I know this trick, it's pretty good and you can make extras just on options but AFAIK you must buy at least 100 units per transaction. You can sell them right after(like buy 100 then sell 70 to hold 30) but it's still not the same as being able to trade directly. Moreover there's always slight chance(hopefully not) that they will tighten regulations even more. I wouldn't be asking for IB LLC if I wouldn't know they are worthy. There's plenty of smaller US-based brokers who offer their services overseas. The thing is, proper introducing broker to IB will give you direct access to TWS, sometimes even directly through IB website. Also it won't be omnibus/jumbo broker that is holding single account @IB but will have separate accounts for each user. The whole service will be basically IB just with different fee structure. And as I said, for people that are EU-based there's just IB-UK not IB-LLC.
IB does NOT have introducing brokers. They do not operate in this way. You open accounts directly with IB.
For some it's risk, for others diversification. Also, there are very many ETFs of all kinds in US with very many investment possibilities. In EU you just have few big ones and no liquidity. Of course there are some downsides too, like in EU most ETFs are accumulating dividends and because of this they are locally more tax-efficient.
In most cases yes, hopefully it's like that in US(IB LLC). Did you check the link I provided in my first post? Anyway in EU their IB -UK subsidiary has plenty of local introducing brokers who are just registered across various European countries. Now those can either open you direct personalized accounts(so you are personally listed at IB UK) or big jumbo/omnibus(don't know how they call it) accounts where broker just opens one big account at IB UK for himself and manages clients money themselves while holding all bookkeeping. Of course personalized account seems to be much better and I guess could be more secure. Anyway another thing about EU-domiciled ETFs sold by IB-UK is SIPC security. If I would open account directly at IB-UK then physically securities would be still held and guaranteed by IB LLC(US) that is covered by SIPC. But SIPC claims that ETFs that are not registered by SEC are not covered by their warranty. I am not 100% sure but I guess that many EU-domiciled ETFs are not SEC registered and in case of major mess, issues might occur.
They do have Introducing Brokers. ProRealTime is one. They have their own commission structure, their own front end and they provide support. But you also get full IBKR facilities as well (TWS, portal). Statements and correspondence are all standard IBKR, but also include the introducing broker's logo.
cheaper commissions and more hand-holding supposedly. If you have issues, a good introducing broker would talk to IB on your behalf to try to resolve the issue instead of you having to deal with IB directly (trust me, it's not always a pleasant experience)
They are for Interactive Brokers UK, NOT US. https://trading.prorealtime.com/en/brokerage. The OP is looking for a list of Introducing Brokers for Interactive Brokers US for which there is none. As far as I know, for Interactive Brokers US, you just sign up with IB directly.
As I stated above, from Europe you can only start IB-UK not IB-LLC(US) account. And IB-UK is not offering certain US-domiciled securities like ETFs. Moreover IB-LLC has their Pro and Lite account and latter has no $10 fee(albeit it's very limited compared to Pro but can be upgraded one anytime). So IB-LLC offer is pretty much superior compared to IB-UK. As for introducing brokers for IB-LLC, yes they do exist in US. In my first post there's a link to IB website where they listed few possible brokers. Thing is, the list is just a fraction of existing introducing brokers IB has. Honestly speaking all those commissions and $10 fee are just minor issues, and while it would be nice to mitigate those I don't care that much. The real thing is ability to start IB-LLC(US) account from Europe. If I would be able to start without introducing broker I wouldn't be asking here.