... this is the reply I got from IB: "A college/graduate student can trade with IB if they meet the minimum requirement. IB will ask for your experience at the beginning of the application. If further documents are required, IB will request evidence of experience. One does not need a fixed income. Proof of income may be necessary. " Well that sure clears things up
I opened my account at the end of June with IB. Took me 6 business days to get it open and I had just left a broker dealer as a trader - I couldn't believe it. I told them I was positive there were more people than just myself that had no income and were "traders" but that didn't seem to speed the process along. They wanted more information on my wife and I told them I would include that information and file as a joint account but then they said that would just start the entire process over. However, after 6 business days I got an email saying account is opened. I wired in the money that day and was ready to go. So, initially, it did take me some time- much longer than I thought - but after that it has been fine. I literally wired in more money on Monday morning of this week and when I got home 10 minutes later it was ready for trading. If you are new to trading in general though you need to go elsewhere. IB's not going to be there when you have an input error or to walk you through everything. I was approached at several firms that have reputable names to open accounts with but chose not to because their commissions were higher than what I wanted to pay. That being said I still thought about it because the brokers were so accessible and seemed like they did genuinely want to help you out. So if you got in a bind or just needed to bounce ideas off someone they would be there to do that for you. Don't underestimate the power of having someone to bounce ideas off of at first either. I have only traded futures for 2 months but I know I would have saved myself some $ had I done this, even if I were paying more for the commissions. Granted, you may lose out on profitable opportunities but it will more likely at least help you limit your losses. Trading futures is the market on steriods- and yes you can make a lot but you can lose tons. Learning how you handle those losses will be the biggest teacher you can have. It has been and will continue to be for me. I have been an equity and options trader for five years for some hedge funds and chose to leave to trade on my own. But no one can tell you how you are going to feel when you get down big - so limiting those losses and that overwhelming pit in your stomach when you begin should be your #1 priority while you are learning. If you have to pay more in commission to do that then do it - in the long run you will be much better off. You can always open up an account with the firm charging the least after you know what you are doing. My two cents.
Based on the experience I had with 17 brokers those past 10 years, I can say that every one of them were JUST interested in the commissions I gave them. Some of them could be called full service brokers, but they constantly had to be checked if they really did the job I asked them to do. At the end of the day, it's all about money, money, money. If you are broke, the broker will just say: "next!" (customer) (If you are not sure about your strategy, paper trade first)
I still find it strange that they would ask for proof of income... if you want to become (or are) a full time trader, it's quite illogical to ask for your income as a profession (meaning a "normal" job).