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Interactive Brokers - experiences and opinions

  • #261
  • Aug 21, 2009 4:33pm Aug 21, 2009 4:33pm
Quoting Trader KGB
If you enter a limit order into an ECN, and it's not immediately marketable against an existing limit order, your order will rest in the order book, i.e. you are adding liquidity to the ECN book....
wow, this is some complicated stuff right here. i dont really understand what your talking about but dont worry about it cause im gonna call ib up to talk to them about this. thats the only way im gonna understand it. thanks for letting me know about that.
  • #262
  • Aug 21, 2009 4:41pm Aug 21, 2009 4:41pm
Quoting johnpalley
wow, this is some complicated stuff right here. i dont really understand what your talking about but dont worry about it cause im gonna call ib up to talk to them about this. thats the only way im gonna understand it. thanks for letting me know about that.
Be warned that IB's customer support is known to be not very newbie-friendly.
  • #263
  • Aug 21, 2009 5:03pm Aug 21, 2009 5:03pm
Quoting Trader KGB
Be warned that IB's customer support is known to be not very newbie-friendly.
everyone always says that but everytime i call them there polite and answer all my questions.i guess im just getting lucky. i just got off the phone with them and now i understand. that is such a complicated system cause every exchange has there own prices for adding and taking away liquidity. but the thing is the way i trade, i use level 2 quotes and every order i make it gets executed immediately cause i can see all the bids and asks so does that mean i will never get discounts for adding liquidity?
  • #264
  • Aug 22, 2009 10:05pm Aug 22, 2009 10:05pm
Quoting >Apocalypto<
sad to see this post, all i can say is you have not spent the time required to learn to use TWS or FX trader.

I have had heaps of updates on TWS stand alone, no issues to presets I always save to IB servers.

I have used that many different brokers in my 4 years of trading, IB is my final stop.

First week at IB was hard and confusing. But i spent hours on the webinars talked to other IB users, used the sim account for a 1 week further and now I am totally in control of it.

I only trade FX but it's great to know I can update my feeds and...
Glad to hear you are happy with them. I believe that everyone needs to find a broker that works for them.
I was with IB for a little over a year and I believe I got to know TWS very well. Not every update reset my preferences, but one certainly did. The email I sent asking for help went unanswered. The phone calls were no help. I spoke to a jackass who did not even know what a covered call was, which I complained about to someone else who said he was in a position of authority. The only time I received a timely response was when I moved all my money out of the account: It was automatically closed the very next day. No call, no email, no nothing. And I had a good size account with them.
I did like entering a forex spot position and writing calls from ISE through IB. But several things happened that made me dislike them. If they displayed such a profound level of don’t-give-a-$hit attitude with the things I could see, what was going on with the things I could not see?
I left them about two years ago now. At the time I had a laundry list of things I hated about them.
I have now found a forex broker who offers OTC options on forex spot, and so far the spreads are better than ISE fx options. Plus they charge no commission. But I trade almost everything: Forex, options, ETF’s, Stocks, and the occasional futures contract. The one thing I miss is having the complete flexibility to trade everything in one account.
But I still believe they will only make my blood boil if I go back.
All the best to you. It’s nice to hear from other profitable traders.
  • #265
  • Aug 22, 2009 10:19pm Aug 22, 2009 10:19pm
the main reason i want to join ib is because stocks at any price can be marginable. to give you an example abk is fully marginable and its at $1.13. i cant believe that! the only thing i dont like about them is theres no flat fee on trades. does anyone know an online broker that has dollar stocks like abk fully marginable but at the same time also has a flat fee for any amount of shares?
  • #266
  • Aug 22, 2009 10:39pm Aug 22, 2009 10:39pm
Quoting siafx
Glad to hear you are happy with them. I believe that everyone needs to find a broker that works for them.
I was with IB for a little over a year and I believe I got to know TWS very well. Not every update reset my preferences, but one certainly did. The email I sent asking for help went unanswered. The phone calls were no help. I spoke to a jackass who did not even know what a covered call was, which I complained about to someone else who said he was in a position of authority. The only time I received a timely response was when I moved all my money...
that's a fair reply siafx, always good to hear these things so I know what to look out for. I have called them on a few things and always had a knowledgeable representative who helped me out.

