I've been using IB to trade futures for a while now, but lately I've been flirting with the idea of swing trading equities on the side to see if my intra-day strategies translate to longer term trades. I want to do this as an experiment and use very small dollar amounts, which means most trades will be odd-lots lower than 100 shares. As an experiment to see what I would be paying in commissions on these trades using the unbundled cost structure, I bought 1 share of GLD yesterday before the close. The execution report told me I paid $0.70 in commissions, which was expected, since the IB website says the following on the unbundled US equities page: "For US orders, USD 0.7 minimum per order, only the bundled fee structure is available for Non-Smart Routed API orders." This morning I sold that 1 share of GLD, and the execution report said I pad $0 in commissions. My order was executed on BATS. I double checked my account equity and confirmed that I was not charged a commission for the trade. For those who have experience with IB's unbundled equities structure, why didn't I pay the minimum $0.70 commission on that trade? Are buys treated differently than sells? Does it have something to do with the exchange it was executed on?
Have you tried asking Interactive Brokers? It might have been a mistake on their part not charging you.
You should have been charged .7 on your sale, and the charge will appear in your account statement tonight. The real time commission system (the one you are observing on your TWS) was experiencing some setup problem regarding some of the BATS listed securities.
Keep quiet, IB paid posters roam this website. Don't let them know they didn't charge you commission.
I use IB and have the unbundled rate. I totally agree with the above poster. IB TWS reporting is about as good as having my four year old figure it out. Why something as simple and meaningful as the PnL and other stats on the TWS does not work correctly and hasnt for over a year is beyond my understanding.