Interactive Brokers (India)

[TracerBullet]

Bro.., have you come across any information about the Kotak Securities API ? I am trying to get a reliable Broker who provides good market feed also in addition to Interactive API. Zerodha is good but I will dealing in Far OTMs also for hedge trades and as such Zerodha will not suffice my requirement as they do not allow deep OTM buying.

There were some complaints in their github, esp some kind of quota error. I have not tried it yet - i wasted far too much time with 5 paisa and that has made me weary of jumping early. I plan to try only once i get good reviews from reasonably trusted people ( vs blind reviews ). Hoping one of kotak/icici/angel/another large broker becomes usable to diversify from Z.

IB data feed is good and stable - you get both rtd and backfill. And you can certainly use them for FnO. I have only traded Futures with them but platform is great. You will have to deal with quarterly settlement - check if they allow pledging as that can be a workaround.
Fyers also have made data free but i have not tried those api yet.

Not true... Below are not my words. We can do this all day long, our opinions won't change ground reality. Zerodha is a sucker!

Last week's summary (nothing has changed over the years):

18-Oct-21 - Zerodha users face glitch on trading platform while selling shares - The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)

View attachment 46918

View attachment 46919

And its a never-ending list!

I can only say that my experience so far has been great for 9+ months trading almost everyday and calling their apis multiple times within 5m intervals. But things can happen to any broker, so not saying they cannot have issues.

 

[Aman1]

Ha ha ha...

So, is it applicant's issue or broker's fault? Apart from normal KYC they do not ask for anything else... And its all mentioned in their website, applicant need to read in order to follow the instructions properly...

On contrary, my application processed smoothly, may be because I kept an open mind with excitement to venture into some thing new perhaps... Unlike other brokers they happen to even proactively update my C-KYC, which really helped!

In my experience, IBKR happens to be very organized from all aspects...

Why should I yield to their unauthorized demands. They were asking me to submit a Specific Power of Attorney. SPA is used if someone authorizes spouse or someone else to trade your account. What happened was that I asked my spouse to call IB to know what other documents I had to submit since I was busy somewhere and could not call myself. Instead of informing my spouse what else was required they took it otherwise. When I enquired by calling back IB, they bluntly told me that it appears that your spouse will also be handling your account therefore you have to execute special power of attorney. They mailed me a form and told me to fill this form, get a INR 500 stamp paper, get it notarized , get two additional witnesses and get the signatures of witnesses attested by notary or advocate, furnish Aadhaar card copies of witnesses, attest and submit the same.

This thing really pissed me off. I protested vehemently. Why should I execute a Specific Power of Attorney when I will trade my account myself that too on a very flimsy ground that since my spouse called their support to know what other documents are required. I tried to persuade them but to no avail. Then I had to take a principled stand and bluntly told them that I am trading the markets since the year 2000 and I am not a novice trader. I know very well that they cant force me to give a specific power of attorney without my consent. I have a longer trading carrier that spans more than their total job length in this industry.

It might appear an unnecessary ranting but sometimes you have to take a stand to protect your rights and call a spade a spade. They maybe best brokers but that does not mean they should arm-twist someone for no fault of him. These are times when things like account opening are seamless, it was almost a month back I had applied and things were stuck on one pretext or the other. So, I told them to close my application and refund my money which I had paid upfront. It was a procedural matter of which they had no knowledge and experience. I hold nothing against them may be I will try to open an account with them again in future but the thing is they have a very inexperienced staff and the account opening is cumbersome though they may claim that they were following what is called a standard regulatory procedure. But, the fact is they were wrong.

 

[CougarTrader]

Why should I yield to their unauthorized demands. They were asking me to submit a Specific Power of Attorney. SPA is used if someone authorizes spouse or someone else to trade your account. What happened was that I asked my spouse to call IB to know what other documents I had to submit since I was busy somewhere and could not call myself. Instead of informing my spouse what else was required they took it otherwise. When I enquired by calling back IB, they bluntly told me that it appears that your spouse will also be handling your account therefore you have to execute special power of attorney. They mailed me a form and told me to fill this form, get a INR 500 stamp paper, get it notarized , get two additional witnesses and get the signatures of witnesses attested by notary or advocate, furnish Aadhaar card copies of witnesses, attest and submit the same.

