PPFx, That's what I surmised. While nearly all of my trades are < 24 hrs I end up holding positions overnight regularly. I forgot where the IB tiers break dollar-wise but when I looked at this a few weeks ago, at the lowest tier, the terms of carry were worse than Gain by 175 bps ann. I know that's considered small money to some but IB has effectively widened my spread by about a 1/2 pip on the back end. If you're going to charge me put it in the spread where I can see it easily, don't squirrel it away in the cost of carry.
No blue. IB is showing you their view of their costs by charging that way. Which is good. Because then, if you do things that incur the costs and don't like them you can go elsewhere. Or choose to behave differently. If they made the spread bigger then its a charge to everyone not doing the thing that they perceive to have a cost. I'd much prefer that they wacked u bad boys ... even when you got a surprise ... rather than applying the cane to all of us. By all means ask IB to be more transparent if thats your problem ...
kiwi, Yes, you're right. I was referring to my own interests and my strategies, not what would be best for traders in general. At least IB is transparent by posting their rollover rates for all to see.
The lowest tier is <100k (<1 lot). You're concerned about 175 bps on less than 1 lot? (assuming that Gain rate is even correct)
No, that's too small. I guess I was looking at a higher tier. Yes, 175 is important to me. I thought it was worth noting as a follow-up to someone else's post. Anyway, it's not worth carrying on about.
Any number of ECN brokers (MB, Hotspot, Currenex) offer direct FIX connections, but I know that could never be as good as going though good 'ole TWS