IB (finally?) admits to matching orders internally

hajimow said:
I do not know what is happening in your account specially the part that you said you have 25k and IB says you only have 2500.
Was your option a multi leg order or single option order? I just guess maybe that was an all or none order which may be used to transfer positions between accounts in brokers. You can open a ticket and send them your log file and ask them for an explanation. Not to complain, but more to educate yourself on what was going on.
More...

Straight equity short. It's not about IB saying I have less, it's IB saying I cannot short in cash, full value. Try to shorting ZGNX in your account for all your available cash, shares are available but IB won't let you, they cut the position down to something like 25%.
This is about IB's margin starting to be insanely restrictive. And no, they are not protecting me, it's about them screwing ALL the customers thinking that a few might end up causing trouble.

If you don't know what you're doing, IB is awesome. If you do know however - IB will end up costing you money.
 
d08 said:
Straight equity short. It's not about IB saying I have less, it's IB saying I cannot short in cash, full value. Try to shorting ZGNX in your account for all your available cash, shares are available but IB won't let you, they cut the position down to something like 25%.
This is about IB's margin starting to be insanely restrictive. And no, they are not protecting me, it's about them screwing ALL the customers thinking that a few might end up causing trouble.

If you don't know what you're doing, IB is awesome. If you do know however - IB will end up costing you money.
More...
I do not want to argue with you because experience has shown that we might get nowhere but your statement should have a closing statement. You should pick one of these statements as your conclusion:
1- Market is a like a war zone and everyone only cares about himself and brokers are here to cheat and fill their own pockets. I know IB is cheating but that is the reality of trading and IB is my best choice.
2- IB is one of the brokers that cheats a lot and I am very unhappy with them and I have done my research and have realized that broker ABC or XYZ are much better and they do not cheat and I am going to switch to one of them and here are my reasons.
 
Cheating is a little strong. Each clearing firm is running the business the best they can givin current regulations and the risk that makes them comfortable.

You have the choice to stay or go. The ultimate vote.
 
This is an order that I created to short 100 shares of ZGNX with IB. I do not see anything wrong with margin requirements. Tell me what is wrong? Here it is:
ZGNX.GIF
 
d08 said:
Here's the same thing with portfolio margin:

kxdHzYh.png
More...
Now I see the problem. They are requesting 50% margin for it because of your account margin type. Let me tell you what I would do if I were you. You might not accept my advice but I m going to tell you anyway.
I just checked the chart. It jumped from 11 to 39 and that has got your interest to short. Either accept the margin or ignore this trade. Because of high volatility, IB is requesting higher margin. It might go to $60 the next day and the day after that to $100 and one week later it might drop to $7. When it is at $100, your account is gone. You won't see $7 to cover. Your should be prepared to accept the risk by providing good margin. Personally no matter the margin is high or low, I would pass this opportunity but I know this is another discussion. You can also buy a $40 call and then short the stock. This way, you should need much less margin.
 
hajimow said:
I do not want to argue with you because experience has shown that we might get nowhere but your statement should have a closing statement. You should pick one of these statements as your conclusion:
1- Market is a like a war zone and everyone only cares about himself and brokers are here to cheat and fill their own pockets. I know IB is cheating but that is the reality of trading and IB is my best choice.
2- IB is one of the brokers that cheats a lot and I am very unhappy with them and I have done my research and have realized that broker ABC or XYZ are much better and they do not cheat and I am going to switch to one of them and here are my reasons.
More...

I've yet to say I have proof of IB cheating. I'm saying they are neither cheap nor looking after their customers with their strict margin and other "protective" measures, as you suggested.
I've had a number of issues with IB where they've made terrible errors that cost me money, it's been very rocky. If you don't keep an extremely close eye on what's going, the system errors will cost you a lot and you won't find out until it's too late.

And no, the world isn't as black and white as you described. Customers can voice complaints and sometimes those complaints get heard before it's too late. If the management is smart, that is.

As has been already said, there aren't many good alternatives - especially for non-US based. No offense to Robert here but I find Lightspeed's interface unclear and cluttered - I had trouble finding the equivalent of "account details" anywhere in the interface, not to mention other items. I suppose others would say the same about IB if coming from somewhere else.
 
Also when shorting, check the short interest rate. I remember once SHAK interest rate was 140% !!!. That mans if you had shorted at $40 and covered the next year at $40, you had lost $$56 per share !!!!
 
hajimow said:
Now I see the problem. They are requesting 50% margin for it because of your account margin type. Let me tell you what I would do if I were you. You might not accept my advice but I m going to tell you anyway.
I just checked the chart. It jumped from 11 to 39 and that has got your interest to short. Either accept the margin or ignore this trade. Because of high volatility, IB is requesting higher margin. It might go to $60 the next day and the day after that to $100 and one week later it might drop to $7. When it is at $100, your account is gone. You won't see $7 to cover. Your should be prepared to accept the risk by providing good margin. Personally no matter the margin is high or low, I would pass this opportunity but I know this is another discussion. You can also buy a $40 call and then short the stock. This way, you should need much less margin.
More...

I have no problem with it going from $60 to $100, I can handle that. IB should leave it to ME to decide, not decide for me. It wouldn't cause any problems for my account either, nor for IB as my position sizes aren't ridiculous. Only reason they should not allow the trade should be when it's highly likely I wouldn't be able to back the extreme moves.
It used to be rare that this happened, now it's becoming more common. There's no logic in this, the market isn't more volatile nor are the stocks, this has been seen many times before.

PS. this wouldn't be a 1 year trade, I don't care at all about the interest.

ZGNX moved 0.26% today, clearly it makes sense to almost restrict trading in it!! alert the risk management team!!
 
d08 said:
I have no problem with it going from $60 to $100, I can handle that. IB should leave it to ME to decide, not decide for me. It wouldn't cause any problems for my account either, nor for IB as my position sizes aren't ridiculous. Only reason they should not allow the trade should be when it's highly likely I wouldn't be able to back the extreme moves.
It used to be rare that this happened, now it's becoming more common. There's no logic in this, the market isn't more volatile nor are the stocks, this has been seen many times before.

PS. this wouldn't be a 1 year trade, I don't care at all about the interest.

ZGNX moved 0.26% today, clearly it makes sense to almost restrict trading in it!! alert the risk management team!!
More...
After reading all your posts, my advice would be to find a broker that suits your needs and are happy with or at least are less unhappy with.
No matter you are right or wrong, your feeling is very important and trading is very hectic and you should not add the frustration with your broker to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top