IB & option contracts commissions

[def]

hii,
i didn't mean to put my rant at you. you have been fair.

qdz,
ib has written comment letters to the exchanges and regulators opposing the rules.

metoox,
Life is sweet

 

[qdz]

qdz,
ib has written comment letters to the exchanges and regulators opposing the rules.

When? Recently? Regarding stock options specifically? What did they say? How can we be helpful? Of course, I will ask my friends to trade more and say good things about IB if IB does us this favor and does not offend us too often.

 

[hii a_ooiioo_a]

Quote from def:

Tell me of ONE other Direct access broker that is taking accounts under 2K? Sorry to say but our target clients are active traders and institutions.

I went through most of the brokers listed in the broker ratings list on Elite Trader. There were about 8 that would open an account with $2,000. Of course their commissions for options were from $10 to $25. For less than $2,000 I found these:

MyTrack www.mytrack.com
Minimum deposit is $500 for a cash account and $2,000 for a margin account. If you open an account now, you will get your first week of trading FREE. You will also receive myTrack Basic service for free.
Unfortunately, their options commissions are $25. But they say your first week of trading is free. I suppose you could open a new account each week and trade without commissions

optionsXpress www.optionsxpress.com
We have no minimum "funds needed to open your account" as it is your account, not ours. That said, please keep in mind that our business logic requires that you must have enough "buying power," cash or margin credit in your account to pay for the trade before you place the trade. Please review your trading strategy then fund your account to the appropriate level. Again, no minimum is required to open a cash account, however there is a $2,000.00 minimum required to maintain a margin account.
Commissions:
Options $1.50 per contract, $14.95 minimum per trade.

Which is half-way between Smart $1.00 and Direct-routed $1.95

With no minimum funding and decent rates on options this will probably be a good choice for qdz. And if it turns out I can't "daytrade" from my cash account at IB, I will probably plan to open an account with them too.

 

[def]

none of those are futures brokers and none allow stock trades on margin for under 2K. Nevertheless, glad you found somone who will service your account for options and cash transactions. Please use them.

 

[hii a_ooiioo_a]

MyTrack offers futures. No one allows stock trades on margin for under $2,000. That's because $2,000 is the minimum required by the NASD rules.

I don't trade futures. If I were silly enough to decide to trade futures I would use my IB account to do that. They aren't restricted by daytrading limits anyhow, which is my main problem at this time.

I also don't trade stocks on margin. That too is restricted by the daytrading rule. That's actually what the daytrading rules were written to restrict. I didn't mind that so much, since I don't use margin and I don't daytrade stocks.

It's the limits that were placed on trading options 4 weeks ago that are a real handicap to me. If I have to find an alternative to IB for trading options then I will do that. But I have been happy with IB until now. If I seek another broker it's only because I'm left with no other choice.

 

[canuck]

I think some of you guys are ranting at the wrong people. I'm sure IB would love to throw out the PDT rule as much as all of us. In this day and age of regulators trying to one-up each other in enforcing these moronic rules, IB has to do what it can to ensure it is following these rules.

There's only so much Def can do. Call your member of government. Unfortunately, politics is all about money and power. All of us little guys don't amount to squat, as compared to the big boys.

Of course you guys are lucky, you live in the US. Up here in Canada there are "discount" brokers still charging $35 bucks per trade. I cringe to find out what their full rate is. Finally IB is up here.

You know what we should do is get 60 minutes, or one of those news show to do a piece on how the PDT is hurting the small guys. There are thousands of us who hate this rule. The government helping to "protect" us is a bunch of crap. Sounds like the old Soviet system. And we all know how well that system worked

 

[qdz]

none of those are futures brokers and none allow stock trades on margin for under 2K. Nevertheless, glad you found someone who will service your account for options and cash transactions. Please use them.

How much more do you want so that you allow cash transaction in a margin account? $3K minimum? Why cannot this be done? I think there is flexibility for brokers to interpret the PDT rules only applying to margin transactions. For your own interest, why don't you do it? Please explain?

 

[white17]

QDZ; your inability to daytrade options is one thing, but making irresponsible statements about IB's finances is something else again.

Also it would be great if IB was able to just ignore NASD but it shouldn't be a quid pro quo for you. It should be changed because its the right thing to do not so that you will say nice things about them.

The last poster is correct about all working together on this. I have written my US senator and contacted the journalist that writes The Striking Price in Barron's weekly. He is interested and gathering information for an article at this time. I urge you all to write your senators and CC the SEC. It may do no good but it sure has a better chance than just bitching.

 

[qdz]

Okay, You are right. I don't care what I am. If this can be turned around, I don't care I am a blown-up man. Hey, thanks for the efforts. Please keep us updated.

As for others, please keep writing to NASD, SEC, politicians, and media.

Thank you.

 

[def]

white you are dead on. thanks