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Date/Time: Sun, 05 May 2024 12:26:25 +0000



Post From: Poor reliability when trading options

[2014-01-01 07:52:22]
Lesmond - Posts: 22
SC Support: Does not seem like you need to use SMART because options are only going to trade on one exchange to our knowledge.

Not exactly. While a few contracts, like SPXPM options, trade on a single exchange (CBOE electronic + open outcry), most US options trade on multiple exchanges, so using SMART is an obvious choice when placing orders in IB's TWS. Here is a screenshot of AAPL contract in question taken from MyTrack's composite data screen:

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/2383/e1ub.png

Level-1 NBBO quote looks like this (bottom line):

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3648/a46k.png

The screenshots were taken on Jan. 1st at 01:50 AM so some data, like Size, has already been purged, and NBBO (red quotes under bid & ask on the first screenshot) is stuck at GEM 3.50/3.90 for some reason (it should show AMEX 3.70 / BATS 3.80), but you get the general idea.

The problem reported by OP might be related to "primary_exchange" identifier issue that affects some US stock symbols, where a US symbol is identical to a symbol that trades on some overseas exchange, so further identification is required. It's explained by IB support here:

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=99c71296478019d0bf23237d0c6e0a84&threadid=279936&perpage=6&pagenumber=6

If this is the case, then the possible solutions for option symbols would be as follows:

1) AAPL-OPT-20140103-560-C-SMART-AMEX-100-USD

2) AAPL-OPT-20140103-560-C-SMART/AMEX-100-USD
3) AAPL-OPT-20140103-560-C-SMART:AMEX-100-USD

Format #1 is preferred, but requires that the software (like Sierra) supports a separate "primary_exchange" field. If it's not supported then format #2 or #3 and TWS v936 or later is required.

Here is how it works with stocks:

1) MSFT-STK-SMART-NASDAQ-USD

2) MSFT-STK-SMART/NASDAQ-USD
3) MSFT-STK-SMART:NASDAQ-USD

I can't test all this myself because I don't have an active IB account at this point.
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2014-01-01 08:21:55