What to Do When Interactive Brokers Loses Connectivity

I’m hearing a lot of stories from Interactive Brokers (IBKR) customers that lost their connection Friday afternoon.

Interactive Brokers stock chart

You are not alone. It happened to me too. At around 2:15 Central / 3:15 Eastern, my Trader Workstation screen began showing only sporadic quotes. Trades didn’t appear to go through at all when I hit "transmit." Then the dreaded pink lines appeared on the price grid, signaling a lost connection.

Fortunately, I didn’t have any huge positions on at the time. But I did have a smallish day trade in silver futures that I wanted to close. Restarting Trader Workstation didn’t help at all. Other applications were working, so the problem was clearly on IB’s end.

The natural inclination at times like this is to call the broker’s voice number and try to get a registered rep to close the trade. That works great for individual problems, but in fast markets or widespread technical problems, phone lines tend to jam up.

If you call a broker when the system is down and get stuck in a queue, immediately go to plan B. Every good broker has numerous means of access. Try them all until you get one that works. Both of the brokers that I use daily — Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade, have at least 5 methods of placing trades:

1. trading application: Interactive Brokers has its well-known Trader Workstation. TD Ameritrade has a number of standalone trading apps, including the recently acquired ThinkOrSwim platform, StrategyDesk, and QuoteTracker.
2. web interface: always a good backup
3. interactive voice (IVR): automated telephone menus. I hate these but they work in a pinch.
4. human rep-assisted trades: if you can get through, great.
5. mobile web trading platform: usually a last resort but this might be up even if the main web trading interface is down.

I used Interactive Brokers’ Web Trader to close out my positions, and it worked like a charm.

Disclosure: Still a customer of Interactive Brokers. No position in IBKR stock.

Comments

[eddybaby:]

I'm a long time IB client, and although they have some great features in the platform, their support is simply TERRIBLE!

It's like the staff are paid for speed & brevity of response, and very often just gloss over the question asked, leaving you no better off, even if you follow up with them.

They seem indifferent to client needs / concerns, and have a way of letting you know that you are not very important to them, which is not very endearing.

Customer service is an attitude not a process, but IB seem to see it as a "sausage machine" not a constructive dialogue.

Oct 04 09:15 AM

[anarchist:]

I trade nearly every day on IBs webtrader and this is the first time I have seen this problem. I agree that their customer service is a joke. The Webtrader platform is relativly easy to use but the Trader Workstation platform which does all kinds of cool stuff is beyond my comprehension. I asked their chat for some help figuring it out and they acted like I was an idiot and referred me to FAQ.
That said, .005 a share is hard to beat.

Oct 04 10:47 AM

[Michele:]

I think there was more going on Friday afternoon than just IB. I noticed that at the same time I stopped getting chart updates from eSignal (although the quotes still worked), and I also couldn't retrieve email (from a Time Warner cable system). I think TW had issues in the northeast. Must be those pesky North Koreans at it again.

Oct 04 12:35 PM

[maryanne:]

Yes, IB's customer services take a long time for them to get back to you but all my questions were answered satisfactorily. I didn't experience this connectivity problem but fortunately I don't day trade (trade for long term income) Can't beat their super low commissions and direct trading on foreign markets (Canada, Italy, Switzerland)

Oct 04 05:22 PM

[Frankie64:]

If you haven't tried think or swim, thinkorswim.com, now owned by amtd, you would be amazed. The tools they have for you to make decisions on your trades is phenomenal and keeps on coming. Their response to questions/requests is almost instantaneous, minutes, including weekends. You can even use/familiarize yourself with their site by doing paper trades with pretend money until you decide you are ready to fund your account. Can't say enough good about them, so much so that we moved 6 accounts from Scottrade which takes a lot of timing. They even cover any charges from your old broker for transferring to them and will transfer you back if you don't like them. Can't imagine that happening but it is there to use if you feel like it.

Oct 04 10:30 PM

[Mei Shee:]

switch to ThinkorSwim or TDAMERITRADE They are one company now

Oct 05 12:49 AM

[anarchist:]

IB is way cheaper and while I am not a day trader I do make daily trades of stocks and/or options. Stock purchases are .015/share at TS with $5.00 minimum ( do see they have some kind of 40 shares/mo rebate) versus .005/share at IB and options are cheaper also. I think I will stay with IB, I think I can live with their customer service idiosyncrasies.


On Oct 05 12:49 AM Mei Shee wrote:

> switch to ThinkorSwim or TDAMERITRADE They are one company now

Oct 05 08:35 AM

[Pete_:]

Try the webinars; it's a good way to learn TWS.


On Oct 04 10:47 AM anarchist wrote:

> I trade nearly every day on IBs webtrader and this is the first time
> I have seen this problem. I agree that their customer service is
> a joke. The Webtrader platform is relativly easy to use but the
> Trader Workstation platform which does all kinds of cool stuff is
> beyond my comprehension. I asked their chat for some help figuring
> it out and they acted like I was an idiot and referred me to FAQ.
>
> That said, .005 a share is hard to beat.

Oct 06 11:07 AM

[Wilson Cuf...:]

I use IB and yes their customer service is a joke, except when you are making a large deposit. I like their platform and use to trade with and against them in the option pit at the PHLX back in the 1990's. IB roots are in trading, so don't expect much of a great customer service experience. Traders can be rude and blunt, so expect that type of attitude.

I also have a brokerage account with Tradestation, so if IB is down and I need to hedge or initialize a trade. The chances are slim both platforms will be down simultaneously.

Good Hunting

Oct 07 08:56 PM