Best Thread Interactive Brokers

Dear Wheezergeezer:

For your reference, there are four ways to contact IB in case of a problem, e.g., toll free telephone number, Chat, via e-mail and moreover through your account management tool where there is a problem ticket.. From your problem ticket you can provide us your problem and you can monitor our follow-up on-line.

We welcome the opportunity to investigate the problem. Please send an e-mail to [email protected] with your account id and copy the particulars in your post above to [email protected] so we can begin our investigation.

Your client problem is our problem and we intend to investigate it.

IB
 
Dear IB, will do that, you're toll free number is no longer valid after 19:00,(Swiss office) ) the UK office is closed after 18:00, I did try the chat line but was on hold for more than 14 minutes rather than the 4 minutes as was indicated it would take to "speak" with someone, and finally if I cant log on via my own account I was unable to contact you via 3 out of the 4 methods you suggested,
at the time 4 out of 4 of the help methods failed !

Thank you for responding , I sincereley hope we can find a solution .
 
Dear Wheezergeezer:

Our UK office is not technical support and is not an option I mentioned earlier. So you need to contact us through any of the four other options noted earlier. We provide support Monday through Friday (during trading days), solely.

Because it is the weekend, you are correct our technical support will not be able to provide you support until Monday morning. And that is why your account management tool problem ticket will not be of much use on the weekend when the markets are closed.

We look forward to receiving your particulars via e-mail to [email protected] i.e., with your account id, and please copy [email protected]

Thank you and have a nice weekend.
 
CFD's

Hi Gerry,

I refer to your post on the CFD thread.

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?t=16547&page=3&pp=10

If you are able to offer more favourable commission rates than are offered elsewhere, with direct market access, using your existing platform (which I guess would be your aim anyway, as it would keep the costs of introducing a new product to the market down) and are able to offer excellence in customer support, then I would strongly consider using it in preference to other providers.

I hope you would be able to deliver on the above. If so, I would have thought you would be able to develop a reasonable (and highly profitable) revenue stream for yourselves. However, I guess this product would not be available in the US due to current regulatory restrictions (please correct me if I'm wrong here!!). So in terms of turnover, it would be a smallish niche product as a % of total turnover.

So I guess it's over to you to see if it's worth your while offering a CFD product.

My answer to your question is, "Yes please!"
 
Oh and NASDAQ stocks please. Market capitalisation of greater than $10m will do- that's what VIA offer.
 
Multiple currency

Just a quick question. Im currently trading the US markets but im interested in trading the DAX and maybe FT100. Do I need to convert from US dollars to GBP or EUROS using forex IDEAL or does IB automatically do the conversion when I trade foreign securities? :confused:

Thanks
 
ddmc,

You build a profit or loss in the currencies concerned (ib automatically uses your US base account to fund the trades transparently and you only see cumulative loss or profit accumulating in the other currency). At a time of your choice you can convert it back to your base currency using ideal.
 
Jimmy1jag:

What commission is reasonable to attract your interest and others if we offer CFD's?

For example,

1. CFD's for UK shares ?
2. CFD's for German shares?
3. And for any other European markets that you believe there may be interest in?

Thank you in advance.

Interactive Brokers





jimmy1jag said:
Hi Gerry,

I refer to your post on the CFD thread.

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?t=16547&page=3&pp=10

If you are able to offer more favourable commission rates than are offered elsewhere, with direct market access, using your existing platform (which I guess would be your aim anyway, as it would keep the costs of introducing a new product to the market down) and are able to offer excellence in customer support, then I would strongly consider using it in preference to other providers.

I hope you would be able to deliver on the above. If so, I would have thought you would be able to develop a reasonable (and highly profitable) revenue stream for yourselves. However, I guess this product would not be available in the US due to current regulatory restrictions (please correct me if I'm wrong here!!). So in terms of turnover, it would be a smallish niche product as a % of total turnover.

So I guess it's over to you to see if it's worth your while offering a CFD product.

My answer to your question is, "Yes please!"
 
Interactive Brokers said:
Jimmy1jag:

What commission is reasonable to attract your interest and others if we offer CFD's?

For example,

1. CFD's for UK shares ?
2. CFD's for German shares?
3. And for any other European markets that you believe there may be interest in?

Thank you in advance.

Interactive Brokers


Isthis a competitive example: http://www.via-trader.com/via/viabroker.htm
 
Interactive Brokers said:
Jimmy1jag:

What commission is reasonable to attract your interest and others if we offer CFD's?

