DarkIce Orders in Desktop

The Interactive Brokers Dark Ice algorithmic order type is like an Iceberg order type but also randomizes the display size by plus or minus fifty percent based on the probability of the price moving favorably. The algorithm uses calculated probabilities to decide whether to place the order at a limit price or 1 tick lower than the current offer for buy orders and 1 tick higher than the current bid for sell orders. An investor may want to use the Dark Ice algorithm if they are looking to keep the majority of the order size private from the outside markets.

The Dark Ice algorithmic order type is accessible in IBKR Desktop, Classic TWS, Mosaic, and Mobile. In Desktop the investor creates an order ticket then clicks on “Advanced” in the lower right-hand corner to bring up the Advanced Order Ticket window.

Once the Advanced Order Ticket window is up, the investor can adjust the quantity. In the Description panel they choose limit and select a price since market orders are not supported and then click on the Destination drop down and scroll to IBALGO and underneath choose the Day for the Time-in-Force since GTC is not supported.

Next, the investor scrolls down to the IBKR Algorithmic Trading section and selects DarkIce from the list. The investor chooses the display size, which is randomized by fifty percent. For this example, they choose 200 shares. The investor can also change the default start time from the time the order is entered to a later time and enter an end time if they choose. Lastly if the investor chooses an end time, they can choose to allow the algorithm to continue working past the end time if the order is not completed.

When satisfied with the order parameters, the investor can either preview the order or click Submit. Orders can be monitored in the portfolio page by clicking on Orders.