I am currently with Scottrade and would like to go to a direct access platform. Recently I have read nothing but bad things about IB on this board. I opened an account with IB and have called their "Help" number with questions about transfering money from my old account to my IB account. I haven't got through yet. That is discouraging. What is the concensus here? Thanks
For those who really like IB, what do you use for hardware? Is their software supported under Windows 2000 or Linux?
I don't use IB but am curious how you came to the conclusion of that everyone doesn't like them. They have a few problems but go to the brokers section of this website and 89% recommend them. That is the majority. They also have 36 reviews which is a lot more than others. I see more traders recommend them than others. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=1187 The above thread is about brokers that offer a per share fee.
RTHARP, I made this post after reading some recent comments regarding IB... I hadn't read the broker's review section at that time. That was a mistake. It seems like whatever problems people have encountered recently is an exception to the rule. Thanks for your comment.
I use Ib and I like it - have no complaints. My average trade size between 200-600 so .01 is OK. Hardware: win2k, dual p3 1Ghz, 512 of DDR RAM running Ib and other software packages. I use PC version of IB Workstation. PKJR
PKJR, thank you for your reply. How many trades do you make on a busy day and what type of stocks? By that I mean how fast are your stocks moving and how well are your orders filled? Thanks again
I use IB on Linux (under netscape 6) and with fairly good success. The two problems I have are: 1 - it creates files in my home directory with names like "c:\IBJts\" This is really ugly. As a professional java coder, I'm VERY surprised to see such poor coding in an otherwise well done application. 2 - I have trouble recording shortcuts Other than those two non-trivial (but not showstopping) problems IB is fine on Linux. (if you aren't sure - try their demo. If you can run the demo, you can run the real thing) I came to IB specifically because they work with linux and haven't been disappointed.
I use IB for my executions, and overall have been quite happy. I do use Realtick (without order entry) for my real time charts and quotes, as IB's real time info is pretty basic. However, in terms of speed of executions and handling of trades, I'd say it goes as well as when I was with a Realtick broker.