IB always do this when volatility and the VIX increase. The message said 'today' only, but if volatility remains elevated they will change it to 'until further notice' This should be fine as it protects all clients. Traders should be cutting back size anyway. The problem in the past i have had is that they are too slow to reintroduce intra day margin. The markets will quieten back down but they will take extra weeks or months to reintroduce intra day margin. This means if you want to increase your trading size back to normal levels when volatility heads back to normal levels IB wont let you, for a while at least.
they are freezing their risk with respect to all those products.. makes sense i saw somewhere credit suiss is going to nix their product
I never said it was. If IB take away intra day margin when the VIX jumps above 30, they don't always reintroduce when the VIX drops to 29. They have in the past waited extra weeks or months. eg We might have to wait until the VIX drops to 20. Hopefully this wont happen, but IB being extra conservative with Risk, you cant rule it out.
if your trading overnight its best not to trade with IB as they will almost without notice raise your margin and liqudate you.. this might seem reasonable but it does not give you a chance to reduce your position in a orderly fashion , they will liqudate you at the very very worse price indiscrimately and you will have no choice which positions they sell off..