Fail to use ibpy to send Futures order in InteractiveBrokers

Question

I am using ibpy to send orders to TWS in InteractiveBrokers. I am able to send stock orders, such as SPY, but I am unable to send Futures. Here is the code I am using, copied online:

from ib.opt import Connection, message
from ib.ext.Contract import Contract
from ib.ext.Order import Order

def make_contract(symbol, sec_type, exch, prim_exch, curr):
    Contract.m_symbol = symbol
    Contract.m_secType = sec_type
    Contract.m_exchange = exch
    Contract.m_primaryExch = prim_exch
    Contract.m_currency = curr
    return Contract

def make_order(action,quantity, price = None):
    if price is not None:
        order = Order()
        order.m_orderType = 'LMT'
        order.m_totalQuantity = quantity
        order.m_action = action
        order.m_lmtPrice = price
    else:
        order = Order()
        order.m_orderType = 'MKT'
        order.m_totalQuantity = quantity
        order.m_action = action
    return order

orderId=300
conn = Connection.create(port=7496, clientId=999)
conn.connect()
cont = make_contract('SPY', 'STK', 'SMART', 'SMART', 'USD')
trade = make_order('BUY', 1, 273)
conn.placeOrder(orderId, cont, trade)
conn.disconnect()

The code above works well. I am able to place a bid in SPY at 273.

However, I want to buy E-mini Futures S&P 500 Dec Contract. I made the following to define the contract:

def make_fut():
    Contract.m_symbol = 'ES'
    Contract.m_secType = 'FUT'
    Contract.m_exchange = 'GLOBEX'
    Contract.m_primaryExch = 'GLOBEX'
    Contract.m_currency = 'USD'
    Contract.m_lastTradeDateOrContractMonth ='201812'
    return Contract

cont = make_fut()

It did not go through and it did not get back error messages. Does any one have some experience in this?

Answer 1

Look at the source code. https://github.com/blampe/IbPy/blob/master/ib/ext/Contract.py m_expiry = "" So just use m_expiry = '201812'

It doesn't use the new name lastTradeDateOrContractMonth . You tagged this python 2.7 but if you use python 3, you can use the python API from IB which will have some newer features. https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=5041 . That does use the new field name (without the m_ styles).

Also Contract.m_primaryExch = 'GLOBEX' is unnecessary. It's for when you specify SMART for exchange and it is ambiguous. eg. I think for your SPY example you should specify ARCA, but it is also unnecessary since there's only one SPY stock(etf).

Answer 2

This is what I use for building futures contracts:

def create_contract(symbol, sec_type, exch, curr, exp = None, mult = None, localsymbol=None):
    contract = Contract()
    contract.m_symbol = symbol
    contract.m_secType = sec_type
    contract.m_exchange = exch
    contract.m_currency = curr
    contract.m_expiry = exp
    contract.m_multiplier = mult
    contract.m_localSymbol = localsymbol
    return contract

For futures I can get by with symbol and exp OR I can set symbol = None and set localsymbol (eg PLJ9 = Platinum April 2019).

I've never needed prim_exch .