Brokers
Interactive Brokers
Set up Interactive Brokers for TradeLabs from scratch: an IBKR Pro account, funding, the OPRA and Cboe One market data subscriptions, cash vs margin, installing TWS or IB Gateway, the exact TWS API settings, and connecting it in the app.
Interactive Brokers connects through Trader Workstation (TWS) or IB Gateway, the desktop software IBKR gives you, running on the same computer as TradeLabs. TradeLabs talks to it over a local connection at 127.0.0.1. There is no API key to paste. What you do need is an IBKR account set up correctly on their website and a few API settings switched on inside TWS. Most people’s problems come from skipping one of those, so this page walks through every one.
| What it trades | Supported |
|---|---|
| Stocks | Yes |
| Options | Yes |
| Spreads | Yes |
| Futures | Yes |
| RSA, crypto, memecoins | No |
The whole setup at a glance
Work through these in order. Steps 1 to 4 happen on the Interactive Brokers website, steps 5 and 6 in TWS on your computer, and step 7 in TradeLabs.
- Use an IBKR Pro account, not IBKR Lite.
- Fund the account with at least $500.
- Subscribe to market data: OPRA for options and Cboe One for stock quotes.
- Pick cash or margin. Under $25,000, a cash account avoids Pattern Day Trader limits, but spreads need margin.
- Install TWS or IB Gateway and sign in.
- Enable the API in TWS: socket clients on, Read-Only API off, the right port, trust
127.0.0.1. - Connect it in TradeLabs in the mode (Live or Paper) that matches how TWS is running.
1. Use an IBKR Pro account
Interactive Brokers has two pricing plans, IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro. TradeLabs is built and tested against IBKR Pro, which is IBKR’s plan for active and API trading and the one that gives you the real-time market data subscriptions in step 3.
New to IBKR: go to interactivebrokers.com, click Open Account, and choose IBKR Pro when the application asks for a pricing plan.
Already have an account: check which plan you are on, and switch if it says Lite.
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Sign in on the Interactive Brokers website.
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Click your name in the top-right corner and open Settings.
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Under Account Configuration, find IBKR Pricing Plan. It shows either IBKR Lite or IBKR Pro.
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If it says Lite, click it and follow IBKR’s prompts to switch to IBKR Pro.
2. Fund the account
Fund the account before you subscribe to market data or trade. IBKR bills market data out of your account balance, and a subscription on an empty account will not activate.
- Minimum: keep at least $500 USD in the account. More is better, so you have room for market data fees and your actual trades.
- Adding money: on the IBKR website, open Transfer & Pay → Transfer Funds (older layouts call it Funds Management) and follow the deposit steps.
3. Subscribe to market data
This is the step people skip, and it is the one that breaks options trading. Without a market data subscription, IBKR will not send TradeLabs live option prices, and trades fail with “Market price data is not available.”
You need two subscriptions:
| Subscription | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| OPRA Top of Book (L1) (US Options Exchanges) | Real-time option quotes and option chains. Required for options and spreads. |
| Cboe One (NP, L1) | Real-time US stock quotes. |
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Sign in on the Interactive Brokers website.
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Click your name in the top-right corner and open Settings.
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Find the Market Data Subscriptions section on the settings page.
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Click the Configure button, the gear icon in the top-right corner of that section.
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Scroll to the Level 1 (NBBO) list and tick:
- OPRA (US Options Exchanges) (NP,L1)
- Cboe One (NP,L1)
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Click Continue at the bottom of the page and accept IBKR’s subscriber agreements.
The Subscriptions panel on the IBKR website. The gear icon in the top-right corner opens the list where you add OPRA and Cboe One. This screenshot is from a professional account, which is why OPRA shows $32.75.
Answer the “professional” questions honestly, but know what they cost. IBKR asks whether you are a non-professional or professional subscriber. Most individuals are non-professional (NP), which costs a few dollars a month per subscription. Professional pricing (marked P) is many times higher. OPRA, for example, is $32.75/month for professionals. IBKR shows the exact current price next to each item before you confirm.