This thing really pissed me off. I protested vehemently. Why should I execute a Specific Power of Attorney when I will trade my account myself that too on a very flimsy ground that since my spouse called their support to know what other documents are required. I tried to persuade them but to no avail. Then I had to take a principled stand and bluntly told them that I am trading the markets since the year 2000 and I am not a novice trader. I know very well that they cant force me to give a specific power of attorney without my consent. I have a longer trading carrier that spans more than their total job length in this industry.

It might appear an unnecessary ranting but sometimes you have to take a stand to protect your rights and call a spade a spade. They maybe best brokers but that does not mean they should arm-twist someone for no fault of him. These are times when things like account opening are seamless, it was almost a month back I had applied and things were stuck on one pretext or the other. So, I told them to close my application and refund my money which I had paid upfront. It was a procedural matter of which they had no knowledge and experience. I hold nothing against them may be I will try to open an account with them again in future but the thing is they have a very inexperienced staff and the account opening is cumbersome though they may claim that they were following what is called a standard regulatory procedure. But, the fact is they were wrong.

If you write an email to [email protected] stating that the phone call made by your spouse was just a "query call" or "a meagre status check call" and "she has nothing to do with your trading decisions". Since emails are "in writing" they would be obliged to respect that and a "normal POA" would do.

After sending the email, speak to:
Awil Kukyan
IBKR Global Sales Associate
Direct Tel: +91 22 62458620
Mobile: +91 8431822259

Explain the issue to Awil in details. Emphasize that you have sent an email, mentioning "in writing" that "it was just a query call" and "you yourself take your decisions responsibly, no one else is involved in it".

It happens so, while verifying who is calling on behalf of you, their rep would have asked this question or somewhat similar implying, "Do you take decision on behalf of your husband's account?". And your spouse unintentionally might have replied, "yes". No one to blame, IBKR take authorizations very seriously, they operate in an organized manner.

Our courts are dysfunctional, "sab chalta hain"! However, IBKR is headquartered in US, and these little things which we take for granted matters a lot there, they just want to avoid any future complexity.

Let me know if this solves, otherwise would share other ways.

Cheers!

P.S. Wives takes all our decisions, no matter how much we hide, eh!

 

[CougarTrader]

Not true... Below are not my words. We can do this all day long, our opinions won't change ground reality. Zerodha is a sucker!

Last week's summary (nothing has changed over the years):

18-Oct-21 - Zerodha users face glitch on trading platform while selling shares - The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)

View attachment 46918

View attachment 46919

And its a never-ending list!

But things can happen to any broker, so not saying they cannot have issues.

But with Zerodha, these OMS issues, login glitches, system outages are persistent that too consistently year after year... It is not about you or me, but a common notion about them - Zerodha is to be avoided at all cost... Why carry added bag of risk unnecessarily?

 

[Aman1]

If you write an email to [email protected] stating that the phone call made by your spouse was just a "query call" or "a meagre status check call" and "she has nothing to do with your trading decisions". Since emails are "in writing" they would be obliged to respect that and a "normal POA" would do.

After sending the email, speak to:
Awil Kukyan
IBKR Global Sales Associate
Direct Tel: +91 22 62458620
Mobile: +91 8431822259

Explain the issue to Awil in details. Emphasize that you have sent an email, mentioning "in writing" that "it was just a query call" and "you yourself take your decisions responsibly, no one else is involved in it".

It happens so, while verifying who is calling on behalf of you, their rep would have asked this question or somewhat similar implying, "Do you take decision on behalf of your husband's account?". And your spouse unintentionally might have replied, "yes". No one to blame, IBKR take authorizations very seriously, they operate in an organized manner.

