Using Presets

Study Notes:

Trading presets allow you to specify commonly-used order parameters ahead of time, reducing the time it takes you to set up the order before you can transmit.

We include some order parameters by default which you have likely noticed when you create an order. When the user creates a buy order on a stock by default the order entry panel populates using 100 shares, a limit order type, and sets the limit price to the ask (at the time the order is created).

A user may tailor the presets to better reflect their trading style. We can demonstrate by changing the order preset for stocks to default to a quantity of 300 shares at a time, using a market order.  

Note that dollar amounts may also be chosen instead of shares if desired.

Use the Settings page to access Trading Presets. In this example, the user selects Stock as the asset type to change the preset. Note that presets can be made for any available asset.

Notice that many preset fields can be defined to the user’s needs. For this example, user inputs order quantity to 300 Shares and sets Order Type to Market.

If necessary, system defaults can be restored at any time by clicking Revert to Defaults in the upper right.

To save these changes I just need to exit the Settings window.

Let’s now see how the order preset behaves when a new order is created in the Order Panel. The buy order automatically populates with 300 shares, the set to market. From here the user simply needs to submit the order.

Note also that, as prior to changing the preset, the user can still change input values if necessary. Instead of 300 shares, the user can still change the value to 500 and so on before submitting the order.

An important point to remember is that presets are shared across platforms. That means that if the user logs out of IBKR Desktop and log into TWS and then create a stock order, the updated default order parameters would be the same as in IBKR Desktop and the user would see a 300 share market order.

Resources

IBKR Desktop User Guide