God bless IB, but you won't get rich with IB

Quote from kiwi_trader:

Dman,

You are correct that this months activities proved that "this time" IB's suspension of intraday margins was unnecessary.

But.

That is the trap that the bankers (feel free to substitute overpayed wankers) fell into with their subprime, alt a, and leverage games. Just because the black swan didn't come in 2006 they assumed it wouldn't come in 2007 or 2008. And the world's publics and taxpayers now pay for their arrogance.

So, IB, thank you for your caution. I hope you all (eters and ibers) had a merry xmas and I wish you an interesting and perhaps prosperous new year.




(The 388 point opening bar on the aussie spi this morning does suggest that 2009 might not be boring - please, don't let it be boring :) For those who don't trade spi, it jumped nearly 12% from the Xmas eve close before retracing most of it.)
More...

True. And likely IB would be a bit more susceptible to a "black swan" type of event considering the range of products with their varying margin requirements and settlements they offer.

Though, I wonder how much more protection is there in using exchange minimum margins over their 50% intraday margin considering that IB liquidates positions once they fall below set minimums?

One would think that IB would be working on better margin algorithms to avoid catastrophe. The range of products they offer is a risk in an of itself considering the array of synthetic positions a trader can put on. Some of which can be difficult to calculate let alone anticipate.

I think IB should offer restricted accounts - accounts that are limited to trading in certain instruments - as opposed to a universal account. Along with such restrictions, should come different margin schedules optimized for the type of account.

In any event, I see a number of posts of defense of IB's margin policy. Granted, it may provide an extra level of "cushion" but I'm not sure it really does all that much to protect the assets of other clients. I'd like to see IB be a bit more proactive about monitoring the types of trades and account equity utilization.
 
Quote from MandelbrotSet:

Exactly

Let me make sure I am getting this right:

Option A
These guys are constantly complaining about IB's high margins (anti-hurst being the lead whiner), but they don't want to go to another brokerage (could name tons, but won't bother) because they are afraid that they won't have the discipline to trade with the low margin requirements.

Option B
These guys are afraid that another brokerage may go under because of their low margin requirements, so they stay with IB and either (i) bitch and moan about their margin requirement policies or (ii) congratulate IB on having steep, over-protective margin requirements.

LMAO, you guys are a bunch of morons. :p :D

Sorry, but it's true. :)

Edit: Hey, I take it back, you aren't morons. But your reasons for doing something (in this case staying with a brokerage that isn't meeting your needs), is just moronic.

Once you're done being pissed at me, think about it ... or not. Nobody cares, but you already know that.
More...

The funny thing is, they don't have to leave IB. They can open another account at say, Mirus, Amp, etc. The account minimums at most of the other brokers is quite low - low enough that they can keep their IB accounts.

What's more, they can get a superior feed like Zenfire and a great front end like Ninja Trader.

What do they have to lose except $10 a month for inactivity data fees in their IB account?
 
Quote from makloda:

Let's put it this way: With IB's margin requirements it will take you 6 months instead of 1 month before you blow up.
More...

Yeah love the attitude. That's real good. And you started out tripling your account. Right?

You'd be a much bigger asset to the site if you kept your mouth shut approx 20% of the time.

I've never seen anyone belittle users on here as much as you
 
Quote from moarla:

>>>>DmanX

ZENFire is NOT a superior datafeed; is a tick by tick feed, that lags in heavy makets..
thats all
More...

I have only seen ZF lag one time in a fast market. ZF ticks otherwise are always ahead of IB's by about 200ms. Plus ZF doesn't skip a crapload of ticks like IB's does. I have also seen IB go out completely quite a few times. ZF, no. At least not yet.
 
Quote from moarla:

>>>>DmanX

ZENFire is NOT a superior datafeed; is a tick by tick feed, that lags in heavy makets..
thats all
More...

There is a secret to using Zenfire feed with Ninja trader successfully seeing it is a tick by tick feed.

1. Make sure you have plenty of bandwidth.

2. In NT have no more than 3 workspaces saved.

3. Watch no more than 3 symbols.

4. Use no more than 3 to 4 indicators per chart and use no more than 3 to four charts at a time.

5. Make sure you have plenty of CPU power (2ghz Dual core and up) and no less the 4GB RAM.

6. Don't have more than 2 or 3 other programs running simultaneously while running NT w/ zen fire.

Following these steps, that is to say, using your computer as a trading station, you should have no lag of data ever.
 
Quote from Anti-Hurst:

by choosing to stay with IB, and with margin for ES the way it is

it will take me 5 months to double my portfolio by grinding daily several times

if it was 500 bucks per ES car like for example with Mirus futures

I could double portfolio in 3 months tops


I'll stay with IB, but I am just sayin

I am calling horse a horse that's all
More...

If you were trading with a only a 2 pt stop, you would need at least $5000 per contract to trade anyway. Looks like IB is trying to protect you from yourself.:)
 
Quote from Buy1Sell2:

If you were trading with a only a 2 pt stop, you would need at least $5000 per contract to trade anyway. Looks like IB is trying to protect you from yourself.:)
More...

I'm curious about how you come up with that figure? And how $6188 is all that much more protective than $5000. Especially given that exchange min maintenance is $4950. With a $500 margin, if he only traded one contract, at your $5000 figure, he could stay in the game a lot longer than he would be able to at IB.
 
Datalags usually starts at the data server on the data provider...too many data on too few servers for too many users in too short time...
 
Quote from DmanX:

I'm curious about how you come up with that figure? And how $6188 is all that much more protective than $5000. Especially given that exchange min maintenance is $4950. With a $500 margin, if he only traded one contract, at your $5000 figure, he could stay in the game a lot longer than he would be able to at IB.
More...

The point is simply that with ANY increase in margin requirements, they are helping him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top