I tried putting 5K in a RCG account via IB and they rejected my application. Saying I didn't have enough experience. I thought 4 years would have been ok.. Newwurldumn, tiz just a dream to get out of the many fees I'm faced with. Just something I would like. I wasn't really thinking about due diligence. Just setup the margins and away we go. Auto-close people out of their trades when the account hits margin. Not much difference between that and the current setup except that the FCMs take the hit if the customers don't have enough to meet their trades. Mbey my dreams are fulfilled with NADEX.
We're hearing only one side of the story. It's like a marriage counselor hearing only the wife's complaints...
IMO they told him to move his account because he was a spreader and they don't want spreaders - they want churners. Remember, FCMs aren't providing these services for free, they'd prefer you trade and trade often.
Exactly. FCMs, especially the large banks, don't want to use up balance sheet for customers who "camp out" with long hold-time positions. This is truer now than ever.
An FCM must match your margin requirement with 8% of their own capital. eg, your margin is $100K, they balance sheet has a $8K requirement. An FCM might complain if you do very little trading and hold long term positons, but not ask you to leave. They would just raise your rates or charge some inactivity fee.
I want to point out is DDTs very long list of crazy requirements. I got this e-mail from them. Left my head spinning. I want to point out 2 things b4 you read this, first is the full margin requirements for non-US daytraders, second is the full day trade margin of the underlying future to trade 1 option contract. GL. 1) You would need to maintain the proper currency denomination for the Exchange you are planning to trade on. If you plan to trade EUR contracts, then you will notice on the homepage of our website (when you look down the column that says "Clearing & Exchange") you will be charged in EUR & USD for any fees or losses. Which will require EUR & USD funds to be in your trading account to avoid any type of Debit balance between these currencies because your trading account can maintain these types of currencies. For funding, then you would need to wire your EUR funds directly to the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt and thenthe Clearing Firm can convert any amount of your EUR funds into USD funds for a $25 Bank conversion fee at the Best real-time InterBank conversion rate possible. The EUR & USD sections will appear on your Daily statement, so you will need to monitor your EUR & USD balances to make sure they donot go Negative. Otherwise the Bank will charge you Interest penalty fees on your negative balance. Also, your total EUR & USD funds will get fully applied to your Margin requirements. 2) CQG usually has access to most Options. But we can always confirm with CQG once you feel comfortable with the rest of our Rules which might affect your final decision. 3) If you decide to trade Options, then please be aware that the Clearing Firm isnot too comfortable with Option Sellers as shown within the Disclosure of our "Trading Margins" link : http://deepdiscounttrading.com/TradingMargins.html A. If you strictly "Sell Naked Options", then the Clearing Firm generally enforces 200% of the Futures Initial Margin per contract during the order placement & carrying process due to theilliquid nature of Options. B. If you strictly trade "Option Spreads", then the Clearing Firm generally enforces 100% of the Futures Initial Margin per contract during the order placement & carrying process. But our Risk Manager will need a one-time example of your Option Spread in advance in order to confirm the 100% margin requirement for you. Your naked or spread margin amounts by the Exchange (SPAN) would appear on your Daily Statement Only, because the trading platforms / feeds do not have the intelligence to calculate margins / premiums for Options. The Clearing Firm needs to be very conservative with "Option Sellers" due to the potential Risk. But if you plan to maintain a Very Healthy account size and depending on your strategy, then xtra flexibility "might" be considered... C. If you are strictly an "Option Buyer", then the Clearing Firm generally enforces 25% of the Futures Initial Margin (unless you are a Non-U.S. Trader) during the order placement process (no matter the cost of your premium). Because technically speaking, if you allow a "Purchased" Option contract to expire "In The Money" (without closing your position). Then by the next Open you will be assigned a Long Futures contract if you bought a Call Option or you will be assigned a Short Futures contract if you bought a Put Option. The Clearing Firm can set your trading platform to only one of the three "Styles"mentioned above (not to all three Styles simultaneously). Once your % Margin is set, then this % will also apply to your Futures contracts as well because the Feeds cannot distinguish between Futures contracts & Options contracts (which might eliminate most of your Futures margin flexibility). D. If you are a Non-U.S. Trader, then the Clearing Firm enforces 100% of the full Initial Margins for Day Trading the Futures. Initial Margins : http://www.deepdiscounttrading.com/TradingMargins.html Trading Fees : http://www.deepdiscounttrading.com/index.html Trading Platforms : http://www.deepdiscounttrading.com/TradingPlatforms.html Safety of Your Money : http://www.deepdiscounttrading.com/TradingFirm.html Account Minimum : http://deepdiscounttrading.com/TradingAccount.html IF we should meet all of your needs & you feel comfortable with our Brokerage, then I will always be your Account Executive in the background to help you set up your trading account properly & make sure you are being serviced Fast & Efficiently."IF you are not 100% Happy with our Service, then I will Close Out your account instantly with no delays, hassles, or penalties". Please feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or concerns (days, nights, or weekends). At least at the end he said he will close your account out with no hassles. Other than the requirements he seemed like he would be a good broker
Oh wait a second, I think that 1 option would require full margin for non-US. If you want to buy a $150 ES option I think that would be $4620 margin requirement. Exaclty how do they calculate that risk...... It is physically impossible to lose $4620 buying a $150 option.
All the options on futures sellers on www.futures.io are using http://www.decarleytrading.com/ as IB.