Is IB cheating you?
- Thread starter electron
- Start date
I have had an account with IB for about 15 months. It is the best of the five or six direct brokers I have used - by a long way. I have never had a problem with IB accounting. It is obvious why ongoing P/L may deviate slightly from the final daily calculation, and this fact never irritates me. Keep up the good work IB.
When I used to have lots of option and stock positions, my balance in the account window would sometimes make unexplained jumps, sometimes as much as 1%. If you look at how stock options are valued in the account window, you might be able to almost understand it. I don't always check my numbers, but occasionally I "audit" a certain day or even a whole month, check for dividends etc. So far, I have never found a problem on my statements, although I must admit I don't like numbers and I'm not particularly good with numbers. I am a math major and even got my master's degree in math, but at a university where they do serious research, and believe me, if you had to do with actual numbers (not letters) in your postgraduate studies, you were either not studying mathematics, or you were studying to become a high school teacher. Heck, I attended a lecture on number theory where the only actual numbers the professor ever wrote onto the blackboard were 0 and 1. The rest were (in this case mostly lower case Greek) letters and other symbols like = or +.
When people ask me, "Didn't you study math, you should be able to tell us how much 14 x 27 is?" I usually don't explain why I don't know the answer, I just leave them with their belief that math is about numbers and I'm some sort of moron. Now that I don't work for others anymore, there is no need to convince anyone of my intellectual capabilities.
When people ask me, "Didn't you study math, you should be able to tell us how much 14 x 27 is?" I usually don't explain why I don't know the answer, I just leave them with their belief that math is about numbers and I'm some sort of moron. Now that I don't work for others anymore, there is no need to convince anyone of my intellectual capabilities.
def
Sponsor
Electron,
Please read the statement by Jon carefully and avail the use of our help desk and/or even PM me if you think we have made an error. I'd suggest the easiest thing for you to do would be to open the execution window and look at your fills. If the fills match your orders, I'd be 99.999% confident that your account numbers will add up properly.
I'd also like to add that doesn't it make more sense to pick up the phone, e-mail or chat with our CS desk BEFORE making such accusations.
def
Please read the statement by Jon carefully and avail the use of our help desk and/or even PM me if you think we have made an error. I'd suggest the easiest thing for you to do would be to open the execution window and look at your fills. If the fills match your orders, I'd be 99.999% confident that your account numbers will add up properly.
I'd also like to add that doesn't it make more sense to pick up the phone, e-mail or chat with our CS desk BEFORE making such accusations.
def
Absolutely Not. Not that I know of.
Def, are you listening? Please answer a question in Classified. Thank you for your help.
I can also affirm that, for about 3 years and many thousands of trades of all types of instruments, IB's accounting rocks like no other.
Sure, there have occasionally been esoteric issues that deal with fringe situations, but they've been fixed as needed.
I reconcile my trade reports and statements daily with my own tools.
I don't expect any brokerage's system to accurately tell me what me current P/L is on a trade, since they are unlikely to evaluate the current value accurately, nor deal with the appropriate FIFO/LIFO/average cost basis - that's all for my own mind and systems to deal with.
I've never known it to be the practice of a sciences PhD program to produce graduates that make provocative blanket statements without any sort of supporting detail, much less those who refuse to provide same when confronted. I guess education isn't what it used to be :-(
BTW, welcome Jon
Sure, there have occasionally been esoteric issues that deal with fringe situations, but they've been fixed as needed.
I reconcile my trade reports and statements daily with my own tools.
I don't expect any brokerage's system to accurately tell me what me current P/L is on a trade, since they are unlikely to evaluate the current value accurately, nor deal with the appropriate FIFO/LIFO/average cost basis - that's all for my own mind and systems to deal with.
I've never known it to be the practice of a sciences PhD program to produce graduates that make provocative blanket statements without any sort of supporting detail, much less those who refuse to provide same when confronted. I guess education isn't what it used to be :-(
BTW, welcome Jon
So what ? Iis it because YOU had any error that SOMEBEODY ELSE can't ? It reminds me the first time I saw bugs in Lotus 123 at a period when DOS still exists and when I complained to the Company they said that it was impossible since their other users have never complained about that 
. After that bugs became so periodic that no one is no more astonished by bugs !
. After that bugs became so periodic that no one is no more astonished by bugs !I'm still waiting for the original poster (electron) to provide the details. If IB made an error, what is it? Need to be specific like "they charged a $20 commission when it should have been $15" or "the opening cash balance is $10 less than yesterday's closing balance".
If a broker did want to cheat their clients, the best way would be the calculation of interest income on cash balances or margin interest on debit balances. I've never been able to recreate those numbers.
If a broker did want to cheat their clients, the best way would be the calculation of interest income on cash balances or margin interest on debit balances. I've never been able to recreate those numbers.