly moving towards general recognition) is that, because of the combined effects of the growth in the number of EV's, cryptocurrency generation and AI, electrical grids-world-wide will have to be beefed up. This will positively affect both electrical infrastructure companies as well as utilities (but utilities are frequently held back from maximizing their profit by regulators).

The stock I picked up today was a one-off (don't take this as investing advice, because it's a long shot). It's a French aircraft engine manufacturer by the name of Safran SA (epa:SAF). I feel that there is enough bad feeling towards the US to cause commercial airlines to favor Airbus over Boeing and to use European engines on military aircraft rather than US ones and Safran fits the bill nicely. While I'm ashamed to say that I missed the rather obvious bump in arms manufacturers, this may be a late bloomer.

Another example of how the list gets longer happened I guess a few months ago when I halved my ownership in Berkshire Hathaway, but bought shares (on the Tokyo exchange) in the five Japanese trading companies they own. Frankly, they have way outperformed Berkshire itself. (The challenge I have with Japanese shares is that they are described by four digit numbers and the ones these use are similar to other Japanese shares I own in completely different fields.

So, I guess, I own in the high double-digits of different shares. So people ask what I don't simplify my life and just buy an ETF or two. First of all, this is more fun and second of all, each company was chosen for a reason, where as in a mutual fund or ETF I'm stuck with whatever the fund management feels they want to throw into the bucket.

Jeff

I've almost finished moving all of my assets out of Interactive Brokers, most recently another chunk yesterday.

I used to think highly of the platform 10 years ago, but my mind rapidly changed after recently opening up accounts with 3 other brokers. My original plan was to simply take advantage of some generous transfer bonuses the other brokerages had, then move my money back to IB, because I assumed those other brokers would pale in comparison.

Instead, I found every one of them vastly easier and intuitive to use, less bug free, and with most of the benefits I was getting with IB, and in some areas more. IB's user interface (UX) is still in the stone age, while other brokerages have innovated leaps and bounds in every area. And IB used to have not just the best margin rates and idle cash rates, but unbeatable ones - but now? No longer even the best. Some other gripes: their policy of "we'll do margin calls whenever we like at any time policy" seems, on paper at least, far more punitive than other brokerages that offer advance warnings. And I've always found their customer support in the lowest tier.

But the last straw that prompted my recent asset move was me trying to do one simple task: add my wife's name to my account (i.e., to make it a joint account) so that I can transfer assets to bank accounts in her name more easily. Determining how to do that was challenging enough, and ended up with me having to create a brand new account and then link the two. Then when I tried to transfer assets over, it failed with a cryptic message. (Turns out, I needed to add additional trading permissions just to do this transfer). Then it still errored out, for some unknown reason that IB support never shared but required their manual intervention. Score: Loads of confusion, 4 customer support contacts, and 2 weeks later, this simple action is done.

And so am I, ugh. I'm shocked IBKR stock continues skyrocketing to new heights every day.

I am not a fan of IB and have found them to be a PITA from day one. That said, I haven't been able to find another US broker which provided a decent ability to acquire foreign stocks and a matching Forex component.

I would welcome any alternatives you can suggest.

Jeff

So, I guess, I own in the high double-digits of different shares. So people ask what I don't simplify my life and just buy an ETF or two.

I totally support a broad portfolio, if there is a reason for it. A lot of folks say that a diversified portfolio will necessarily come to resemble the return of an index, approaching its return asymptotically with the number of positions. But that's true only if the stocks are chosen at random, not if they are chosen in any other way. Presumably yours are not chosen at random.

Fun with numbers: Does a 75 stock portfolio closely match the S&P 500? Many commentators would say yes.
Pick the most boring metric in the world, P/E ratio.
Of the ~1700 stocks in the Value Line report, buy the 75 with the lowest earnings yield. Hold two months and repeat. After trading costs, lagged the S&P 500 by -9.6%/year in the 39 years to end 2024.
Of the ~1700 stocks in the Value Line report, buy the 75 with the highest earnings yield. Hold two months and repeat. After trading costs, beat the S&P 500 by +1.7%/year in the 39 years to end 2024.
Difference: 11.2%/year.