For example,

1. CFD's for UK shares ?
2. CFD's for German shares?
3. And for any other European markets that you believe there may be interest in?

Thank you in advance.

Interactive Brokers

Gerry,

The link (to VIA-Broker) Neil provides above is your starting point.

Personally I don't trade any of the instruments you mention above. That said, I've never really looked at German stocks although I have noticed some nice movers in passing (eg. Deutsche Bank, SAP).

What I would be really interested in seeing is an offer of a commission rate of, say 1.5 c per share on US stocks (lower if possible of course!!) and a reduction in the minimum fee from the $12 quoted by VIA Broker). Would, say a minimum of $4- $6 be reasonable (lower if possible of course!)? This is higher than your minimum commission for normal shares in US markets (if I remember correctly). So you would still be extracting a premium from a CFD product. Additionally I don't know how this would fit in with other areas of the IB pricing structure.

As I mentioned on the CFD thread you posted on, a minimum of $12 means you have to average a 24c movement on every trade just to cover your costs if you're trading in 100 share lots, a 12c movement for 200, settling at 6c from 400 shares up (spread not included - and trading in the real market, you can work the spread anyway, so this isn't really an issue). A major reduction at this end of the scale would be a major attraction for many potential customers.

The other area you should consider is the other end of the scale. What is the maximum fee you would charge? VIA Broker don't have a ceiling. You do on ordinary stocks. You could certainly offer the same here.

Just remembered... I did a comparison between IB and VIA on the impact of commission charges on any individual trade. This is attached below. OK I'm not totally comparing like with like, but it shows how big the gap is between IB's commission fees for shares (assuming I've interpreted your pricing structure for US stocks correctly - taken from you web site) and VIA Broker CFD prices.

I hope this helps... I've inadvertantly done some work for you :)

Kind regards

James
 

Attachments

  • VIA IB Comparison.xls
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How about fixed rate commissions? If stockbrokers can charge flat commissions on ordinary share trading account and ISA account, why not for CFDs?

E*Trade has started something of that sort but their offering is quite limited (and someone told me their execution is pants), but obviously the trend has started.

So here's my wishlist:
a. fixed commission
b. good market coverage
c. finance charges no more than base rate +/-2%
 
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Jimmy1jag:

Respectfully, your spreadsheet is incorrect regarding our metrics.

For US shares, we ask $0.005 per share (includes, brokerage, exchange, clearing, regulatory and technology fees) via SMART ORDER Routing with a minimum of $1.00 per transaction and/or a maximum of 0.2% per transaction. We also offer stock lending.

For example, per side

KEY (for below): IB brokerage fee; # shares; IB cost per roundtrip; minimum tick to cover IB costs

$1.00 = 100 shares [$2.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus two tick's (0.02) covers our costs]
$1.00 = 200 shares [$2.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$1.50 = 300 shares [$3.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$ 3.00 = 600 shares [$6.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$ 5.00 = 1000 shares [$10.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$10.00 = 2,000 shares [$20.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
And etc.


NOTE: 1,000 Shares @ USD 2 Share Price = USD 4.00 If you account for our maximum per transaction, for small priced shares.

Further, you trade directly in the market (DMA) and you can use any of our +30 order types at no extra cost.

Now you can compare our metrics and choose for yourself.

Interactive Brokers


jimmy1jag said:
Gerry,

The link (to VIA-Broker) Neil provides above is your starting point.

Personally I don't trade any of the instruments you mention above. That said, I've never really looked at German stocks although I have noticed some nice movers in passing (eg. Deutsche Bank, SAP).

What I would be really interested in seeing is an offer of a commission rate of, say 1.5 c per share on US stocks (lower if possible of course!!) and a reduction in the minimum fee from the $12 quoted by VIA Broker). Would, say a minimum of $4- $6 be reasonable (lower if possible of course!)? This is higher than your minimum commission for normal shares in US markets (if I remember correctly). So you would still be extracting a premium from a CFD product. Additionally I don't know how this would fit in with other areas of the IB pricing structure.

As I mentioned on the CFD thread you posted on, a minimum of $12 means you have to average a 24c movement on every trade just to cover your costs if you're trading in 100 share lots, a 12c movement for 200, settling at 6c from 400 shares up (spread not included - and trading in the real market, you can work the spread anyway, so this isn't really an issue). A major reduction at this end of the scale would be a major attraction for many potential customers.

The other area you should consider is the other end of the scale. What is the maximum fee you would charge? VIA Broker don't have a ceiling. You do on ordinary stocks. You could certainly offer the same here.

