Instead of trading with them you should have just loaded up on the stock . Hit 70 today. 100 coming?
Instead of trading with them you should have just loaded up on the stock . Hit 70 today. 100 coming?
I've said this before but IBKR is basically a monopoly, NO ONE can compete with them. Just look at their 10-k and monthly metrics.
User habit is definitely a moat. The competition does not just need to match pricing, they must match pricing, provide the same breadth of services, and provide a reason to look elsewhere (which was price...good luck finding something better). By decentralizing access to information, they've cultivated the habits of a solid majority of mid-market (read: not prime) traders...they have inertia in addition to any qualitative advantages. You'd have to pay-to-play for years just to get a taste of IB margins in the same scale; all the while IB is clipping coupons.How are they a monopoly? It's not that nobody can compete with them... it's that they don't want to drive the prices down so much... I don't know why, but any other broker can do the same as them.
@beerntrading the connectivity they provide to world wide markets is definitely a need for me.... that's probably the hardest part for others to do. IB has basically been leaning on the global connections of Timberhill and had retail piggy back. But if a broker can team up with a larger market maker to get global connectivity costs down, for sure they can set-up similarly.
Initial cost will obviously be high and they still need to keep the pricing low, but I think they would be getting a bigger slice of the pie.
I wish other brokers had global connectivity, what would give me more options to choose from... I don't think LightSpeed is going to global, @Robert Morse ?
Unfortunately, retail brokers usually stick to the country they reside.
Professional firms are global with execution cost much lower than even IB, but they are limited in clientele. Once a broker decides to undercut IB, the road to zero will be very quick.