It depends whether you do a small amount (ideal) or larger amount (25k usd plus) (idealpro). The commission is scalable on idealpro but min is 5 bucks and then the only other cost is your achievable spread.
If they did not want small traders they would just increase their minimum and get rid of them. You cannot make money without small traders. I think they use an outdated system, that's all. Modern systems take care of the conversions automatically and return profits in base currency automatically. What is the point of trading forex and accumulating profits in foreign currency only to find out after two months USD has risen 10% and now you must convert and lose money. If you keep converting you pay double spreads and their FX costs incredibly more than other platforms.
Actually they have. In the past month they have increased minimum account requirements from 5k to 10k to open an account. Small potatoes, yes, but a 100% increase none-the-less.
It is designed to be identical to interbank. Nothing outdated about it. But most traders are used to Oanda type systems which are more user friendly. I do agree IB should have an auto-roll feature to rollback profits into the base currency if the customer wants it that way. Maybe something that can be turned on and off. It was designed for Interbank in mind and has been made more user friendly ever since ---little by little. If they added this feature and dropped the double margin or wen to some portfolio margin for crosses it would be great.
Wake up and convert as you trade. You don't have to close your trades using the size you opened. Double margin should go. It's just crazy..