Interactive Brokers enables traders to create a Custom Algo Order with IBot
IBot, Interactive Brokers’ natural text interface to trading, can now guide traders through creating a powerful, custom Accumulate/Distribute algo thanks to a series of simple questions.
Electronic trading major Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) continues to enhance the capabilities of IBot, its natural text interface to trading.
IBot can now guide traders through the process of creating a powerful, custom Accumulate/Distribute algo thanks to a series of simple questions. Accumulate/Distribute was designed to help traders buy or sell large quantities over time, minimizing market impact by submitting orders in smaller components, randomizing size and time.
To create an Accumulate/Distribute algo using IBot, traders should simply enter an Accumulate/Distribute-relevant command, such as “accumulate 2300 shares of IBKR” or “distribute 2300 shares of IBKR” or “buy 3000 shares of IBKR using accu/dist algo” etc. IBot will present a series of simple parameters for the trader to complete. Traders have several ways to provide order details to IBot when creating their algo:
- Click a “Next Step” entry (or use the associated keyboard shortcut) for a value.
- Enter or change a value in the text entry box.
At any time in the process, one can use the Preview Order list item to see the progress of the algo. When the algo order is complete, IBot presents a full summary of the order as a trader defined it. Traders can choose to Submit the order, Edit the order using the full Accumulate/Distribute interface, or Cancel the order. This feature is available in TWS for Mobile and through IBot on the Client Portal.
The company notes that this feature is being rolled out to clients gradually.
Other recent enhancements to IBot include its abilities to handle bond queries. IBot can now understand and process most common government and municipal bond queries. Traders can ask IBot to buy, chart, view and quote bond contracts, by ISIN, CUSIP for all bonds (US government, foreign government, municipal and corporate) or by contract name for all US government bonds. Traders can also enter requests in normal language, such as “buy 3-month t-bill,” “chart US-T Bill Jan25’18 for 1 week with hourly bars”, “show ten year treasury bond”, “buy 043771ES9 bond” and “show 30y treasury bond.”
IBot has been constantly upgraded. In October last year, the solution got to help traders complete tasks that require log-in access to Account Management (AM). When a trader ask IBot about funding, reports, market data and other AM-related tasks, IBot recognizes these requests and opens the relevant AM page in the web browser. For example, to fund one’s account a trader could enter: “Fund my account” and IBot will open Account Management in the browser window to the correct page.
