Get The Unique id conId Number from TWS

Learn how to get the unique id (conId) from Interactive brokers using a gui application. Every option has a different number since there are so many variations. The contract id (conid) is a number not a symbol, and this number you will need in order to trade options. For example the IBM 170 CALL option with an expiry on January 6, 2017 has a unique id number of  256910869. The number may be different on the next trading day.  I am not sure if they stay the same from now, until the next day until they expire. You can search for a contract id number here: https://pennies.interactivebrokers.com/cstools/contract_info/v3.9/index.php see the code here To access a September 2016 $40 Call option on Netflix : I believe there is a data fee for options. You need to pay for a data feed for the options in order to request data through the API

conID = 3	# Contract ID
symbol = "NFLX"	# Netflix’s stock symbol
secType = "OPT"	# Security type is an Option (OPT)
expiry = "20170120"	# January 2017 Expiry format yyyymmdd
strike = 90	# $90.00 strike price
right = "CALL"	# Call option
multiplier = "100"	# multiplier 100 shares per contract for options
exchange = "SMART"	# Use IB’s Smart Order router to get the prices
currency = "USD"	# USD Currency

To access a June 2017 Crude Oil Futures contract set the properties:

conID = 2	# Contract Id
symbol = "CL"	# Crude Oil underlying symbol (CL)
secType = "FUT"	# Security type is an Future (FUT)
expiry = "20170120"	# January 20, 2017 Expiry third Friday of month
exchange = "NYMEX"	# Use IB’s Smart Order router to get the prices

To access a foreign exchange quote such as Euro/USD:

conID = 6	# Contract Id
symbol = "EUR"	# Euro underlying (base currency) symbol (EUR/USD quote)
secType = "CASH"	# Security type is Cash / FX
exchange = "IDEALPRO"	# Use the IDEALPRO FX data source
currency = "USD"	# Quoted currency is USD

 
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