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I am copying a quick correspondence I had with Interactive Brokers yesterday, in case it's useful to someone else having the same issue.
I will ask IB this question tonight, but in case anyone knows already, please help! Is there any way for me to be notified by email (I am using Windows 7, not Linux as IB notes below) when the IB gateway loses connectivity?
MY QUESTION TO IB
Hello,
I would really appreciate your assistance on this very important issue, for me.
I am using the IB gateway (with my Multicharts trading platform, which connects to the IB API gateway and sends orders automatically).
Last night (I don't know the exact time unfortunately) the IB gateway lost connection, and I missed my trade stops, resulting in material losses.
I was under the impression that the IB gateway does not disconnect at any time. Can you please let me know if and when I may lose connectivity to the gateway?
Also, is there any way to receive an email alerting me to the fact that connectivity has been lost? Or any other way to be notified?
I note, for reference, that my internet connection was working properly without disconnects the whole time.
Thanks a lot
Andreas
IB'S REPLY
The IBGateway does not need to be restarted once a day like the Trader Workstation, so it can stay up and running 24 hours over 24 but nevertheless the IBGateway is as well affected by the restart of our servers which happens once a day according to the schedule mentioned in this page: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/systemStatus.php?ib_entity=llc
During this time frame the systems could be not available for a certain period. This will cause the IBGateway to disconnect from the servers. Usually it will reconnect automatically once the servers are up again.
Since this is a scheduled maintenance which is performed every day, we do not send any alerts, email or warnings, but since you user looks like connecting from a Linux machine, you might want to create a script which checks the ibgateway.DAY.log (When DAY is the first three letter of the current weekday) which is located in the installation directory of the IBGateway and sends an email (via sendmail) in case the keywords "Disconnection" or "Disconnected" are logged.
I guess many examples of such scripts can be found on Internet.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I had a similar issue before where I thought leaving the station on overnight would ensure orders would be filled. But for me it was due to the IB Auto-log off for TWS.
To Change it you can go to:
TWS in Edit > Global Config > Lock and Exit > Auto-log off Time
The other instance for orders not triggered could be due to disconnects during their server refresh as pointed in the post above. I am not sure how to circumvent this if one is trading all 3 time zones. Looking for pointers here.
On Alerts, I only know of price and trade alerts in IB where you can configure it in TWS -> Analytical Tools -> Alerts -> New.
Got this response from IB with regards to IB Gateway.
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Unfortunately IB's System Maintenance is unavoidable. Regardless if you login to TWS or the IB Gateway you are still connecting to the same identical servers which will require the same daily maintenance.
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For those trading Asian Futures, the problem seems difficult to circumvent as there is a disruption across during
23:45 - 00:30 ET on fridays.
If you know the maintenance time then you could send resting limit or stop orders to IB that would be at the exchange during that period of time. Once maintenance window is over, then go back to normal order mode. That way you are protected from needing an order to fire while potentially disconnected.
You may ask IB to switch your account connecting from US server to HK server if you are trading Asian futures.
The restart time will then be changed from around 1pm to around 6:15am Shanghai time.
How do you use IB Gateway? do you download this directly from the Interactive Brokers website? Can someone help me set this up? I currently use Ninjatrader and I've been having problems with my strategy as it keeps disconnecting me from IB. My screen shows my positions all closed out. I'm hoping that by using IB Gateway, it will prevent this from happening again. I look at daily charts and leave my pc on for weeks/ months. I heard that I would at least have to restart TWS once a week but if my I hold my position longer than that using a automated strategy I'm not sure how I can make it work. Please help. Thanks.