Interactive Brokers giving unexpected errors

[adamus]

Hi,

I'm trying to download hist data for an instrument from IB but I get "invalid symbol" and "unauthorized user". I use IB to download historical data for forex symbols into HDM. Until today it ran fine.

Til now I always downloaded $AUDCAD from IB but I just added a new instrument into the Instrument Manager, $AUDCAD_IB and gave it the same Interactive Brokers symbol (AUD.CAD) but it gives me these two errors every time I try downloading.

What have I done wrong? I double checked the symbol I gave in the Instrument Manager.

I attached the IB and the NT logs (including the API log) - I couldn't see what I'd done wrong myself though.

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hello adamus,

Thanks for posting.

Is there any reason you're using the new instrument? Multiple instruments with the same mapping can cause problems. I'd recommend deleting that instrument and going back to the original.

[adamus]

Hi Kyle,

there is a huge reason I've created a new instrument in NT.

My broker, Interactive Brokers, have a major issue about providing historical data as you probably know - they don't like to give you much and when the requests for data reach a certain point, IB stops providing it for 5 mins - the 'pacing violations' as they call them (as if it was the customer's fault, right?)

To get around this problem, I use IQFeed/FXCM as my data provider, because they don't mess around with limits and you get exactly what you request with no fuss. And I submit orders to IB.

The big problem though is that FXCM and IB forex data are slightly different, different enough to cause major discrepancies in backtesting results. So I backtest on FXCM data and IB data seperately. Sometimes the results are so different, I need to adjust the way I'm coding to stop the trading system being so sensitive.

For a long time this has been fine, I actually do the "multiple NT instruments mapped to one broker symbol" thing. I started a year ago, no problems in all that time - I download the IQFeed data to $EURUSD_FXCM and I download IB data to plain vanilla $EURUSD.

But I've discovered this isn't good enough. Charting live is causing an issue. I chart against $EURUSD, which is mapped to both FXCM and to IB and I have no problem with getting historical data. But NT mixes up the data it puts into the HDM. When I download $EURUSD from IB, obviously I get IB data, which is as planned, so I can backtest against it. But when I have the chart running, NT collects $EURUSD from IQFeed so I get FXCM data, which messes up my plan.

Therefore I need to have $EURUSD_IB which I download once a week from IB using the HDM and then I can backtest against that, knowing it's pure IB data.

... and I'll leave $EURUSD to be what ever it wants to be, mixed up bits of both.

Or I would, except it sounds like you're going to say I can't do this.

I hope that's clear.

[adamus]

I just realised I am usually disconnected from IB when I download the FXCM data and I am currently connected to both IQFeed and IB - so I cut the IQFeed connection and the IB instrument downloads happily now.

So it's obvious that NT doesn't like having to choose which connection to use there for some reason. But it's a simple enough work-around, you can make this one low priority.

Thanks.