Interactive Brokers.........Part II

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NKNY,
The policy is clearly displayed on the web site. As mentioned previously, I know the finance group are looking into other direct methods of deposit.

from the site:

Sending Funds for Securities Accounts

Please do not send funds until your account has been opened. When your account has been approved and opened, you will receive an e-mail from Interactive Brokers.

You must specify both your NAME and IB ACCOUNT NUMBER on all deposits. Otherwise, there will be a delay in crediting funds to your account or funds may be returned to your sending bank/broker.

If we do not receive funds within 45 days of your account approval notification, we will close your pending account and you will need to restart the account process.

Customer represents that all funds deposited into Customer's account shall be for the purpose of trading securities, options, commodities and other investment products.

Note: Funds sent by personal check to IB will be credited to your account 10 business days after IB has received the check. Wire transfers or cashier's checks received by IB before 3pm (New York Time) will be credited to your account typically on the same business day.


 
How many people does IB have to handle phone orders when/if your system goes down? Are there set procedures for this? what can a client do to minimize the pain of these events?
 
def,

Always use wires when transferring money to and from IB.
That is what I have learned. I have a friend who deposited $15000 and got a e-mail notification for $1500. He notified IB and is still awaiting a response. Mistakes like leaving a zero off a check is just not acceptable.
I asked for your e-mail so he could contact you so you could look into it.

On my example:
If my account as 50k in it.
I write a check to IB for 10k.
10k is less than 50k, right?
If my check bounces, you can take back the 10k and charge me interest for it. I'm not saying accept a check deposit for 50k when you have 2k in your account. Check deposits for less than account balance should be honored without the waiting period.

Besides these minor check deposit issues, I really like IB. The execution is fast and the commission is great. For anyone trading less than 1000 shares at a time, or likes to scale into and out of positions, IB would be perfect for you.

Thanks!
 
cdntrader,
i really am not sure how many people are on the trade desk in the event of a system failure. I'm based overseas. If there is a failure it is safe to assume that the desk will be flooded with trade calls. If you're an active trader I'd recommend having a backup broker.

jsmith,
yes 10K is < 50K but what if the account is credited with the extra cash and an illiquid position is put on? the system would be forced to liquidate at added risk in the event the bank recalls the credit. alternatively, what the client withdThe problem is that the US banks can recall/bounce a check I think up to 30 days after they post the amounts into the account. This really isn't my area of expertise and thus can't comment further on the policy. In the end, I know internally it is not a policy that we like but bad debt can cripple margins.

As for your friend with the check.... He should send the question to the help desk attn funds and banking. They are ususally quite diligent in providing a response. If he prefers to send me an e-mail that is fine but given the time zone difference, he may lose a day in getting a response.
 
Cdntrader asks:

> How many people does IB have to handle phone
> orders when/if your system goes down? Are there
> set procedures for this? what can a client do to
> minimize the pain of these events?

I'm not sure how many people IB has manning the phones at the help desk or the `backup trade desk', but it's a few.

I've been trading equities through IB for almost a year and can share a few pointers on dealing with them on the phone.
If something breaks and you need to have them make a trade for you it does help to know their drill.

Firstly, remain calm. The folks I've dealt with at the Backup Trade Desk seem like nice people, but they have their orders. You must understand what's going on to their satisfaction before they will make your trade. You could be losing thousands while they waste your time but this doesn't matter.

Just say you understand and let them get on with it.

(Trades through the Backup Trade Desk are $30, and they really, *really* want you to understand this.) They may be at fault -- say if their system goes down. (Which fortunately happens very seldom.) If so they will charge you at the normal online rate. But don't even get into it with them or you'll waste loads of time. Wait till after they make the trade to complain about anything!

I called and complained about this mess to a supervisor after the fact and told them that when I call I want a fast trade! They put some sort of notation on my account and things are much smoother now.

(I've had to use the trade desk a number of times, but very few times due to problems with IB's systems.)

Now one of the nastier points ...

It's called the Backup Trade Desk. But it's not.

The Backup Trade Desk uses the same system as you do as a customers. So if it's down they can't trade either. You just have to wait. And remember how much money this system saves you on the days that it works -- which is most days.

So if they inform you that they're system is down it's probably best to hang up and wait for the software to start working on your system again and place the trade yourself.

Their web page does recommend that you have a backup account with some other broker. Wow! Unfortunately that would mean you'd have to have money in that account too, wasting away waiting for an IB failure.

The lack of a real backup trade desk is IB's nastiest shortcoming as far as I know.

As traders we're taught to control our risks. Having no
backup trade desk is a nasty risk. With IB's reliability record it doesn't surface often -- only twice for me so far. (I trade full time.)

I'm hoping IB will `do the right thing' and find a real alternate means of executing trades for when their system fails.

Until then I'm paying a little closer attention to trading in the direction of the larger trend.
 
Hmm this is a little unnerving to say the least. Also it sounds like a trader would be best to communicate his understanding of the $30 policy right off the bat to have his accounts flagged for quick service when the system is down.

You would think they would at least have personalized service for larger traders. If not, they are limiting their audience to small accounts in my opinion.

Have you been able to get through to the desk quickly when the system was down?
 
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