API Tools from Interactive Brokers
FIX Protocol
FIXWhile working with Interactive Brokers’ APIs, most* securities require a Level 1, top of book, market data subscription to receive market data. This is required for all users at Interactive Brokers retrieving market data through the API.
*Forex and Cryptocurrencies do not require any additional market data subscriptions to receive market data.
In order to receive market data through the API, there are a few minimum requirements before data can be received.
| Category | The following minimums are required to subscribe and maintain market data and research subscriptions. This does not include the cost of the service. |
|---|---|
| Individual Accounts (unless listed below) | USD 500.00 (or non-USD equivalent) |
| Financial Advisor Client Accounts | USD 500.00 (or non-USD equivalent) |
| Institutional and/or Organizational Accounts | USD 500.00 (or non-USD equivalent) |
| Financial Advisor | USD 500.00 (or non-USD equivalent) |
| Non-Professional Advisor | USD 200.00 (or non-USD equivalent) |
| Introducing Broker Clients | USD 200.00 (or non-USD equivalent) |
| Indian residents 1 trading with an IB India account | USD 100.00 (or non-USD equivalent) |
Notes:
Most exchanges and data vendors classify clients as either non-professional or professional. By default, organizations such as corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and any account where the data is used for more than personal investment purposes is deemed to be professional. In addition, private persons may be considered professional if they are registered as a security or investment advisor, or act in a similar capacity. A trader who is employed by a financial services business may also be considered a professional. Click here for more information about non-professional qualifications.
Market data is provisioned on a per-user basis. This means that even though you may have a market data subscription on one user in an account, a second user on the same account does not gain those permissions.
Some individuals may choose to have multiple users under a single account. This is quite common particularly for traders who may wish to use the API and the Trader Workstation or Client Portal at the same time. Alternatively, institutions may have a dedicated machine for an automated trading algorithm that a developer would supervise while other individuals are manually trading on the account.
It is important to note that in the last case, individuals can create a limited-permission user which has restricted access from the standard. This would allow somebody like a developer to build out an implementation with the live account without having withdrawal access, or direct trading access. Users interested in creating reduced-permission users can contact the Interactive Brokers Account Configuration team, as listed on our Customer Service Contacts page.
Each Live account structure has access to a Paper account with unique credentials. While the Live username can typically be used for Trader Workstation, accessing Third Party Platforms or the Client Portal API require the direct Paper credentials. The steps to find your Paper account credentials are as follows:
Log in to the Client Portal using your Live Account’s username and password.
Click the Head and Shoulders icon next to “Welcome {Your Name}”.
From the Head & Shoulders dropdown, click the “Settings” button.
Once on the Settings page, navigate to the Paper Trading Account link, under the Account Configuration section.
After selectin the Paper Trading Account, you will be able to review your paper username and account ID. You will also see which Live user your paper account is linked to, and a link to reset the password of your paper user separate from your Live account.
IBKR allows for free on-platform data; however, data on the API is considered off-platform. Exchanges maintain different licensing requirements and agreements for off-platform market data viewing.
While you may receive live pricing through the Trader Workstation for some securities like US Stocks in your Trader Workstation, this may not be the same through your API. This is because this data is often provided for free to our customers under our existing market data agreements.
All users at Interactive Brokers are given a set amount of market data lines. Market data lines dictate how much market data can be retrieved simultaneously from a given user. This Includes all data pulled through Trader Workstation watchlist and the API. After going over the market data line cap, any future requests would return an error message that additional market data lines are required.
The username is provisioned for 100 market data lines. If the TWS Watchlist is displaying 50 symbols in their watchlist, and one API connection is retrieving 25 market data lines, that means a second API connection could retrieve a maximum of 25 additional market data lines before reaching the 100 market data line limit.
