Great info Jack. thank you. That's why I left 1k in master account and all sub accounts will be funded appropriately for their trading goals. Thanks again.
Jack I don't think your example correct unless it's been changed very recently (since last month). The numbers are correct, but the difference between the actual commissions and $10 will be deducted from the sub-accounts, not the master advisor account. I have two data feeds, one under the master account, the other under a second user account I created (so I can leave my TWS with my automated system on at home, and still log in to TWS at work). One of my sub-accounts did not trade in September (I opened it so I could keep stock trades separate from futures trades) because I had some technical problems on my end with my automated stock system. As a result I was hit with 2 $10 fees (one for each data feed) in that sub-account. But the fees were deducted from the sub-account, NOT from the master account. It's my understanding the only fees deducted from the master account will be paid data subscriptions, such as those not included in the US bundle (e.g. CME floor, Eurex DTB, etc). Also try searching on this forum for friends and family, this isn't the first time this has been discussed. Finally, to get the absolute final word, contact IB's Pro services, they are the customer reps who deal with F&F and professional advisor accounts (don't deal with regular CSRs -- they don't know about F&F accounts -- at least not all of them). As a note I have $50 in my advisor master account and it's lasted for over a year, no fees ever get deducted (unless I subscribe to other data such as Eurex, which I just did this month now that they give access to expired contracts historical data). SSB
SideShowB: As I said - what I stated was my take on what I was told, so you may very well be correct. I did speak to Pro Services. I don't think I asked which account would get hit, just how the charge was to be computed under the new rules. I know I was told that all fees came out of the Master Account when I opened the F&F, but that was close to two years ago. I guess charging the slow/no-trading account is fair - or is it? The advisor trades all the accounts so insufficient trading is the advisor's problem. I'm not really concerned, it was a policy decision made by IB. The $10 is not exactly an account buster, if I ever have to pay it. The problem will occur if it's in my wife's account. Jack