This document outlines the appropriate format that the traders must follow while writing the webhook payload for setting up the following types of Options orders to be executed into Interactive Brokers.
Let’s get started 🚀
Market Order
The traders can write the webhook payload for setting up market orders using these four payload fields:
- Symbol
- Action
- Quantity
- Class
Symbol
The ticker symbol of the options. Interactive Brokers use a specific format to represent them by the combination of the Stock ticker symbol, Expiration Date, Option Type, and Strike price.
For the complete list of options symbols, please check this page.
The format is as follows:
[Stock Ticker Symbol] [Expiration Date] [Option Type] [Strike Price]
For example
AAPL 240315C00140000
AMZN 230915P00056000
META 230825P00150000
- "AAPL", "AMZN", and "META" are the stock ticker symbols for Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Meta Platforms Inc., respectively.
- "240315" represents the expiration date of the options contract in the format of YYMMDD (2024, March,15).
- "C" indicates a call option, and "P" indicates a put option.
- "140", "560", and "150" are the respective strike prices of the call or put options.
Action
The signal action indicates the type of trade to be triggered. The action can be any of the following four:
- Buy: Triggers an action to buy the asset.
- Sell: Triggers an action to sell the asset.
- Close/Exit: Triggers an action to close an existing open position and exit the trade.
- Cancel: Triggers an action to cancel any open orders.
Quantity
The number of assets to be traded. If omitted, the quantity will be dynamically calculated or defaulted to 1.
Note: You can also use the JSON field- quantity_type
This is an optional field indicating the type of quantity being specified. We have three options - fixed, cash, and percent_of_equity.
Fixed (Default): The trade quantity will be set as a fixed quantity, such as “100” shares or “10” shares.
{
"quantity": 100,
"quantity_type": "fixed"
}
Cash: The trade quantity is represented by the available cash amount. For instance, if the quantity_type is set to "cash", and the trader specifies a value of 100, it means they are trading 100 units of the currency value, such as 100 USD or 100 GBP, depending on the currency locale of the trader.
{
"quantity": 100,
"quantity_type": "cash"
}
Percent_of_equity: The quantity is calculated as a percentage of the total equity (account balance, not including unrealized p/l). For instance, if the total equity is $50,000 and the quantity_type is set to “percent_of_equity” with the value of “2” then the trade quantity would be $50,000*0.02 = $1000.
{
"quantity": 2,
"quantity_type": "percent_of_equity"
}
Class
The Class is a field or property that identifies and categorizes financial instruments such as futures, options, warrants, bonds, CFDs, crypto, forex, stocks, and funds. Required to be specified for assets with time-limited contracts like options.
EXAMPLE
I. Buy
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "buy",
"quantity": 123,
"class": "option"
}
II. Sell
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "sell",
"quantity": 123,
"class": "option"
}
III. Close
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "close",
"class": "option"
}
IV. Cancel
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "cancel",
"class": "option"
}
Limit Order
The traders can write the webhook payload for setting up Limit orders using these five payload fields:
- Symbol
- Action
- Quantity
- Limit_price
- Class
Symbol
The ticker symbol of the options. Interactive Brokers use a specific format to represent them by the combination of the Stock ticker symbol, Expiration Date, Option Type, and Strike price.
For the complete list of options symbols, please check this page.
The format is as follows:
[Stock Ticker Symbol] [Expiration Date] [Option Type] [Strike Price]
For example
AAPL 240315C00140000
AMZN 230915P00056000
META 230825P00150000
- "AAPL", "AMZN", and "META" are the stock ticker symbols for Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Meta Platforms Inc., respectively.
- "240315" represents the expiration date of the options contract in the format of YYMMDD (2024, March,15).
- "C" indicates a call option, and "P" indicates a put option.
- "140", "560", and "150" are the respective strike prices of the call or put options.
Action
The signal action indicates the type of trade to be triggered. The action can be any of the following four:
- Buy: Triggers an action to buy the asset.
- Sell: Triggers an action to sell the asset.
- Close/Exit: Triggers an action to close an existing open position and exit the trade.