Glad to hear you have found a good broker that you're happy with, as you mentioned finding a broker your happy with is the most important thing.

Like trading methods there is no universal perfect broker we all need to find the broker that suits our personal requirements.

cheers siafx, good trading to u.
  • #267
  • Aug 23, 2009 6:56pm Aug 23, 2009 6:56pm
Any concern that as a FINRA governed broker, they're only going to be allowed 1.5:1 leverage?

http://www.finra.org/web/idcplg?IdcS...s/2009/P118864

Here's IB's complaint about the new policy for those who are interested:

http://www.finra.org/Industry/Regula...mments/P118027
  • #268
  • Aug 23, 2009 9:32pm Aug 23, 2009 9:32pm
Quoting blazespinnaker
Any concern that as a FINRA governed broker, they're only going to be allowed 1.5:1 leverage?

http://www.finra.org/web/idcplg?IdcS...s/2009/P118864

Here's IB's complaint about the new policy for those who are interested:

http://www.finra.org/Industry/Regula...mments/P118027
IB's reply is exactly right IMHO.

But could you imagine only 1.5 to 1 leverage? Next thing they'll do is impose day trading rules on forex accounts. Might as well park my money in a mutual fund and go get a job at that point.
  • #269
  • Aug 25, 2009 11:42am Aug 25, 2009 11:42am
Surprised there hasn't been more discussion about this.

Finra has submitted the rule on 1.5:1 leverage

http://www.finra.org/web/idcplg?IdcS...s/2009/P118864

And here is IB's reply

http://www.finra.org/Industry/Regula...mments/P118027
  • #270
  • Aug 25, 2009 2:45pm Aug 25, 2009 2:45pm
That looks bad, very bad for IdealPro and other free (non MM) markets, ECNs. Maybe IB can get around these crazy leverage limitations by forming a subsidiary company that isn't a broker dealer and put IdealPro into that corporation.
  • #271
  • Aug 25, 2009 3:26pm Aug 25, 2009 3:26pm
Yes, I am concerned about this. 1.5:1 is a bad joke.

Does anyone know if IB could offer forex trough their UK or HK office
instead of US?
That would seem to me the easiest way around it.
  • #272
  • Aug 28, 2009 1:04pm Aug 28, 2009 1:04pm
What other forex brokers will this effect? MB Trading?
  • #273
  • Oct 12, 2009 10:34am Oct 12, 2009 10:34am
Quoting johnpalley
the main reason i want to join ib is because stocks at any price can be marginable. to give you an example abk is fully marginable and its at $1.13. i cant believe that! the only thing i dont like about them is theres no flat fee on trades. does anyone know an online broker that has dollar stocks like abk fully marginable but at the same time also has a flat fee for any amount of shares?
Flat fees are not always what they seem. Firms that provide flat fees typically sell the order flow to be executed by another firm. That firm paying for that order does so in the hopes of gaming the order to gain a penny or two off the trade. Simple math - .01 * 1000 = $10. So if they are getting an extra penny on 10000 shares you're paying a hidden $100 w/o even knowing it.

Another point is that you can't work the order. Each order costs the flat fee. So if you have 5000 shares and place orders for 1000 at a time, you'll pay the flat fee * 5. Add that cost plus the potential for a worse fill and it isn't as cheap as you think.

Just food for thought.

- Buck
  • #274
  • Oct 15, 2009 12:51pm Oct 15, 2009 12:51pm
Are you still with them?

Do you think they are still good?

I am also looking at DUKASCOPY - AWESOME ECN Broker.

But I was interested in Interactive Brokers because they also gave me the ability to trade E-MINI Futures.

So that feature is fantastic.

