IBKR is a wonderful broker for the more savvy retail investors. I am wondering for the bigger retail investors, do they get extra benefits from IBKR if their account size reach >$1m?
I see. I believe there may be retail investors with bigger accounts >1m that are not institutional. I wonder if they are treated differently. Having said that, $1m may not be significant enough in IBKR's eyes although it does look a lot to retail investors..
The hurdle of "institutional" is not set in stone. I don't know what an account has to do to get that phone number. There are no other differences except some accounts like hedge funds get a Prime Brokerage Sales person. What else were you expecting?
Lower interest rates on margin, prioritised customer support over other retail investors, access to more markets ...
It is possible to negotiate with them if you do a lot of volume. Like a said, another support number. When I call it, I have to wait between 5 and 15 min. Same market access. Large institutional accounts will always choose a large Prime Broker like GS, UBS, Barclays etc. They get better service, good rates and a bigger balance sheet.
If you have an introducing broker in front of IB, you may get a better commission from that broker, especially if you trade options. But the margin rate is the same, so are the other IB rules.
I have wondered if account size is linked to the phone system so accounts with larger balances jump the queue. Technically possible.