Same test with top and bottom 75 by ROE instead of P/E, difference 7.5%/year. And so on.
A broad portfolio can diverge wildly, if the picks aren't random. If you hold lots of positions, don't feel bad about it!

Jim

I am not a fan of IB and have found them to be a PITA from day one.

I am a fan of IB. And I agree they can be a PITA.

I have a cheese grater, that is by far the best design I've ever seen. It has the flaw that it is very badly made and breaks after 5-18 months and I have to buy another one. But...until then, it's the best I can find. So I just suck it up and buy them regularly. (I think I might 3D print one just like it that lasts longer)

I think of IB much the same way. They are really annoying in some ways, and I lost a huge amount of money due to one of their quirks, but I don't know of another place that offers anything like what they do. For forex, they simply plug you directly into the global market and it's essentially free. Half my option trades have negative commission costs since I'm using limits and providing liquidity, and they pass the trading costs (positive or negative) straight to the trader. So I stick with them.

But the account management stuff is sometimes Kafkaesque. I have two accounts, and the address information is copied from the documents I provide into the system by them, not by me. On one account, the person entering it didn't put in the apostrophe, so the addresses don't match character for character even from the same document, so their computer doesn't recognize me as the same client, so I can't transfer money between the two, and I can't get it fixed no matter how many times I raise a ticket. I tried providing a different proof of address document from my electricity company, but that had the electrical box number as part of the address, and the IB systems nearly had a heart attack because I couldn't prove my address...

More seriously, I was considering using their CFD (contracts for difference) capability a while back. I don't think Americans are allowed to use them, but it's basically a total return swap, turning any stock into a never expiring futures contract between you and IB as the counterparty. This has the effect of offering leverage if you want it, and also of turning dividends into capital gains--very useful for stocks in countries with dividend withholding tax. So I said, great, can you send me the contract that this uses? They said that the C in CFD couldn't be provided...they said the terms of the contract were the aggregate of all their web pages on the subject, that could change at any time. There is no identifiable set of terms for the contract you're entering into. So I have never used the facility. You get more certainty with the mafia.

And yet...like the cheese grater, I enjoy the good stuff and stick with them.

Jim

My portfolio tends to outperform the S&P a bit, but more importantly, it meets my desire for geographic and currency diversity.

To put things in perspective, liquid assets are structured this way:

Equities: 38% (I would have to spend time to analyze, but by eyeball, about 75% non-US)
Bonds (all are governmental, various entities, nearly all inflation protected) 7%
Rest is in "cash" earning about 4% (a bit less now) in USD for what I presume is a parallel reason to WB.

I think this market is either split between a group of stock which will, in the short-term be worth everything and "the rest" OR is incredibly overpriced and very fragile. It is also true that both may be the case and the market is due for a traumatic shakeout of the weak before the major financial and social upheavals which (Western) society's general adoption of AI is likely to bring. One of the risks we will be facing, I suspect, is the ability of our governmental leadership to pick the winners from amongst personal relationships (purchased at what can be rationalized by them as a fair price) to create the American version of what amounts to oligarchs. Fortunately, I can afford to wait for a better time to deploy my cash.

Jeff

Extra OT:

have a cheese grater, that is by far the best design I've ever seen.

No use for IB here, but I'd like to know what cheese-grater you mean. I hate mine, and it will probably last forever.

Baltassar

have a cheese grater, that is by far the best design I've ever seen.
...
No use for IB here, but I'd like to know what cheese-grater you mean. I hate mine, and it will probably last forever.

This one.
https://www.amazon.com/Dexam-Rotary-Cheese-Grater-...
But bear in mind, as mentioned, it's a love/hate relationship. I'm on my fifth one. Absolute crap, but I like the way it grates until it fails. Go figure.

