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Hallo Andreas!
Ich werde dir schreiben, wie ich es mache (alles unten). Es wird auf Englisch sein. Warum? Weil das keine Anleitung ist, sondern die rote Linie, damit du weißt, welche Dinge du in der TWS-Dokumentation nachlesen musst und dann genau verstehst, was jede Komponente bedeutet. Aber ich stimme dir zu, dass der Weg zur ersten roten Linie kompliziert ist. Deshalb hier die Erklärung. Bitte investiere die Zeit, um die Dokumentation zu lesen! Es wird dich zum TWS-Experten machen. Schreib uns später, wie du es machst.
Noch eine letzte Bemerkung: Was ich dir unten schreibe, ist die Art und Weise, wie ich handle. Es mag nicht immer das Beste sein, aber für mich funktioniert es. Und was noch wichtiger ist: Ich weiß, wo es für mich funktioniert und ich weiß, wo ich noch ein Auge drauf haben muss!
https://www.interactivebrokers.ie/de/trading/orders/stop-limit.php (<– German)
https://guides.interactivebrokers.com/tws/twsguide.htm#ordertypestop.htm (<–complete English documentation to TWS)
Regards, Brian
CONFIGURE TWS:
I add these four headings in EXACTLY this sequence. It is especially highly recommended that you keep Stop Price and Limit Price in this sequence. See image below.
OCA ORDER:
The next aspect you have to understand is the concept of OCA, One-Cancel-Others. This is simply a text string. You can use any string, but be careful that you use it consistently. It does not matter how many of these orders you have, you can have one, two or ten orders. If they have the same OCA string and one of the orders should execute, then the other orders are cancelled.
See the example below. What you see here is an order to buy KO stock, sell a VIX PUT or close an SLV strangle (which I already have). Only one of these orders I want to execute. So they all have the same OCA string. Important: I can not control which one executes. The first one to execute will cancel the other two orders.
And here comes the WARNING TEXT: it can take 15-60 seconds to cancel the other orders. So these OCA orders must always be such that they are not very “close” together in timing. It could happen worst case that all three orders execute before the cancel order reaches the market. So construct your orders carefully.
SET PROFIT TARGET:
So you have a position in the market. This can be a short PUT, this can be a vertical spread, this can be whatever. So the first step I always do, is set my profit target. For this, I always uses CLOSE position menu entry. I make sure that I have GTC, that I have a LMT order and I set a small amount (here $0.05).
Lastly, and most important: I type in a OCA string. Out of discipline, I do it nowadays even if I have simply one order. I have learned the tactic to use the string “OCA-SYMBOL” as then I know the strings all below to this order. The only thing you have to learn in this step is to add the OCA string before sending the order.
SET STOP LOSS:
Now that we have our profit target, we add a second OCA order. The way I do it, is that I go back onto the contract with my right mouse and then say “BUY”. Why BUY? Simply because in the previous step I had used the close option and this resulted in a buy order. So now I know that a BUY order will close this position. So I add a second BUY order.
I set again the GTC and then change to a STP LMT order. I set, in this example a stop price of $1.00 and a limit price of $1.05. It is important for me that the stop price is smaller than the limit price. I then add the same OCA string and set the trigger method to “Mid-Point”.
What this means, is that the order is not yet active. Once the stop price is reached (at the mid-point between the bid/ask spread!), then the order will be activated and send to the market. What is send to the market? A LMT order for $1.05. So the stop price controls when the order is activated. The limit order controls the limit price send to the market.
IMPORTANT: What are the limitations of the STP LMT order? If the market gaps down extremely, then your stop price is passed and this activates your LMT order. However, if the market is already below your LMT order, then the position will not be executed but wait for the LMT to maybe be reached. Which is usually the best, as it gives you time to reflect on this.
If you really want to get out at all costs, then consider to add an additional OCA order with a LMT MKT order to force the position out. Personally I would NOT do this, as you can always do it later. See exotic stuff below.
EXOTIC STUFF:
What comes here are just ideas to show you the power of OCA, conditional orders and LMT, STP LMT and SNAP MID. It is worthwhile to read up on these! I will not explain this in detail now, below are just ideas.
If you wish, you can then add even more OCA orders. For example: you can add a conditional time order, if there is less than 5 days left of the contract to exit it with SNAP MID order. (SNAP MID means snap the limit to the middle between the bid/ask active at that time. Also you can a small additional offset to ensure you are slightly better then the mid price.)
Or, we know that if the short strike of the spread is touched, the price of the complete spread is about 50% of the spread width (usually less). So you can add an additional safety OCA order with a condition if price smaller than your short PUT strike, simply add a LMT sell at 50% of spread width. Or do this with a STP LMT with values roughly at the 50% mark of the spread width.
And of course, the ultimate emergency order, you can use an OCA order with a condition, if this is the last day of the options and the market is trading between your spread, then exit MKT or exit SNAP MID. This will rather exit the position with a loss than take assignment.
These are just ideas to show you the power of TWS. Enjoy the TWS documentation!
