One of the first things that I considered while formulating the basis for my automatic trading platform was risk. How would I place an order and not have to worry about my Internet connection or computer causing problems. I figured that I would let TWS do the risk management.
Using bracket order, I can send my orders to TWS and then on to IB's system. While my "system" is running here at home, the bracket order is continuously updated to move the stops and profit target. I don't really like trailing stops, so I don''t use them... for now. The worse that can happen under this scenario is that I get taken out of a trade. The second worst is that my profit target gets hit while price is moving up and the target has not been adjusted upwards.
I haven't been able to go a full day yet without some sort of bug or problem with the code, so I think this approach has paid off. It's only a paper trading account for now, but one day, I hope to have the auto trading working allot better.
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