OK. Let me correct my statement. The futures margin table here http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/marginRequirements/margin.php?ib_entity=llc brings a correct picture.
Thanks IB. Now I understand your margin policy. To sum it up it means move the account to ThinkOrSwim.
This is one of the reasons why IB is still in the business after the decades and in good condition (just look the latest FCM data and compare to others). I see this is a clear sign of the broker who really thinks about the risk and additionally for themself they tries to save their customers too. btw. Im not in any relationship with the IB Im just trying to keep my accounts in the places where the probability of the "Sentinel" kind of things is as low as possible. SG
I have to say the information IB is giving out is very confusing. I was curious and I asked a CSR. The first one said, yes margins have been reduced but then she withdrew that statement and said she would ask somebody else. The next person said: check the website, you can see they are still in place and intraday margin requirement have been removed. Very surprising to read an IB CSR on this forum say the opposite. How can customers inform themselves correctly if people from one and the same firm tell contradictory things?
Because things change by the minute... if you are a long-term surviving trader, you won't get excited over it.
All you had to do was look at the margins given on the website. The link given by the rep in this thread led you to that. I don't assume that all reps are equally well informed about every possible topic that could come up in the course of a day. Do you? So I don't ask. My first step is to go to the website and check it out. And in this case, had you done so, you would have seen that the futures margins for day traders had been reduced. How difficult does it get? Finally, when you make a trade, it gives the margin in your account window. Always worth checking out if you're concerned about it. However, my suggestion is that you never margin yourself so much that you're concerned. I don't. I made a post in one of the threads here that the ES margin for day traders seemed to have been reduced based on what I saw in my account window after a trade. OldTrader