Hi, I'm just curious what kind of trading volume is significant enough that you can start asking for commission discounts, or other services for free? I'm working with IB at the moment, but can change to other brokers if they're much easier to work with. I'm not a high volume trader, but am curious in understanding where the threshold/cut-off is. Right now, I'm trading about 800k shares (US equities) a month, but could easily see that double or even quadruple as I scale up my strategy.
I've heard a lot of teeth-gnashing about the proposed stamp tax. I'm not exactly excited about it, but I'm also not *that* concerned. Stamp taxes are common in other countries. London, Hong Kong, Singapore... all still financial centers where companies are willing to list themselves.
I used to trade 100-200 emini contracts at IB, with many trades intraday. When I had problems, they treated me like shit. Either they have huge clients and don't care about the little guy, or they don't care because they have so many clients. This was a while ago, but I went all the way to the level of the VP and unless they have changed at the top, it's likely the same. My problem wasn't with commissions tho, but it just goes to show u that they are inflexible. Exact scenario was they said their back end system was down, and they couldn't exit a trade for me over the phone (for 6 hours). I found out later that they had the power to call the exchange directly and get it done. But they didn't.
I do about 4,000,000 shares/month... And IB treats me like the guy who sleeps in the bus shelter... Outside Chairman Peterfly's mansion with 63 bathrooms. IB would treat Warren Buffett like a 5 year old.
Exactly. THEY don't change whatever your volume is. YOU have to. There's a threshold beyond which working with IB starts to be at your disadvantage, given their customer target, and their practicies fully aligned with that target. A Stamp Tax is the Silliest thing you can think of. In France it was supressed 2 years Ago, but nobody paid it as it was not levied on non-resident accounts and you just had to open an account with any broker outside the country to avoid it (say belgium, Switzerland or even USA where IB is). In that sort of taxes there are always a lot of exemptions. In UK it just means proliferation of Bucketshops that trade for you under their MM status. You as a retail trader trade with them in OTC contracts ("CFD" ) that follow the undelying. That's a total waste of time in legal masquerading. There's also the possibility to set a limit like $10,000 below which orders are exempted, this just resulted in fragmented orders in the countries where it was set.
If you trade that high volume, you should probably turn to a prop firm to trade instead. I trade at one and pay 13 cents per 100 shares (after ECN rebates). IB and the usual online brokers don't give you the ECN rebates. Just a thought since it would save you lots of money on your trading execution costs.
Once again mis-info and perception about IB. You do receive ECN rebates at IB via the unbundled pricing scheme where commissions can be as low as .001 per share before rebate at the low end of the tier schedule. http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/stocksPricing2.php?ib_entity=llc http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/commission.php?ib_entity=llc IB routes to pretty much every major exchange, ecn and dark pool in the US. Does your firm? Low commissions are very important but I'd argue that better execution quality is where you can save the real money.
Ignorant post. def took care of your lack of knowledge about ECN rebates. As to why someone should go prop: why should someone deposit their money at an unlicensed prop shop like you are at now? Just because you finally found someone who can hold your dick while you pee doesn't make your prop shop (sorry, your educational-firm) the better alternative. Let's see how you sing their praises when you can't get your profits/deposit (training fees?) back or the firm gets Tuco'd. Your posts are very ill-informed.