nautechsystems/nautilus_trader · error · anyhow::Error

Subscription error

Error message

Subscription error: {e:?}

What it means

While setting up a tick-by-tick quote subscription, the adapter awaits an acknowledgment from the IB stream; if the subscription future yields an Err (e.g. farm not connected, rejected subscription), the error is logged and propagated with the Debug form of the source error.

Solutions

1. Verify the IB Gateway/TWS connection is live and the market data farm is connected before subscribing
2. Retry the subscription (recovery generation handling suggests transient farm issues)
3. Confirm market data subscriptions/permissions cover the instrument's exchange
4. Check the inner error (logged as 'Subscription error for {instrument_id}') for the root cause

Example fix

// before
client.subscribe_quotes(instrument_id).await?;
// after
match client.subscribe_quotes(instrument_id).await {
    Ok(stream) => ..., // use stream
    Err(e) => {
        tracing::warn!("quote subscription failed for {instrument_id}: {e:?}; retrying after reconnect");
        client.reconnect().await?;
        client.subscribe_quotes(instrument_id).await?;
    }
}

match client.subscribe_quotes(instrument_id).await {
    Ok(handle) => handle,
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("Subscription error") => {
        tracing::warn!("transient subscription failure for {instrument_id}; retrying after backoff");
        tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(2)).await;
        client.subscribe_quotes(instrument_id).await?
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling subscribe_quotes when the data farm is down/recovering, the instrument is not subscribed on the gateway, or the internal subscription channel returned an error — observed as Some(Err(e)) on the ack channel.

Common situations: IB Gateway/TWS disconnects mid-subscription, market data farm drops during recovery, requesting tick-by-tick data for unsupported instruments, or market-data permissions missing.

Related errors

• Unknown IB historical tick type
• All venues must match. Expected
• Ask required
• Ask required
• Bid required

AI-assisted analysis of nautechsystems/nautilus_trader@18893faf8b (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3608eac2923a72ae. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/adapters/interactive_brokers/src/data/core_streams.rs:1088

                                e
                            );

                            if !wait_for_data_farm_recovery_or_cancel(
                                &data_farm_state,
                                farm_generation,
                                &cancellation_token,
                            )
                            .await
                            {
                                subscription.cancel().await;
                                return Ok(());
                            }
                            farm_generation = data_farm_state.recovery_generation();
                            break;
                        }
                        Some(Err(e)) => {
                            tracing::error!("Subscription error for {}: {:?}", instrument_id, e);
                            anyhow::bail!("Subscription error: {e:?}");
                        }
                        None => break,
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    Ok(())
}

#[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
pub(super) async fn handle_trade_subscription(
    client: Arc<ibapi::Client>,
    contract: ibapi::contracts::Contract,
    instrument_id: InstrumentId,
    price_precision: u8,
    size_precision: u8,

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