Note : I am using a laptop with 64-bit Windows . I do not intend to trade, only get information about option contracts, risk and P&L. This is not a replacement for IBKR training or documentation. Please use at your own risk. If I have made any mistakes, please do let me know.
Note: I use IBCWin as well, but this is not relevant for this article. This is the open source program that automates login to Interactive Brokers' Trader Workstation and Gateway.
Disclosure : I am a student with Option Pundit. Please do not contact me with (unsolicited) trading suggestions, training or ideas. I only work with their strategies.
Resource: Excel RTD Page on IBKR
Install TWS here. I have installed to C:\Jts
Install TWS API to C: drive (same drive as your operating system) here. I have installed to C:\TWS API
Please open IBKR TWS and modify settings in TWS as follows:
On the left, select API and then Settings
Change as follows:
“Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients” must be checked
“Read-only API” should be unchecked
Set your Socket port to 7496. Note that this for live. (For paper trading, please use setting 7497 as noted in the Resource URL above.)
“Create API message log file” should be checked
“Include market data in API log file” should be checked
“Logging Level” should be changed from “Error” to “Detail”
The sample spreadsheets are in your computer at a location, such as C:\TWS API\samples\Excel. Please open the spreadsheet called TwsRtdServer.xls
Open this spreadsheet and you will see something like this
You will need to click ‘Start’. You can see some prices changing. If you see an error connecting to the API, most likely the setting ‘Enable ActiveX and Socket client is not enabled in your TWS settings.
