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Browser-based or Stand-alone?

You can run TWS directly from your internet browser, or download the application to your desktop and run it from your PC. If you have a broadband connection, we recommend running the browser-based version of TWS, since this requires minimal maintenance and ensures that you are always running the latest release.

If you use a dial-up connection, we suggest downloading the TWS standalone version and running it from your desktop, as this may result in better performance. To download the standalone version, from the Software menu select Trader Workstation. From the Software tab, select your platform from the Standalone Downloads section.

Note that you must have Internet access in order to receive market data and submit orders, regardless of whether you are running TWS from the browser or from your desktop.

Log In

Once your account has been approved and funded, you'll be able to successfully log in to the Trader Workstation.

To log in to the browser-based version, in the upper right corner of the IB website use the Login dropdown menu to select TWS. In the Login box, enter your username and password, and click Login.

To log in to the standalone version, double-click the TWS icon on your desktop, enter your username and password, and click Login.

Add Market Data

TWS supports direct-access trading for options, futures, forex, stocks, bonds and funds. It's easy to add market data to your trading window.

1. Click in a blank line, enter an underlying symbol and hit Enter.
   
   
2. Choose a product. For assets that require you to define or select an asset class, select the expiration month and year.
   
   
3. In the Contract Selection box, highlight the contract(s) you want to add and click OK.
   Hint: Use the filters in the left pane to limit selections that are shown in the right pane.
   
   
4. Continue to add ticker lines to your trading window. Choose SMART as the routing destination to get best-price execution through IB SmartRouting^SM.

Submit An Order

Click in the bid or ask price for a specific contract to instantly create an order directly below the ticker line.

Click the Ask price of an asset to create a BUY order.

Click the Bid price of an asset to create a SELL order.

 

 

Use the Order Wizard to help modify order parameters before you transmit, or to help you create an order based on your trading objective. The categories in the left pane (Basic, Size, Price, Timing, Algorithm, Protection, Speed, Routing, Conditional, and Display) control the output selections in the right pane. Any changes you make to the order using the Order Wizard are reflected immediately in the order line. To open the Order Wizard, click the Order Wizard icon in the trading toolbar.

To transmit the order, click the "T" in the Status field. To cancel an order, click the "C" in the Status field.

 

 

 

Monitor Account Activity

Click the Account icon on the Trading toolbar to open the Account window. This window shows real-time balances, margin requirements, buying power, P&L, market values, portfolio details and more for your account.

View Trades

View real-time trade reports listed line by line, and netted by contract.

Click the Trades icon on the Trading toolbar to open the real-time Trades window. This displays daily execution reports, including those completed during after-hours trading. For orders with multiple legs, or orders that execute portions at different prices or on different exchanges, click the "+" sign to the left of the execution to see details. You can elect to have the Trades icon on the toolbar blink to notify you of an execution using the Settings menu.

Display or Hide Features

Use the Feature Selector to define the modules in your environment, and Global Configuration to configure all aspects of your workstation.

Click the Trades icon on the Trading toolbar to open the real-time Trades window. This displays daily execution reports, including those completed during after-hours trading. For orders with multiple legs, or orders that execute portions at different prices or on different exchanges, click the "+" sign to the left of the execution to see details. You can elect to have the Trades icon on the toolbar blink to notify you of an execution using the Settings menu.

Once you're comfortable using TWS, you may want to change some of your configuration settings, add some advanced features, or hide features that you don't use. To configure features, on the Configure menu select Global Configuration. Use the left pane to navigate to different TWS features, use the right pane to configure them.

To display or hide features, on the Configure menu select Feature Selector. Use the Expand key to the left of each category to see individual features. Those that are currently available are checked. To hide a feature, simply uncheck it. You can hide and display features at any time, and do not need to restart TWS.

Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. For more information, read the “Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options” before investing in options. For a copy call 203 618-5800 or click here. There is no guarantee of execution. Orders will be routed to US options exchanges.

Any trading symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to portray a recommendation.

Interactive Brokers LLC is a member of NYSE, FINRA, SIPC

Live Trader Workstation Demos

The Trader Workstation (TWS) is our full-featured java-based trading and order entry application. The TWS demo mirrors the actual TWS in both form and function except market data is simulated based on the previous week's ticks and orders are not actually executed and cleared. However, TWS functionality will be identical to the actual application.

Please choose one of our TWS demos below. Our single users Individual Demo and our Multi-user Advisor Demo (1 master and 2 client accounts) utilize Reg T Margin calculations. Our Portfolio Margin demo utilizes value at risk based margin calculations for US stocks, stock options, index options and single stock futures. Portfolio Margin accounts are available for customers with over USD 100,000 (or USD equivalent) in their account.

Use the online version to take advantage of the index, search and other navigational features. Use the printable PDF version to print multiple topics or the entire guide.

