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I read all the threads on this forum but found it difficult to get my questions answered. At least not to the level of detail I needed.
Since many others could be interested in using NT with IB as a broker - I thought I would put together a summary of my journey trying to make this work. My goal is to save others a lot of time.
I will keep updating this post as new issues occur or as old issues are resolved. That way everyone will know quickly what this setup can do and maybe more importantly what it cannot/what are the limitations.
FREE license testing and evaluation:
I tested the setup with the free license and my TWS account for a few weeks. I was able to get market data to display and update quickly into NT.
I talked to NT sales team which told me the NT/IB combo would work but I would miss historical tick data for some indicators. Specially some order flow indicator. I was ok with that since I intend on using these indicators with RT data for the most part.
Lifetime full license testing and evaluation:
This morning I just purchased a life time license. Ready to move to the next phase
- Realtime market data update issue:
Using the latest TWS 10.x.x. I can download historical data but I cannot receive real time update. This is resolved by downgrading to TWS 985.
Remark: I tried using IB GW 981 in order to keep using the latest TWS. That does not work because IB only allows for 1 connection at a time. Since I do need TWS running to verify my position, orders, etc.. Therefore the use of the legacy TWS 985 is mandatory.
Good luck. I hope you don't need it, in the sense you meant it at least.
I don't use either IB or NT, but many people here use one or the other, or both.
I'm surprised you didn't get the info you were looking for here when you looked for it, since this is one of the very common combinations. (The more common one is of course using NT with NT Brokerage. Did you look into that?)
There are data issues, or there have been at least, with IB data if you are using tick charts. IB was (or still is) aggregating ticks so you don't get the actual tick data. This may not be a problem for you, but I thought I'd mention it.
IB is generally well-thought-of, as is NT. Both have their detractors, and both are commonly used. I hope you will get the support you need from them, and from other members here who may have explored similar issues to yours. Let us know how it is going.
Good luck, and I actually mean it this time.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Thank you FredBell for this post. I am following in your footsteps and will purchase my NT license next week.
Just wondering if I should go with the Multibroker in case there are some slight delays/differences with the order transmission and execution at IB via the API. With the demo account it's still a NT in-house "broker" so everything works well and fast
Do you have any updates on the transaction management in NT? Does it match the IB order detail? Someone had mentioned there were mismatches and one had to constantly double-check with the IB order status, which I want to avoid.