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What would be the best set up in WL8 to have strategy monitor trade on more than one account in TDAmeritrade and in InteractiveBrokers - when accounts are not linked?

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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
- ago
#1
It's simple. Install both broker adapters, and select the broker and the account you want to send the signals to for each strategy item. Did you try it?
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#2
I should have specified each account has a separate userid. For IB this means having a separate TWS running for each user and account.

If we take IB as an example - how can WL8 run strategies on separate IB userid/accounts?

thank you
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#3
With TD Ameritrade, you can select the account number from a list.

It´s different for IB TWS because you need to have 2 instances of TWS running, one for each account. We've only set up Wealth-Lab to connect to one instance of TWS.

Consequently, for the IB-2-accounts scenario, you'd have to use 2 different machines, which is included in your subscription.
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Glitch8
 ( 13.30% )
- ago
#4
They are two completely different TD account holders?

You'd have to run 2 instances of WL8 and then switch out your configuration info each time.
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#5
Many thanks to both - very helpful
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#6
What about IB’s linked accounts? Are they supported?
https://guides.interactivebrokers.com/am/am/manageaccount/linknewaccount.htm


The main advantages is that we use the same username to access both; and the market data fees are billed only once. When we place an order, there is an extra field to specify which of the account to assign it to, in the TWS (which in this case allows a single instance to manage all accounts at the same time).

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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#7
Linked accounts should appear and be supported, but we don't have a test environment for linked accounts, so it's untested.

If you have linked accounts, give them a try by putting in some limit orders away from the market using the Order Manager. Select the Account number at the top and then place the order(s).
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#8
I actually linked 2 accounts a few days ago and just tried it out in WL: it seems that both account numbers appear under the Account drop-down list for the Broker "Interactive Brokers"; and then, depending on which one I select, the order gets sent to the respective account.

So, I would say it is supported, as it is...
And then, for WL customers with several IB accounts, this is one more reason to just link them. It makes the process much more seamless (not to mention cheaper, because the data fees are paid only once).
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#9
@alkimist
We need to revisit IB "linked accounts".

Would you help us out and tell me how you configured linked accounts? Are your accounts linked "to Advisor/Broker/Administrator" or in some other way?
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#10
Hi Cone,

I had two IB accounts: one Individual and another Joint.

One day, while logging in to the Account Management web page (which I seldom do since I mostly use the mobile and TWS applications), I got a pop-up suggesting that I link the two accounts. I then went to investigate a bit more and ended up doing it a few days after. If I remember well, I requested it via one of the options under Account Management; and it was approved a few hours later.

Now, when I login to TWS (with the desktop or the the mobile app), I can seamlessly switch the screens from one to the other.
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#11
Okay, thanks. I'll look into it.

In any case, we found an callback that will work for us to keep multiple accounts updated. The next IB Provider build with WL8 Build 7 is going to improve account/position responsiveness a lot.
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#12
As far as I can tell, you must have set up an Advisor account? What's the first letter in the account you use to log in? It's not "U", like the sub accounts, right?
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#13
Not really: both are normal accounts (Uxxxxx).

And then I chose to keep the login username of one of them to be able to login to both. When I select one of them, I can still see the respective account number (which also shows up in WL).
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#14
Okay, they're not giving me this option that is showing checked here - they're only giving me the other 4 options. I think you'll have to test it for us again :)

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#15
That highlighted option is the one I selected indeed! Now, if I go back,
I also only have the other ones available (could be because the only two accounts that I have are already linked).

In your case, it could be that the accounts you have don’t exactly match some needed fields that IB uses to know that they can be linked. Maybe contacting their support can help: could be it’s just an issue with a middle name, address or something like that.

As to testing, no problem. Glad to do it!
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#16
as I recall IB changed terms for linked accounts in March 2022 or so. Basically they let you link accounts under the same household (ie same postal address). No advisor account is required in this case.

however if the address is different then you need a separate login for IB TWS and hence this thread
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#17
My accounts are for me, same person, same address. However, I'm reconsidering following up to combine them because separately I get free streaming for 100 symbols with each account due to trading activity.
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#18
@Cone @alkimist @mb5413

I am early in my IB auto-trading journey. Would appreciate it if you could shed any light on the following questions that are on my mind.

1. Is it possible to link a paper account and a live account so both show up in a dropdown on some screen in WL8 for selection?
2. Can you run multiple strategies in a single instance of WL8 SM and TWS such that each strategy can be linked to its own IB account number to auto-place trades?
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#19
1. You can choose Broker and Account in the Strategy Settings dialog (Strategy Monitor) or in the "Broker" dropdown (appears in a streaming chart with a dragged and dropped Strategy onto it). Or is there something else on your mind?
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#20
We're probably talking about the IB Paper account.

QUOTE:
1. Is it possible to link a paper account and a live account so both show up in a dropdown on some screen in WL8 for selection?
No. Wealth-Lab will connect only to one instance of TWS (per machine), so it will either be the paper account or the live account.

QUOTE:
2. Can you run multiple strategies in a single instance of WL8 SM and TWS such that each strategy can be linked to its own IB account number to auto-place trades?
No. One instance of TWS means one account.
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#21
Do other API implementations, such as TDA, have this limitation?

