you can trade lots of garbage at IB. even chinese frauds and NFLX. maybe that makes them nervous, who can blame them . Im upset I havent received my notice, I have 5 billion shares of one of those .000001 jobs to deal with.
I guess you don't remember how many small cap stocks got absolutely bludgeoned during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. No one is forcing you to be on margin. As an IB customer who only uses margin in very particular cases, I welcome any margin rules that they deem appropriate given the current environment. If you don't like them, then close your account.
Agree with that IB is not made to use with margin, however chnaging rules quickly with little notice is not appropriate, neither making your money safer.
Yah, small etf's are a great example. A new ETF with less than $250 million in assets that is extremely low risk (think short term govmt bond fund) would be non-marginable. The entire rule change is pure lazy.
Isn't everything someone posts their opinion? Man, the IB shills on here are hilarious. How anyone can step back and think this margin change is fair and/or good for their business is beyond me.
what happens when the mkt cap drops from 300mm to 240mm, and you have it on margin. Are you forced to puke it up? how come no email here? is this a hoax? ;-)
I find it funny that you think you know more than IB does about its own business. There is obviously a reason why they are doing this, even though it may seem bizarre to you. As an account holder, I find it reassuring, rather than concerning, that they are proactive with their margin changes.
Good question. They say "Please note that this list is subject to periodic update and accounts holders are advised to utilize the 'Check Margin' feature within the TWS to confirm the margin requirement on any particular security. " So yah, if your account has a few margin securities near $250 million you might find yourself liquidated at any moment they go sub $250 million because, as you know, a company below $250 million in market cap is very risky! There are few businesses in the world that can exist at that level. Most if not all will go bankrupt at some point.
http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/node/1788 lol 12,447 edit: something is fishy, they must be having trouble