Thank you all for your replies and rmorse in particular. I'll explore the T-bill option sounds like an easier option (if not as safe) than moving money in/out of the account. Does anyone here have had to deal with a blow-up - MF Global / Revco / Alpari come to mind? How quickly did you get paid, was it straightforward?
> MF Global / Revco [sic] / Alpari come to mind? Alpari is a work in progress, but to my knowledge, all or nearly all customer seg funds at Refco and MF were repaid in time. (I had some dealings with both).
debitspread is correct. I just peel a few bucks away from time to time and put it in a savings type of account. Hopefully I never have to use it.
Rmorse - you are correct to say that biggest is not always safer but do not equate BS and/or LEH or for that matter any investment banks with IB. The major major - and I'll repeat again major - difference is that IB does not hold any material off balance sheet hidden items in OTC securities or derivatives. We hold no CDOs, MBS or CDS. The gross amount of our portfolio of debt securities, with the exception of US governments is less than 10% of our equity capital. Furthermore, Interactive Brokers Group (IBG LLC) equity capital exceeds $5 billion. 14.5% of IBG LLC is owned by the publicly traded company, Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. and the remaining 85.5% is owned by our employees and affiliates. I know of know other broker our size and as well capitalized where management and staff have so much skin in the game. We have a vested interest in running a conservative risk policy. If we were to go bust, we would have a heck of a lot more to lose than most accounts. While that doesn't offer you specific protection, it should offer some comfort.
Indeed. TP's high-end shiny suits (which have been on-trend in recent years, kudos to him) aren't cheap. He doesn't want to kill the golden goose.
I would never hold more than 10% of my net liquid wealth in a trading account. That's just me though.