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I hate to reveal my ignorance, but i dont understand the benefits of having a back-up broker: If I have an open a position at IB is it possible to close that position at another broker? (I wouldn't think so) Or would i have to have enough $ in the back-up acct to offset any positions in the primary acct , and if so wouldn't that be 'boxing' and be illegal? Or is the benefit of a back-up broker simply the ability to continue trading new positions while the primary broker is down?
1. If you want to open a new position, you can take the other broker. 2. If a stock is not on the short list of IB, you can take the other broker. 3. Theoretically it should be possible to buy a stock at the other broker you have shorted with IB - but the question about "boxing" is a good one ! Another problem is that if you have set a stop at IB (and you should have one when shorting a stock!), you don't know if it's executed and you might then be long a stock you do not want. Harry
so, I've got a new car, a nice one, nice looking, speedy, with a lot of features, very cheap too. But brakes doesn't work when needed........could be a little bit dangerous !!
The ideal service I would want is a company that, for a fee (let's say $100 a month) would offer access to a web site, where I could enter orders in emergencies only. A lot of online brokers/daytrading firms have trading desks you can call in case you can't get access to your account online, but this would only work if the reason would be a computer crash, bad internet connection, or something else gone wrong on your side. There is *no* broker that can afford to keep enough people to take all calls promptly when something goes wrong on their side. It just too expensive to keep that many people on staff. So it seems that the best thing would be to have a second, perhaps web based online route, but with systems completely independent of the main route. And if the broker doesn't provide such a service, then as I said, I'd love to pay a monthly fee for access to an independent broker who wouldn't require any funds in my account, and would handle only acats transactions, in case of an emergency. http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=13439871 voodoo
I have two brokers for safety, but mainly for shorting stock. If I can't borrow it from one place I usually can get it from the other. Yesterday I put buy stops at my second broker to cover short positions I had at IB. None of them were needed luckily.
well, basically you are not allowed to do what is described with the 2 brokers. for emergencies I understand the idea. but if you would do this too often and with size, you might be investigated.