I have an LLC (all personal funds) with IB but currently don't generate enough profits to justify the NYSE pro data fees (and I trade mostly NYSE). I am attempting to open a new individual account but referencing the LLC EIN for the tax reporting. Currently I'm waiting confirmation from IB that they will use this number for the 1099. Any pitfalls to this approach?
For those of you who are being charged professional fees by IB. Did you ever think of explaining to IB, that if you were a professional, you would have to be registered as one with the exchanges. For example, hold a series 7 license.
Good luck with it. I think your problem will be with the tax authorities though. I tried that (here in UK - similar laws to US) to see if I could take a load of money I had on deposit in an LLC and put it into a personal account to earn better interest (banks really screw small business on the interest). They laughed at me. Smug civil servants.
I clearly explained to IB that I was a non-professional and listed the reasons for that designation. I even gave IB reference to NYSE forms that I would sign attesting to the fact that I was a non-professional. IB has taken the position that if the account is not in the name of a natural person (and a LLC clearly is not) then professional data fees will be charged. I disagree but they control the data feed.
I am in the same boat as you. Answer is simple: Trade futures (eminis) with IB (same globex nil fee as non LLC), and open something like a Datek account where you can position trade/invest in stocks. If you think about it all these restrictions ($25k daytrading rules etc) just mean stocks have no momentum at the moment. Crazy times, but it is much easier to open a futures account with a small amount. Less to watch on the screen as well!
Not much of a solution. Trading futures is a whole different game than stocks. Some might like it, some will crash. The leverage, the speed, the fact that you are trading a market leader, etc.. That's a different topic though. Jaba
I won't trade futures either. IB doesn't want to hear anyone's interpretation of the regs. They are the only broker I know that is doing this. If you want the low commissions, there will be other pitfalls. IB screwed me in opening my corporate account. I got wire confirmation from my bank on Tues 11-27 for 100K. By Weds eve, I still had no funds in the acct. I called Thurs AM and they said "Nope, we haven't seen it - try back later". So I go back and forth with the bank and IB for several more days. Suddenly, Monday Dec 3rd the money shows in the IB acct with no explanation. I thought it was odd at the time but now it makes perfect sense. I received no interest for December from IB, so I wrote the other day. The reply stated that you must have at least 10K cash available in your account EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE MONTH to earn interest and since I opened my account on the 3rd, I would receive no interest for the month. Now I understand.
Not much at the moment. In fact I have fallen asleep watching the (s&p) eminis several times in the last few days - even on a 1 minute chart!
Unfortunately, IB is the only broker with commisions low enough for 100 share lots to implement the trading strategies that I use. I am learning some of the techniques from the Bright course but most of them can only be done at a retail level with a lot of capital and IB type of commisions. The DDE link to Excel allows any type of calculation that you want (especially useful for pair trading). I spent a lot of time developing the spreadsheets and was profitable with about 150 trades. But now I'm dead in the water until I get this pro, non-pro issue worked out.