they're definitely not that attractive for options especially considering the RAM hogging underperforming feature poor software, poor management and customer service. anything over $1 per leg which occurs frequently for ETF's and always for index options is awful value. Though their stock options commissions are more favorable. what makes it worse is option traders get ripped off frequently. I know I am not the only one to have poor execution prices. often the legs of combos frequently give another more favorable figure. read http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=242747 l anaylzed the time and sales and other software that replays historical performance sec by sec to confirm this. glad l'm no longer with ib
Go to this link and on page 12 check out my trade attachment which shows the commissions in IB. This is not a day incident. I can send you my commission list for any day that you want. If you find any broker which claims he can match this commission, I will send you a box of very expensive chocolate and a dozen of roses and a check for the amount of $5000 and you can spend that money anyway that you wish. That money is also tax free. If you cannot find that broker, do us a favor and don't start these biased threads. The link is: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=241143&perpage=6&pagenumber=12
Most of my orders gets executed in NASDAQ as I changed my order execution setting from Smart to Highest rebate so almost 80% of my trades are executed in NASDAQ so I get 0.44 rebate for each contract. When the commission is 0.7 plus about 0.04 fee, I pay 0.74-0.44. When the commission is 0.5 because the option value is between 0.05 to 0.1, I pay about 0.54-0.44. The trick is that I don't hit the bid when I sell or ASK when I buy. Even if I do that that might executed in BOX (I believe) that pays rebate when you remove liquidity. The worst case, I get normal commission. This way, I am saving a lot.
If you check the attachment, I did 30 contracts and I paid only 0.44 in total. I did 128 contracts and I paid only $1.26. I am serious any broker that has lower commission, I will pay $5000 for the finder and I will switch. I won't accept Joe's promise on the phone about the commission. That rate should be announced on the broker's website and I won't promise to over trade to get special commission.
We offer DMA routing also and pass through all exchange fees and rebates. If you qualify for an CPM account at ML Pro, you can keep the $5000 or give it to charity, but I'll take the chocolate. I can't list qualification and rates here because I'm restricted. It would be considered advertising by FINRA and has to be preaproved. I can tell you we offer only institutional accounts, so you would need an entity, and we pass on platform fees. However, that rate is not a problem if your active. Also, we don't offer lower rates for options under $0.10 Bob
hajimow to compare yourself to the original poster isn't fair since you're obviously on different rate schedules. I have never used IB and wondering what type of volume you have to do to get your rates ? I must be missing something cause I don't see anything published on IBs site that would allow you to get so low... Oh and OP complaining about RAM ? time to update that 7 year old Dell ...
He is on the standard cost plus at IB and routes his orders to exchanges that offer rebates for adding liquidity. This is very common for professional accounts.