Interactive Brokers

Global equities, options, futures, forex via TWS / IB Gateway. Connect with one line.

Interactive Brokers is the institutional workhorse: global equities, options, futures, forex, bonds, structured products. The Horizon venue wraps ib_async which speaks the TWS / IB Gateway socket API.

Prerequisites

TWS or IB Gateway running locally (download from IB).
Enable the API in Global Configuration → API → Settings:
- Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients.
- Socket port: 7497 for TWS paper, 7496 TWS live, 4002 IB Gateway paper, 4001 IB Gateway live.
- Trusted IPs: add 127.0.0.1.

Connect

python

import horizon as hz

ex = hz.connect("ibkr",
    host="127.0.0.1",
    port=4002,                    # IB Gateway paper
    client_id=1,
)
ex.buy("AAPL", qty=10, limit=180.0)
print(ex.balance())
ex.close()

No API keys — IBKR authenticates via the desktop app session. Rotate sessions, not keys.

Kwargs

Kwarg	Type	Default	Notes
`host`	`str`	`"127.0.0.1"`	Where TWS / Gateway is listening.
`port`	`int`	`4002`	See port table above.
`client_id`	`int`	`1`	Unique per connection. Collisions disconnect the earlier client.
`account`	`str \\| None`	`None`	For master accounts; sub-account the orders flow to.
`timeout_s`	`float`	`5.0`	Connect timeout.
`ib`	`Any`	`None`	Inject a pre-built `ib_async.IB` instance (tests).

Install

bash

pip install horizon[ibkr]
# or
pip install ib_async

Status

Equities, options, futures, forex submit / cancel: shipped.
Market data subscriptions: shipped (delayed free, real-time paid).
Bracket / OCO, algo parents (VWAP, TWAP, IBALGO): follow-up.

Full integration notes — contract qualification, symbology, market-data entitlements, error codes: IBKR (professionals).