 

PaperTrader IB offers a Paper Trading Account which allows traders to use the full range of IB trading facilities in a simulated environment using real market conditions. Use this test environment to: Learn TWS features such as order types without risk. Learn market dynamics in new exchanges and products. Simulate and test trading strategies. Test Application Program Interface (API) applications. Creating a Paper Trading Account You create a Paper Trading Account login from the Account Management menu for your production account. This service is accessed under the menu Trading Access. Accounts are created within 24 hours under normal business circumstances. You will be notified by email when the account is ready for trading. Paper Trading Accounts are only available when the regular trading account has been approved and funded. Accessing Your Paper Trading Account Paper Trading Accounts have a separate password and username. To use the account, log into TWS using the user ID and password for your Paper Trading Account in the same way you would log into your regular account. Please save and protect the PaperTrader user ID and password in the same way you would protect other confidential password information.

Note: Any symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and do not portray a recommendation.

Click on a build number or a topic in the table below to access the associated Release Notes.

Build 898 September 11, 2009	ScaleTrader Enhancements OptionTrader Loads Single-Side Chains Links to Options and FX Commentary Auto-Adjust Algo Order Dates Midpoint Offset Added to Update Orders Feature Hide Pivot Point Indicator Lines Set Alerts from Within a Chart	Build 897 July 24, 2009	OptionTrader Chain Headers Advisor Allocations in Accumulate/Distribute Enable Order Ticket Features Non-US Smart Combos Date Chooser Enhancements Completed Order Display Filter Realtime Charts Enhancement Moving Average Quote Column
Build 896 June 24, 2009	Enhanced Update Orders Functionality Trader Dashboard Settings Earnings Estimates removed from Ticker Line Rename Page Tabs Using Right-Click New Dividend Yield % Field Smart-Routed Combos for Non-US Products New If Touched Trigger Field for MIT and LIT Orders Multi-Account Users: New Order Origin Selection Trades Window New Chart Icons Disable Inline Order Editor	Build 895 May 26, 2009	Enhanced ScaleTrader with Interactive Chart OptionTrader Loads Position Chains Optional Trade Time Market Data Column Two New "Trailing If Touched" Order Types Show Own Trades on Charts Precautionary Settings for Algos Post Liquidity via Post-Only Order Attribute
Build 894 April 27, 2009	Deep Book Allowance Increased to One Per Every 100 Tickers IB Risk NavigatorSM Expiry Data Slicer Modify the Order Side on Working Orders Precautionary Settings Now Use Default System Limits	Build 893 March 12, 2009	Time Slice Order in Option Portfolio Algo Real-time Charts Assume Risk for Partially-Filled Smart Combos Advisors: Allocate Combos using Percent Change Multiple Market Data Window Allowed per Symbol Midpoint Added to Forex Time and Sales More Optional Market Data Columns Added
Build 892 February 02, 2009	Advisors Can Now Trade Funds for a Single Account Accumulate/Distribute Algo Supports Combination Orders Continued Enhancement to Market Scanners Charts Add Slider to Quickly Increase/Decrease Day Range	Build 891 January 09, 2009	Rebalance Window Allows Import/Export Global Market Scanners ISW support for Algo orders Global Configuration Redesign BookTrader Order Control Enhancements Real-time Charts Enhancements Advisors: Position and P&L for Multiple Accounts

Note: Any symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and do not portray a recommendation.

The table below outlines our suggestions for both minimum and recommended system requirements to run the IB TraderWorkstation^SM.

The enhancements and modifications below are in build 900 of TWS. To identify the build number, on the TWS Help menu select About Trader Workstation.

The Accumulate/Distribute algo is designed to allow trading of large blocks of stock without being detected in the market, and can also be set up for high frequency trading. The algo interface provides numerous parameters and conditions to customize your algos. You can now save your strategic algo settings as a reusable template which you can apply at any time to any underlying.

To create an Accumulate/Distribute template, first define the parameters and conditions in the Accumulate/Distribute page. From the Templates menu at the top of the page, select Save Template As and enter a descriptive name. All of the settings you defined are now saved to your new template.The name of the template being used for the order appears in parenthesis in the Accumulate/Distribute tab. To use a template for new orders, highlight a ticker and use the right-click menu to select Trading Tools and then select Accumulate/Distribute. From the Template menu select Load Template and select the desired template name. All parameters from the template are applied to the new underlying.

At this point you can make any necessary modifications for the specific algo order. Save these modifications to this template using the Save Template command on the Template menu. Save the modifications as another, new template using the Save Template As command on the Template menu.

For more information on the benefits of using the the Accumulate/Distribute algo, see the software highlights. For instructions on using the algo in TWS, see the Accumulate/Distribute section of the TWS Users' Guide.