- Cancel: Triggers an action to cancel any open orders.
Quantity
The number of assets to be traded. If omitted, the quantity will be dynamically calculated or defaulted to 1.
Note: You can also use the JSON field- quantity_type
This is an optional field indicating the type of quantity being specified. We have three options - fixed, cash, and percent_of_equity.
Fixed (Default): The trade quantity will be set as a fixed quantity, such as “100” shares or “10” shares.
{
"quantity": 100,
"quantity_type": "fixed"
}
Cash: The trade quantity is represented by the available cash amount. For instance, if the quantity_type is set to "cash", and the trader specifies a value of 100, it means they are trading 100 units of the currency value, such as 100 USD or 100 GBP, depending on the currency locale of the trader.
{
"quantity": 100,
"quantity_type": "cash"
}
Percent_of_equity: The quantity is calculated as a percentage of the total equity (account balance, not including unrealized p/l). For instance, if the total equity is $50,000 and the quantity_type is set to “percent_of_equity” with the value of “2” then the trade quantity would be $50,000*0.02 = $1000.
{
"quantity": 2,
"quantity_type": "percent_of_equity"
}
Limit_price
An optional field specifying the execution price for a “buy” or “sell” trade. If you specify the limit price the trade will be executed at the specified limit price. Or If you choose not to specify a limit price, the trade will be executed at the current market price.
Class
The Class is a field or property that identifies and categorizes financial instruments such as futures, options, warrants, bonds, CFDs, crypto, forex, stocks, and funds. Required to be specified for assets with time-limited contracts like Options.
EXAMPLE
I. Buy
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "buy",
"quantity": 123,
"limit_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
II. Sell
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "sell",
"quantity": 123,
"limit_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
III. Close
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "close",
"limit_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
IV. Cancel
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "cancel",
"limit_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
Stop Order
The traders can write the webhook payload for setting up Stop orders using these five payload fields:
- Symbol
- Action
- Quantity
- Stop_price
- Class
Symbol
The ticker symbol of the options. Interactive Brokers use a specific format to represent them by the combination of the Stock ticker symbol, Expiration Date, Option Type, and Strike price.
For the complete list of options symbols, please check this page.
The format is as follows:
[Stock Ticker Symbol] [Expiration Date] [Option Type] [Strike Price]
For example
AAPL 240315C00140000
AMZN 230915P00056000
META 230825P00150000
- "AAPL", "AMZN", and "META" are the stock ticker symbols for Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Meta Platforms Inc., respectively.
- "240315" represents the expiration date of the options contract in the format of YYMMDD (2024, March,15).
- "C" indicates a call option, and "P" indicates a put option.
- "140", "560", and "150" are the respective strike prices of the call or put options.
Action
The signal action indicates the type of trade to be triggered. The action can be any of the following four:
- Buy: Triggers an action to buy the asset.
- Sell: Triggers an action to sell the asset.
- Close/Exit: Triggers an action to close an existing open position and exit the trade.
- Cancel: Triggers an action to cancel any open orders.
Quantity
The number of assets to be traded. If omitted, the quantity will be dynamically calculated or defaulted to 1.
Note: You can also use the JSON field- quantity_type
This is an optional field indicating the type of quantity being specified. We have three options - fixed, cash, and percent_of_equity.
Fixed (Default): The trade quantity will be set as a fixed quantity, such as “100” shares or “10” shares.
{
"quantity": 100,
"quantity_type": "fixed"
}
Cash: The trade quantity is represented by the available cash amount. For instance, if the quantity_type is set to "cash", and the trader specifies a value of 100, it means they are trading 100 units of the currency value, such as 100 USD or 100 GBP, depending on the currency locale of the trader.
{
"quantity": 100,
"quantity_type": "cash"
}
Percent_of_equity: The quantity is calculated as a percentage of the total equity (account balance, not including unrealized p/l). For instance, if the total equity is $50,000 and the quantity_type is set to “percent_of_equity” with the value of “2” then the trade quantity would be $50,000*0.02 = $1000.
