With the rise of robo-advisors and automated investing platforms, more investors are looking to automate their investment strategies. Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is one of the largest electronic trading platforms, but does it support automatic investing? Here we look at how Reddit users discuss using IBKR for automated investing, the available tools and functionality, and key tips for setting up algorithmic trading on IBKR.
IBKR offers API for connecting automated trading systems
The Interactive Brokers API allows traders to connect their own trading algorithms or third party systems to automate trades. As discussed on Reddit, this allows savvy investors to build automated strategies with the reliability and low costs of IBKR. The API supports many languages like Python, Java, C++, allowing quants and developers to automate complex trades. However, the API does require programming skills.
Built-in tools like IBKR Bot for simple auto investing
For casual investors without coding skills, IBKR also offers some pre-built tools to automate simple strategies. IBKR Bot allows scheduling recurring investments like dollar cost averaging into ETFs. Portfolio Builder helps automate asset allocation models. While not as flexible as API trading, these tools simplify automated long-term passive investing.
Key tips for setting up algorithmic trading on IBKR
Reddit discussions reveal key steps for automating on IBKR: start with paper trading to debug algorithms, manage risk with stop losses and caps on position sizes, use Quantopian/Zipline for backtesting strategies. Overall, IBKR caters well to automated trading from long-term ETF investments to high frequency trading.
In summary, Interactive Brokers provides retail investors the tools to automate everything from simple dollar cost averaging to complex quantitative strategies. The API connects to user algorithms while built-in tools like IBKR Bot simplify basic auto investing. With proper risk management, IBKR emerges as a top choice for automated, low-cost trading.