A new static limit price type has been included in the Set limit price to field of Accumulate/Distribute. The new price value, Mark Price, uses the current best price with an optional offset to set a non-dynamic price for the algo.

You can now save bracket orders as part of a basket file, and the orders will retain their parent/child relationship when you trade the basket. To see the relationship between orders, display the Key order management field in the BasketTrader. Note that including bracket orders in a basket will result in the disabling of the Reverse and Cancel and Reverse features.

The Stock Borrow/Loan page now allows you to display data in two different modes. Fee rate is the current, and default, mode. Rebate rate mode displays the rates in italics and uses the opposite sign to the Fee Rate. The difference in the two is simply how you perceive the rate. A positive Fee Rate indicates the borrower pays a fee, and this would show as a negative Rebate Rate, since you are NOT receiving a rebate. On the other hand, a negative Fee Rate would translate into a positive Rebate Rate, indicating that the lender is willing to provide an incentive to the borrower in the form of a rebate. Hard to borrow stocks would be more likely to display a positive Fee Rate and a negative Rebate Rate. Easy to borrow stocks could more likely display a negative Fee Rate and a positive Rebate Rate.

To switch the rate display mode, use the right-click menu in any of the rate field labels (the borrow and lend fields) and choose either Display SBL prices as fee rates or Display SBL prices as Rebate rates.

In addition, a problem calculating the correct shares available for lending in the Stock Borrow/Loan Trader has been fixed.

You can now modify the date, price and volatility for your portfolio, a subset of your portfolio or a specific underlying and the IB Risk Navigator will display the results of your Custom View alongside the current market view of the risk report data. To create a custom view, open a report and on the View menu select Custom Scenario. The left side of the new window shows the Scenario Editor. Modify the date, price and volatility. Filter the affected underlyings by choosing All, Any, a single underlying, or a unique group (using Ctrl + Click). Modify price and volatility by percent change (% Chg), absolute change (Chg) or by an explicit value (ExpV). The projected results to your risk profile are displayed alongside the realtime market scenario in the Custom Scenario table.

For more information on using the IB Risk Navigator, see the TWS Users' Guide.

You can now monitor the potential change in your risk profile directly from an un-transmitted order on the trading window using the Check Risk feature. Create an order and use the right-click menu from the order line to select Check Risk. A P&L plot is displayed showing a line for your current position P&L, and a line that incorporates the risk implications of the un-transmitted order(s) into your current P&L. To see the risk implications of multiple un-transmitted orders, use Ctrl + click to select them, the use the Order menu to select Check Risk. New potential orders for an instrument in which you already hold a position will not be counted as a new position although its implications on your risk profile will be illustrated.

To view a more complete risk profile, open the IB Risk Navigator "What If" function from the Check Risk window by clicking the Open button in the top right corner. The potential positions reflected in Check Risk will automatically be added to your "What If" portfolio.

You can now view realtime ticking news related to any position in your portfolio from the Trader Dashboard. In addition, you can enable a “Recent News” icon for any tickers you have included in the Trader Dashboard. To modify news settings, in Global Configuration, open Information Tools and select Trader Dashboard. Check Show News.

For multi-account users. A new checkbox option, Suppress messages for orders placed by other users, has been added to the General section of Global Configuration. If unchecked, all users will see API order messages regardless of who placed the order. When checked, you will only see order messages relevant to the orders you placed.

In support of the implementation of the OCC Option Symbology Initiative (OSI), which replaces the 5-character OPRA code with a 21 character identifier, TWS has modified the display to allow you to view or hide the local symbol for options. This setting is accessible from Global Configuration in the Display section on the Settings page. Check Show symbol for derivatives to have the local symbol displayed in the ticker line.

For more information on the OSI, visit the OCC Option Symbology page on the IB website.

Customers now have the option to receive delayed market data for exchanges and instruments for which they do not current hold market data subscriptions. The Market Data Request Error window, which displays when the user attempts to add a ticker without having subscribed to market data, now includes two checkboxes at the bottom of the window. Check Subscribe to available delayed market data to use delayed data (if available) for the specific instrument. Additionally check Auto subscribe to available delayed market data to use available delayed data automatically whenever you add a ticker on an exchange for which you do not hold a market data subscription. The trading window highlights tickers that use delayed data in yellow for easy identification.

Charts now include a movable right margin that allows you to move the chart data back toward the center of the chart, but still allows trendlines and studies to continue into the future. To use the margin feature, move your mouse to the far right of the chart parallel to the small arrowheads at the top and bottom of the chart on the right margin. When the margin is movable, the cursor changes to a two-headed blue arrow. Click and slide the margin line to the left. To put the margin back to its original position, right-click the new margin line and select Reset Margin.

A new icon, Show/Hide Volume, allows you to display and remove the Volume subplot along the bottom of the chart with a single click.