Our courts are dysfunctional, "sab chalta hain"! However, IBKR is headquartered in US, and these little things which we take for granted matters a lot there, they just want to avoid any future complexity.

Let me know if this solves, otherwise would share other ways.

Cheers!

P.S. Wives takes all our decisions, no matter how much we hide, eh!

I know wives don't listen. So many female voices were echoing my ears whenever I called IB India office. I knew right away I won't win

 

[nadiyakinare]

I am not affiliated to any-body or any-one. Common Indian, love participating in the markets! I remain busy for 16-18 hrs everyday, there might be delay in my reply. But I'll try to reply as and when possible.

Before anything else, if you do not have >= 5L margin and/or do not have a plan to execute your trades, DO NOT ENTER THE MARKETS! Might sound rude, but that's for your own good... Supermen/Superwomen die first in the markets... Be practical and anticipate practical gains!

IBKR is a no nonsense broker. If you are damn serious on your trading, you must consider them because as a fellow trader I think you deserve all that they offer! At current pricing, what IBKR India is offering is a steal - be it their TWS platform or their free super-stable API.

Cons (feel free to post more in comments):
1) Unlike other brokers, probably there will be no hand-holding (but all required information is readily available online if searched properly)
2) Reaching customer service is tough, you need to plan your administrative stuffs beforehand (email or raising tickets works the best)
3) Call & trade costs Rs.2000/- per trade (don't worry their platforms are super-sleek, your orders won't get stuck. For me, that need never arose)
4) Charges max Rs.200/- per month if that amount of commission is not generated (first 3 months free, otherwise waived if account worth >= 10L)
5) No intraday leverage (IMHO it is a good thing in the long run)
6) On F&O positions, margin required is 5% to 10% greater than Exchange (again that is a good thing IMO, as they don't want you to loose it all, since markets are uncertain for any wild move - read Mark Douglas if in doubt)
7) Trades only in NSE
8) Might require learning curve of at least 30-90 days, if complete novice that might further linger depending on grasping ability. Need to learn their TWS platform which has tons of features along with all sorts of custom flexibility options (you will be challenged to break-out of your comfort zone; but once you do, you shall have beauty to behold)

Pros (to avoid TLDR; keeping it short):
1) Flawlessly trade directly from TWS charts
2) Top-notch data security
3) Order Execution is fastest, incomparable to any other Indian broker, also order modifications happen instantly. IBKR's main OMS server is co-located inside NSE's server in Mumbai. NSE has servers in all Tier-1 cities; the delay happens with other brokers because your orders generally goes through several abstraction layers, increasing latency.
4) Flexibility to tune into market with their plethora of unique, innovative Order-types. You get GTC (not GTT) by default.
5) Very stable trading platform and no track-record of bullshit happening. Whatever has been the market condition, neither TWS Classic nor Mosaic has faltered for once. Just make sure to have a good internet connection from your end for "peace of mind" trading
6) Use their free NSE Market-Data API subscription and connect to Licensed Amibroker (that comes with IBKR plugins) for any sort of custom live-charts. You can also directly trade from AB too and do lot many cool stuffs if you know AFL
7) Free paper-trading account (though few limitations apply), very helpful to understand how their platform functions

Enjoy!

Few links worth mentioning:
Commissions
Required Minimums
Information for Indian Individuals

P.S. And seriously should you wish to trade on a New Year's eve or on 1st January, go see a psychiatrist! Plan your trades, don't let your trades plan you.

A big thank you for posting so much detail about IB, since past few days i am thinking to open an account with them for options scaping but first planning to visit their office of Mumbai Andheri to clarify my few doubts. all i care about is execution and stability of trading terminals, so far i hope its not like zerodha or others who shits when bulls or bears make pressure in a single day.

 

[CougarTrader]

options scaping

IBKR's TWS can be customized for every style of trader.

