Why does the RealTimeBars method not function during weekends?

While it is possible to connect an API application to a free trial account, neither real-time market data nor historical candlesticks are provided for any product that requires a paid subscription. 

Note…

Overview:

A paper trading account is a simulated account trading in a simulated market. We programmatically simulate, to the best possible abilities, actual market conditions. However, it is not a real market and prices cannot exactly match. We are simulating not only the trader’s functionality and the market, but also the role of the exchange. In a real, live account, the order would be sent to the exchange, and the exchange would be doing the execution—not us. The exchange has an anonymous book and orders are matched anonymously. With the simulated account we are trying to simulate the role that in the real markets is played by the exchange. While these fills may or may not be within the bounds of the live market at the time, in no way is it indicative of what would happen in the real market. Again, we are simulating the exchange’s role in the live market, and in that market the onus for order matching/filling is on the exchange…

Global Snapshot is a market data service that allows a user to request snapshot real-time price quotes for a single instrument on a request basis from available exchanges worldwide. This service, referred to as “Snapshot Quotes”, differs from the traditional quote services which offer continuous streaming and updates of real-time prices…

We display the market data exactly how we receive it from the exchange, without any filtering, in order to guarantee a reliable flow. Executions at prices far from the market or orders which have the right to be executed at a price far from the market sometimes may generate spikes in the market data flow coming from the exchanges. Data feed providers may sometimes apply filters only on historical data but not on real time data in order to filter Block Trades. IBKR does not apply any filters on the data received…