Interactive Brokers is a scam, 2-3x margin maintenance requirements

The IB Roth is odd - with futures their margin is up to 3 times the overnight rate. With TDA it is approx 50%. I still use IB for filling some orders - getting my data feed from other brokers. That way it is a good deal. If I was to pay for all their fees trying to match other brokers I use it would be to expensive to justify using them.
 
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Math degree? I don't believe a word.

* no broker is a scam because you don't like their margin policy. IBs is laid out in detail in public. If you are too negligent to read it beforehand then that is your fault.

* why would ib force you to trade more. How so? Another totally empty accusation

* for US stocks and a regT account i believe they give you 4:1. Disagree?

* stock prices do exhibit jumps and each day some of them appreciate or depreciate by 30% or even more.

* your whole argument is total nonsense. Anyone who requires more margin in effect discourages you to trade more hence they generate less commission dollars from lower number shares, traded, not more.

Seriously, you are either a cheap shill and IB hater or outright naive or even dumb


bongey said:
(Note I love IB's trading platform that supports linux, so I am very unhappy about firing them).
Interactive Brokers is a scam by having much higher margin maintence requirements they force you into having to trade more, thus more commissions and they can just liquidate your account. Good for me I only transferred in half from current broker,they are getting fired after being on the job for 3 days.

Their margin maintenance requirements are higher 2-3x as high as other brokers.
Example AMD
Capital One 30%
LightSpeed 25%
IB idiots > 66% WTF???? REALLY!!!!

I have a masters degree in math, they try to give you some none-sense about their risk management group coming up with this value.That is none-sense.
AMD would have to drop more than a 1/3 in a day for them to lose any money at all.
That just isn't going to happen, AMD is not going to drop to 8 dollars from 13 in a single day.(note rough math there)
Honestly I think they aren't doing much of any risk analysts, the percent is almost exactly the median analyst target price. Not much about probabilities there

Reality this is just higher to force you into more trades for more commissions.

I am going to give another broker a try.
Disappointed because I am basically I am making HALF of what I make trading crappy old web base Capital One Investing. Let that sink in, make more money using a crappy web base simple solution.
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Overnight said:
Indeed. They do seem a bit high on most margin requirements.

Curious about your master's degree in math. How can 7+1=10?
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umm where are you even getting a calculation of 7+1 = 10?

Most of the calculations are rough order of magnitudes.
 
bongey said:
umm where are you even getting a calculation of 7+1 = 10?

Most of the calculations are rough order of magnitudes.
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It is a test of your masters degree in math. That is all. Can 7+1 ever = 10, and if so, how?
 
Zzzz1 said:
Math degree? I don't believe a word.

Sure , the 2 Abstract Algebra, the 2 Topology books , 3 Complex Analysis , 2 probability stats books, 4 Calculus books, 2 Linear Algebra books, and 1 chaos theory book on my shelve right in front of me. I just have them because I just bought them for fun, yeah right. Half of those subjects your going to have too google just to find out what I am even talking about.

No it is not 4:1 one based off the cash value.
Example 40,000k USD , you cannot purchase more than 50k ish in AMD with IB. Anyone else you can purchase 80-90k.

Finally it is a scam because they advertise low margin rates, leaving out you basically cannot trade on any stocks that have had any movement. Your not trading at that point, you are an investor being scammed into thinking you can actually trade when you can't.
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@bongey

Don't worry. You will find another happy broker to take you on. By the way I have a quant masters from CMU and studied stochastic calculus for 2 years straight. I might throw you a puzzle or two just for the fun of it. Roasting job applicants is generally quite fun. You should like the challenge.



 
Zzzz1 said:
@bongey

Don't worry. You will find another happy broker to take you on. By the way I have a quant masters from CMU and studied stochastic calculus for 2 years straight. I might throw you a puzzle or two just for the fun of it. Roasting job applicants is generally quite fun. You should like the challenge.
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Ahh you went to slightly better school than me, dammit(if you aren't just bs'ing). Still want to go there to go after Phd in CS.
My undergrads were in CS,Math and Physics(minor). Tried doing EE too but 4 degrees at once in 4 years was too much.

Funniest comment from the Math chair when I told him my schedule the semester with 24 hours. His response, "That isn't hard, that is suicide".(ie 4 grad level math courses + 2 400 level cs + 2 500 level physics).

My GPA took a hit went from 3.99 to 3.59 in one semester, learning lesson though.


(some guy one time tried bs'ing about being math degree with me, all he could say his courses were in advance math, ,what course? , advance math).

Finally I am going to give IB some time, I split my funds in half to try out two different brokers. IB needs to post more information about their margin maintenance to not being scamming.
interactive brokers margin maintenance stock site:interactivebrokers.com
find an example how to look up their margin maintenance per stock.

I had to contact them 3 times to get out of them that AMD has a maintenance rate of 66%, while I called two others, when not even being a customer and they just gave me their rate.

That is probably why I somewhat pissed off too, it took multiple times contacting them going wtf why is it erroring out?
 
bongey said:
I had to contact them 3 times to get out of them that AMD has a maintenance rate of 66%, while I called two others, when not even being a customer and they just gave me their rate.?
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On TWs type in the ticker of the stock you are interested in, right click, select Contract Info, than press Details, it will open a link indicating a bunch of information about the stock, including its margin treatment.
It looks better than it is though, as some of the margin information you find is different than the margin treatment tws eventually applies.
 
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