Support Board
Date/Time: Sat, 24 May 2025 07:11:32 +0000
Trading with IBKR for Certain Symbols is No Longer Working
View Count: 1043
| [2023-08-03 15:54:05] |
| fykemang - Posts: 49 |
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Symbol Error - (unknown symbol with ID 19390) is unknown, unavailable, or improperly formatted. The contract description specified for TSLA is ambiguous; you must specify the currency. | 2023-08-03 11:50:22.383 Symbol Error - (unknown symbol with ID 19391) is unknown, unavailable, or improperly formatted. The contract description specified for TSLA is ambiguous; you must specify the currency. | 2023-08-03 11:50:22.489 I am seeing the above error for several tickers when attempting to enter orders with IBKR. For example, this is occurring for SPY and TSLA. Is there something I can do to specify the currency? These tickers are built-in consolidated equities tickers that should have the proper IBKR symbol trade formatting put in by Sierra Chart. I have never modified the symbol settings for these tickers. |
| [2023-08-03 17:54:11] |
| John - SC Support - Posts: 40015 |
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Refer to the following: Interactive Brokers Symbols: Stock Format But this is something you really need to ask Interactive Brokers about. This was a change they made a long time ago. For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing |
| [2023-08-03 17:58:53] |
| fykemang - Posts: 49 |
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Thank you for your reply, but I know for a fact these symbols were working for me as of yesterday. This was not a change that was made a long time ago. These symbols which are created by Sierra Chart should have settings for IBKR embedded, because I have used these symbols for a long time now. It only stopped working for me today.
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| [2023-08-03 18:38:57] |
| John - SC Support - Posts: 40015 |
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We do not have anything in the way of "Embedded" information for Interactive Brokers. We do have an option called "Trade and Current Quote Symbol" that can be setup in your Symbol Settings such that when you load a particular symbol, you will get the "Trade and Current Quote Symbol" field filled in. For stocks, this can be a lot of work, however, as you would have to do this for each stock you trade. Refer to the information for the Trade and Current Quote Symbol here: Chart Settings: Trade and Current Quote Symbol (text box) (Chart >> Chart Settings >> Symbol >> Symbol menu) We can only tell you that Interactive Brokers made a change about a year ago (maybe even more, time goes by quickly) wherein they were requiring the currency value in the stock symbol. Perhaps your TWS software recently updated. Perhaps something else - we do not know. But since Interactive Brokers is asking for this information, you need to find out from them what you need to do in terms of the symbol. For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing |
| [2023-08-03 18:57:30] |
| fykemang - Posts: 49 |
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For certain symbols, the symbol settings had the IBKR settings already set up. That is why I never had to specify the symbol with a format like SPY-STK-SMART-USD. It just worked out of the box. Can you confirm with the developers if this is the case? I am telling you 100% that I never had to specify the ###-STK-SMART-USD formats before for several symbols like SPY or TSLA. That is what I mean by "Embedded" information. Also, another change I am experiencing is that position data for these symbols is also no longer showing up. Before, if just specified the symbol as SPY, the position data would also show up. I have verified that I have not updated my IBKR. Could the recent changes to integrate Nasdaq and the Consolidated Tape feeds have affected any of the symbol settings? |
| [2023-08-03 18:58:45] |
| fykemang - Posts: 49 |
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If you can verify 100% that there were no changes to any of the symbol settings that would have affected the IBKR integration, then you can blame me, and I will find a way around this, but please verify this information first. Thank you.