Given the potentially high amount of data being sent, market depth request’s are much more limited. Just as with historical data requests, the amount of active depth requests is related to the amount of market data lines, with a minimum of three and maximum of 60:
| Number of market data lines | Max Market Depth (Level II) | Number of subscribed Quote Booster packs |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 100 | 3 | 0 |
| 101 – 199 | 3 | 1 |
| 200 – 299 | 3 | 2 |
| 300 – 399 | 3 | 3 |
| 400 – 499 | 4 | 4 |
| 500 – 599 | 5 | 5 |
| 600 – 699 | 6 | 6 |
| 700 – 799 | 7 | 7 |
| 800 – 899 | 8 | 8 |
| 900 – 999 | 9 | 9 |
| 1000 – 1100 | 10 | 10 |
| 1100+ | 11 – 60 | special offer |
In order to receive real-time market data, customers must be a subscriber to market data. All clients initially receive 100 concurrent lines of real-time market data (which can be displayed in TWS or via the API) and always have a minimum of 100 lines of data. After the first month of trading, the quantity of market data is allocated using the greater value of:
Example 1:
In month two, your account shows the following values: USD Monthly Commissions: $16, USD Equity: $950,000
Using the calculations above, you would still receive the minimum 100 lines of data, since: $16/8 = 2
$950,000 x 100 / $1,000,000 = 95
Example 2:
In month three, your account shows the following values: USD Monthly Commissions: $500, USD Equity: $1,245,000
Using the calculations above, you would receive 124 lines of data, since: $500/8 = 62.5
$1,245,000 x 100 / $1,000,000 = 124.5, rounded down to 124.
While market data might seem overwhelming at first, it can be broken down and made more digestible from covering a few important points.
Interactive Brokers support is often asked about which subscription is best for each individual. While there is no perfect subscription for everyone, the table below describes some of the more common subscriptions along with what they cover.
If you have direct questions for an exact symbol, please try our Market Data Assistant for assistance.
While this list contains some of the more common market data subscriptions, this does not indicate trading advice, nor the best subscription for every individual. If you have any questions about specific market data subscriptions, please contact marketdata@interactivebrokers.com.
| NAME | EXCHANGES COVERED | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| NYSE (Network A/CTA) | Provides L1 data for NYSE listed securities. | CYS, F, LLY |
| NYSE American, BATS, ARCA, IEX, and Regional Exchanges (Network B) | Provides L1 data for ARCA, BATS, IEX, and other major US Regional Exchanges listed securities. | IBKR, SPY, VXX |
| NASDAQ (Network C/UTP) | Provides L1 data for NASDAQ listed securities. | AAPL, IBKR, MSFT, TSLA |
| OPRA (US Options Exchanges) | Provides L1 data for US Options.* | SPX** |
| US Securities Snapshot and Futures Value Bundle | Provides L1 data for US Futures. | ES ** |
| US Equity and Options Add-On Streaming Bundle | Bundle containing all three market data requests and OPRA. Requires the US Securities Snapshot and Futures Value Bundle. | AAPL, F, IBKR, SPX** |
*Please note values such as greeks that are based on the underlying require the Network subscription as well.
** For options and futures market data subscriptions, the underlying Index will not be included.
Typically for market depth, Interactive Brokers will only require a Level 1 market data subscription followed by a Level 2 market depth subscription. However, NASDAQ/ISLAND requires an additional market data subscription in order for clients to retrieve market depth off-platform in the form of the API or third party platforms.
Clients must subscribe to the following:
API users can subscribe to the following “Alternative Display” market data packs for getting Chinese Market Data via API and TWS.
| NAME | EXCHANGES COVERED | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai Stock Exchange 5 Second Snapshot via HKEx Alternative Display | Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect (SEHKNTL) | 600000, 601728 SEHKNTL |
| Shanghai Stock Exchange Alternative Display Top of Book (L1) | Shanghai Stock Exchange | 600000 |
| Shenzhen Stock Exchange 3 Second Snapshot via HKEx Alternative Display | Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect (SEHKSZSE) | 000001, 000001 SEHKSZSE |
| Shenzhen Stock Exchange Alternative Display Top of Book (L1) | Shenzhen Stock Exchange | 000001 |
*Please note that Non-Professional and Professional clients may have different available market data packs.
*Do not subscribe “Alternative Display” market data pack(s) and Non-“Alternative Display” market data pack(s) at the same time. This may cause data pack conflict. For example, having “Shanghai Stock Exchange 5 Second Snapshot (via HKEx)” and “Shanghai Stock Exchange 5 Second Snapshot via HKEx Alternative Display” at the same time may cause data pack conflict.
*For API clients, please unsubscribe Non-“Alternative Display” Chinese market data pack(s) before subscribing “Alternative Display” Chinese market data pack(s). If data pack conflict happens, please wait until next month or please contact Interactive Brokers Customer Services for unsubscribing the Non-“Alternative Display” Chinese market data pack(s) from IB back-end side.
*”Shanghai Stock Exchange 5 Second Snapshot via HKEx Alternative Display” only provides 5 seconds snapshot bid, ask and last data.
*”Shenzhen Stock Exchange 3 Second Snapshot via HKEx Alternative Display” provides real time data, but its bid/ ask data will be 3 seconds snapshot.
