Ibkr Desktop Platform Overview and Setup

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The IBKR Desktop Platform is a powerful and user-friendly trading interface that allows you to trade and manage your accounts with ease.

To access the IBKR Desktop Platform, you can download and install it from the Interactive Brokers website or by logging in to your account and clicking on the "Download" button.

Once you've installed the platform, you'll need to configure it to connect to your account. This involves entering your account credentials, including your username and password.

You can then customize your platform by setting up your workspace, including arranging your screens and selecting the markets and instruments you want to display.

Customization

You can customize the display of your IBKR Desktop Portfolio and Watchlist data to suit your needs. You can choose from five predefined settings or configure column settings to build a user-defined display.

The default data columns can be adjusted to show the information that matters most to you. This allows you to focus on the data that helps you make informed trading decisions.

To create a custom layout in the IBKR Desktop, you can set up custom layouts that fit your trading and research needs.

See what others are reading: Ibkr Custom Indicators

Column Customization

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Customizing your experience is key, and that's exactly what IBKR allows you to do with their Column Customization feature.

You can adjust the display of your IBKR Desktop Portfolio and Watchlist data to suit your needs by choosing from a variety of carefully constructed data columns displays.

IBKR offers five predefined settings to get you started.

The display can be tailored to fit your specific requirements, giving you more control over how you view your data.

To further customize your experience, you can also configure column settings and build user-defined displays.

If this caught your attention, see: Ibkr Live Data Subscription

Custom Layout Setup

Custom Layout Setup is a powerful feature in the IBKR Desktop that allows you to create a customized workspace tailored to your trading and research needs.

You can create custom layouts in the IBKR Desktop that best fit your specific requirements, as mentioned in the article section "Setting Up Custom Layouts".

With the Color Grouping Feature, you can sync tools together by assigning them to one of seven groups, making it easy to update multiple tools at once.

Credit: youtube.com, Mixing Station Tutorial - How to create a layout

This feature is particularly useful when you want to keep multiple tools in sync with each other, such as Quote Details, Rapid Order Entry, and News, which can be grouped together under a single color group.

The Color Grouping Feature is accessible by clicking on the chain link icon in the upper right-hand corner of each tool, allowing you to add or remove tools from a group with ease.

You can choose from seven different color groups to organize your tools, giving you flexibility and control over your custom layout.

Curate Opportunities

With the right tools, you can quickly create a Watchlist of securities to track and receive real-time information at a glance. This feature is particularly useful for traders who need to stay on top of market movements.

You can select from a predefined watchlist or create your own, giving you the flexibility to tailor your tracking to your specific needs. This way, you can focus on the securities that matter most to you.

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The Watchlist provides key information on bids and bid sizes, asks and ask sizes, last price, change, and percentage change. This data is essential for making informed trading decisions.

By curating your opportunities, you can streamline your trading process and make the most of your time. Whether you're a seasoned trader or just starting out, this feature can help you stay ahead of the game.

Trading and Execution

With IBKR Desktop, you can view a chart depicting the 30-day price history for a stock alongside an array of bubbles measuring relative volume or value for key metrics.

This feature allows you to understand where options activity is taking place both in today's market and building over time by focusing on volume and open interest.

You can configure strategies like Calendar Spread, Vertical Spread or Diagonal Spread and add additional data such as VWAP, Option Volume and Greeks with ease.

The Option Analytics Window lets you visualize changes in an option's price with respect to unit changes in Greek values.

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You can create interactive curves to see how changing volatility assumptions, stepping closer to expiration and adjusting the price of the underlying impacts the value of an option line.

To execute orders efficiently, you can use the quick order ticket to apply types of orders and algorithms to your buy or sell order.

With a single click, you can initiate a buy or sell order by right-clicking on a value.

You can explore markets corresponding to your region, product, sector, and criteria, and get the main values as a result.

