Yeah, how about this? just checked new margins they raised the YM margin to a whopping 3125 USD?! anybody remember when it used to be 1406 only a couple of weeks ago?!!
You can be assured that IB will bring down the margin rates as soon as they get over this anxiety attack they're having...because undoubtedly they are losing millions in lost commission...they make mor money the lower the commissions are (thus more contracts being traded)
You can be assured that IB will bring down the margin rates as soon as they get over this anxiety attack they're having...because undoubtedly they are losing millions in lost commission...they make more money the lower the commissions are (thus more contracts being traded)
Yeah which I why I'm even more surprised to see them raise margins each week, above the "4%" rule they introduced first... it seems of little use when they just raise margins on their own, a lot higher than the 4% margin req. I for one can't wait to see them go back to normal levels.
By raising minimum margins, they are protecting customers as well as themselves. Recalling the time around the '87, crashette.... My broker "discouraged customers from trading the SPOOs"... and if we chose to anyway, they required $50,000 margin per contract. When the brokers perceive the volatility has receded, margins will come down.
IB today has increased again the day trading margin for YM. from 2800 to 3125... yes today, on friday august 31 I clicked on my booktrader to enter an order, and there you go, again... the magical pop up that ask you for more money... I must admit I really like IB speed and reliability, but I've spent the last 4 hours browsing for another broker... enough is enough. The majority of brokers I checked offers 500 day trading margins, a couple 300, ok, this are risky companies you may say... big brokers and direct competitors of IB like Tradestation offer 1000 dollars day trading margins... Honestly, I would like to stay with IB, but I'm a customer, not a disciple... P.S. another thing, this obsession to protect themselves and "protect" - as they call it - their customer, with intraday margin requirements that are totally out of the market may not be a very good sign financial condition of IB. people, or companies, usually are very scared for a reason... but this is just a little sherlock holmes. good luck to all.
FWIW; CBOT raised margin on all DOW instruments effective on the close of business Thursday, August 30. Exchange margins for YM are now 3125/2500/2500, initial, maintenance, hedge. Remember, the brokerage/fcm/clearing agent set INTRADAY margins, not the exchange. Here's the link to the official margin change... http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/page/0,3181,136,00.html#SpecMarginsChange0827 IMO, unless you trade a scarce futures product, for intraday futures trading IB isn't even a choice. Osorico
I doubt IB will lower margin rates anytime in the near future. What most don't understand is that IBKR doesn't really care about its retail division. The vast majority of its profits come from their timber hill branch. They could probably close their entire futures division and not miss a beat.
HTrader, I am thinking you are correct, since this idea best matches their actions. What I don't understand is, and this applies principally to the daytrade margins, IB has this close out the trade and ask questions never thing going on. When, for instance, the old ER2 margins were 2000/car, doesn't that mean that they have 2K bux/car of leeway for their computers to fire and close out an under margined position before they go in the hole?? I guess they must be anticipating a lock limit or something, but if this happens, then what's the difference between 2K and 3K/4K etc? I can see the overnights being a risk, sometimes very thin etc but during the day ER2 would have to gap 20 points just to lose the 2K. Surely their computers are faster than that. Am I missing something??
What exactly is your problem. You only have $3000 to your name or you like to trade 100 contrcts at a time and cant?