IB has been behind the futures commissions price curve for years and they don't even want to consider that their futures commissions are much too high. IB's unbundled commissions for ES are $4.70 RT for the first 300 sides, $4.30 RT for the next 700 hundred sides and only hit a reasonable $3.60 RT after those first 1000 sides (500 RTs). There are now a number of futures brokers at the $3.80 RT level and 2 futures brokers at the $3.30 RT level. Interesting that the 2 brokers at the $3.30 RT level aren't even clearing firms and don't have the lowest expenses. IB is a futures clearing firm and has some of the lowest business costs of any broker, but they are not passing those cost savings on to their futures customers. IB is losing and will continue to lose futures business to other brokers if they don't lower their commissions.
While of course it *is* intended for active traders, IB since about July 2009 has doubled their inactivity fees, from 10 per month to 20 USD. On principle, there should be zero inactivity fees, much less an increase to practically equal the monthly commission minimum of 30 USD. IB says their Level 1 feed costs them, justifying the increases, but tons of brokers provide such at no cost, even online brokers like TD Ameritrade. Some brokers even provide free L2 quotes, with a minimum deposit, etc. Point is, it should not cost you a dime to let them use thousands of your dollars for interest collection, etc., on the basis of you not trading "enough". Even if it is a direct access broker, it is still bogus. Just my 2 cents...
IB is too big to care about you but giants do fail eventually if they don't check themselves before they wreck themselves
I do not expect IB to "care" about me. I am just saying their package is far less attractive lately with such hidden (and now increased 100%) fees. Their bigger short sell list is one redeeming feature. Nobody keeping anything resembling a day trading level of cash reserves with them should be charged such fees, IMHO...