On a similar theme: Ibkr Order Types

Research and Analysis

The Research and Analysis tool in IBKR Desktop is a powerful feature that helps you stay on top of market news and research reports. With the ability to configure subscription and licensed feeds, you can customize the tool to show you the latest news and research reports on companies, portfolios, or markets that matter to you.

IBKR Desktop's News and Research tool is streamlined to show only what you determine, making it easy to focus on the information that's most relevant to your investment decisions. This means you can quickly find the insights you need to make informed investment choices.

News & Research

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The News & Research tool inside IBKR Desktop is a game-changer for investors. It shows only what the user determines, allowing you to customize the feed to your specific needs.

You can configure subscription and licensed feeds to serve up the latest company, portfolio, or market news. This means you'll get the information that matters most to you, right at your fingertips.

The tool also includes recently published research reports, giving you a wealth of knowledge to inform your investment decisions.

Strategy Builder

You can quickly design and preview multi-legged options combinations orders using IBKR Desktop with Strategy Builder. This tool is a game-changer for traders who want to evaluate potential performance profiles and view Greeks over the lifetime of the trade.

The Strategy Builder allows you to easily set up trades in single and multi-leg combinations. This makes it a great resource for those who want to trade markets using computer power.

Credit: youtube.com, The Best Strategy Builder Tool RELEASE + PREBUILT STRATEGIES

IBKR Desktop's Strategy Builder also lets you view the latest financial news articles from top voices in the industry. This keeps you up-to-date on market trends and news.

You can use the bubble display in the Option Lattice View to easily visualize and set up trades. This makes it easier to navigate options activity and positioning through time.

The Strategy Builder is a powerful tool that helps you make informed trading decisions. It's a must-have for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the game.

Using Option Chains

Using Option Chains is a game-changer for options traders.

You can quickly access Option Chains using IBKR Desktop, which is a powerful tool for analyzing options prices and strategies.

Configuring the workspace to suit your options trading needs is also crucial for efficient trading.

This can be done by customizing the layout and adding relevant tools and charts to your workspace.

By doing so, you can streamline your trading process and make more informed decisions.

See what others are reading: Ibkr Options Fees

MultiSort Screener

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The MultiSort Screener is a game-changer for investors. It allows you to easily find stocks that best match your strategies across a universe of over 70,000 stocks worldwide.

With the MultiSort screener, you can choose up to 10 factors and indicate whether you're looking for high or low values. This unique approach combines your factors across thousands of securities and delivers a personalized, ranked search list within seconds.

The speed of the MultiSort screener is unparalleled, thanks to the newly engineered IBKR Desktop platform. This platform is built from the ground up with performance in mind, giving you blazing-fast results.

Access to over 150 global markets is also a major advantage of the MultiSort screener. You can trade with confidence, knowing you have unrivaled market access at your fingertips.

Your results are ranked by best match, so you can quickly identify the stocks that best align with your investment goals. This streamlined approach saves you time and effort, allowing you to focus on making informed investment decisions.

Plataforma Cero Cliente

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The IBKR Desktop platform is a powerful, optimized, and user-friendly trading platform that helps traders achieve precision and control over their trading strategies.

This platform offers a highly customizable trading experience with a wide range of tools for technical and fundamental analysis, sophisticated charting features, and advanced order types, including conditional and algorithmic orders.

IBKR Desktop provides access to a broad selection of trading tools and data that help traders conduct in-depth analysis and make better-informed trading decisions.

With over 150 markets available from a single screen, traders can create opportunities for diversification by accessing stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and more.

The platform's highly customizable workspace allows traders to tailor their trading experience to their preferences and maximize their efficiency.

Integrated risk management tools help traders monitor and manage their risk profile.

Advanced order types, such as conditional and algorithmic orders, enable traders to control how and when orders are executed, allowing for efficient implementation of complex market strategies or quick reaction to market movements.

Broaden your view: Ibkr Money Market Funds

Platform Features

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IBKR Desktop offers a highly customizable trading experience, allowing you to personalize your workspace to align with your trading preferences and maximize efficiency.