Users can now see a chart for the term structure of futures prices. Compare historical and expired prices with the current price, back as far as 2008. To chart the term structure, select a market data futures contract and use the right-click menu to select Charts then select Term Structure.

When using a Line chart in Crosshair mode, a small ball follows the movement of the cursor along the vertical plane of the line chart to help the user see the current price point.

The Account window now includes fields for funds in the Market Value section of the window. New fields include: T-Bills, Bonds, Warrants, Corporate Bonds, Money Market, Mutual Funds and Dividends Receivable.

The following additions and modifications have also been included in TWS build 900:

• A chart problem that resulted in the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) displaying incorrect values has been fixed.
  
• An issue with a missing file resulted in many customers needing to restart TWS before they could successfully open their charts. The file has been reinstated and the problem is fixed.
  
• In some charts, the long-term moving average started in the middle instead of at the beginning of the chart. This has been fixed.
  
• In instances where no historical market data is available, no error message was being shown in charts with time periods less than one day. This has been fixed.
  
• Some of the chart studies were not updating correctly to reflect a change to the contract made via the parameters dialog box. This has been fixed.
  
• In Forex charts only, the ChartTrader order button Buy TRAIL, was not creating the expected trailing stop order line. This has been fixed.
  
• In ChartTrader, when modifying the original parent order in a bracket by clicking and dragging the order line onto the chart, the child orders followed accordingly and both the parent order and child stop order transmitted automatically as expected at the new price, but the target limit order did not automatically transmit at the new price.
  
• In the OptionTrader, the Order Reference value set in the options Preset did not come through as expected when creating orders; instead the Order Reference value "OptTrader" was always used. This has been fixed.
  
• When submitting a bracket order routed to IDEAL, the relationship between the parent and child orders was not retained as expected. This has been fixed.
  
• Advisors: The delta basket hedge feature in the IB Risk Navigator^SM for Advisors was not using the selected account. This has been fixed.
  
• Advisors: The Algo tab on the order ticket would not appear as expected when CSFBALGO or JEFFALGO was selected as the destination. This has been fixed.
  
• Advisors API: When sending orders that allocate through a user-defined Allocation profile, the average price was not being calculated. This has been fixed.
  
• The Export Page to Excel command on the File menu has been renamed to Export Page in Legacy Excel Format and is disabled by default for new and upgrading users. Please use the Export Contracts command from the File menu to export to Excel.
  
• Parent-child orders such as brackets being sent through the APIs were not being handled and executed properly in some circumstances. This has been fixed.
  
• In the BookTrader, some price levels were being left blank due to an issue with the deep data instructions. This has been fixed.
  
• The Order Preset for VWAP algos was incorrectly saving a specific date, which made VWAP orders submitted on subsequent days invalid. The date piece of the time/date settings for Algos has been removed to fix this issue.
  
• The Presets feature settings were not being restored with other settings when you used the Restore Settings command on the File menu. This has been fixed.
  
• A problem with the Single combo tab in the Combination Selection box would not allow straddle and vertical spread strategies to be constructed for certain contracts. This has been fixed.
  
• API: If a user sent an order with an invalid negative stop price via the API, TWS would accept the non-conforming order and incorrectly assign the minimum allowed market price to the order. This has been fixed so that TWS will reject the order and user will receive an error message.
  
• When using the Update Orders box to modify algo orders, sometimes the algo destination feature would incorrectly revert to No Change and not allow changes to the price or other algo parameters. This has been fixed.
  
• Volatility orders: When modifying Volatility orders via the Order Ticket, the Basic tab shows the Limit price and the Volatility tab shows the price in Volatility terms. Both fields were editable but not in sync, so there was no way of knowing which price the customer wanted to use if the price was changed via the Order Ticket. To avoid confusion, the Limit price field on the Order Ticket has been disabled for Volatility orders. In other order entry venues including the trading window and the Order Wizard, volatility orders have only a single price field, which is still enabled.
  
• Blotter: Users can now enter Away trade destinations on pages other than the Blotter. To add an Away destination, in the Destination dropdown list click Away. Enter a name for a new destination and click OK.
  
• Blotter: Changes to the commission rate in the ticket area would only last for the current session and would revert back to the original commission the next time the user logged in. This has been fixed.
  
• Blotter: There was a problem creating a ticket for a STK/OPT combo with the stock leg marked as sell short. This has been fixed.
  
• Combo orders: When selecting the strike price while defining a combo order, if you used the keypad or arrow keys the strike price did not accurately reflect your choice. This problem has been fixed.
  
• Combo orders: In the Single combo tab of the Combination Selection box, users were unable to modify the ratio in a combo after the second strike price was selected. This has been fixed to allow changes to the ratio both before and after the strikes have been selected.
  

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