SIPC coverage for Interactive Brokers UK accounts

[sprstpd]

That wasn't actually the case for the examples I cited or hundreds of others. There are two kinds of bankruptcy, the SHLD kind that is obvious for some time and the unexpected kind due to some kind of external shock to the financial system (i.e. Bear Stearns) or fraud in the financial statements. I'm not in any way suggesting that I suspect IB is engaged in financial statement fraud or that we have a systemic financial shock imminent. However I am quite adamantly insisting that by their very nature both are unknowable until after it's too late to do anything about it. To think otherwise is to ignore history, much of it very recent.

I disagree. Problems like this always show up first where it matters most: the stock price.

 

[Maverick2608]

I disagree. Problems like this always show up first where it matters most: the stock price.

Indeed. But usually the situation unravels pretty fast.

 

[Sig]

I disagree. Problems like this always show up first where it matters most: the stock price.

Well if nothing else this kind of "boundless optimism" is a good indicator that we're near a top!

 

[Maverick2608]

When I see the documentary “Inside Job,” I can’t help thinking, that the reason only Bear Stearns and Lehman was allowed to fail among the big banks, was that the people making the decisions were almost exclusively wealthy people that would have been reduced to ordinary peasants living off their SIPC coverage if the financial industry as a whole had been allowed to collapse.

 

[dealmaker]

"Market top is never insight when vision is vitiated by hope."
- Jesse Lauriston Livermore ( Reminisences of a Stock Operator )

 

[sprstpd]

Well if nothing else this kind of "boundless optimism" is a good indicator that we're near a top!

Not sure how what I said qualifies as "boundless optimism", but then again, most of the time your posts make no sense.

 

[d08]

You'll know when IB is going bankrupt when its stock price is less than $1. Til then, the odds of what you are suggesting are extremely low.

What if it drops 50% to $30 in a week, then gets halted in the following days and re-opens weeks later on the pinksheets? Scandals are rarely gradual.

 

[Sig]

Not sure how what I said qualifies as "boundless optimism", but then again, most of the time your posts make no sense.

When I first started studying electrical engineering, most of it made no sense. When I first started studying physics, most of it made no sense. When I first started studying finance, most of it made no sense. Just keep on studying, it will eventually start making sense! I'd start with the helpful chart @Maverick2608 posted just a few posts ago, it nicely demonstrates this particular point. Good luck my friend.

 

[sprstpd]

What if it drops 50% to $30 in a week, then gets halted in the following days and re-opens weeks later on the pinksheets? Scandals are rarely gradual.

The market always knows before the news becomes public. Obviously a 50% drop in a week means something is up. My "$1 price" comment was an exaggeration.

 

[sprstpd]

Indeed. But usually the situation unravels pretty fast.

View attachment 181063

Agreed, but the price was a decent indicator that you should be pulling your money from MF Global. I am not sure when MF Global stopped allowing withdrawals, but if I had money there I would have been pulling when the stock went below $5.