IB Lowers Futures Commissions

joesan · Oct 21, 2005

Quote from hypostomus:

Need I reiterate, as I have countless times over the years, that you could have zero latency data, instantaneous fills, no slippage, and zero commissions, and you would STILL lose? Hahahahaha!

But then when you have an edge , any save in commision and slippage will be your additional profit.

Free Thinker · Oct 21, 2005

ib is doing a good job. i just hope when the ib ipo comes out they remember those of us that have been there since the beginning and give us a chance at some pre ipo shares.

Hoi · Oct 23, 2005

Quote from TGregg:

Is this correct? From what I can tell, if a trader trades ES and never carries a position (and thus never incurs the 10 cent carry charge), then he should trade unbundled regardless of how many contracts he trades:

CME Fees: 1.16 (Exchange fee 1.14 and Reg Fee .02)
IB: 1.20
Execution fee .90 (<=300 contracts)
Clearing fee .30 (<=1k contracts)

That's 2.36 per side. I know, it's a whopping 8 cents/round trip saving. But did I do this right?

Yep seems so....

When you do no overnight-trading (which will kill you in fees by adding $0.10 per night) it is in all cases MUCH better to take the Unbundled fees:

ES, ER2, NQ = 2.36 (instead of 2.40)
EUR = 2.82 (instead of 3.00)
ZN, ZB = 1.72 (instead of 1.73)
YM = 2.12 (instead of 2.13)
QM = 2.65 (instead of 2.95)

GBL = 1.21 EUR (instead of 2.00)
CAC40 = 1.35 EUR (instead of 2.00)
DAX = 1.51 EUR (instead of 2.00)

Z = 1.03 GBP (instead of 1.70)

HSI = 21 HKD (instead of 30)

Only the SGXNK is worse:
SGXNK = 411 JPY (instead of 300)

If you still have bundled then you are a thief of your own money

joesan · Oct 23, 2005

yeah, i changed my accounts to unbundled rates this week

jonnysharp · Oct 25, 2005

i cant find the table on the IB website where it has the total cost for unbundled roundtrips on different contracts?, they had it on there last week? i cant seem to add it all up right using the tables they give you on the website atm? im trying to figure out if daytrading the SPI is better on unbundled doing less than 300 a month?

CPTrader · Oct 25, 2005

It seems I've missed soething, so if I am a swing trader and hold positions for several days, I pay IB 10c per contract per each night I hold a position,. IS that true? What's the cost for holding stock shares overnigt?

Why a need for a "Carry charge" - this is outrageous!

IB seems to have cheap rates but when you factor in all these other ancillary charges, plus the reliability issues, I don't see the advantage.

Hoi · Oct 25, 2005

Quote from jonnysharp:

i cant find the table on the IB website where it has the total cost for unbundled roundtrips on different contracts?, they had it on there last week? i cant seem to add it all up right using the tables they give you on the website atm? im trying to figure out if daytrading the SPI is better on unbundled doing less than 300 a month?

easy:
Bundled SPI = 5.00 per side
Unbundled SPI = 4.89 per side

So yes it is better

Hoi · Oct 25, 2005

Quote from CPTrader:

It seems I've missed soething, so if I am a swing trader and hold positions for several days, I pay IB 10c per contract per each night I hold a position,. IS that true? What's the cost for holding stock shares overnigt?

Why a need for a "Carry charge" - this is outrageous!

IB seems to have cheap rates but when you factor in all these other ancillary charges, plus the reliability issues, I don't see the advantage.

If you are a swing trader you should take BUNDLED fees instead.

def · Oct 25, 2005

Quote from CPTrader:

It seems I've missed soething, so if I am a swing trader and hold positions for several days, I pay IB 10c per contract per each night I hold a position,. IS that true? What's the cost for holding stock shares overnigt?

Why a need for a "Carry charge" - this is outrageous!

IB seems to have cheap rates but when you factor in all these other ancillary charges, plus the reliability issues, I don't see the advantage.

there is additional risk to holding contracts overnight. If the carrying charge outweighs the cost of unbundled, you should choose the bundled rate. there is no cost for holding shares overnight but margin and leverage are drastically different between futures and stocks.

CPTrader · Oct 25, 2005

Quote from def:

there is additional risk to holding contracts overnight. If the carrying charge outweighs the cost of unbundled, you should choose the bundled rate. there is no cost for holding shares overnight but margin and leverage are drastically different between futures and stocks.

def, what additional risk, traders put up margin and we all know IB is notorious for liquidating positions, the second they violate margin requirments.

And does this $0.10 compensate IB for that so-called "overnight risk".
Nopw is this 0.10c only for unbundled rates or for bothunbundled & bundled rate schemes. What schem do you recommend for a swing trader

I have a BIG ISSUE with multiple layers of fees. I prefer a flat "all-in" rate. WIth IB, it seems to be a teaser rate, then numeorus add-on rates for data, cancellation, carrying chages, etc that you are never fullyaware of.

Thsi negates the whole IB pitch of low fees.

I like the IB conceprt - universal account, direct electronic access, "low fees", etc

BUT....

it seems in pratice the ideal of the IB concept has NEVER been achieved by IB

IB Lowers Futures Commissions

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