First review that comes up:
"16 dollars for something that feels more like 16 cents. Leave it to the Chinese to invent a disposable rotary cheese grater. The grater's body and handle are made of extraordinarily cheap brittle white plastic... After a few uses, one could expect to find this product rusted, broken and in the local land-fill"

My 3D printer will do polyamide reinforced with carbon fibre, so I might try that. All I need is a spare day...

Jim

I got the predecessor to this a few years back: https://www.amazon.com/Maxceysen-Vegetable-Mandoli...

Jim,

That plastic Dexam thing is crap, of course it breaks. Especially with hard Parma cheese. WMF makes one in full stainless. They’re on Amazon.
I have one for years and it never fails.
Astore

But bear in mind, as mentioned, it's a love/hate relationship. I'm on my fifth one.

I know what you mean. The physics of those things is just too unforgiving for plastic, and commercial (stainless steel) versions are not not a reasonable value proposition for my purposes.

But polyamide plus carbon fiber might do it! I will keep an eye on Ebay ...


Baltassar

On the topic of Interactive Brokers, this long form article on the origin story is very well written and entertaining -

https://joincolossus.com/article/thomas-peterffy-m...

For old buds, “ The firm runs on Peterffy’s original premise: automate everything. That ethos drives the business to charge fees so low that rivals no longer try to compete on price. Instead, they offer “free” trades while harvesting profits through hidden spreads. Interactive Brokers remains the platform of choice for hedge funds, professional traders, and anyone who understands that there are no free lunches on Wall Street.” Reality 101.

I haven’t traded for sometimes, this is what I did unless the UI has changed:

In the portfolio page, add the symbol you would like to trade, right click on it would pop up menu for trade

Mungofitch wrote:
They said that the C in CFD couldn't be provided...they said the terms of the contract were the aggregate of all their web pages on the subject, that could change at any time. There is no identifiable set of terms for the contract you're entering into. So I have never used the facility. You get more certainty with the mafia.

Might as well buy Chinese stocks!

But this makes me think of a concept for contracts on the block chain, where the "contract" is whatever a snippet of computer code says it is, and you put the source code of the snippet on the block chain. That is, you, or your counterparty, is obligated to pay whatever running the code says you need to pay, which is in principle completely predictable ahead of time by you as you can run the contracted code with whatever pricing assumptions you want.

Maybe IBD would be willing to send you a copy of the code with which they implement their CFD? Probably not...

R:)

Maybe IBD would be willing to send you a copy of the code with which they implement their CFD? Probably not...
...
Code? Ha! They couldn't even provide the equivalent of a term sheet.

Fun Q&A from Perplexity (which, bear in mind, makes everything up to sound plausible)

Q: Since there is no CFD contract to which IB can be held, (and even if there were, IB can change the terms without notice), is it fair to say that no prudent fiduciary would use their CFD feature? That any fiduciary doing so would, in the eyes of any reasonable person, be exposing their investors to unpredictable risks?
A: Yes, it is fair to say that no prudent fiduciary would use the CFD feature at Interactive Brokers for their investors because the absence of a static, enforceable contract—and the ability for Interactive Brokers to unilaterally change terms without notice—introduces significant, unpredictable risks for investors.
Fiduciary Duty and Risk Assessment
Fiduciaries are legally and ethically obliged to act in the best interests of their clients, prioritizing stability, transparency, and the minimization of unpredictable risks. When the contract is subject to change without notice, fiduciaries cannot guarantee a stable legal framework for their clients’ investments.
OTC CFD trading inherently brings additional risks such as counterparty risk (possibility that the broker fails to meet its obligations), rapid market shifts, platform errors, and the potential loss of more than the amount invested.
Regulatory and operational risks, including conflicts of interest and exposure to provider or hedging counterparty failures, make the environment very unpredictable.
Most retail clients lose money in CFD trading, and regulatory agencies frequently warn that these products are unsuitable for investors seeking predictable outcomes or fiduciary-grade protections

I don't mind placing a bet with a bookie, been to dinner at a bookie friend's house, but I expect them to honour the bet!

Jim

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