I have a futures account with IB. Luckily I only trade globex so no big deal. However I was going to move my stock account to them in the next few days. Not on $127 +++ per month - only because I trade through my limited company for tax efficiency. What a farce! Perhaps if IB take the view that we are all "professionals", we should indeed be treated like proper professionals. So how about some of the highly leveraged borrowing that only the prop houses offer their traders? Maybe they can offer "bullets" as well! LOL.
I finally got emails last night from both IBhelp and Sr mgmt. The one from Sr mgmt was very boilerplate and stated the case that any "non natural person" was a pro under exchange rules. I could see how they read that from the text that Zorro posted. The email went on to say that the IB site has stated this for 2 months and that failing to charge pro fees for this long was an oversight on mgmt's part. Again, my problem is the way in which it was handled. It's nice to get an email 2 days after the fact. OK, that's their interpretation. So do I have to subscribe to all the exchanges that I wish to trade or just the NASD? The standard IBHELP email said that the minimum subscription was NASD only. My question now is: Can I trade NYSE as a pro without subscribing to the NYSE data feed? Same question for OPRA?
I suggest you all write to the SEC for an interpretation to the rule. It may take a few weeks but they should respond. You can try this email: marketreg@SEC.GOV They should be able to clarify your status. Remember its not IB that is forcing these professional fees, its the Exchanges!!
hello I apologize if this query has been answered before but I am curious as to how for equity option trades: Interactive Brokers reports this to the IRS I know they are not reported on my 1099 B that I get from them (?)
I just found out that it is not required to be reported to IRS guess thats another reason for me to hold on to my monthly statements ...
I was told it is mandatory for professional account to trade with data subscription while non-professional account can trade without data. I can't believe it has anything to do with exchange rules. I already paid for data services through other vendors. There is no reason to pay for the same thing again. Which exchange rules force professional(I trade in through S-corp account and therefore classed as professional, otherwise, I don't consider myself one) to subscribe to data service?
I wrote IB repeatedly but they refused to explicitly answer the same question. It's either because the person I was corresponding with was too stupid or that they wish to "comply" with exchange rules by simply saying the same thing repeatedly, while using lax enforcement. In February, I should know. The email I received said that the minimum subscription was NASD for pros. I signed up for NASD, NYSE and OPRA since that's what I trade. My unanswered question was "Do I need to subscribe to each exchange where I wish to place trades?". I have unsubscribed to the NYSE and OPRA - the subscription will run thru the end of the month. We'll see if I need to resubscribe to these in Feb to continue to trade OPRA and NYSE, otherwise I'm in for $20 a month.
Finally got an answer from IB concerning my question about paying data fees for my joint account. Accounts are linked if they have the same username and emailaddress. Despite the fact that both conditions are met, i got the following answer : Dear Trader, At this point in time, IB is not going to link joint accounts to individual accounts. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you, IB Customer Service Observer
If one responds to the latest IB survey that is directed to the"Professional" trading community, will one be identified and classified as a "Professional" for the purposes of charging fees for quote data feeds ?