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| [2023-08-03 23:08:19] |
| Sierra_Chart Engineering - Posts: 19686 |
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Could the recent changes to integrate Nasdaq and the Consolidated Tape feeds have affected any of the symbol settings? No.If you can verify 100% that there were no changes to any of the symbol settings that would have affected the IBKR integration No but there can be changes on the Interactive Brokers side which absolutely will cause a problem suddenly. That certainly happens from time to time.Also, another change I am experiencing is that position data for these symbols is also no longer showing up. Yes this certainly can be the case and information about this is here:Interactive Brokers Trading Service: Symbol Differences for Positions Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing |
| [2023-08-04 01:29:37] |
| User472677 - Posts: 362 |
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I can verify that the problem fykemang is identifying is real and started happening today with Sierra Chart I can also verify that after talking to IB, there is no change on IB side. Something has changed on Sierra side regarding symbol format. In addition to using Sierra Chart, I also use IB Api for other purposes. I can verify that there are ni changes in IB api. I can also verify that other programs I use with Ib are not having this problem. The problem with symbol format is only in Sierra Chart. |
| [2023-08-04 14:06:42] |
| User807787 - Posts: 41 |
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I can also confirm there is something weird happening with symbols in Sierra chart, pretty sure it was after the global symbol update for the consolidated tape with depth. Directly after you posted this: We apologize for this issue. It affected Interactive Brokers. This is resolved. Follow the instructions here to update the Symbol Settings: Global Symbol Settings: Update Global Symbol Settings |
| [2023-08-04 15:02:43] |
| Sierra_Chart Engineering - Posts: 19686 |
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Restate what the problem is exactly and tell us what the main symbol of the chart is and also the Trade and Current Quote Symbol. Restate the problem involving one symbol only and exactly what the issue is. Is it with trading or is it with market data. We need to have a very clear specifics. And really, it is our desire to completely remove simple stock symbol formats for Interactive Brokers for accessing Interactive Brokers market data or trading functionality. We strongly disagree with the use of a simple symbol format because Interactive Brokers themselves does not support this!! Sierra Chart should not be supporting a simple symbol format for Interactive Brokers at all. It makes no sense. And problems like you are reporting, are a good reason why. Sierra Chart should not be doing things in the background to cause confusion. We need proper engineering practices. And our decision at this time is to state a date, maybe September 1, 2023 where simple stock symbol formats for Interactive Brokers symbols are terminated in Sierra Chart. You will still be able to use a simple symbol when accessing our own data feed. For example, you can use IBM and reliably access real-time and historical data with that simple stock symbol. But when it comes to trading the stock you will have to use the extended format for Interactive Brokers. And if you want to use Interactive Brokers market data you will have to use the extended format. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2023-08-04 15:07:22
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| [2023-08-04 15:16:54] |
| User472677 - Posts: 362 |
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Here are a few symbols that do not work now but previously worked AMD GM ABNB TBT TLT WISH |
| [2023-08-04 15:17:45] |
| fykemang - Posts: 49 |
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The main symbol of the chart is SPY. The current Trade and Current Quote Symbol is not set. When I attempt to place a trade through Sierra Chart, I expect the order to show up in IBKR, but they do not. I am using the consolidated equities tape only. In the past, the simple stock format was working with IBKR. I have tried using the Trade and Current Quote Symbol and that does work if I set it to SPY-STK-SMART-USD. However, with IWM, the simply stock format is still working, so even if I don't use the Trade and Current Quote Symbol, orders on the symbol IWM work fine with IBKR. The other issue I am witnessing is under Trade -> Trade Position Window. All the positions now use IBKR symbols, whereas before most stocks used the simple format. Also, the average price for all positions is 0 now, so even with the correct symbols, the position shown on the chart is incorrect. |
| [2023-08-04 15:24:22] |
| Sierra_Chart Engineering - Posts: 19686 |
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Post #11, contains no details and is disregarded. This is the solution: . I have tried using the Trade and Current Quote Symbol and that does work if I set it to SPY-STK-SMART-USD.
We will not be providing any further help with this. We do not know why this problem has recently occurred and we are not going to be spending the time to figure it out. It is a very involved process to determine the cause and solution. And it is not something we can do promptly anyway. The proper solution, and this is very consistent with what we have communicated to users for a long time now, is that you must set the Trade and Current Quote Symbol to the complete Interactive Brokers symbol format that you are trading. Yes this is true as of many months ago: Also, the average price for all positions is 0 now, so even with the correct symbols, the position shown on the chart is incorrect.
It is not a recent issue. IB does not provide a single average price field in the position data. Sierra Chart is no longer doing the calculations to determine the Position Average Price.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2023-08-04 15:24:33
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| [2023-08-04 15:33:17] |
| Sierra_Chart Engineering - Posts: 19686 |
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Actually it just occurred to us specifically why this problem started to occur. Give us a few minutes to work on a solution. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing |
| [2023-08-04 15:50:44] |
| Sierra_Chart Engineering - Posts: 19686 |
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Follow the instructions here to update the Symbol Settings: Global Symbol Settings: Update Global Symbol Settings Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing |
| [2023-08-04 15:56:54] |
| User807787 - Posts: 41 |
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What was the issue? What did you fix/change? Only want to know to see if/how it will affect me. |
| [2023-08-04 16:02:12] |
| fykemang - Posts: 49 |
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Thank you for the fast fix! Everything is working again including the simple stock format and positions.
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| [2023-08-04 16:22:36] |
| John - SC Support - Posts: 40015 |
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Refer to the information at the following link: https://www.sierrachart.com/SupportBoard.php?ThreadID=85624#P354709 And be aware of the information above it (scroll up in the thread for more information). For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing |
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