Would you recommend IB?

[Airthrey Capital]

I am thinking of opening an account with IB. I must admit I had never heard of them before I subscribed to this site, and it appears that some of you seem to use them. I have read some of the comments on the Reviews thread, but need a little more encouragement before I actually go through the process of opening an account.

I purely trade FTSE futures, and ocassionaly FTSE options. I tend to day trade, but will sometimes hold positions for 3-4 days, and rarely hold a position for more than 2 weeks.

I will trade anything form 1 to 10 lots.

Are there any other FTSE traders out ther who use IB, and would you recommend them?...I am aware support is not that great.

What do they typically charge, and is there a minimum trading charge per month?....Is the trading platform any good?...

I would appreciate any useful feedback from T2W members.

Thanks :cheesy:

 

[oatman]

It's all on their website
http://www.interactivebrokers.com/index.html
I've just opened with them because I'm p....d off with Ftse future and want to look at other things ie Dow future and Nasdaq stocks. Like anything, it's a bit strange at first.

Good luck

 

[Airthrey Capital]

Oatman,

Thanks for the link...just taking a look now.

 

[sidinuk]

I use them for E-mini S&P500 and find them very good. The trader workstation is very reliable and they are very cheap. I have found email support to be ok, they resolved a problem I had but it did take a couple of weeks. It was only a minor problem, I have never had cause to phone them.

 

[Trader333]

Yes I would recommend them and I do have an account with them. Their costs are second to none as is their reliability (so far). They are not so hot on telephone backup but I havent had cause to use that yet. With the right software you can even use their datafeed to chart your chosen markets. All in all they are good in my view.


Paul

 

[Airthrey Capital]

Currently trying to access their TWS demo, but I keep getting the message that the demo is currently unavailable. Oh well, just have to keep trying!

 

[jitasb]

Hello...
I am in looking into opening an account with a Direct Access broker. Have currently narrowed it down to IB and GNI.
Just out of interest is GNI same as ManFinancial ??

But that aside, my main question relates to financial costs.
As I understand it, you pay commission on each trade (open and close), you need to have a minimum account size and enough to cover the margin requirements for each trade.

Apart from that are there any other costs ?
E.G Do you have to pay for using the software platform (e.g J-Trader/ TWS or whatever)
E.G Do you have to pay for Data and/or streaming charts..

Thanks in advance..

 

[Trader333]

jitasb,

For IB the only other cost is the exchange fee for the market you are trading. After that there are no other costs for the software or using the data.



Paul

 

[peto]

for IB:
US Securities & Commodities Bundle data fees will cost $10 pm, but is free if your monthly commissions exceed $30.

Nasq Level 2 is another $20
Other exchanges data fees go from free (e.g. Hong Kong) to £25pm (LIFFE)

Streaming charts can be run from the platform by linking Quotetracker (free trial indefinately) or Sierra. No backfill though, you might want to pay someone else around £20+ pm for this.

Some exchanges (eg. EUREX) charge a few bob for cancelled or modified orders, but credit maybe 3 times more back to you for filled orders. This is only likely to be a problem if you use an automatic trailing stop when your stop is going to move dozens of times.

The TWS platform is free as Trader333 says, altough there's a $10pm fee if commissions and/or data fees don't exceed $10 (ie it's an inactivity fee)

 

[stevet]

jitasb

gni were taken over by man - which might end up being bad news as man always seem to want a lot from retail traders

IB are expensive per r/t, but for retail are cheaper than most

 

[jitasb]

Thanks for the info guys/gals...very useful..

 

[scrappy]

I believe it is 50pounds for the GNI Touch platform with UK Level2 data.

GL

 

[oatman]

IB :cheesy:

 

[samatrix]

Another big benefit to trading with IB is the proliferation of 3rd party trading utilities. Since the software is open source many have developed powerful interfaces for trading thru IB. Check out the discussion forum for further details. Look for the Freelance Tools topic.

 

[fillyerboots]

jitasb

I found IB's London Office very helpful. I dealt with Gary Dibley 0207 397 6422

 

[jitasb]

Thanks for info...
Another quick query with regards to Direct Futures trading.
Would I be right in saying that you are effectively dealing in an exchange, so if you say sell the Dow future, then someone would have to buy it ??

What if you went long at say 9600 on DOW, with a Stop of 15 points (i.e sell at 9585)..but the market tanked big time. Presumably it is possible that the Stop Order would not be filled, since no-one was willing to sell at 9585, hence leaving you with a losing position, unable to get out ??

Thanks in advance...

 

[sidinuk]

jitasb,

yes with direct access futures, every contract sold needs someone to buy it. Stick to liquid futures markets and it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The emini dow (YM) used to suffer from being illiquid but is getting more and more popular. Certainly for a few contracts you should experience much if any slippage, perhaps if you tried to sell a 100 or more you might lose a bit.

Always have a stop at the exchange, with YM that means having a stop order, with ES a stop-limit. That way your order will be dealt at the quickest possible speed if the market tanked. There will always be traders too slow to lift their limits that your stop will hit.

 

[Trader333]

jitasb,

If a market tanks I think you mean that no-one would be willing "Buy" at 9585 as I am sure everyone would be more than willing to sell in a falling market at the highest price they could.

Anyway, yes it is possible that you would not get filled at the stop price. The worse case scenarios have seen people getting filled miles away from their stop but you would still get filled in my view.


Paul

 

[Skimbleshanks]

I too believe that you would get filled, but not necessarily at the price you would ideally want.

There are an awful lot of people who like to play 'catch the falling knife' and they are the ones who will be buying. And then you smell that dreadful whiff of bull fur singeing, so the falling knife players then sell at a loss, and that is often the very market bottom, coincidentally.

 

[jitasb]

Thanks for info....very useful.
Good point about 'catching the falling knife'...I think I've tried that a few times.

Having done some investigation and reading on Direct Access compared to Spreadbetters (who i've dealt with over a few years)...have come to following tentative conclusions:

1. Direct Access is "better" due to the narrow spreads, however this is offset somewhat by having to pay commision and exchange fees.

2. Direct Access is "better" due to the narrow spreads, which avoids the spread firms practice (supposedly) of messing round with their spreads to activate stops and such like.

3. SpreadBetting is "better" due to not having to pay capital gains tax on any profits. (although by same token 'losses' cannot be offset).

Is the above fair...and any other important factors that I may have missed ??
Apologies in advance if this is the wrong thread for this query ...

Ta..