IBKR’s order management and routing systems are negatively impacted when the volume of orders submitted by clients is significant relative to those which are actually executed. Left unchecked, unproductive orders have the potential to slow system performance, adversely impact other clients and increase capacity requirements and costs. To minimize the load of such orders on internal systems and to comply with exchange policies, certain of which impose a surcharge for excessive messages, IBKR  monitors order activity and may place restrictions upon clients who routinely submit a disproportionate number of unproductive orders.

 

The Order Efficiency Ratio (OER) allows IBKR to evaluate order productivity by comparing aggregate daily order activity relative to that portion of activity which results in an execution. This ratio is as follows:

 

OER   =   (Order Submissions + Order Revisions + Order Cancellations) / (Executed Orders + 1)

 

An OER above 20 is generally considered excessive and indicative of inefficient order management logic. Clients who routinely report an OER above 20 will receive notification of their ratio and are advised to review and optimize their logic and those who fail to take action or who report a particularly egregious ratio may be subject to trade restrictions.¹

 

Clients submitting orders through an API can often realize significant declines in their OER through slight modifications to their order logic.  Please review KB1765 for a list of the most common techniques for optimizing this ratio.  

 

 

 

¹ It should be noted that these actions are not aimed at the client who submits 200 orders and receives 10 executions but rather those using automated systems to submit thousands of orders with negligible interaction with the NBBO.