IB Bond fees are too high

Discussion in 'Interactive Brokers' started by ScroogeMcDuck, Mar 24, 2020.

  1. IB charges 0.25% for trading bonds, which is prohibitively expensive when you just wanna flip them for a few percent more. What other brokers offer lower fees on bonds and reasonable margin requirements / margin rates?
     
  2. Robert Morse

    Robert Morse Sponsor

    We do not offer fixed income but $2.50/bond does not seem like a lot.
     
  3. Compared to paying half a cent per share on $100 shares (0.005%) it's 50x
     
  4. luisHK

    luisHK

    Nah, you got the pricing wrong I m afraid, or what bonds are u talking about ?
     
  5. I bought the OXY 4.1 Feb01'21 at 75 yesterday
     
  6. luisHK

    luisHK

    well, that´s a bit short for information, for how much did u buy and how much did IB charge U in commission ? maybe post that part of the activity statement so we can have a look, including the commish. I´ve bought a bunch of corporate bonds through IB in 2019, usually for 100k each, and commissions were on par with what is advertised in the screenshot above, or link below

    https://www1.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1590&p=bonds
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2020
  7. I was off by one decimal place in the OP. It's actually 0.025% which is not too bad.
     
  8. But in the actual transaction history it looks like they charged considerably more than 0.025%. It's like 0.05%-0.2%
     
  9. Have you tried negotiating with IB? I trade bonds as well.