Is there some reason I should care what you... or anyone else at ET thinks? That said... I used to criticize IB a lot... And now defend them more often... Because the vast majority of criticism directed at IB is by clueless, low volume amateurs. For example... With today's uber-fragmented STOCK markets... I can't imagine how anyone could possibly succeed with flat rates. No way I could. One rarely sees a serious pro... Running an actual business with volume criticize IB. Oh... and my post is 100% factual... While several people here are accusing IB of FRAUD.
How much did you pay in SEC fees last month? What did you earn in ecn credits? Oh...wait, there's no way to know that from IB's statements. THAT'S what he's talking about. It's beyond ridiculous that a firm like IB, that caters to serious traders chooses to leave us in the dark on this matter.
Here's a criticism of IB. I get roughly 200-300 dividend payments/year. IB pays dividends late a lot... Perhaps 20-30% of all dividends are paid 1 to 20 days late. This is unprecedented in my 13 years experience with roughly 10 brokers... And is so ** incredibly incompetent ** on the part of their Reorg Department... That only firing the manager involved would suffice. But how much does this really cost me? Just time spent tracking down wrong-date payments... A few dollars in interest... And maybe one trouble ticket/month. So you suck it up... and carry on.
I hope you aren't saying I'm accusing IB of FRAUD. But I hope you realize how easy it is for there to be the opportunity to mischarge, especially for a high-volume automated trader. Can remember on each order whether you added or took liquidity the next day? If you can, what proof do you have? It's not reported in your execution window! What if your computer made the trades and you are doing 100K+ volume? ECN's report back for each execution whether you added or took. I get it reported instantly by my prop firm. It's how IB knows what to charge me. There is no good reason why it is not a column in my execution window. [ I'm not getting into a pissing match with you. I trade real volume and make real money. I've posted to the PnL thread in the past. I am very sensitive to my costs, as an pro would be. Aren't you? FYI, I found the cause of the change in charges. There WAS an error. It was a bitch to find, but would have taken about 5 seconds if I had the information I requested.
I wonder if you'd have the same attitude if your commissions magically went up .0015 one day on a system that's extremely consistent on costs? Then I bet you'd be bitching for some execution details, just like I am.
Well, I'm not accusing IB of fraud, and I'm not saying IB isn't a great firm in many ways, and I'm not a serious pro, and I do respect everyone's opinion on this thread, but I do want to see IB statements show a breakdown of commission details as described by the OP, especially since IB's competitors do provide that breakdown.
I agree with these general sentiments about IB, but I also think that commission calculations should be broken down in detail. Detailed numbers are needed so that customers can verify they are being charged according to the calculations that they expect and detect bugs when they occur, and so that customers can monitor and tweak their trading strategies and costs. I agree that most of the criticism about IB, on ET, is incorrect and comes from people who are clueless, and so I defend IB from criticism much more often than I criticize IB. But there are some legitimate constructive criticisms which can be made, and they should be encouraged, as part of the process by which IB continues to improve its offerings and better respond to the needs of its customers.