i dont think there was prior notice for this change. Not good for client relations for sure. Oh well.
The easy solution is to take a margin loan from IB. I am long dull utility stocks that pay large dividends and then trade options on futures using a margin loan against my long stock position.
Yep, I noticed the same. I havent traded at all since last wednsday and I still have about 16k under commodities. It definitely changed. How come? This is an important change, meaning futures trading is now less secure. I would expect IB to inform their customers. One of the biggest talking points in many reviews of IB as a brokerage was the "unified account" which meant you didn't have to transfer between accounts for different markets. This was also one of the pluses that led me to use IB in the first place. Is this now gone? If it is, we need an option to manually transfer cash even if it takes 2 days for approval like at some other brokers. Might be a good idea.
I've also noticed this in my account. The biggest problem here is that it reduces my buying power for stocks, as any money in the commodities account doesn't apply to my 4x intraday leverage.
Noticed a sizable "stuck" cash balance in commodities too, assumed it was just some holiday settlement issue but apparently not. I have nothing but praise for IB, but it's pretty sleazy and stupid to change a major policy and edit the verbiage on the website without notifying customers when everyone is on pins and needles.
I state as always, I am not an IB fan, but I haven't had an account there in years, so times may have changed. I will say that Def who responds on here is good about getting answers, so I'd wait to see what he digs up. He has been a straight shooter in my opinion, and will come back with the answer.
Let's not let our brokers off the hook this time! We need a 100 percent secure brokerage industry, and it's time we customers demand it!