I don't mind them raising margins on VIX products and I understand why they would want to do that. But the way IB is doing it is just WRONG!! They are NOT really taking into account of what's actually happening in your account and instead is just applying the margins blindly to your account, holding back your funds just to prevent you from shorting the VIX products even if you have enough cash in the account to cover any shortfalls AND also have entered hedging trades FIRST that would've completely covered any potential risk. Basically all they are doing is as soon as they see you are shorting VIX products, they lock your account and then they have this person manually checking your account and to see that everything is OK, then they release the lock and by the time when they have released the lock, the price has already moved away from the original time when one wants to short it so one is getting into a position at less favourable prices and that just puts them at even more risk at suffering losses. And that's not only increasing the risk for the traders but also putting IB at higher risk for losses too.
I don't understand WHY IB cannot automate this process and be able to assess risk and calculate margin on an overall portfolio basis taking into account of ALL transactions and positions instead of relying on a manual process that focuses on individual trades. So typical of IB, having some idea of doing something but never doing it right! And then traders just end up getting screwed in the process.
