Yes I did not find (1), (2) and (4) but I was already resigned to not having them. There is some of (4) in their higher-end platforms which cost extra. Re (3), CTS T4 does have an Excel interface that is quite easy to set up and updates live. It also has a free .Net API that is very good if you are a software developer. For futures, you do not really need TradeLog because you just report yearly or monthly profits off their 1099 reporting form. The IRS requires trade-by-trade reports for stocks but not for futures and futures options. For most futures brokers, there is limited real-time intraday margining for options positions such as IB has. PFG had a model-based version also (and like IB, sometimes had fishy values). Most have something, but it tends to be way off because of bid-ask spreads. Typically they mainly use rough rules of thumb that you negotiate with their Risk Manager person. Basically you have to keep track of it by eye and it had just better be ok by the nightly report (which is of course accurate as to margin). A few brokers can be far more flexible than IB as to intraday margin (which is at the discretion of the firm) but on the other hand some are strict in their own ways. Mostly they also all have more spreads than IB has. Many offer all CME user-defined spreads. And many seem to offer most or all quotes free (not like IB's add-on quote fees for ICE etc). It really depends what you need for your trading style. A lot is negotiable as to margins.
Thanks for the information. It sounds like you weighed some of the nice, but not essential, aspects of IB's systems vs. their FOP margin rules and they came up short. I'm not quite there yet. I've been using 22-30% of my futures account as margin (mostly FOPs, some futures spreads) and if IB demands more margin on FOPs than others, then it might be said that I'm running even more conservative than ~25%. I'm not finding a lot of FOP opportunities in this low volatility environment, so in my other IB accounts I'm in some fairly volatile stock options (single names, not indices, thus the TradeLog question), plus cash; more cash than I'd prefer in all accounts. Ah well, when life deals you lemons... I'll spend some of this slow time looking at alternative brokers, platforms (including CTS) and ways to replicate some of the risk and performance measures that IB offers.