Is this some sort of scam, or what?
June 22, 2007
Dear Customer:
Our primary objective is to provide you with access to products, systems and trading tools at prices that give you a competitive advantage over other market participants.
With that in mind, I would like to provide you with some information about Single-Stock Futures and Exchange-For-Physical (âEFPâ) trading. As described below, Single-Stock Futures and EFPs can be used to:
Reduce the margin costs you pay on long stock positions
Improve your return on short stock positions
Improve the yield you receive on extra cash sitting in your account
If you start using Single Stock Futures and EFPs to improve your returns, IB will earn less on interest charges from your account. But we think youâll be a happier customer and that your profits (and IBâs) will be greater in the long run.
Depending on your degree of familiarity with the futures markets, you may find the following to be somewhat complicated, but reading it and understanding it may make you a more successful investor. It is well worth the effort.
What Are Single-Stock Futures?
Similar to stock index futures such as the S&P 500 futures, Single-Stock Futures are futures contracts on specific stocks that expire and deliver stock, on dates that coincide with the securities options marketâs expiration dates.
As with any futures contract, there is a buyer for every seller and there is a short position for every long position. The Options Clearing Corporation acts as the clearing house and holds the opposite side of each position, collecting initial margin -- in this case 20% of the value of the single stock future. Your broker requires margin collateral for the position and puts up this margin at the Options Clearing Corporation in the form of treasury bills and receives interest back from the clearing house on this collateral. Interactive Brokers and some other firms will pass the interest they receive on your futures margin deposits right back to you.
On each trading day after a Single-Stock Futures position is established, if the underlying stock goes up, the clearing house collects from the short and pays to the long for the change in the value of the contract. If the stock goes down, the clearing house collects from the long and pays to the short. Upon liquidation of the contract, the customer will be credited for profits and debited for losses.
On expiration day, the short delivers to the long 100 shares for each long contract (similar to when a call option is exercised and the seller of the short call option must deliver 100 shares to the holder of the call). These deliveries are done automatically by your broker. If you are on the short side and do not have the shares in your account, you will become short the shares. Many brokers charge a fee or a commission for this service. Interactive Brokers does not.
Single-Stock Futures usually trade at a premium to the stock price, reflecting the carrying cost of the stock, which is equal to interest less dividends. An exception to this is when there is some other advantage to having the actual stock in hand, such as a certain corporate action or when a stock is difficult to borrow.
What Is an EFP?
An Exchange-for Physicals (âEFPâ) is a type of transaction that first arose in the commodities markets -- where two parties would swap a quantity of a physical commodity (e.g., grain) in exchange for a futures contract for an equal amount of that commodity.
EFPs can also be done for Single-Stock Futures, so you can exchange stock for a Single-Stock Futures contract covering the same amount of stock. These transactions are offered on OneChicago (the Single Stock Futures Exchange).
Why Would You Use Them?
Let us examine three situations, at least one of which is very likely to apply to you at this moment:
1. You Are Long Stock On Margin And Would Like To Reduce Your Financing Rate
Interactive Brokers is extending a margin loan against your long position and charging you between 0.15% and 1.5% over the LIBOR benchmark rate (5.307% as of 06/14/07), depending on the size of your account. With an EFP transaction you can reduce this financing expense:
You can sell the stock and buy the future, say for September or December delivery.
You can do this as one transaction.
You can put your order in as a limit order, either in absolute or in percentage terms.
You can put the order in at 5.35% or even try for a lower rate -- say 5.21% -- and if your order is hit you will be financing your long position slightly over or possibly under the benchmark rate.
2. You Are Short Stock And Would Like To Increase Your Return
The situation is equally compelling if you are carrying a short stock position. On an ordinary short stock position, Interactive Brokers pays you a short rebate which represents interest on the proceeds of your short sale in excess of $100,000. These proceeds may not be withdrawn as they serve as collateral against your obligation to cover the short position, and in addition you must also post margin.
The short interest rebate paid by Interactive Brokers is 1.25% to 0.15% less than the LIBOR benchmark, provided that the stock is freely available to short (If the stock is difficult to borrow, the discount to the benchmark rate is greater and in some cases may exceed the benchmark so that the holder of the short position may have to pay the lender of the stock).
In any event, the holder of a short position could generate greater returns by buying back the short stock and simultaneously selling the Single-Stock Futures contract on that stock at a rebate rate that is higher than what is being paid by the broker on the short proceeds. Through this type of EFP, the trader maintains his market position but increases his return.
3. You Want to Receive a Greater Return on Excess Cash in Your Account
EFPs involving Single-Stock Futures can also help you simply receive a better return on unused cash sitting in your account.
If you have excess cash in your account, Interactive Brokers will pay you interest on the cash balance over $10,000, at a rate between 0.15% and 0.50% less than the benchmark rate. As of 06/14/07, that would be 5.157% to 4.807%. You could increase your return on this cash through an EFP -- offering to buy a stock and simultaneously selling it forward (using a Single Stock Futures contract) at say 5.21%.
Since you are buying the stock and selling the stock future, under normal market conditions, you are not assuming market risk on that stock, and indeed you do not even care about which stock you buy and sell forward. Just as in a repo transaction, what you are really doing here is financing somebody else's position on a fully secured basis and generating for yourself a better interest rate on your money than you would get if it that cash simply sat in your account.
