I was a user of P123 over ten years ago. In those days I started using the rebalance functions with an IB account. Lots of stocks and it was a difficult process with lots of errors. To be fair the manage function was actually only in Beta in those days.
I made money but got busy with other things and stopped completely. To my surprise my old systems were still there when I got a new trial account. I have rerun a few of them and they outperformed, but with a lot of volatility. Which is why combining systems seems to be the way to go.
Getting back to my original purpose of posting, from the limited information I can find, it looks a lot easier now to trade multiple systems grouped in a book.
But, is this the reality? What experiences do others have? Can I really have a total portfolio of 60 or more stocks and it keeps it all in sync and places the orders with one click?
Any advice and comment appreciated.
I recently discussed this topic here:
I have since become even more frustrated with IB, if such a thing is possible. So I have been exploring Tradier. IB may be fine if you have a single straight forward brokerage account. I recently discovered that Tradier uses various types of limit orders that might be a good replacement for IB’s trading algos (see attachment). The Midpoint NBBO limit looks promising.
I’m experimenting with it now. I’ll know more in a week two. If it pans out, I’ll probably move several, if not all, my accounts to Tradier.
As a side note, If you do a lot of Options, the Tradier / Trader Oasis combo is definitely the way to go.
One frustration I have with IB is that the commission structure makes trading a large number of shares on a low priced stock expensive, especially in countries like the U.K. Tradier is US only stock for now, correct?
Thanks for the info. Yes, the lack of detailed documentation is an issue and was 10 years ago. In my case I want to use a single IB account and maybe 4 to 6 strategies combined into a book. When I rebalance a book does it combine all the trades? May be a case where one systems sells x stock and one buys same stock with a net of zero for example?
In regards Order type, I like MOO orders and found them good for my purposes. I did ask P123 if this order type was supported and the reply was just use a market order. But it is not just a straight market order. It is a Market Order with time in force type OPG. It trades as a market order as soon as the first trade goes through at the open. Do you know if this order type is supported? I want to make sure my orders are all filled.
I don’t think Tradier is an option as I am from Australia.
From Tradier website -
In order to open an account, you must be at least 18 years of age and be either a US Citizen or US permanent resident.
I don’t recall seeing that type of order. Even some of the P123 “supported” IB order types are not supported, such as custom VWAP orders, which seem to be quietly ignored by the P123 system.
Looks like your stuck with IB, and I feel for you.
Tony
Thanks. You mentioned VWAP orders? What settings do you use and can this be setup as a default order type in P123?
The way I do it is from the account balance page where it asks you to select the order type. But again, I think all custom VWAP order types are treated like regular VWAP, so just create a simple VWAP type.
Okay, that looks pretty easy. And I also see a Market on Open option!!!
Really appreciate all of your help
Cheers
Gary
Regarding your Book question, I think when each of the underlying strategies is rebalanced, the book is then auto rebalanced.
And make sure you check your order types against what IB actually has when you submit a trade. And do it from Trader Workstation, not the IB website.
I don’t think the website is aware of some of the order types and displays the wrong thing.
Tony
Thanks. I might open a small account and test it all out.
Weird how there is no help from P123…guess they don’t look at the forum
In regards Books, do you mean that you can’t just rebalance the whole book (whcih may contain 6 strategies) at once? That seems clunky???
I don’t know. All my strategies auto rebalance so I don’t have to do anything with the books. I don’t see the benefit in manually rebalancing strategies every week. That would be clunky.