This is what I got back from IB mgmt regarding denial of exchange access for not paying quote fees:
"We sent notification to all professionals mid-March that any professionals that didn't comply with the exchange rules for market data by 4/1 would be cut off. These are not our rules, and the exchanges specify that all professionals must sign proper documentation and pay them the proper fees to recieve market data.
Currently we only allow non-pros to trade without market data for a $3/month fee. Suggest you drop the market data from your vendor."
The first paragraph seems to indicate that he did not understand my problem, but the second seems to answer the question. He seems to say that they are forcing pros to subscribe to market data or they will not be permitted to trade on the exchanges.
Here's IB mgmt's clarification:
"The exchanges expect pros to get the data from somewhere and pay the price.
It is true you could get the data away from IB, but IB is not allowing pros to trade without market data because of the complications and legal overhead involved. However, we are allowing Non-pros to trade without market data because of the ease of implementation."
I am also having a running dialogue with the SEC on this. While IB mgmt is saying these "are not our rules", I am having a hard time finding where this "rule" came from. In my first conversation with the SEC, the attorney I spoke with was not aware of any such NYSE/AMEX rule that B/Ds had to do this. There is some question as to whether IB is even allowed to deny access to exchanges based on the non-payment of quote fees, since the fees are specifically for the purpose of data dissemination and not an "access fee". His clarification indicates that this was a specific IB decision because of "complications and legal overhead".
Now I must pay pro fees twice as last I checked IB didn't have a nice charting program. IB never asked me to prove that I was paying pro fees anywhere else, they just cut me off.
I suspect I will be contributing to their "complications and legal overhead" in the near future.