I presume the reason Interactive Brokers gives me a questionnaire when I subscribe to new feeds is to determine if I'm a professional and charge me more if I am. I was thinking of wrapping all my investing in a corporation for tax purposes, which it seems would cause me to be classified as a professional. So, can anyone give me a sense of how much the fees, especially stock order books tend to increase? Will it go from ~$25/book to hundreds or thousands for a level 2 feed? Side note: does anyone know how the questionnaire to determine professional status is generally handled? Is there discretion in the decision involved or does it follow strict rules? For example, for IB I noticed it asks if you live off of only your trading proceeds. Even if not incorporated and trading on a personal account, would answering yes to that automatically cause one to be classified as professional? If you make sufficient profit will they classify you as a professional?
Have you already consulted these IB pages? https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/?f=/en/accounts/fees/professionalDefinations.php https://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/article/2583 The price difference between professional and non-professional depends strongly on the data subscription. It depends which live data stream you need.
This is what IB charge clients for professional data fees on monthly basis: Quote Bundles Professional US Securities Snapshot Bundle 10.00 USD Level 1(NBBO) AMEX (Network B/CTA)23.00 USD Aequitas NEO10.00 USD CFE Enhanced7.50 USD Canadian Exchange Group (TSX/TSXV)73.00 USD Mexican Derivatives15.00 USD Mexican Stock Exchange32.00 USD Montreal Derivatives43.00 CAD NASDAQ (Network C/UTP)23.00 USD NYSE (Network A/CTA) Billed by Broker45.00 USD NYSE (Network A/CTA) Billed by NYSE45.00 USD OPRA (US Options Exchanges)32.75 USD OTC Markets30.00 USD Level II (Deep Book) ISE Options60.00 USD Montreal Derivatives54.50 CAD NASDAQ BX TotalView43.00 USD NASDAQ Options Market60.00 USD NASDAQ TotalView-OpenView86.50 USD NASDAQ TotalView-OpenView EDS10.00 USD NYMEX Real-Time90.00 USD NYSE AMEX Options60.00 USD NYSE Arca Options60.00 USD NYSE ArcaBook40.00 USD NYSE OpenBook60.00 USD OTC Global EquitiesFee Waived OTC Markets80.00 USD OneChicago Futures1.00 USD TSX Venture Market by Price16.00 USD Toronto Market by Price30.00 USD Other NYSE MKT Order ImbalancesFee Waived NYSE Order ImbalancesFee Waived
All brokers I have dealt with charge pro fees for corporations, even if the corporation is run by a homesless person just looking to earn income for food.
I got hit with that questionnaire out of the blue a few weeks ago after the yearly profile update. It seemed strange to me but if I didn't fill it out they threatened to cut off my data.
I'm no lawyer, but I think you may be mistaken about that, if it's your own money only. I think that for feed-payment purposes, what matters is whether you're trading OPM?
Zela is correct. I trade under my corporation but as I trade my own funds, I did not have to open under "professional".
Here is the CME criteria for non pro status: https://www.cmegroup.com/market-dat...it-a-to-schedule-4-non-pro-self-cert-form.pdf I would guess other exchanges are similar??? ICE are the worst, they charge everyone the full pro rate.
I actually just went through this with tradestation. Because I trade through a corporation data fees went from $46/mth to $397/mth. Thankfully I can just write this off EOY