I think truetype is not surf but has shared his ET login with surf to allow surf to sometimes post under truetype's account. Surf maybe doing this with other ET users as well.
I asked support if there were any changes in margin coming up. They didn't know of any. Can someone provide a screen shot I can send to support to follow up on this?
I would like to show them a screen shot or link from IB as proof. They said no change in margin. I will take the word of the representative over an anonymous poster on a forum. Anybody can post whatever they like in a forum. I checked my account notifications today again and no notice. I searched the IB website again and no notice. Maybe I missed it so I am asking someone to post a screen shot or link on their website. I am not a fan of IB current margin policy if you see my other posts. So I am not defending them. I just want the truth.
I talked to them about this today. They had a list of effected accounts and how much the margin impact would be as of a few days back. In my case, there was an increase of about 0.2% higher maintenance margin, hardly worth worrying about. I don't have much in the way of options, and this may effect those more. Screenshot of the email I got attached.
So only affects options sellers the most then? In other words, is this IB saying volatility is way too low for way too long and it may go up a lot after march? I'm just wondering though, since the trend clearly seems to steer in having stricter and stricter house rules, whether such rules relax after a while. Or is this the new landscape for the brokerage? You know higher interest rates are coming. Now they tighten and raise margin requires. Now they add 'exposure fee'. Etc etc. Are the good days over? Good days = low interest, low trading fees, cheap market data, looser margin rules.