Doesn't matter who is doing the loaning to whom, or what is being lent, or whether it's even a completely private transaction between two consenting adults, which is why loan sharking is illegal. Want to lend your neighbor $1,000 bucks fine. Ask him to pay back $1100 next week and you've broken the law, you won't be able to enforce the $100 in interest for one week in court, although you might try calling it a late fee or an annual fee, which is what credit card companies do to squeeze their already sky high rates even higher, beyond the legal caps in various states. The IB rate, and or the rate IB is charged, is flatly usurious, and should be contested in court, with regulators or at congressional/legislative levels. The SEC 'may' be toothless? C'mon .... Bottom line really here is that most retail traders don't know don't care or are too lazy to do anything, even when they know they are getting ripped. Billions have been made since commissions were deregulated back in the 70s exploiting this sad reality.
Well Don, I think you're a GRUP because you're over 30 and therefore you must be a bad guy too (wink)
I'm sure that the "idiots" at CNBC are chafing at the bit to do a story like this because they have never heard of things like the indicative borrow rate on short stock. And if they won't do it, all you need to do is find your Sancho Panza and you can ride off to Hartford with your idealism and fight this one up to the Supreme Court. Good luck and ciao!
The CNBC dolts are bending over backwards to look tough these days, so they might give this one a run. But they would probably twist it into a this is good for the market to screw the shorts this way slant. They are dolts, trust me. Used to be a journo. Don't need to fight this one I think? Publicity alone would make IB change their policy. I'm tempted to go short some IB stock, just to see if I am charged anything. But Then again I could also be accused or talking down a stock and trying to profit from it, which is also, technically illegal, if that's my motive.
Yep, a march on Washington will do the trick. Tens of thousands of protesters clogging the streets, burning IB effigies, screaming financial epithets! Populism will rule. IB will end up paying us to borrow stock to short. Sign me up!!
IB-AN, You seriously do not see this as pure lunacy? 1)Your company and the trade workstation heavy client gui are both focused on active/quick trading by providing all info in one view. 2)In that gui, you have a "Shortable" column which is color coded to indicate whether or not the stock is available for short. 3)Yet to find the borrow rates one needs to go through a 5 step process by opening a browser, goto the location, lookup the exchange, etc.. 4)The "current indicative rate" could EASILY be displayed on the color coded "Shortable" column in TWS to avoid all of this. If it's not to deceive the customers WHY would IB bury this info. I mean seriously, every release god knows how many useless clunk gets added to tws, i am sure you guys could easily made the change to add the rate to the tws itself as oppose to force the customers to go through a multi-step process to find this info. If it's not deception, then why bury this very critical piece of info? you dont think whoever is shorting the stock would like to know they are paying a 23% borrow rate? PS and yes i did submit a suggestion ticket a long time ago.
I could not agree more. They update with useless garbage, yet stuff I really NEED as an active trader is just not available. Their suggestion box (ticket) is worthless. There are so many posts, who can go through them looking for some valuable ideas to support? IDEA: Do you think there are enough of us here to enter a ticket - with everyone agreeing to give it 5 stars - to get their attention? is it worth a try? Mark