Can't get rebates anymore

M

manic

I've been trading options on IBKR for almost a year now. I have always been able to get rebates for placing limit orders on many different underlyings, such as W, WORK, LUV, and CHWY.

Suddenly I cannot get rebates anymore! My commissions are always positive.

Does anyone know what is going on?
 
guru said:
What is your default Smart Option Routing default setting?
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Just "SMART" but it makes no difference. IBKR will provide a best case and worst case commission estimate that is the same no matter what routing you use.
 
manic said:
Just "SMART" but it makes no difference. IBKR will provide a best case and worst case commission estimate that is the same no matter what routing you use.
More...


So why does IBKR provide the option to Maximize Rebates when it makes no difference?
And I don’t think there is a way to select just “SMART” as default. It must be set to Multipurpose, Maximize Rebates, Maximize Fills, etc. By just SMART do you mean the Multipurpose option?
 
I was told online if we change smart setting we loose the chance to get a rebate and rates goes up. I do get negative commission after a certain threshold.
 
guru said:
So why does IBKR provide the option to Maximize Rebates when it makes no difference?
And I don’t think there is a way to select just “SMART” as default. It must be set to Multipurpose, Maximize Rebates, Maximize Fills, etc. By just SMART do you mean the Multipurpose option?
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Yes, I suppose "SMART" is multipurpose. However, for me it just says "SMART". The goal is to give you the best price regardless of commissions.

MaxRebate would mean that you prefer the rebate even if you would get a better all-in price on an exchange that doesn't offer them.

But again, the estimate includes all possible rebate scenarios. The estimates no longer show the possibility of negative commissions. I sold WORK puts a few days ago and got a negative commission. It is no longer possible. I don't understand what changed.
 
manic said:
Yes, I suppose "SMART" is multipurpose. However, for me it just says "SMART". The goal is to give you the best price regardless of commissions.

MaxRebate would mean that you prefer the rebate even if you would get a better all-in price on an exchange that doesn't offer them.

But again, the estimate includes all possible rebate scenarios.
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Does not matters if your using limit orders and providing liquidity.
 
manic said:
Yes, I suppose "SMART" is multipurpose. However, for me it just says "SMART". The goal is to give you the best price regardless of commissions.
More...


It's not "for you" or not for you, it's a global TWS configuration setting for everyone. It's not even possible to configure it only as "SMART". "SMART" is a route for orders that has to be configured before you use it.

But I don't know if that will help either. It'd be just the first thing I'd check, since you have some control over how your fills/SMART work.
While I also haven't seen many rebates on my options orders recently. Though mine is set to Maximize Fills.
You may want to contact IB and ask about it.
 
Last edited:
Just looked at my recent options trades and actually couple of them did get rebates:

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Not many though, as I've seen more negative commissions in the past.
And these were filled right at the market open, where I might've not gotten the best price.
(and again, my SMART routing is not set to Maximize Rebates)
 
Prob. has to do with the new month. I mainly trade stocks, but there are volume tiers for per-share commissions that reset monthly, so you generally will be paying less to IB at the end of a month than you were at the beginning.
 
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