Using a paper account? Paper accounts do not get their own market data. On the IBKR website, open Settings → Paper Trading Account and turn on sharing your live account’s market data with the paper account. Otherwise paper trades will fail for lack of prices, even though your live account is subscribed.
Trading futures? Add the matching exchange’s data too, for example CME for ES and NQ, from the same list.
4. Pick cash or margin
If your balance is under $25,000, we strongly recommend a cash account. On a margin account under $25,000, the Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule limits you to three day trades in five business days. A copy trader following active signals hits that limit fast, and IBKR then blocks the next trade. A cash account is not subject to PDT. You only have to wait for sold funds to settle before reusing them.
If you are over $25,000, PDT does not apply, and you can skip this step.
Trading option spreads? Stay on margin. Spreads need a margin account with spread-level options permissions, and IBKR rejects spread orders on a cash account. If you trade spreads with under $25,000, keep the margin account and keep an eye on the PDT day-trade count.
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Sign in on the Interactive Brokers website.
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Click your name in the top-right corner and open Settings.
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Under Account Configuration, click Account Type.
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Choose to change from Margin to Cash and follow IBKR’s instructions to confirm.
When steps 1 to 4 are done, your Account Configuration should look like this: Account Type Cash (if you are under $25k) and IBKR Pricing Plan IBKR Pro.
5. Install TWS or IB Gateway
TradeLabs connects to either of IBKR’s two desktop programs. Install one of them on the same computer that runs TradeLabs.
TWS is IBKR’s full trading platform. It is the easier choice because you can see your orders and positions in it and confirm TradeLabs is working.
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Go to the Interactive Brokers TWS download page.
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Download the version for your operating system, Windows or macOS.
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Run the installer and follow its steps.
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Open TWS and sign in. The login screen has a Live Trading / Paper Trading switch. The mode you sign into decides the port TradeLabs uses (step 7).
TWS listens on port 7496 in live mode and 7497 in paper mode by default, which is exactly what TradeLabs expects.
IB Gateway is a lightweight, window-less version of TWS that only exists to serve API connections. It uses less memory, which suits a machine that runs TradeLabs all day.
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Download IB Gateway from the Interactive Brokers website and install it.
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Sign in, choosing IB API (not FIX CTCI) and Live or Paper.
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Open Configure → Settings → API → Settings and change the Socket port: IB Gateway defaults to 4001 (live) and 4002 (paper), but TradeLabs connects on 7496 (live) and 7497 (paper). Set it to the TradeLabs port for your mode.
Skipping the port change is the most common IB Gateway mistake. TradeLabs only dials 7496 and 7497, so a Gateway left on 4001/4002 never answers.
TradeLabs works with TWS on both Windows and macOS. There can be small differences between the two. If you hit something Mac-specific, tell support.
6. Enable the API in TWS
Out of the box, TWS does not accept connections from other programs. These settings let TradeLabs in. If you are setting up for the first time, do this in a Paper Trading login first, confirm TradeLabs connects, then repeat it in your live login. TWS keeps separate settings for live and paper.
The short version: socket clients on, trust localhost, confirm the port.
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In TWS, open the settings: click the gear icon in the top-right corner, or use File → Global Configuration (Edit → Global Configuration on some layouts).
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In the left-hand tree, expand API and click Settings.
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Tick Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients. Without this, TradeLabs cannot reach TWS at all.
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Make sure Read-Only API is unticked. With it ticked, TradeLabs can read your account but every order it sends is rejected.
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Check the Socket port: 7496 in a live login, 7497 in a paper login. These are TWS’s defaults, so do not change this value. TradeLabs picks the port from the mode you choose in step 7.
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Leave the other defaults as they are. The screenshot below shows the options that should stay ticked, such as Download open orders on connection.
API → Settings in a paper login, which is why the port reads 7497. The top box is the switch you must turn on. The larger box shows the defaults that should stay ticked. Note that Read-Only API is off.
