Trader Workstation

Trader Workstation (abbreviated TWS) is a cross-platform Java desktop application created by Interactive Brokers for online securities trading and market data services. Trader workstation is the primary gateway through which Interactive Brokers clients access and participate in global financial markets. IB clients are able to receive data and execute securities trades on the equity, equity options, futures, forex, bond, and mutual fund markets in several countries through the Trader Workstation platform.
APIs
Interactive Brokers offers two application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable program traders to build their own add-on applications for Trader Workstation in Excel, , Java, and Visual Basic on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. In order for these add-on applications to work, Trader Workstation must be running in the background.
The first of these APIs is Interactive Brokers' proprietary API. The proprietary API uses a standard internet connection and supports 10 market order types. The second API is the IB Gateway FIX CTCI API which enables developers to build separate trading applications that route orders through Interactive Brokers' SMART routing network. The FIX CTCI API can be setup to use a standard internet connection, a corporate extranet, or a dedicated internet line, and it supports 16 different market order types. In addition to the Java, , Excel, and Visual Basic APIs offered by Interactive Brokers, users have created wrapper APIs for other languages including Perl and Python.
Paper Trading Account
Interactive Brokers offers its clients a paper trading account that enables traders to explore and test the functions and features of the Trader Workstation platform and its associated APIs. This paper trading account is a simulated trading account that has an initial value of $1,000,000 of play money after a client registers for the account. The Trader is able to execute simulated securities trades in real time in his or her paper trading account, and the value of this account changes with the value of the simulated positions that the trader holds in the account. Using the paper trading account, clients can become familiar with the Trader Workstation platform and they can test trading strategies and add-on applications before putting them into practice with real money in their Interactive Brokers accounts.

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