Recent content by lpope

Don't think it's about position sizing as much as SPX beta of the portfolio and what happens in big down market moves. I do up to 400% net long with many >30% of equity positions but my portfolio beta is ~1 to SPX and I don't do too many short OTM puts. Concentration margin gets me all the time.

In practice, you can live tax free in Bali on a tourist visa, which requires you to leave the country every six months. In theory, you'd need to pay Indonesian tax on your income if you're present for over half a year but there's no way to do that even if you wanted to.

Might not be eligible for portfolio margin. Minimum equity is at least 100k if you're a US resident, not sure for EU accounts. You won't get a concentration charge on something like GOOGL until you're at 100% of equity.

This is what you want but big boys only, else they're not competitive because you're paying ~200bps annualised on an open pair. https://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/en/trading/pricing-fx-auto-swap-program.php

This is why you trade through an LLC.

Not surprised you're having issues with that options mix. You're looking at net but the margining system marks are noisy so you need to consider there's a gross component at times as well when the calculation is skewed. I don't understand the mechanics of why but IBKR has always been like this...

For what it's worth, you should reconsider your assumptions around risk (and margin). Correlations aren't always what you think they should be. Real life is GME moons and puts increase in value. This is the opposite of the assumptions in a traditional margin model. What's a broker to do? This is...

I suspect implied vol is at the core of your margining problem. IV is implied from market prices and feeds into their margin calculation. Two things might be happening: 1) IV generally increases as option duration declines and IBKR seems to calculate implied on a daily basis, not using nonlinear...

Do you really think it's a good idea to sue the IRS for more than a nominal amount? I'd rather tangle with the NSA...

Look at buying box spreads. Earn ~25bps above bills, minimal hassle to trade, and section 1256 (60% LT capital gain but state tax). IBKR margins at close to zero as well. Catch is SPX is margined at OCC so not suitable for commodities collateral but good for securities trading...

Box spreads are around 30bps spread and offer term flexibility but you need to manage your liquidity. The smaller primes are competitive but won't match IBKR pricing and the larger primes won't get out of bed to make an eight digit margin loan.

You can short the box to keep a borrow and not pay for multiple locates but that's about it.

No free lunch. The cost is why the borrow is available. Expressing through options is sometimes a less expensive way to put the trade on than shorting directly. If you're >5m equity talk to Clear Street directly and you might be able to get a better deal.

So far so good. Box spread expired yesterday without incident and ended up saving me ~50bps and maybe as importantly has potential to make other brokers competitive for my use case. Appreciation again to boxtrades.com.

Best way to manage a smaller amount of US investor money is as an RIA. Paperwork isn't too bad and can be handled without a lawyer from what others have told me. Can charge percentage of profits to accredited investors.