"From day one, my passion has been to make investing easier and more affordable for everyone. Beginning October 7, every Schwab client can trade U.S. stocks, ETFs and options commission-free. Eliminating commissions ensures my ultimate vision is realized – making investing accessible to all.” Yeah, your ultimate vision was zero commission.... https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191001005489/en/
It seems the market understands at least partially that IB will not lose revenue - that IB will earn pretty much the same on Lite as it does on Pro, and therefore IBKR is trading down less than the others.
If we assume that this drive towards zero is mainly due to customers fleeing to Robinhood, then I doubt futures commissions will change in the near future.
LOL Even Charles Schwab have cheaper Commissions than IB (stock/options). And no limitations with respect to API/workstation. PLUS, active traders at CSHW can negotiate lower rates in the options market. things are changing......
Ah, ok, it will cost IB also - not as much as the others though - because IB will have to share a piece of the pie with Citadel and the likes. In other words for broker clients, IB Lite will cost as much or more than Pro, but for clients on IB Lite, IB will have to share a piece of the revenue with Citadel and the likes making the piece of the pie smaller for IB. Hence IB increases the interest margin and lower the deposit rate to compensate for what they will lose to Citadel and the likes. But overall IB should suffer less than the competition.
I was on zero commission for a couple of years already and the option commission per contract is on a sliding scale for volume, a lot cheaper if you trade large lot size. They still don't have API for us mom and pop retails. It was clear for several years that they were changing their business model, now providing banking, mortgage, loans, financial planning, wealth management, etc.
I wished Robinhood or some one else would offer zero commission on futures! IF IB follows with zero commission on futures then that would be a GLORIOUS day!