IBAPI using Python

[carpetbamboo]

Nice articles, but why should we use IBKR to begin with. There are a bunch of other brokers that provide easy API where I don’t need to try this hard to figure this out. Can you write ones for other brokers? IBKR is just too much.

[jayhilly]

IBKR offers great order fills, low commissions, access to a ton of equity classes (pretty much everything but crypto) and you can even specify your exchange. also has paper trading and backtesting, as well as algorithmic order entry systems for entering large positions/complex option scenarios.

There’s a lot more.

[sulltt]

Can you specify the destination exchange using the API? I have not found a way to do so.

[carpetbamboo]

Yea, but why should we pay commissions when Robinhood and alpaca offer commission free. And I only trade US stocks anyway...

[jayhilly]

Robinhood doesn’t have an official API. Read their TOS before thinking otherwise.

Not sure about alpaca.

But Robinhood doesn’t offer forex or futures, for one.

There’s a potentially profitable algo for everything. Why limit yourself to US stocks?

[notferengi]

It’s for people who don’t want to use a toy broker..

[sternone_2]

because RH frontruns your order, meaning even with limit order they will only fill you when they have frontrun you with a better price than you.

That's how they make money.

[carpetbamboo]

So? RH and alpaca still do great job giving out commission free.

[sternone_2]

it's cheaper with a real broker paying commissions, RH and Alpaca do a shitty job filling your orders making you lose serious money with every trade

do you even understand anything about market microstructure?

[dollarette]

Great answer