{
"quantity": 2,
"quantity_type": "percent_of_equity"
}
Stop_price
An optional field specifying the price level at which a stop-loss or stop-limit order should be triggered. It helps limits potential losses by automatically closing the position when the specified price is reached.
Class
The Class is a field or property that identifies and categorizes financial instruments such as futures, options, warrants, bonds, CFDs, crypto, forex, stocks, and funds. Required to be specified for assets with time-limited contracts like Options.
EXAMPLE
I. Buy
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "buy",
"quantity": 123,
"stop_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
II. Sell
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "sell",
"quantity": 123,
"stop_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
III. Close
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "close",
"stop_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
IV. Cancel
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "cancel",
"stop_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
Stop-Limit Order
The traders can write the webhook payload for setting up Stop-Limit orders using these six payload fields:
- Symbol
- Action
- Quantity
- Limit price
- Stop price
- Class
Symbol
The ticker symbol of the options. Interactive Brokers use a specific format to represent them by the combination of the Stock ticker symbol, Expiration Date, Option Type, and Strike price.
For the complete list of options symbols, please check this page.
The format is as follows:
[Stock Ticker Symbol] [Expiration Date] [Option Type] [Strike Price]
For example
AAPL 240315C00140000
AMZN 230915P00056000
META 230825P00150000
- "AAPL", "AMZN", and "META" are the stock ticker symbols for Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Meta Platforms Inc., respectively.
- "240315" represents the expiration date of the options contract in the format of YYMMDD (2024, March,15).
- "C" indicates a call option, and "P" indicates a put option.
- "140", "560", and "150" are the respective strike prices of the call or put options.
Action
The signal action indicates the type of trade to be triggered. The action can be any of the following four:
- Buy: Triggers an action to buy the asset.
- Sell: Triggers an action to sell the asset.
- Close/Exit: Triggers an action to close an existing open position and exit the trade.
- Cancel: Triggers an action to cancel any open orders.
Quantity
The number of assets to be traded. If omitted, the quantity will be dynamically calculated or defaulted to 1.
Note: You can also use the JSON field- quantity_type
This is an optional field indicating the type of quantity being specified. We have three options - fixed, cash, and percent_of_equity.
Fixed (Default): The trade quantity will be set as a fixed quantity, such as “100” shares or “10” shares.
{
"quantity": 100,
"quantity_type": "fixed"
}
Cash: The trade quantity is represented by the available cash amount. For instance, if the quantity_type is set to "cash", and the trader specifies a value of 100, it means they are trading 100 units of the currency value, such as 100 USD or 100 GBP, depending on the currency locale of the trader.
{
"quantity": 100,
"quantity_type": "cash"
}
Percent_of_equity: The quantity is calculated as a percentage of the total equity (account balance, not including unrealized p/l). For instance, if the total equity is $50,000 and the quantity_type is set to “percent_of_equity” with the value of “2” then the trade quantity would be $50,000*0.02 = $1000.
{
"quantity": 2,
"quantity_type": "percent_of_equity"
}
Limit_price
An optional field specifying the execution price for a “buy” or “sell” trade. If you specify the limit price the trade will be executed at the specified limit price. Or If you choose not to specify a limit price, the trade will be executed at the current market price.
Stop_price
An optional field specifying the price level at which a stop-loss or stop-limit order should be triggered. It helps limits potential losses by automatically closing the position when the specified price is reached.
Class
The Class is a field or property that identifies and categorizes financial instruments such as futures, options, warrants, bonds, CFDs, crypto, forex, stocks, and funds. Required to be specified for assets with time-limited contracts like Options.
EXAMPLE
I. Buy
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "buy",
"quantity": 123,
"limit_price": 123.98,
"stop_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
II. Sell
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "sell",
"quantity": 123,
"limit_price": 123.98,
"stop_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
III. Close
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "close",
"limit_price": 123.98,
"stop_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}
IV. Cancel
{
"symbol": "AAPL240315C00140000",
"action": "cancel",
"limit_price": 123.98,
"stop_price": 123.98,
"class": "option"
}