Add Market Data

Before you can trade, you need to add market data lines for your assets. A market data line represents an individual ticker, and displays the product type, order destination, ask and bid prices, and other defining attributes. You can add a market data line by typing directly in the Underlying column of the trading screen, or by using the Request Ticker by Underlying box.

NOTE: Advanced/options traders can add security definitions by entering the exchange contract class or contract symbol.

To add market data to the trading screen

Click in the Underlying field in an empty row.
Enter an underlying symbol and press ENTER.
Select a contract from the list on the trading screen. For instruments that require an expiry, choose a month and year, or select All to open the contract selection box.

In the Contract Selection box, select a contract(s) and click OK. You can limit the contracts displayed in the right pane by selecting criteria from the Filter section. Choose Smart as the exchange to use SmartRouting.

Market data lines are active when visible, regardless of where they originate.
Each alarm always uses one line of market data whether or not you are viewing the asset that contains the alarm.
Market data requested through an API has top priority, followed by data requested by alarms, and finally basic market data display. This means that if you are viewing a trading page that includes 100 lines of market data, and you also have price-activated alarms set for 6 other contracts, those 6 contracts will receive market data, and your trading page will only show data for 94 contracts.
The option chains on OptionTrader do not count against available market data lines.

For details on market data fees and allocation rules, see the Market Data and New Subscriptions overview on the IB web site.

To add an asset using the Request Ticker by Underlying box

Do one of the following to open the Request Ticker by Underlying box:

Click the Ticker icon on the Trading toolbar.
On the Ticker menu select Add Symbol.
Select Ticker from the right-click menu anywhere on the trading screen.

Follow from Step 2 above.

NOTE: If you add a market data line for a derivative instrument, TWS will ask if you want the underlying symbol added to the page. If you answer yes, it will be included at the bottom of the page if it is not already there.