Easy-to-understand Account Statements

[osorico]

Quote from cscott:

...
I trade mostly futures and an occasional stock at Interactivebrokers, but find their account statements and calculations hard to understand.

When you get away from brokerages with compulsory usage of "universal" accounts, statements are much simpler and usable! Open a futures account with a futures broker and a separate account with a stock/option brokerage.

At first blush it sounds like a bad idea. But from a trader business point of view, it's much easier, imo.

Osorico

 

[cscott]

Quote from osorico:

When you get away from brokerages with compulsory usage of "universal" accounts, statements are much simpler and usable! Open a futures account with a futures broker and a separate account with a stock/option brokerage.

At first blush it sounds like a bad idea. But from a trader business point of view, it's much easier, imo.

Osorico

That's probably the best idea for getting simpler statements and I have been considering it. Also looking at switching to MBTrading, but they lack some commodities that I like to trade at IB, so I've also been looking at TerraNova. Anyone got any experiences with either of them.

BTW, ignore JimRockford... I can only assume he is an IB shill or just a troublemaker.

 

[def]

Quote from cscott:

That's probably the best idea for getting simpler statements and I have been considering it. Also looking at switching to MBTrading, but they lack some commodities that I like to trade at IB, so I've also been looking at TerraNova. Anyone got any experiences with either of them.

BTW, ignore JimRockford... I can only assume he is an IB shill or just a troublemaker.

Sure you might think opening two accounts might be simpler BUT...

Here are two issues to ponder:

1. You would lose the flexibility of maximizing the use of your money;

2. would your commodity funds receive the additional protection that IB offers to by sweeping the funds into the securities account (would they also receive the high interest rates IB offers?)


Finally, as you have stated that you have had difficulty comprehending IB's statements, have you gone through and read in detail the explanations available on the web site? http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/statements.php?ib_entity=llc

If for some reason that doesn't help, you may want to look into the flex statements - where you can download only the information you desire or better yet, specify where you are having difficulty so someone might be able to assist.

 

[jimrockford]

Quote from cscott:

BTW, ignore JimRockford... I can only assume he is an IB shill or just a troublemaker.

Well, OK, I guess cscott will ignore me. I would like to remind all that I am not the only person cscott is ignoring. Other ET members, in the older threads to which I previously posted links in this thread, have also referred to the evidence that cscott is not an IB customer and is shilling for an IB competitor. Other posters have also asked cscott to provide specific information, detailing his vague complaints about IB, so that we can have some confidence that he really is an IB customer - but he always ignores such requests, just the same as he ignores me. An IB employee and ET member, IBSoft, publicly offered to work with cscott in cscott's first anti-IB thread, in order to troubleshoot cscott's IB TWS platform reliability problems which cscott has blamed on IB. cscott failed to pursue IBsoft's invitation, and so, we have yet another example of cscott ignoring people. Yet another IB employee and ET member, ids, posted into that same thread with a question intended to help diagnose cscott's IB platform problem, but cscott simply ignored that 2nd IB employee as well.

It seems that cscott is ignoring quite a lot of people, not just me.

Please, cscott, give us at least some evidence that you really are an IB customer. Your first post in this thread accuses IB of erroneous PNL calculations, which you stated are "critical" to trading. Oooooh, that sounds bad, oooooh, new traders better stay away from IB. Many people, in this thread, have asked you for specifics. You provide none. Is this because you really aren't even an IB customer at all, and therefore have no details to provide?

 

[osorico]

Quote from cscott:

... Also looking at switching to MBTrading, but they lack some commodities that I like to trade at IB, so I've also been looking at TerraNova. Anyone got any experiences with either of them. ...

FWIW, MBTrading for sure, and I think Terranova, use "universal" type accounts. Opening accounts at either of these firms will NOT solve your issue.

Osorico

 

[Exodus]

I switched to OptionXpress for all my options trades because I like the simplicity and functionality of thier web site and statements.

 

[cscott]

Quote from def:

Sure you might think opening two accounts might be simpler BUT...

Here are two issues to ponder:

1. You would lose the flexibility of maximizing the use of your money;

2. would your commodity funds receive the additional protection that IB offers to by sweeping the funds into the securities account (would they also receive the high interest rates IB offers?)


Finally, as you have stated that you have had difficulty comprehending IB's statements, have you gone through and read in detail the explanations available on the web site? http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/statements.php?ib_entity=llc

If for some reason that doesn't help, you may want to look into the flex statements - where you can download only the information you desire or better yet, specify where you are having difficulty so someone might be able to assist.

Thanks, def, for pointing those things out, and they are important. Yes, I have read that web page that you posted and another Timber Hill webpage dealing with statements and still find the statements hard to understand and not very user-friendly. II've also tried flex statements and they don't solve the problem either, and are hard to decipher since they won't download to HTML

Perhaps, there aren't any brokers with simpler or easier-to-understand statements. My next step is to call IB and ask them by phone the specific questions I have about their statements that are not explained anywhere on their website.

 

[ssomeguy]

my broker clears through penson financials and their statements are very easy to understand.

What you should do is before opening an account, is ask them to send you a screen picture of a ghost account statement so you can compare and see if it works for you

DUH!

 

[jimrockford]

Quote from cscott:

BTW, ignore JimRockford... I can only assume he is an IB shill or just a troublemaker.

An EliteTrader poll was started by pcvix, asking the question, "Do you think cscott is a bona fide IB customer?" http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71747&highlight=cscott. People stopped voting a couple of days ago. Seven people voted (including me). Six out of the seven voted "no"! I presume that the one "yes" vote came from cscott himself.

cscott ignores me. He also ignores all the other people who have requested, in all of cscott's various anti-IB threads, verifiable specific details regarding his vague complaints about IB. I suppose that he will also ignore the poll, which suggests that nobody even believes cscott is who he claims to be, and that he is just a shill for one of IB's competitors. New traders should take note, that people on ET often pretend to be something they are not, and that they often have an agenda to spread disinformation and to harm competitors and others.

I'm sure that if cscott can provide enough detail, to support his various accusations against IB, then EliteTrader members will reconsider their negative judgment of cscott. I don't think he needs to prove that his accusations were correct, but only that he made them in good faith that he really did believe they were correct, instead of making them as malicious lies intended to damage IB's reputation. I also think that cscott won't and can't provide such detail. Many people have asked him to provide it, over and over again, ever since he began his attack on IB last May 12 (6 weeks ago!), but he just won't do it.