larrybf - from Babak on page 1 of this thread. Info is from IB. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You will be able to change your "NonProfessional"/"Professional" status and your subscribed exchanges during the last week of November. At that time, please sign into "Account Access" from our home page to check and/or change your status, or click the subscribe button in TWS to check and/or modify subscribed Exchanges." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suspect, that you have to have at least the level 1 quotes, or the $10 fee (waived for the small activity of $30 in commisions) I do think it would be a nice gesture if they did something for IRA's , or at the very least, those with more than one account. For a 10k or better IRA you are already paying 250 - 350 a year in LOST INTEREST. Pretty steep. Let's face it, it does not cost IB that amount to maintain it, there are no postage costs, other than a once a year mailing. If someone has only a small inactive IRA then a fee may be warranted. I have two accounts, and $20,000 that is earning NO INTEREST at IB. (Was a bigger issue at 6% than 3%, but that's a side point) Other firms charge fees for inactivity, but none that I know of withhold interest on any amount. IB is already being compensated, unless you're talking about an IRA with next to nothing in it, which is useless for trading. I will assume they don't have many of those. How about no fees on IRA's >5000. Sounds fair to me.
For people complaining about IB charging $10/mo for market data fees (waived if customer generates $30 commission per mo.), what would you rather have - IB not enforcing the $10/mo fee and charging $14.95 commission per ticket or $10/mo with .01/share commissions? Please - let us not be penny wise and pound foolish. I'd hate to piss IB off and have them change their commission structure just because of too many people whining about something as insignificant as $10 a month. Just write the 10 bucks off as an additional cost of doing business.
Ixo7 brings a good point. If you don't wish to subscribe to any exchange (say you stop trading for a while) you should not be charged. If you trade primarily futures ( CME and CBOT) and stocks& options on the side you'll have to pay 50 bucks per month to IB just to have the privilege to trade. This starts to add up with the fees you already pay to your regular quote provider. This is just not how you build wealth over the long term.
Questions that need to be answered: 1. If you are already paying exchange fees, do you still get charged? 2. Does the $30/mo waiver apply to futures? 3. Are the fees per customer or per account? Before we all get too worked up, let's cut IB some slack. They have done us all a huge favor by cutting rates continuously and pushing the latest direct access platform--at least for globex--to us before anyone else. If you're not doing $30/mo in commish, you shouldn't be using them anyway.
trader88 - the simple solution is for those people who want/need IB quotes - pay for them. IB has been covering this cost for traders and it is time for such traders to pay up - if they use IB quotes. Those who don't want/need IB quotes - don't pay for them. Case closed. Don't get confused on this being a fee for the pleasure of trading with IB. If this was the case - it would have been presented as such. Please read what was written (check Babak post on page 1) on how the proposed fee originated in the first place.
stock777 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- by stock777: "For a 10k or better IRA you are already paying 250 - 350 a year in LOST INTEREST. Pretty steep." "How about no fees on IRA's >5000. Sounds fair to me." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sounds fair to me too.
wireless I never said the $10/mo fee is being charged so one has the privilege of trading with IB. Far from it. IB's trading platform is structured around its quotes, wherein you click on the Bid/Ask prices to transmit your orders. I trade stocks, so I need the Level I stock quotes in order to transmit my orders. A person trading the e-minis needs IB's Globex quotes to transmit his orders, etc. It is therefore not a matter of one having the option to receive the data or not. If you use IB's TWS to trade, then YOU NEED THOSE QUOTES. It's a totally different matter if your account is inactive. In that case, as someone mentioned earlier on this thread, IB is not a charity. Enough said on this ($10) topic.
trader88 - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- by trader88: "IB's trading platform is structured around its quotes, wherein you click on the Bid/Ask prices to transmit your orders. I trade stocks, so I need the Level I stock quotes in order to transmit my orders." <== That's where we need a change for those of us that don't want/need IB quotes. Just the ability to execute a trade. "It's a totally different matter if your account is inactive. In that case, as someone mentioned earlier on this thread, IB is not a charity. Enough said on this ($10) topic." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agreed.