Dear IB

swheat · Feb 7, 2006

Would it be too much to ask to have you put the average gain/loss percent for each of my positions on my daily statement so I can see how I'm doing at the end of each day?
Also, I am intrigued by how you folks decide on which days to email my account statement. I used to think I would only get a statement on days when Brad and Angelina were bickering but I got a statement yesterday and they seemed to be getting along fine. What gives?

Regards,

Sam

freehouse · Feb 7, 2006

You get an e-mailed account statement on any day there was activity in your account. This includes: trades, interest, dividends, corporate actions, etc.

Free Thinker · Feb 7, 2006

Quote from swheat:

Would it be too much to ask to have you put the average gain/loss percent for each of my positions on my daily statement so I can see how I'm doing at the end of each day?
Also, I am intrigued by how you folks decide on which days to email my account statement. I used to think I would only get a statement on days when Brad and Angelina were bickering but I got a statement yesterday and they seemed to be getting along fine. What gives?

Regards,

Sam

you only get a daily statement when you have activity.

GTC · Feb 7, 2006

You can actually download the excel version of the statement, and then let the excel calculate any type of percentage gains or losses (e.g., before/after commission, daily/weekly/monthly average, etc.) with respect to your predetermined costs of basis.

swheat · Feb 7, 2006

Quote from GTC:

You can actually download the excel version of the statement, and then let the excel calculate any type of percentage gains or losses (e.g., before/after commission, daily/weekly/monthly average, etc.) with respect to your predetermined costs of basis.

I think price fluctuation should count as activity. From what I read here, if I get a four dollar dividend I get a notice but if one of my positions loses fifteen percent I donât get notified. How silly is that. Granted it is only a minor inconvenience but one that is easily rectified so why not fix it.

As for making my own spreadsheet, being able to download in Excel format is great but the statement does not include the basis price of the position. It doesnât seem that difficult to add that information to the statement plus a simple calculation to show percent gain/loss. I own ~100 stocks, having this info at the end of each day would be a great help.

fframe38 · Feb 7, 2006

Quote from swheat:

I think price fluctuation should count as activity. From what I read here, if I get a four dollar dividend I get a notice but if one of my positions loses fifteen percent I donât get notified. How silly is that. Granted it is only a minor inconvenience but one that is easily rectified so why not fix it.

IB is for TRADERs, not INVESTORs. If you are so detached from your current positions that you require an EMail to tell you that something is down 15%, then you are obviously not a short term trader, but some kind of buy-and-holder or long term investor.

Also, how much of a "minor inconvenience" is it to just watch the quotes on your "investments" so you would know when something is down 15% without requiring an EMail to inform you of that obvious fact? What are you going to do when you would get such a 15% notice anyways? Selling in a panic the next day is probably stupid. If you want protection for your position, you need to place a stop order and then you don't have to worry about the issue anyways.

What you are asking for is the sort of thing that more traditional old-school brokers such as Merrill Lynch, Schwab, etc. are doing.

If you want that kind of thing, then go there. Also realize there is a reason IB has lower commissions - because it doesn't cater to the long term investor, but rather the trader. One of the tradeoffs is that you can't expect everything that would come with a "full service broker" who you would be paying anywhere from 5-10 times the commission when you trade there.

The rest of us traders would appreciate IB not being distracted from "trader issues" to do hand-holding and stuff for buy-and-holders and investors.

makosgu · Feb 7, 2006

Quote from swheat:

I think price fluctuation should count as activity. From what I read here, if I get a four dollar dividend I get a notice but if one of my positions loses fifteen percent I donât get notified. How silly is that. Granted it is only a minor inconvenience but one that is easily rectified so why not fix it.

As for making my own spreadsheet, being able to download in Excel format is great but the statement does not include the basis price of the position. It doesnât seem that difficult to add that information to the statement plus a simple calculation to show percent gain/loss. I own ~100 stocks, having this info at the end of each day would be a great help.

Are you a "SYSTEMS" programmer? I am always miffed by statements claiming that such items should be a simple matter. I had to quit my last job (turning down > $200K) just so that they could realize that what they were asking isn't even doable let alone simple. That's almost a year ago and they still have not found a replacement...

Furthurmore, if you are a "SYSTEMS" programmer, than you should have ZERO problem creating a kick ass report sheet that links via DDE directly to your account and evaluates all your positions.

It will look better than the current statements we currently get...

Regards,
MAK!

jimrockford · Feb 7, 2006

I don't want IB to be burdened by these types of requests for more bells and whistles. I want IB to focus on continuing to minimize transactions costs, improve order execution, reduce commissions, improve documentation and reliability, etc. These are the things that really matter to serious active traders.

makosgu · Feb 7, 2006

Quote from jimrockford:

I don't want IB to be burdened by these types of requests for more bells and whistles. I want IB to focus on continuing to minimize transactions costs, improve order execution, reduce commissions, improve documentation and reliability, etc. These are the things that really matter to serious active traders.

BINGO!

bundlemaker · Feb 7, 2006

Quote from swheat:

I think price fluctuation should count as activity. From what I read here, if I get a four dollar dividend I get a notice but if one of my positions loses fifteen percent I donât get notified. How silly is that. Granted it is only a minor inconvenience but one that is easily rectified so why not fix it.

What's silly is your inability to recognize that a dividend credit is an accounting entry, a flucuation in market value of a financial instrument is not.