ibkr-trader_skill

Overview

This skill automates trading with Interactive Brokers (IBKR) via the Client Portal Gateway API. It handles automated IBeam login with IBKR Key 2FA, session management, portfolio and position checks, and order placement. Use it to build bots or integrate IBKR account access into backend systems.

How this skill works

The skill starts the IBKR Client Portal Gateway (Java) locally and uses IBeam to perform headless browser authentication with IBKR Key two-factor approval. After authentication it calls the local REST endpoints exposed by the gateway to list accounts, fetch portfolio and positions, get market data, and submit orders. It also includes optional keepalive and re-auth flows to maintain sessions or re-run IBeam when approval is required.

When to use it

• Automating order placement and trade management on IBKR (paper or live).
• Periodic portfolio and positions monitoring for reporting or risk checks.
• Integrating IBKR market data and symbol lookup into trading systems.
• Maintaining an authenticated session for long-running trading bots.
• Setting up cron-based keepalive or automated re-auth when sessions expire.

Best practices

• Run the Client Portal Gateway on a secured Linux server with Java 11+ and restrict access to localhost.
• Use Xvfb and a dedicated Chrome/Chromedriver for headless IBeam authentication.
• Store credentials and paths in a protected .env and never commit them to source control.
• Implement a keepalive ping (/v1/api/tickle) every 5 minutes and monitor auth status.
• Require manual phone approval window awareness: IBKR Key approval must be accepted within ~2 minutes.

Example use cases

• A trading bot that pings market snapshots, evaluates signals, and places day market orders via the gateway.
• A portfolio dashboard that lists accounts, balances, and real-time positions for compliance and reporting.
• A scheduled job that refreshes market data and rebalances small allocations using the POST orders endpoint.
• A failover script that detects session expiry and triggers IBeam re-auth with operator notification.