Hello, If somebody have an IB account and use it for ES intraday, I have a question and I'll appreciate your help. I day trade with E-mimi sp500 futures and I want to move to IB. But I still don't understand the margins. For example, on other broker like ninjatrader if I have a little bit more than $500 on my account, I can open an intraday position of 1 contract and if the net value of my account isn't under 500 I can keep my position on intraday so I need 500 + fee to open the position and 500 for maintaining it. But the info I see on the IB website is not clear for me, some times I think I need 4000 + fee to open it and 4000 to maintain, other times I think I need 50 + fee to open it and 50 to maintain (which could be great)... I just don't get it. I'll appreciate your answer with an example if it's possible. In case that it is 4000 I'd like to know why that big 3500 difference to open a 1 contract position. Why would I prefer to possibli open a 1 contract position with IB instead of a 10 contract position with Ninjatrader with my 5000 account. Supposing that I have a 5000 account and that my positions are gaining since the beginning so I'll never be margin called. Thank you
1. IB requires a minimum of $10K to open an account, so if you have only $500, IB is not for you yet. 2. There are intraday margins and overnight margins. I think you may be confused about the difference between them. 3. Allowing traders to trade ES futures with a $500 margin is bad business for both the broker and the clients. IB understands this well. That's why IB's margin requirements are higher than what you may have seen elsewhere. 4. Future's margin is not a "fee". Your account is not debited, and is not charged any fees (beyond the commissions).
IB checks for initial margin when you place an order to open a position. This is a few thousand dollars in case of ES (I don’t have the exact value right now). If your account doesn’t have this value will your order line be blocked/refused.
IB tends to give low leverage. I don't like it. If brokerage agent offers 1000x leverage, I will be more than happy to trade through them.
There speaks a spot forex trader. Companies offering leverage of 1000:1 aren't brokers: they're counterparty market-makers pretending to be brokers. Personally, however much or little of that available leverage I chose to use, myself, I wouldn't be willing to try to trade via a "broker" who offers 1000:1 leverage (to anyone), because of what that tells me about their own business model. More importantly, in this context, as already mentioned above by Jack, nobody should be trying to trade futures with $500 or $5,000 - and nobody should even be dreaming of trading 10 contracts of ES with $5,000. It's a completely unrealistic expectation.
agree. shouldn't trade through those counterparty market makers. I love very high leverage. plus side is that we put very little money in brokerage agent. don't worry about money management. mine is rock solid super good and highly disciplined.
I'm not trying to have a go at you for the sake of it, but there isn't a way to trade with such high leverage and avoid counterparty market-makers: it's a complete contradiction in terms. I'm not trying to persuade you of anything: I just want to clarify for the potential benefit of anyone else reading the thread that you simply don't understand what you're talking about. Sorry, but that's the way it is.
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