Then scroll to the bottom of the same page to set who is allowed to connect:
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Untick Allow connections from localhost only.
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Under Trusted IPs, click Create and add
127.0.0.1. This is your own computer, the address TradeLabs connects from. -
Click Apply, then OK.
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Restart TWS so the API settings take effect.
127.0.0.1 in Trusted IPs lets TradeLabs connect without TWS stopping to ask you each time.
Leaving Allow connections from localhost only ticked also works, because TradeLabs always connects from the same computer. Adding 127.0.0.1 as a trusted IP is what stops TWS from popping up an “Accept incoming connection?” prompt, and it matches the setup support will ask about. TradeLabs cannot connect to TWS running on a different computer.
Keep TWS running
TradeLabs can only trade while TWS or IB Gateway is open and signed in. If TWS closes, signals arrive but orders have nowhere to go.
- Daily restart: TWS restarts itself once a day. Under Global Configuration → Lock and Exit, choose Auto restart and pick a time outside market hours, so it comes back on its own instead of logging you out.
- Weekly sign-in: IBKR still makes you sign in again about once a week, usually over the weekend. Check TWS is signed in before the market opens on Monday.
- Sleep: keep the computer awake during trading hours. A sleeping computer drops the TWS connection.
7. Connect it in TradeLabs
With TWS signed in and the API enabled, add the account in the TradeLabs Companion.
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Open the Brokers page, find the Interactive Brokers card, and click Add account.
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Set Mode to match how TWS is signed in:
- Live: real trading, port 7496
- Paper: practice, port 7497
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Give the account a Label if you want a name that is easy to recognize.
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Click Save account. TradeLabs connects to TWS or IB Gateway and checks the connection on its own. There is no separate test step.
Set Mode to Live (port 7496) or Paper (port 7497) to match how TWS or IB Gateway is signed in.
To re-check the link later, open the account row menu and choose Check connection.
The mode here must match the mode TWS is signed into. A Live account in TradeLabs dials port 7496. If TWS is signed into paper, nothing is listening on 7496 and the connection fails. The error even suggests the API setting is off when it is actually fine. TWS can only run in one mode at a time. If you switch modes in TradeLabs, sign out of TWS and sign back in with the matching mode.
Interactive Brokers supports one connection per computer, so you add a single Interactive Brokers account.
Fixing common problems
“Could not reach TWS. Check that TWS or IB Gateway is running and that “Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients” is on.” Work through these in order:
- TWS or IB Gateway is open and signed in, not sitting on the login screen.
- The Mode in TradeLabs matches the TWS login (Live = 7496, Paper = 7497). This is the most common cause, and it produces this exact message.
- Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients is ticked in that login’s API settings. Live and paper have separate settings.
- On IB Gateway, the socket port was changed from 4001/4002 to 7496/7497.
- You restarted TWS after changing the API settings.
“Another IBKR API session is holding client id…” Another program is already connected to TWS on the ID TradeLabs uses. That is often a second copy of TradeLabs, or another trading tool or script using the IBKR API. Close it, or turn the broker off in TradeLabs and sign in to TWS again.
“Market price data is not available.” IBKR has no live quote to give TradeLabs. Check that OPRA (options) and Cboe One (stocks) are active under Market Data Subscriptions (step 3). On a paper account, check that market data sharing with the paper account is turned on.
TradeLabs connects but every order is rejected. Read-Only API is ticked in TWS. Untick it under API → Settings, apply, and restart TWS.
TWS keeps asking “Accept incoming connection?”
Add 127.0.0.1 under Trusted IPs (step 6), then click Apply.
Trades blocked for Pattern Day Trading. Your margin account is under $25,000 and hit the day-trade limit. Switch to a cash account (step 4).
It worked yesterday and stopped today. TWS restarted or logged you out overnight. Sign back in, and set Auto restart under Lock and Exit so it comes back by itself.