>Unless I'm missing something, paying an extra 12 commissions >doesn't seem to be worthwhile just to save some record >keeping. imo you are missing something. manuall record keeping will probably cost more in errors and slippage than you save in comm. also one cannot get real time track record of each model. not sure what the original poster question is as i have had multiple accounts with ib. had to open a separate instance of tws for each. or was the q about subaccounts managed from one interface?
Could you tell me which U.S. regulation states that it is illegal? http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/institutions/institutionalMain.php?ib_entity=llc
In the securities world it is not legal for the same person to be long and short the same product in the same account. I guess there aren't any FX regulations so my statement would be incorrect. From an analysis point of view, I can see why someone would want this but in the end 1 - 1 = 0.
steve an example opening two postion at the same time probably not so good. say your designing a model testing it for long only , and another one testing for shorts only. it will not get the same result as having one method that reversing on sigs in the other direction. say one have model with entry round number support. entered eur at 1.28 with 30 pip stop. the exit of this trade a target of 1.32 as an example. now the short model goes enters here at 1.29 and with a 30 pip stop. and target say 1.2803 . both of those trade can be profitable and is two separate models. so if one manually keeps track and exits when one is net zero, one get problem of reentry. so much easier to put on the trades and leave. than going long 1.28 , reverse 1.29, if price hits 1.230 , reverse again. or going long 1.28 , reverse 1.29 , reverse 1.2803 , stopped 1.2770. so this way of doing it is valid and is not a con. and i am a happy ib customer