Does other brokerage firms in USA charge money for not enough transection per month like IB does?

IB charges me around $12 US dollars per month because I don't trade enough or no trade per month. Is that normal in USA? In my country the local brokerage firms would not charge anything at all if I don't trade.

 

Yes inactivity fees are fairly normal.

 

Then why wouldn't you use the local brokerages?

 

Because local brokerages don't provide API for auto trading, no demo account to "live test" trading, and very expensive if I trade anything non-local.

 

Here is a breakdown of US brokers and inactivity fee's - it may a bit out of date.

http://www.brokerage-review.com/findbroker/brokers-inactivity-fees.aspx

 

i am sure in your country the commissions are higher. if you don't trade what do you need IB for?

 

Actually the % of people trading at least few times every month is very low.

 

what is your point? you didn't answer my question. why do you have account at IB?
why don't you invest somewhere and save the $12?

 

If you want to skimp, you can always refuse the real-time data package to avoid the fee. You'll be trading blind though. You could use another data source (like free Yahoo data) to make it work, although it would be annoying.

 

Well that's probably the reason they charge you a fee, because they provide these services in return for activity... What do you think IB is, a not-for-profit crowdfunded platform??