Currently, with Fidelity, I use different accounts for different strategies. (Of course, none of that is through an WL API.)
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#22
It's only a somewhat self-imposed limitation for IB. Other broker adapters don't have to connect through a client, like IB TWS, which only works for one account at a time.

Technically, it would be possible to run multiple instances of TWS for different accounts and connect to each one by configuring different Client IDs. That said, right now you can just used 2 different computers and connect to 2 accounts that way, which is what I do.
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#23
QUOTE:
It's only a somewhat self-imposed limitation for IB. Other broker adapters don't have to connect through a client,

I think IB has a REST endpoint available so one doesn't have to connect via TWS. But the tougher question is whether or not the REST endpoint would work better than TWS. That might be a question for Interactive Brokers.

I just "assumed" the proprietary endpoint TWS employs has some advantage over the REST endpoint. But the simple truth maybe the REST endpoint simply came later.
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#24
QUOTE:
I think IB has a REST endpoint available so one doesn't have to connect via TWS.


They do indeed - the "Client Portal API" (I think it used to be called Gateway):
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=5041&ns=T

Functionally, there doesn't seem to be much difference:
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Glitch8
 ( 13.30% )
- ago
#25
According to this only tick data is missing. If there’s sufficient demand we could write an adapter to this API.
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#26
Had a very quick look at the documentation: when drilling down to the details, it seems to (at least for now) be more basic than the TWS API.

For example, it seems to offer the following order types only:


On the other hand, looking at the documentation for the TWS API, it seems that more basic order types are supported; and then there are even advanced orders.
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#27
Now I have a more complicated question. It appears there's a FIX interface available, but it's a work in progress because it has limited features. Is it possible to provide a FIX "base class" and from that class build a "hybrid" broker provider (derived class?) that would employ what limited FIX capability is available, but then supplement that implementation with the legacy REST implementation where required? If so, then I will vote for the FIX feature request below.
https://www.wealth-lab.com/Discussion/FIX-Base-Broker-Provider-5938

I'm sorry to make this issue more complicated. But I would like to do as much high-level coding as possible to minimize the number a lines that needs to be supported. And I'm "guessing" there will be a "limited" FIX option for all the brokers at some point, so this will let the hybrid broker providers evolve towards the FIX implementation as it becomes more available. Does this sound like a plan?
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#28
The FIX API at IB seems to lack to many features.
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#29
@Cone, in Post #9 above, you wrote:

QUOTE:
@alkimist
We need to revisit IB "linked accounts".

Would you help us out and tell me how you configured linked accounts? Are your accounts linked "to Advisor/Broker/Administrator" or in some other way?


Not sure if you heard back from @alkimist, but I have great news to report that today, using the API, I successfully traded the same strategy for two different IB accounts, within a single WL instance.

I simply selected a different account number and sizing rules for each strategy/account combo in the SM setup dialog, which now shows an account number drop down, and it worked seamlessly. Trades were correctly placed from both accounts, which are reported in a single instance of the TWS.

To enable this functionality, I used the account linking feature in IB to link two live accounts. No additional setup was required in WL to enable this functionality.

The only thing that does not appear to work properly is reporting of Equity for each account, as reported in https://www.wealth-lab.com/Discussion/Unexpected-equity-sizing-values-for-signal-8140 #18
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#30
Sadly, I reconfirmed what I had already had tried above - IB does not give me the option to link my existing accounts - I'm missing the critical option for that.

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#31
Hi Cone,

This is not the right section / options to do this. This type of 3P "linking" is not the same as linking two of your own personal accounts. Here's a description of the steps:

https://ibkr.info/node/1319

Unfortunately, like most things at IB, I was unable to figure out how to get to the page shown here.

I believe this is a recently added capability for IB. For me, the option was offered automatically when I opened a new account. I'm guessing their site or documentation has not caught up yet for existing accounts.

At this point, I, personally, would give up and resign myself to set aside some time and call (not text) their dreaded customer support (during market hours) to get them to tell you what the trick is. It's possible I can't see the option because I don't have any available accounts to link.
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#32
As I wrote before, I was able to link two accounts: one individual and one joint account. Both accounts were old: probably close to 20y. In fact they started based in US; then we’re migrated to UK and more recently to Ireland, because of Brexit (both, “forced” migrations).

From what I understood, in order for their system to automatically link the accounts, the personal details have to be precisely the same (name, passport number, address, etc).

I would start with a quick review of those personal details and, if nothing obvious is different, I would then contact their customer support. 20y ago, their support was excellent; then, unfortunately, I needed them for something a few years ago and they were not only very rude but also incompetent. In the meantime, it’s been years since I don’t need to contact them; and hopefully it is better again (no idea)…
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
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#33
Already had a chat this morning that lasted about 30 minutes. It ended with, "Apologies. We request you to raise a chat in US working hours."

Thanks for the help alkimist, but the problem is that I'm not being presented with the correct option. It's missing. There is a very minor difference, however, in the names on my accounts - one account has my complete middle name, while the other only has only the first initial of my middle name.
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Cone8
 ( 7.27% )
- ago
#34
It turns out the reason I cannot link my accounts is because each account is "governed" by a different IB entity in different countries - U.S. and Ireland.
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