Description

N8N Interactive Brokers (IBKR) Node

This is an n8n community node that allows you to connect to Interactive Brokers TWS API for automated trading.

Features

• Account Management: Get account summary and positions
• Market Data: Retrieve real-time quotes and historical data
• Real-Time Triggers: Automatically trigger workflows on market data updates
• Order Management: Place, cancel, and monitor orders
• Position Tracking: View current positions

Prerequisites

Before using this node, you need:

1. An Interactive Brokers account
2. TWS (Trader Workstation) or IB Gateway installed and running
3. API connections enabled in TWS/Gateway settings

Installation

Community Node Installation

1. Go to Settings > Community Nodes in your n8n instance
2. Search for n8n-nodes-ibkr
3. Click Install

Manual Installation

npm install n8n-nodes-ibkr

Or in your n8n root directory:

cd ~/.n8n/nodes
npm install n8n-nodes-ibkr

Configuration

Enable API in TWS/Gateway

1. Open TWS or IB Gateway
2. Go to File > Global Configuration > API > Settings
3. Enable "Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients"
4. Add 127.0.0.1 to trusted IP addresses
5. Note your socket port:
   • TWS Paper Trading: 7497
   • TWS Live Trading: 7496
   • IB Gateway Paper Trading: 4002
   • IB Gateway Live Trading: 4001

Configure Credentials in N8N

1. Create a new credential of type "Interactive Brokers API"
2. Enter the following:
   • Host: 127.0.0.1 (or your TWS/Gateway host)
   • Port: Your socket port (e.g., 7497 for paper trading)
   • Client ID: A unique number for this connection (default: 0)
   • Connection Timeout: Timeout in milliseconds (default: 30000)

Usage

Nodes Available

This package provides two nodes:

1. Interactive Brokers – Execute operations on demand
2. Interactive Brokers Trigger – Automatically trigger workflows on real-time market data

Interactive Brokers Node (Regular)

Account

• Get Summary: Retrieve account summary information
• Get Positions: Get all current positions

Market Data

• Get Quote: Get real-time market data for a symbol
• Get Historical Data: Retrieve historical price data

Order

• Place Order: Submit a new order
  • Supports Market, Limit, Stop, and Stop Limit orders
  • Buy or Sell actions
• Cancel Order: Cancel an existing order
• Get Open Orders: Retrieve all open orders

Position

• Get All: Get all current positions

Interactive Brokers Trigger Node (Real-Time)

The trigger node automatically executes your workflow when new market data arrives from Interactive Brokers.

Configuration Options

Common Settings:

• Data Mode: Choose between "Ticks" or "5-Second Bars"
  • Ticks (Real-Time Quotes): Stream tick-by-tick market data updates (default)
  • 5-Second Bars (OHLCV): Receive complete OHLC candles every 5 seconds
• Symbol: Stock symbol to monitor (e.g., AAPL, TSLA)
• Security Type: Stock, Option, Future, or Forex
• Exchange: Exchange to use (default: SMART)
• Currency: Contract currency (default: USD)

Ticks Mode Options:

• Trigger On:
  • All Updates: Trigger on every market data update
  • Price Change: Trigger only when last price changes
  • Bid/Ask Update: Trigger on bid or ask price updates
• Minimum Price Change (%): For price change mode, set minimum % change required
• Update Interval (Seconds): Throttle triggers to prevent too many executions (default: 10 seconds)
• Snapshot Mode: Request a snapshot instead of streaming data
• Include Regulatory Snapshot: Include regulatory snapshot data

5-Second Bars Mode Options:

• What to Show: Type of data (Trades, Midpoint, Bid, Ask)
• Use Regular Trading Hours: Include only RTH data or all hours

Data Provided

Each trigger event includes:

• Symbol and currency
• Current prices (bid, ask, last)
• Volume and sizes (bidSize, askSize, lastSize)
• OHLC data (open, high, low, close) – See limitations below
• Timestamps for updates
• Previous price and change % (for price change mode)

Understanding OHLC Data in Real-Time Streams

Important: OHLC (Open, High, Low, Close) data behaves differently in real-time market data streams compared to historical data:

• Open (tick 14): Only sent once at market open for the current session
• High (tick 6): Only updated when a new intraday high is reached
• Low (tick 7): Only updated when a new intraday low is reached
• Close (tick 9): Previous day's closing price (sent once at session start)
• Volume (tick 8): Cumulative volume for the current trading day

These are event-driven updates, not continuously streaming values. This means:

✅ You WILL receive:

• Bid, ask, and last prices on every tick
• Volume updates throughout the day
• Close price (previous day) at the start of session
• High/low prices when new intraday extremes are reached
• Open price at the start of the trading session

❌ You WILL NOT always receive:

• Open, high, and low on every single market data update
• Complete OHLC bars at regular intervals (like 5-second or 1-minute candles)

For building OHLC candles: If you need regular OHLC bars:

1. Use 5-Second Bars Mode – Select "5-Second Bars (OHLCV)" in Data Mode to receive complete OHLC candles every 5 seconds
2. Build your own candles from the tick-by-tick data using the last price and timestamps
3. Use historical data APIs with appropriate bar sizes

5-Second Bars Mode

NEW in v0.2.2: The trigger node now supports IBKR's Real-Time Bars API, providing complete OHLC candles every 5 seconds.