Just remembered... I did a comparison between IB and VIA on the impact of commission charges on any individual trade. This is attached below. OK I'm not totally comparing like with like, but it shows how big the gap is between IB's commission fees for shares (assuming I've interpreted your pricing structure for US stocks correctly - taken from you web site) and VIA Broker CFD prices.

I hope this helps... I've inadvertantly done some work for you :)

Kind regards

James
 
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IB,
As per your question regarding charges for cfd for uk stocks.Ths following providers are the ones who offer DMA at the moment. GNI, ETRADE, IG INDEX, IDEALING, GLOBALTRADER.
Commissions vary from 0.06% to 0.25%.As you can see these rates are hugely more expensive than those for US shares even though they have come down since Etrade entered the market. Even for those clients who generate huge monthly commissions, the rates are still exhorbitant compared to the US.I'm the uk's top commission generating daytrader and would love it for we could get some real competition in the uk to drive commissions down.
FWIW, I generate about £20,000 per month for the DMA providers. Naturally I'm on a much reduced rate to those I've mentioned above and would be more than happy to discuss it and other aspects of Uk cfd's DMA trading with you if IB are serious about introducing a platform.
 
Our interest has spiked regarding offering CFD's. Contact our MD for IBUK [email protected]


nobrainer said:
IB,
As per your question regarding charges for cfd for uk stocks.Ths following providers are the ones who offer DMA at the moment. GNI, ETRADE, IG INDEX, IDEALING, GLOBALTRADER.
Commissions vary from 0.06% to 0.25%.As you can see these rates are hugely more expensive than those for US shares even though they have come down since Etrade entered the market. Even for those clients who generate huge monthly commissions, the rates are still exhorbitant compared to the US.I'm the uk's top commission generating daytrader and would love it for we could get some real competition in the uk to drive commissions down.
FWIW, I generate about £20,000 per month for the DMA providers. Naturally I'm on a much reduced rate to those I've mentioned above and would be more than happy to discuss it and other aspects of Uk cfd's DMA trading with you if IB are serious about introducing a platform.
 
Interactive Brokers said:
Jimmy1jag:

Respectfully, your spreadsheet is incorrect regarding our metrics.

For US shares, we ask $0.005 per share (includes, brokerage, exchange, clearing, regulatory and technology fees) via SMART ORDER Routing with a minimum of $1.00 per transaction and/or a maximum of 0.2% per transaction. We also offer stock lending.

For example, per side

KEY (for below): IB brokerage fee; # shares; IB cost per roundtrip; minimum tick to cover IB costs

$1.00 = 100 shares [$2.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$1.00 = 200 shares [$2.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$1.50 = 300 shares [$3.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$ 3.00 = 600 shares [$6.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$ 5.00 = 1000 shares [$10.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
$10.00 = 2,000 shares [$20.00 for a roundtrip; thus plus one tick (0.01) covers our costs]
And etc.


NOTE: 1,000 Shares @ USD 2 Share Price = USD 4.00 If you account for our maximum per transaction, for small priced shares.

Further, you trade directly in the market (DMA) and you can use any of our +30 order types at no extra cost.

Now you can compare our metrics and choose for yourself.

Interactive Brokers

I've corrected my spreadsheet to reflect these numbers (except for 100 shares where you'll need a +2 tick movement to cover your costs- minor cosmetic detail).

Anyway, the main point of all of this is that there is a significant gap and room to play in for IB in the provision of CFD's. And I would have thought a real opportunity for them to really clean up (in the CFD arena) should the overall business case numbers stack up.

Go on do it! You know it's the right thing to do! ;)
 
Thanks Jimmy1jag. We are looking into the CFD market.
Interactive Brokers


QUOTE=jimmy1jag]I've corrected my spreadsheet to reflect these numbers (except for 100 shares where you'll need a +2 tick movement to cover your costs- minor cosmetic detail).

Anyway, the main point of all of this is that there is a significant gap and room to play in for IB in the provision of CFD's. And I would have thought a real opportunity for them to really clean up (in the CFD arena) should the overall business case numbers stack up.

Go on do it! You know it's the right thing to do! ;)[/QUOTE]
 
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Market Data subscription.


What market data in IB would i have to subscribe to if I wanted to trade the FT100 futures contract?
 
Are you referring to
Euronext Data Bundle- Level 1 (Stocks level 2 - Equity Derivatives level 1) 5.00 EUR.
I cant see any market data subscription for 5 GBP
 
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