That is an ET myth! Like having the mysterious "edge" or why day trading is better than swing trading. I had a concurrent account at Schwab and IB, do not think for a minute that on average there is a difference in execution quality! I have not seen it! The rest does not matter, if you are trading crazy stuff(warrants etc) IB may be better.
Since you were only paying 1.60 in commissions, your positions were tiny. No-one buys order flow for no benefit. How many thousands of trades did you sample to get that conclusion?
Exactly! It matters with SIZE! I do not trade size as most people. I rather scale in and scale-out. This issue is mute for most traders. IB's only pitch is their also mute margin rate! Who cares?
I'm a long time Schwab customer but started considering IB earlier this week, primarily frustrated with Schwab's ridiculous margin rates in current rate environment. I primarily trade like a hedge fund, always have short positions, do a lot of options trading. The problem is, the IB demo runs like dogsh*t and I can't tell if their platform is user friendly or not. The piecemeal data pricing is not only confusing, it seems really nitty, and the help/chat is unavailable even for transfers. How long does it take for asset transfers into the initial account? Is the workstation better/worse than Streetsmart (I don't need the gazillion extra TA indicators IB likely has)? How much do all those nitty data charges add up to every month compared to what you would get for free at Schwab (I want RT quotes, market depth, option what-if and probability)? Appreciate any insight, thx.
99% is correct Not the executions 99% of the posters here, especially the 10,000+ ones, dont even trade so they dont know the executions are the same
IB has a good shortlist and while much about IB is confusing it caters to the big swinging traders. They like 10 mill account size and up and they have quite a few (I am not albeit allegedly ET has some here). You DO get used to the platform or use/pick your own and only execute IB. The account can be transferred using IB's website, just be patient.
How can one get better support at IB? The ticket system is unusable on mobile for me, it literally doesn't work. Chat takes forever to reach anyone if ever. Even logging in is so difficult and buggy. Is there a way to simply email externally?
Thanks for the response. They may cater to those types of traders, but they sure don't coddle them or try hard to acquire them. I first tried moving to IB years ago so I could put the purchase of a house on margin. They treated me indifferently and I instead got offered an asset backed lending program from Schwab. I didn't use it but at least Schwab tried. Later when I was consolidating other brokerage accounts and comparing offers, they didn't bother to make an offer even though I solicited for one. I assume customer acquisition isn't part of their model and they keep costs low that way, but I still can't gauge what their platform will cost me. I don't want to open a small test account, worsen my margin position even more on Schwab, just to get reamed with data charges and weird fees when I decide its not up to snuff.
Lately CS is overwhelmed due to the massive problems on their platform. In more normal times, it can be hard to reach CS via chat but it also appears to depend on your account size. I do sympathize on some level with them, you don't want to spend hours dealing with issues when someone only has a $5k account and pays $20 in commissions monthly. It's a loss making venture. Logging in works fine when the servers are up, not sure what bugs you're talking about. Since you're more a phone trader type, Robinhood might be more your cup of yea but you don't get any support at all.
You left out the crucial part. Did you place trades of equal size at the same time on IB and your free broker? Because that is the only way to compare. That's how I've tested execution for different execution algos on IB. If not, what is your basis?