- ago
Hello. How can I configure WL8 to work with two different Interactive Brokers accounts running in the same device?

This is in order to live auto-trade my proven strategies and at the same time simulate the new ones in Interactive Brokers. In order to stream data in the Paper Account Interactive Brokers requires that the two instances of live and simulated run in the same device, thus sharing Market Data. Ports are not the same in both instances.

Thank you in advance.
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Glitch8
 ( 12.08% )
- ago
#1
You might be able to do it by running two instances of WL8 and changing the configuration for IB before connecting to it in the second session. Give it a try.
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Glitch8
 ( 12.08% )
- ago
#2
But since WL8 connects to TWS, I'm not sure TWS can run both of those accounts at once, can it?
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Cone8
 ( 28.25% )
- ago
#3
QUOTE:
I'm not sure TWS can run both of those accounts at once, can it?
It can by using 2 instances of TWS.

But Wealth-Lab can connect only to one instance of TWS on a machine.

If you want to Paper Trade in realtime, sign up for a free Alpaca account. It's a much better Paper Trading experience and trading is not delayed, like at IB.
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Glitch8
 ( 12.08% )
- ago
#4
But you can run two instances of WL8.
1
- ago
#5
Thank you for your answer! Is very good to count with your support to make my way trough WL.

I was able to run 2 instances of both TWS and WL. This is a good solution, simulating with Alpaca can be a good solution too. I will try both during market hours!

Thank you again!
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Cone8
 ( 28.25% )
- ago
#6
Re: But you can run two instances of WL8.
The thing about this is that there's only one place to store the IB Configuration, which has to be different (the port number) for both instances. So, maybe it will work, but I wouldn't recommend mixing paper and live trading in this configuration.
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Glitch8
 ( 12.08% )
- ago
#7
I mentioned in Post #1 that you’d need to change the configuration when you open the second WL8 instance.
1
- ago
#8
...or the second instance could be installed in a virtual machine (which is a supported configuration for subscribers).
1
- ago
#9
As was discussed in a different thread:
https://www.wealth-lab.com/Discussion/Multi-account-trading-with-WL8-7949

interactiveBrokers offers the possibility to link multiple accounts:
https://guides.interactivebrokers.com/am/am/manageaccount/linknewaccount.htm

This works great with Wealth-Lab: you connect to the broker and you are presented with a drop-down list of all linked accounts; then, depending on which one you select, the orders are sent to that one alone.

Now the question is: does IB allow to link a real account with a paper trading one? If so, I believe that this is a much nicer solution than to deal with multiple instances of WL/TWS. if not, then, it´s a shame.

Since I don’t have a paper trading account at IB, I just requested to have one created: once they do it, I will test to see if it works and update here.

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Best Answer
- ago
#10
Thank you for your good ideas. I will ask to IBKR support, but I think that despite it's posible to link two live accounts and run both in the same instance of TWS, maybe it's not possible to run a live and a paper account in the same instance. It would be very good as it would allow us to set only one port, thus running both accounts in the same WL instance.
0
- ago
#11
My paper trading account at IB has been approved: unfortunately, I cannot find a way to link it with the other accounts. Therefore the mechanism I described (linked accounts) works great for trading multiple live accounts, but I’m afraid it won’t help with the intended use-case discussed in this thread (trading both a live and paper trading account).
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Cone8
 ( 28.25% )
- ago
#12
Hmmm, linked accounts, right.
We're working on IB right now to make Position updates solid, but we were working from the assumption that only the connected TWS account could be traded. So we limited the connection to that connected account for a continuous subscription to Position updates. Let's see if we find another way.
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