As an Investor, I don't see it as a big deal. As a trader that depends on income from trading or trades often, it makes sense to have a back up account as system issues can and do happen to every broker.
I believe it comes down to your net worth and your tolerance of losing an insane amount of money. Let's face it, beginning traders often under capitalized and lack knowledge, they to a broker is highest amount of risk and they often make huge issues of a dime cheaper elsewhere, they often only take long side and seldom sell short stocks and or commodities, they often are the biggest pains in the arses, but being brokers really can't see who they dealing, they take almost anyone as a client and hoping they deposit more funds. They do a few trades a day praying they do no worse than breakeven and when they mess up or using inferior computer, meaning they play games, email, download music/porn and their brokerage account, their computer crashes or hacked while in a one lot of Corn, they more likely going to reboot and pray they can get back into IB and exit and not lose more than a tick cause they don't want to call IB as it is at times twenty minute wait and $35 bucks extra to get out.
The well funded client has several accounts for different timeframes and systems, a dime more a side might not matter to this client as his broker might be offering a rebate or another way to recover whereas broker would not do so with less funded clients. But the hugest reason of paying more is that twenty minutes waiting on phone, went long on 14:46 bar in 10 lots ES at 2681.50 and your stops are sitting on your computer- HAAAA, power goes out on your entire block including cable internet, you finally get a hold of IB twenty minutes later and IB says you still long and price is at 2669.00 WTF? And broker says there be a margin call as you don't have enough funds as it is now past 15:00 WTF does that mean and broker directs you to a web page you can't get to, doesn't this clown hear me when I said power was out? Where the hell am I, India? What margin call? And right about now, you didn't notice you didn't recharge your cell phone and click, OH "screw me royal", but hey, you saving two dimes. The well funded client has 2 backups including generator, might have cable, DSL and satellite to monitor off site server holding their trading software or automation, and they might call brokerage and escape with a few ticks of loss per.
It only takes once to be nailed to the wall then go overboard with backups, but the backups are but very small costs as opposed to losing brand new Lexus.
