I've been looking into switching to Openecry since last time I saw IB pumped up their margin requirements... is it me or did IB lower their margin requirements again? and is this permanent?
a couple of days ago they went back to normal margin here's the page, save it http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/marginRequirements/margin.php?p=f&ib_entity=llc
just for the record they aren't all back to "normal" the FTSE for instance is still at 50% more than what it used to be before August...
Go to Open Cry..Ive been using them for over a year. Very good broker. Interactive Brokers seems to change trading policies more often than the wind changes direction! they could easily come up with another excuse to jack up margins again. Why put up with that? Open ECry $500 margins ...even during times of high volatility, awesome DOM(depth of market system) Very good - excellent cust service. I rest my case...
does anyone know the formula that is used for calculating IB's margin requirements? does the margin requirements go up when the volatility index goes up or when the price of the futures contract goes up?
This was discussed before....the VIX definitely changes the margin req, but the exact margin req is somewhat arbitrary and capricious.
Before you rest your case completely, you might want to address some of the concerns expressed here, just the other day. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103390&highlight=OEC
We never calculate margin requirements on futures. IB uses requirements set by exchanges and clearing houses. Other brokers do the same as it required by law. We allow 1/2 margin reduction on majority of liquid futures during certain period of time. Other brokers could require less because it is an unregulated area.