I was just told by Tradestation that my futures account application was rejected. Reason -- I do not have 2 years of trading experience. At first this makes sense -- they do not want people without experience blowing out their accounts. However, I'm perplexed because I've been backtesting, developing and improving my methodology (don't want to call it a system) for 3-4 years now (on TS and others). Instead of immediately starting to trade like most newbies and losing money, I invested the time to backtest, research and learn. And now I'm being told that because I did not spend those at least 2 out of 3-4 years trading withouth an edge and losing money, I can't have an account with them at all. Is there an altnerative? Reason I like tradestation -- I'm now very proficient with EasyLanguage and have built a system that I believe works for me. I'd like to automate it. Can I use IB? Do they have a plug-in (theirs or third party) for charting and system automation? PS: This really ticks me off! I'm 28, $300K+ HH annual income, $100K+ liquid assets, read most trading books out there, spent years backtesting and I can't even open a $10K futures account!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!
If what you say is true, this kind of stuff is bull*hit. That's why 6-12 months from now you're going to see a bunch of brokers get wiped out. IB will take you, then again I can't vouch for their platform vs. the other guys. Your best bet may be to guarantee in writing you'll do X amount in commish per month for X amount of time or else..... your call.............. triple
all you have to do is lie, say you'v been trading for 3 years, i doubt they will check up on it, or even if they do the worst they can do to you is deny you trading privalages, wich they are doing anyway
don't lie on an application. will you get away with it? perhaps but it could come back and haunt you one day. IB does allow API integration and plugins to other vendors. I haven't done it but I believe you can use easy language to plug into IB's API. I can not reveal the critera for approving accounts but suggest you take the 20 or so minutes to complete an online application for IB and you'll find out within a day or two if you get approved.
it seems unlikely that you would be turned down since the above numbers meet a minimum criteria. if these numbers are not accurate then perhaps you have an answer. this is a game. bluffing is part of the game. the likelihood that your answers to the "how long" question will be verified are slim to none. they want your money. it's lawsuits they wish to avoid. this is very reasonable. however, be prepared for the extensive application process at IB. the lengths to which they go to avoid any hint of responsibility borders on the embarrassing (still a descent broker).
I'd like to to think your comment could also be re-phrased to "the lengths that IB goes to make sure the customer knows what is in the agreement is refreshing". Have you read the small print on most agreements. I would venture a guess that IB's agreements are fairly similar to other firms.
FinStat, The numbers are accurate -- and that is why I'm both surprised and ticked off. They had a form (extra risk disclosure or something that included several min criterea -- I met all of them except the trading experience. Noname, Thanks for the suggestion but I don't really feel that I should have to. I will perhaps try some of the other suggestions though.
Still don't know why IB requires you to be 21 y/o to open a trading acct Btw, I'm an IB customer...but that rule just doesn't make sense to me. Over 18, you're considered an adult and should be able to open your own trading acct. if you have the cash! -FastTrader