- Solve real problems with our hands-on interface
- Progress from basic puts and calls to advanced strategies
Interactive Options Course
The Student Trading Lab (STL) empowers educators to revolutionize financial education by integrating Interactive Brokers' Trader Workstation (TWS) API into their curriculum. This powerful combination transforms abstract financial concepts into tangible skills that students can immediately apply in today's markets.
With the TWS API, professors create immersive
learning environments where students:
Students graduate not just with theoretical knowledge, but with practical experience using the same tools employed by industry professionals—giving them a significant competitive advantage in the job market while developing critical computational thinking skills that transfer across disciplines.
Accelerate your curriculum development with our comprehensive suite of ready-to-use educational resources designed specifically for financial education. Our integrated learning ecosystem provides everything needed to create engaging, market-relevant coursework without starting from scratch:
Student Trading Lab's Catalog of Resources Comprehensive learning tools for trading and investing in global markets.
Finance Courses Stocks, options, futures, bonds, economics, fundamentals and more.
TWS Platform Courses Introduction to the TWS platform, including order types, chart configuration, watchlists, portfolio information and much more.
Python Courses Programming with the Trader Workstation (TWS) API for Python developers.
Simulated Trading Competitions Students develop programming, trading, risk analysis, and portfolio management skills using simulated (paper) trading accounts in live markets.
IBKR Campus Resources to teach and learn about trading, financial markets, Interactive Brokers trading tools, plus webinars, podcasts, news and commentary.
Our platform provides flexible solutions for both educators and learners at all stages of their financial technology journey. Professors can build custom research modules, design engaging trading competitions, and develop experiential curricula that combine TWS and Python to meet specific educational goals.
Graduate students can deepen their Python proficiency while mastering algorithmic trading and quantitative analysis techniques valued in the industry. Undergraduates benefit from a scaffolded approach, beginning with accessible manual trading through the TWS interface before progressively advancing to more sophisticated automated trading strategies with Python. This ensures a learning path that grows with their skills and confidence.
STL enabled me to create the Duke FinTech Trading Competition—terrific exposure for our students.
— Jacob Vestal, Duke University
We've trusted STL for 15 years to power our ROBOTRADER competition.
— Eduardo Lopez, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
We focus on Python using the ib_async module to connect to TWS.
— Thomas Loczi, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna
...[It supports] complete automation of the connection process, market data subscription, position management, and order execution... allows for creating and managing complex orders with great flexibility, making it ideal for customizing TWS workflows... easy integration with Python tools like Pandas and NumPy... zero API usage cost.
— Alvaro Rodriguez-Gabaldón
It's easy to set up and works smoothly for market data trading, offering full control to customize TWS from data downloads to order execution... The native API was hard to learn initially, but ib_insync greatly simplifies developing personalized TWS automation.
— Gloria Pérez
We use IBKR's API with multithreading and real-time market data to retrieve live option prices. IBKR is a good platform for us because it's very strong in options and its APIs make it extremely adaptable.
— Philip Sun, Co-Founder and CEO of
Adaptive Investment Solutions LLC and Boston University
QC hosts the IB Gateway Java app for each IBKR client. When they run their algos, LEAN routs them through the Gateway and directly into TWS.
— Jared Broad, CEO of QuantConnect
Our solution gave the client connectivity, certification, platform APIs, operational support and trade monitoring, and IBKR supplied infrastructure for the rest: account setups, trading, access to multi-asset global markets, confirmations, algos, order management, analytics and reporting.
— Kevin Carroll & Jogi Narain,
COO & CTO of Atreyu
From API to Ecosystem: How Atreyu Built a Hedge for a Hedge Fund
Harness the combined capabilities of Trader Workstation and Python to elevate your trading capabilities. This powerful integration gives you complete programmatic control over market data, orders, and executions while providing seamless access to historical market data streams. Students and professors can build and thoroughly test fully customizable trading strategies in a professional environment.
The asynchronous API architecture ensures your applications remain scalable and efficient even as complexity grows. This powerful combination offers distinct advantages compared to using either tool alone, creating an ideal environment for both teaching and applying advanced trading concepts.
| Feature | Trader Workstation (TWS) | IBKR Python API |
|---|---|---|
| Use style | Manual/semi-automatic via GUI | Fully programmatic via Python code |
| Audience | Traders, educators, undergraduates | Developers, quantitative researchers |
| Interface | Visual dashboard | Python libraries (ib_insync, IBridgePy) |
| Flexibility | Moderate | High—full strategy control |
| Automation | Built-in tools | Fully customizable logic |
| Data access | Market data feeds via GUI | Streamed & historical via API |
| Setup requirements | Desktop software installation | IDE + IB Gateway installation |
| Market suitability | Intro to intermediate | Intermediate to advanced workflows |
| Learning curve | Lower for GUI users | Higher—requires coding proficiency |
| Best for | Manual users and undergraduate labs | Algorithmic projects & graduate research |
Gain access to paper trading accounts, TWS desktop platform, and the Python API for strategy development.
Expand your curriculum with curated Traders' Academy content.
Register your program or account today
If you have questions about educational resources, applying for a Student Trading Lab account or setup for student trading accounts, please submit this form.
The order types available through Interactive Brokers LLC's Trader Workstation are designed to help you limit your loss and/or lock in a profit. Market conditions and other factors may affect execution. In general, orders guarantee a fill or guarantee a price, but not both. In extreme market conditions, an order may either be executed at a different price than anticipated or may not be filled in the marketplace.
Throughout the lesson, please keep in mind that the examples discussed are purely for technical demonstration purposes, and do not constitute trading advice. Also, it is important to remember that placing trades in a paper account is recommended before any live trading.
This is an unpaid testimonial, it may not be representative of the experience of other customers, and is not to be considered a guarantee of future performance or success.