For scalpers, few features worth mentioning:

1) TWS ChartTrader

2) Custom chart buttons to trade from charts directly, for e.g.:

For Option trading, you specifically have:

1) Using_the_OptionTrader (interactivebrokers.co.in)

2) Simply awesome features like:

first planning to visit their office of Mumbai Andheri to clarify my few doubts

yes that is a very good idea...

all i care about is execution and stability of trading terminals

Execution is very fast (because of their NSE co-location). even order modification happens very fast (faster and smooth than any other brokers that I have seen), IB TWS (developed in Java) is stable as rock....

Anyone truly passionate about trading will simply love all that they offer - at least for our country all these features are extremely helpful at this bid. With IBKR I truly feel that they are made for we traders!

 

[cloudTrader]

There were some complaints in their github, esp some kind of quota error. I have not tried it yet - i wasted far too much time with 5 paisa and that has made me weary of jumping early. I plan to try only once i get good reviews from reasonably trusted people ( vs blind reviews ). Hoping one of kotak/icici/angel/another large broker becomes usable to diversify from Z.

IB data feed is good and stable - you get both rtd and backfill. And you can certainly use them for FnO. I have only traded Futures with them but platform is great. You will have to deal with quarterly settlement - check if they allow pledging as that can be a workaround.
Fyers also have made data free but i have not tried those api yet.

Thanks for your reply bro. Interactive Brokers indeed from a long time I have been reading about their good services, so it means a lot. I have them in the list but somehow yet to take any action for making an alliance.

Recently I opened an account with Composite edge. They have a very nice platform called Traders Evolution (earlier called Pro-Trader) and they have another tie up with Quantower Platform providers.
Quantower uses XTS API through Composite edge and I used the platform for 4-5 days, it was pretty smooth and the data was also matching with NEST to a good level. This platform Quantower is a very advanced platform and the providers gave me the information that there are hardly any complaints against XTS API through Composite Edge.
So I have subscribed to the API through Composite Edge. Lets see in coming couple of months I will be able to come to an inference about the stability and accuracy of API.

 

[VXP]

CougarTrader... Thanks for posting your views about IBKR. I have recently opened account with them and done few trades and I will summarize my experience so far with them:

While I broadly agree with all the Pros & Cons mentioned by CougarTrader and will not repeat them. I will only try to add to them.

1. I completely agree with TracerBullet when he says that IBKR is good for F&O as well as delivery based shares trading. However since they don't have facility to create pledge and to provide margin against it, they are not suitable for Intraday shares trading. You will need to keep more than 100% in cash for the amount you want to trade intraday and it will not earn you anything. So it becomes very expensive to do intraday share trading.

2. As mentioned by CougarTrader reaching their customer service is tough and many times you don't get proper answer. People who come from full service brokers like Kotak, Edelweiss etc will feel very frustrated.

3. The biggest headache I am facing with them is their Reports, Statements & Contract Notes which are geared towards their US customers. If your trade for say 5000 shares gets executed in 40 tranches then their Contract Note as well as Activity Statement (Similar to Ledger) will show 40 lines for each of them. If you happen to trade multiple symbols during the day both on intraday as well as delivery basis in large quantities then you can imagine your Ledger will run into thousands of pages and you will have nightmare segregating your short term capital gains on sale of shares on delivery basis from the intraday profits/loss. Their Reports treats both of them as short term capital gains. In US intraday share trading income is treated as short term caipital gains. In India we need to show Intraday Profits/Loss in shares trading as speculative business income.

I am not doing any trades now till I can figure out how to segregate short term capital gains from intraday income? @CougarTrader, @TracerBullet Do you have any thing to say about this issue? I will appreciate if any one can guide me on this matter. Thanks in advance.

 

[VXP]

One thing I forgot to mention is that many of their advanced Algos known as "IBALGO" are not available to Indian customers who trade on NSE which is disappointing. Further their Platform don't allow us to enter "Displayed Quantity" which as per NSE rules can be as low as 10% of actual quantity which can be a problem for traders dealing in large quantities where liquidity is not very high.