Don't look now, but IB just became the highest bidder for REFCO. What will you do now, my friend??? http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a48kHG1uiHkw&refer=us
At the bottom of the email it says $1.00 minimum ==================================================== October 24, 2005 Interactive Brokers Announces the New Industry Standard in Deep Discount Commissions for Professionals In keeping with our mission of providing low cost trade execution and clearing services to professional traders and investors worldwide, IB is pleased to announce the following new US commissions schedule to take effect Tuesday, November 1, 2005. Stocks*: $0.005/Share (all-in) Options*: $0.75/Contract (all-in) Futures: $0.25 to $1.20/Contract (plus exchange costs) Forex**: 1 to 2 PIP wide EUR/USD spreads As you already know, lower commissions does not mean no-frills technology. Over the coming months IB will continue to enhance the industry leading direct access trading platform with the following: The addition of new markets and countries to enhance your ability to trade stocks, options, futures, forex, ETFs, and bonds worldwide from a single account Additional forex dealers to keep our fx spreads the tightest in the industry More real-time risk management tools so you can assess your portfolio risk at any second of the day Modifications to our smart router to take advantage of rule changes in the market place so you are assured of always getting best price execution on your trades More charting and market scanner functionality We do not believe that there is another broker providing this much functionality at ANY price in the industry, and we will continue to upgrade our platform to ensure that we remain the trail blazer for professional traders and investors worldwide. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *$1.00 minimum on all orders, no extra ticket charge ** Whereas other brokers inflate their forex spreads with more than their fair share for commissions, IB quotes the best bid/offer from multiple large banks and charges a separate 0.2 PIP commission on EUR/USD.
It does say $1 minimum. However, when the details of the new commission rates get starightened out in the next few days, we will find out if IB is willing to go below $1 for the minimum in the near future since $1 minimum was originally based on the old 1c/share commission rate.
The $1 minimum only affects you if you trade a 0-200 share lot, anything above 200 shares and you pay .005/share all in. If IB is still making a ton of money at .005/share, then I wonder how low they can go.