The platform provides access to over 150 markets from a single screen, giving you the ability to create diversification opportunities across various asset classes, including stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and funds.

Built-in risk management tools help traders proactively monitor and manage their risk profile, giving you a clear picture of your trading activities.

Advanced order types, such as conditional and algorithmic orders, give you control over how and when trades are executed, allowing you to implement complex market strategies with ease.

Robust reporting and analytics help you quickly understand trading outcomes and portfolio performance, enabling you to calibrate your trading strategies effectively.

Visualization and Insight

IBKR Desktop offers powerful charting features to help you visualize the market, analyze market trends, spot opportunity and make informed decisions.

Charts are easily configurable for time interval and recurrence, offering over 100 indicators and an extensive library of drawing tools to enhance your analysis, identify trends, define support/resistance levels, spot patterns and manage risk.

Expand your knowledge: Ibkr Pre Market

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The Fundamentals Explorer provides comprehensive, worldwide fundamentals data to all IBKR clients, at no cost. You can dive deep into hundreds of data points covering historical trends, industry comparisons, key ratios, forecasts, ratings, ownership and more to find your next opportunity.

With the Option Lattice View, you can easily visualize and even set up trades in single and multi-leg combinations using Strategy Builder. This helps you navigate options activity and positioning through time.

Here are some of the key metrics you can view in the Option Lattice:

  • Relative volume or value for key metrics across expirations and strike prices
  • Option volume, open interest or implied volatility

The Option Analytics Window lets option traders visualize changes in an option's price with respect to unit changes in Greek values. This helps you understand how changing volatility assumptions, stepping closer to expiration and adjusting the price of the underlying impacts the value of an option line.

Introduction to Charts

IBKR Desktop offers powerful charting features to help you visualize the market and analyze market trends.

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You can easily configure charts for different time intervals and recurrence to suit your analysis needs. Over 100 indicators are available to help you spot patterns and trends.

Access Advanced Charts within IBKR Desktop to monitor asset prices and make informed decisions. This feature is a game-changer for anyone looking to gain insight into the market.

Fundamentals Explorer provides comprehensive data points covering historical trends, industry comparisons, and key ratios to help you find your next opportunity. Dive deep into the data to uncover valuable insights.

The News menu provides access to research reports, market commentary, and press releases to stay up-to-date on market trends and news. An RSS news feed is also available for added convenience.

IBKR Desktop's charting features offer an extensive library of drawing tools to enhance your analysis and identify trends. Use trend and Fibonacci lines to define support/resistance levels and manage risk.

Option Lattice View

The Option Lattice View is a powerful tool for navigating options activity and positioning over time. It displays useful option-related metrics that help you easily visualize and understand options trading.

A fresh viewpoint: Ibkr Options

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You can use the bubble display to set up trades in single and multi-leg combinations using the Strategy Builder. This feature is especially useful for traders who want to create complex trading strategies.

The Option Lattice View is a valuable resource for traders who want to stay on top of their options activity and make informed trading decisions.

Enhanced Insight. Efficient Interpretation

Visualization and Insight are essential tools for traders and investors. By providing a clear picture of market trends and performance, they enable informed decision-making and help mitigate risk.

IBKR Desktop's powerful charting features offer over 100 indicators and an extensive library of drawing tools to enhance analysis and identify trends.

The Fundamentals Explorer provides comprehensive, worldwide fundamentals data to help find the next opportunity. This includes hundreds of data points covering historical trends, industry comparisons, key ratios, forecasts, ratings, ownership, and more.

The Option Analytics Window lets option traders visualize changes in an option's price with respect to unit changes in Greek values. This includes creating interactive curves to see how changing volatility assumptions, stepping closer to expiration, and adjusting the price of the underlying impacts the value of an option line.

Credit: youtube.com, How to get effective insight from your connected data visualizations

Option traders can also use the Option Analytics Window to specify close values by increasing or decreasing the implied volatility and reducing the time to expiry. This helps to understand the impact of different scenarios on option value.