So are they good to you still? You said the customer service is great - but you trade "millions" thru them so yea I would not be surprised if they bend over backward for you! :-) ....but then maybe not so much for others.

Can you trade forex and futures from the same account?

THANKS MAN!!
~Omar~
  • #275
  • Oct 16, 2009 5:23am Oct 16, 2009 5:23am
i have to say that IB is the best broker for me.

I have had nothing but a great experience with them. spreads coms are all fantastic. all session today/night i have had a 2 -2.5 pip spread on the GBP/JPY and .5-1 pip on the usd/jpy.

Book trader is my new best friend. TWS is hard to get you head around at the start but the webinars got me going and in 3 days time i was on top of it.

I used to use FX trader but now I sit on book trader with all my presets done. Cust service is fine I have never had an issue calling hong kong or the US. being able to switch my account currency is fine as time i like to leave my ledger in yen or usd if i think it's going up or down.

i have the stand alone on my comp never had a crash or an issue. I trade 1 min in and out. I cant really fault them. made a withdrawal very fast and i have that withdrawal template saved for future ones. scalper and news trader frendliy as you are trading on a true ECN.

the other main plus is you can trade any market, I will be looking at index futures soon. great know i can also trade aussie stock options if i wanted to as well.

Their feed is faster then ATC as i use ACT for the charts atm, ib's prices moves faster then act! werried but I notice it all the time. not sure if atc have a delay or not????????

the only negitive I can put is their charts! OMG they suck!

i know i seem like a paid endorser with this post but it's the way i feel right now based of my experiences with them.

thumbs up from me to anyone thinking of opening a account.
  • #276
  • Oct 16, 2009 1:21pm Oct 16, 2009 1:21pm
Thanks for the reply Apocalypto!

Did you really get your head around that platform in 3 days! Oh man I know when I started researching that broker the platform is very very complex but I know that is because of all the things that they offer and the fact that they also offer some excellent variety of order types.

Their charts do suck!! Hard core! But you can just get eSignal or an MT4 broker right?

I wanted to be able to trade FOREX and E-mini S&P 500 futures. Is that possible with them?

What is the minimum to do that with them? 5000 US? 10K US?

Also what about their price stream.... I heard that the price stream is very good because they don't take the opposite side of your trade and there is no gunning for stops?

What is the account minimum to be able to trade futures and the currency exchange rates?

Thanks again.
Omar
  • #277
  • Oct 17, 2009 12:52am Oct 17, 2009 12:52am
Tottally agree with Apocalypto. BookTrader SHINES!!! I try to convince my friends in the forums about this, many years now.
  • #278
  • Oct 17, 2009 5:11pm Oct 17, 2009 5:11pm
Agree with everything that apocalypto has said. Though it did take me a lot for than 3 days to figure things out. But since I am scalping, the only thing that I wanted to understand was booktrader.

I think that their customer service has a bad rep because they are not very friendly if you ask them, 'what is a limit order'. Guess they figure that if you are going to put up 10k as risk capital, then you really should understand the basic jargon of the market. I have had nothing but extremely fantastic service from their reps.

I would suggest that if you are going to think about dealing with IB, a thorough looking around on their website would be a good start. It will get you into the habit of looking around on their webinars site to figure out how to use what you want in the platform. It will be time well spent.

Regards,
K.
  • #279
  • Oct 17, 2009 9:15pm Oct 17, 2009 9:15pm
Based on my extensive experience, IB is the best forex broker. I also have accounts trading on EBS, Reuters, Currenex, and HotspotFXi. None of them can beat IB when it comes to liquidity and tight spreads over multiple currency pairs. EBS and Reuters are better in just a couple of pairs each, but not much better. I run the same automated trading system side by side, so I can easily tell where the better executions lie. IB is consistently the best.
  • #280
  • Oct 18, 2009 9:40pm Oct 18, 2009 9:40pm
I know this has been covered but any rumors out there that IB may look at supporting MT5??

or any simple bridge ideas for IB to MT5???
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