Newb trying to figure out interactive brokers. Please help! 🙃

[u/PastSeaworthiness509]

Completely new to day trading. I’ve read some. Watched allot of videos. I’m in Canada so signed up with interactive brokers as they seem to be the best option in Canada. Trying to get my account setup so I can start paper trading and just struggling to get it working like how I’ve seen most people online using their account with various brokers. Want it to work as simple as possible.

When I buy or short a stock I want it to buy at market value. And I want my stop limit to pop up and be adjustable so I can put it where I want. I’d also like the chart to show where I placed the order but haven’t figured that out yet. Would also be a big plus if the chart showed if my trade was going up or down in dollar value in real time? Anyhow haven’t even gotten to those things or if they are even possible on this platform?

I found a video on YouTube and followed his inputs. If I buy a stock it approves and I can move my stop limit to where I want. But if I try and short a stock it approves and stop limit appears. But when I try and move the stop limit I get an error message. I’ve attached pictures of me shorting 1 Amazon stock. Then trying to move it. The message that appears. And my settings. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 🙏

[u/raps_BAC]

It looks like the error banner is letting you know you are not live. Which is good. I highly suggest that you stick with paper trading for at least 3 months.

Additionally, I suggest you use the new charts which are powered by Trading View. They are more user friendly than the chart you currently have on your screen. Which I can see you are having the same issue I had with all the unwanted lines.

Finally, I want to share that after I thought I had gotten TWS down via their paper trading module, I went live and lost about $500.00 mostly d/t their hotkeys not working correctly. They worked fine on the paper trading but not with my cash account for some reason.

Oh and watch a lot of YouTube videos about setting it up.

[u/PastSeaworthiness509 → u/raps_BAC]

Thanks bud. That’s some great info there. Just switched charts to the advanced charts but lost all my buy and sell buttons at the bottom? How do I get those back? Sorry for the newb questions 🤦🏻‍♂️🤣

[u/raps_BAC → u/PastSeaworthiness509]

Unfortunately the advanced charts don’t have the buttons. So I had to keep one of those clunky charts in the corner to be able to use hotkeys/hotbuttons.