Benefits:

• ✅ Complete OHLC data (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume)
• ✅ Guaranteed 5-second intervals (not event-driven)
• ✅ Includes WAP (Weighted Average Price) and trade count
• ✅ Perfect for building real-time candle charts
• ✅ Automatic reconnection support

Data Provided in Bars Mode:
Each 5-second bar includes:

• symbol, currency: Contract identification
• timestamp, date: Bar timestamp
• open, high, low, close: OHLC prices
• volume: Trading volume for the 5-second period
• wap: Weighted Average Price
• count: Number of trades in the period
• barType: Always "realtime-5sec"

Important Limitations:

• Bar size is fixed at 5 seconds (IBKR API limitation)
• Subject to IBKR's pacing rules (max 60 new bar requests per 10 minutes)
• Only one active real-time bars subscription per contract per client ID
• Requires live market data subscriptions for the instrument

Example Workflows

Place a Market Order

1. Add an Interactive Brokers node
2. Select Resource: Order
3. Select Operation: Place Order
4. Configure:
   • Symbol: AAPL
   • Action: Buy
   • Quantity: 100
   • Order Type: Market
   • Exchange: SMART
   • Currency: USD

Get Real-Time Quote

1. Add an Interactive Brokers node
2. Select Resource: Market Data
3. Select Operation: Get Quote
4. Configure:
   • Symbol: TSLA
   • Security Type: Stock
   • Exchange: SMART
   • Currency: USD

Automated Trading on Price Changes

1. Add an Interactive Brokers Trigger node
2. Configure:
   • Symbol: AAPL
   • Trigger On: Price Change
   • Minimum Price Change (%): 0.5
   • Update Interval (Seconds): 10
3. Add an IF node to check price conditions
4. Add an Interactive Brokers node to place orders based on conditions

This workflow will automatically execute every 10 seconds when AAPL's price changes by 0.5% or more.

Monitor Multiple Stocks with Real-Time Triggers

Create separate workflows for each symbol you want to monitor:

• One workflow with trigger for AAPL
• Another workflow with trigger for TSLA
• Each workflow can have different logic and update intervals

Webhook Notifications on Market Events

1. Add an Interactive Brokers Trigger node
2. Configure for your desired symbol and trigger conditions
3. Add a Webhook node or Slack/Discord/Email node to send notifications
4. Activate the workflow

Now you'll receive automatic notifications whenever market conditions are met!

Important Notes

� Risk Warning: This node allows you to place real trades. Always test with paper trading first!

Connection Settings

• Use port 7497 (TWS) or 4002 (Gateway) for paper trading
• Use port 7496 (TWS) or 4001 (Gateway) for live trading
• Each connection requires a unique Client ID
• Ensure TWS/Gateway is running before executing workflows
• API must be enabled in TWS/Gateway settings

Trigger Node Best Practices

• Update Interval: Set to at least 5-10 seconds to avoid excessive workflow executions
• Testing: Always test triggers in development mode before activating in production
• Market Hours: Triggers only receive data when markets are open
• Resource Usage: Each active trigger maintains a connection to TWS/Gateway
• Multiple Symbols: Create separate workflows for each symbol you want to monitor
• Client IDs: Use different Client IDs for each trigger to avoid connection conflicts

Development

Build

npm install
npm run build

Development Mode

npm run dev

Lint

npm run lint
npm run lintfix

Use Cases

Automated Trading Strategies

• Trigger trades based on real-time price movements
• Implement algorithmic trading strategies
• Execute orders based on technical indicators

Market Monitoring

• Get instant notifications when specific price levels are reached
• Monitor multiple symbols simultaneously across different workflows
• Track bid/ask spreads and volume changes

Portfolio Management

• Automatically rebalance portfolio based on market conditions
• Set up stop-loss orders triggered by price movements
• Monitor position values in real-time

Data Collection

• Stream market data to databases or spreadsheets
• Build custom analytics dashboards
• Archive historical tick data

Resources

• Interactive Brokers TWS API Documentation
• n8n Community Nodes Documentation
• @stoqey/ibkr npm package

License

MIT

Support

For issues and questions:

• Create an issue on GitHub
• Visit the n8n community forum

Disclaimer

This node is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Interactive Brokers. Use at your own risk. Trading involves risk of financial loss.