Here are some key features of the Option Analytics Window:

  • Interactive curves to visualize changes in option value
  • Specifying close values by adjusting implied volatility and time to expiry
  • Dynamic curves based on different date scenarios
  • Modifying strike prices, expiries, and exchanges using accessible controls
  • Viewing Greeks and Put+Call P&L curves together or separately

By leveraging these features, traders can gain a deeper understanding of market trends and make more informed decisions.

Sync and Organization

With IBKR Desktop, you can easily sync your accounts and stay organized. IBKR Desktop allows you to access all your accounts in one place, including your brokerage accounts, bank accounts, and credit cards.

You can also customize your dashboard to show the information that's most important to you. For example, you can add a widget to display your account balance or a chart to show your portfolio's performance.

IBKR Desktop also allows you to set up alerts and notifications to stay on top of important events, such as changes in your account balance or new trade confirmations.

Windows

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Syncing your IBKR Desktop for Windows with your workflow is a breeze. You can download the latest version (0.12) which is a 129MB file.

The new version offers several exciting features, including Option Chain In Layouts, which allows you to customize your layouts with more tools available.

Showing Position in Option Chain is another useful feature that helps you keep track of your positions.

You can also create Custom Strikes and use Screeners Tailored for Options Traders to get the most out of your IBKR Desktop.

Orders Page Enhancements and Alerts Management Enhancements make it easier to manage your trades and stay on top of market movements.

IBKR Desktop Sitemap and Back and Forward Buttons make navigation a snap.

You can also link to Contact Us directly from the desktop.

AI News Summaries are now available in select entities, keeping you informed about market news and trends.

Here are some additional features you can look forward to:

Remember to read the risk disclosure statements on the Warnings and Disclosures page before trading.

Sync Multi-Chart Mode

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In IBKR Desktop, you can display multiple charts in Sync Multi-Chart Mode.

This mode allows charts to be anchored to the same symbol, giving you a unified view of your investments.

You can also choose to display symbols independently, grouping them for a tailored display in a single view.

The number of charts you can group together is entirely up to you, giving you flexibility in how you organize your data.

Sync Multi-Chart Mode is a powerful tool for traders and investors who need to keep a close eye on multiple assets at once.

Sincronización en Tiempo Real

Las listas de seguimiento están sincronizadas en todas las plataformas de IBKR, lo que le ayuda a mantenerse informado sobre los movimientos más recientes del mercado.

Acceder a una amplia selección de herramientas de trazado de gráficos es fácil a través del menú 'Cotizaciones'.

Las cadenas de opciones permiten a los operadores ver y negociar opciones sencillas y multitramo sobre acciones, futuros e índices.

Configurar estrategias como el diferencial horizontal, vertical o diagonal y añadir datos como el VWAP es una característica fácil de usar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is IBKR desktop free?

Yes, IBKR's desktop trading platform is free to use, with no platform fees. Learn more about our fee-free trading platforms and find the best fit for your trading needs.

What is the difference between IBKR desktop and tws?

IBKR Desktop offers a user-friendly interface, while TWS has advanced technology with a more complex navigation. Choose between the two based on your trading experience and explore our review for more insights.

Is IBKR desktop good?

IBKR Desktop offers a user-friendly interface with sophisticated analysis tools, making it a great choice for those who value simplicity and ease of use. Its intuitive design and minimal learning curve make it an attractive option for traders and investors.

How do I login to the IBKR desktop?

To login to the IBKR desktop, double-click the Trader Workstation icon and select Live Trading or Paper Trading, then enter your Username and Password to log in.

Matthew McKenzie

Lead Writer

Matthew McKenzie is a seasoned writer with a passion for finance and technology. He has honed his skills in crafting engaging content that educates and informs readers on various topics related to the stock market. Matthew's expertise lies in breaking down complex concepts into easily digestible information, making him a sought-after writer in the finance niche.

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