MarketXLS & Interactive Brokers Integration Walkthrough

Introduction

Interactive Brokers LLC operates the largest electronic trading platform by the number of daily average revenue trades in the U.S. It brokers and connects to any electronic exchange globally that enables investors to trade stocks, options, futures, EFPs, futures options, forex, bonds, and funds. It is well known for its wealth of tools for sophisticated investors who are interested in tracking global investing trends. 

Interactive brokers mainly cater to institutional investors and sophisticated, active traders around the globe. They provide a wide range of offerings and stay on top of changes in market conditions to achieve optimal execution. 

The Interactive Broker Trade Station

Everything about Interactive Brokers centers around Traders Workstation (TWS). TWS is a powerful and extensively customizable downloadable platform. It provides solid fundamental research and the charts are very good with a suite of indicators. 

Once you get into TWS, Interactive Brokers’ trading experience stands out among all brokers. It lets you set order defaults for every possible asset class, as well as define hotkeys for rapid order transmission. Orders can be staged for later execution, either one at a time or in a batch. You can set a date and time There are practically unlimited ways an order can be entered.

Interactive Broker Walkthrough (For MarketXLS Users)

MarketXLS now supports integration with major brokers in the market including Interactive Brokers. Here is how you can integrate MarketXLS with Interactive brokers:

(Steps 1-3 are only necessary if the customer is not already running TWS)

1. Make sure Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation is fully installed (not web-based version)
   https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=16042  

2. Also install TWS API
https://interactivebrokers.github.io/downloads/TWS%20API%20Install%20976.01.msi
When you’ll install TWS API, please open the TWS application and go to Global Configuration -> API -> Settings

Make sure ActiveX and Socket Clients checkbox is enabled. Socket port should be 7496

Click OK

3. Open Interactive Brokers TWS and keep it running.

4. Open Excel and start using MarketXLS. Functions are pre-loaded. You can find the full list of Interactive Broker functions here.

5. Or type =ib in a cell and the functions list will load.