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Interactive Brokers - experiences and opinions

  • #381
  • Jan 9, 2012 10:14pm Jan 9, 2012 10:14pm
Quoting starbucks
yup, GBPJPY is 2.7pips in Oanda now, normally if i long a position, my account will be -3.5 atleast. Think of it IB is better than Oanda.

So what do you commonly trade starbucks?
  • #382
  • Jan 10, 2012 1:31am Jan 10, 2012 1:31am
Quoting starbucks
Hi hendry thx for your reply, currently am with Oanda, but I noticed that our fund is not safe if what happened to MF global happen to Oanda.

The beauty of Interactibe Brokers (IB) I noticed was they are members of SIPC so our fund are safe.

But, IB's trading platform seem like very complicated and they even charge when we change our SL/TP ..... so I need some advice from those who is currently trade with them.
You can go for AVAFX forex broker as well. It is listed in top brokers list. First check, its services are matching with your requirements or not.
  • #383
  • Jan 10, 2012 2:25am Jan 10, 2012 2:25am
Quoting dakoo
So what do you commonly trade starbucks?
dakoo, I trade EU, GU, EJ, GJ, UChf, AU and UCan.
~~ Happy Trading ~~
  • #384
  • Jan 10, 2012 2:27am Jan 10, 2012 2:27am
Quoting henryduncan1
You can go for AVAFX forex broker as well. It is listed in top brokers list. First check, its services are matching with your requirements or not.
thx henry for the input.
~~ Happy Trading ~~
  • #385
  • Jan 10, 2012 4:34am Jan 10, 2012 4:34am
Quoting starbucks
dakoo, I trade EU, GU, EJ, GJ, UChf, AU and UCan.
What is your startup capital btw. Because the higher it is the more you need a serious brokerage. IB would require you to start with $10000. But that is just for opening balance. Afterwards you can keep lower balances as low as 2500. But to take advantage of IB's low commissions you better trade 100k lots otherwise it would be expensive for smaller lot sizes.

btw, if you trade this many pairs intraday you must be gordon gekko's long lost son or something
  • #386
  • Jan 10, 2012 5:56am Jan 10, 2012 5:56am
Quoting dakoo
What is your startup capital btw. Because the higher it is the more you need a serious brokerage. IB would require you to start with $10000. But that is just for opening balance. Afterwards you can keep lower balances as low as 2500. But to take advantage of IB's low commissions you better trade 100k lots otherwise it would be expensive for smaller lot sizes.

btw, if you trade this many pairs intraday you must be gordon gekko's long lost son or something
Open account with 10k then withdraw 7.5k What a good trick !!! IB wouldn't close your account ?

IB wbesite stated commission is 0.2 basic point, do you mind to explain how to calculate it, let said my contract is 100k.

FYI, those pair i mentioned, does means I trade all pair very day, I only do 1 or 2 trade per day.
~~ Happy Trading ~~
  • #387
  • Jan 10, 2012 6:09am Jan 10, 2012 6:09am
Quoting starbucks
hi QuadrupleX, you are right . The only thing what trader can do is to minimize the risk. If broker's bank go under then too bad....

May I know who is your Spot Fx broker at the moment ?
Oanda. Their disconnections drive me nuts, and to be honest I'm looking forward to trade with a more serious broker like IB.

The problem is that I don't trade full lots all the time so it can be expensive. I trade exclusively EU at Oanda and the spread is reasonable.
  • #388
  • Jan 10, 2012 6:12am Jan 10, 2012 6:12am
Quoting QuadrupleX
Oanda. Their disconnections drive me nuts, and to be honest I'm looking forward to trade with a more serious broker like IB.

The problem is that I don't trade full lots all the time so it can be expensive. I trade exclusively EU at Oanda and the spread is reasonable.
true. i havent had a data disconnection at ib in more than 3 months, and when it did happen it was back on in 3 minutes. think of it this way quadruplex, at some point that 20 minute oanda connection loss is going to be far more expensive than a slightly more expensive position at IB(if you're not dealing full lots that is)
  • #389
  • Jan 10, 2012 6:13am Jan 10, 2012 6:13am
Quoting dakoo
The interactive brokers structure is much better than a futures account segregation. It is kept in an SIPC account( a US govt scheme). each account is insured upto $500000 cash. so in case of misappropriation of funds, not just the broker but Uncle Sam is to make you whole. Better odds.
I'm not an expert in this field so I can't actually comment, but if the info is correct I would agree that you would have better odds.
  • #390
  • Jan 10, 2012 6:13am Jan 10, 2012 6:13am
Quoting starbucks
Open account with 10k then withdraw 7.5k What a good trick !!! IB wouldn't close your account ?

IB wbesite stated commission is 0.2 basic point, do you mind to explain how to calculate it, let said my contract is 100k.

FYI, those pair i mentioned, does means I trade all pair very day, I only do 1 or 2 trade per day.
min com $2.5 so if you plan to trade under 70K coms are gona hurt... you need to keep 2kusd in the acc to keep it open
  • #391
  • Jan 10, 2012 6:30am Jan 10, 2012 6:30am
Quoting starbucks
Open account with 10k then withdraw 7.5k What a good trick !!! IB wouldn't close your account ?

IB wbesite stated commission is 0.2 basic point, do you mind to explain how to calculate it, let said my contract is 100k.

FYI, those pair i mentioned, does means I trade all pair very day, I only do 1 or 2 trade per day.
To open you need to deposit 10k. but in order for you to have trading facility 2500 must be minimum maintained at all times. Ib leverage for major pairs is 1:40 .
to your example, Fee is $20 per million dollars transacted. The current exchange rate for EURUSD is 1.2775 so 1 lot is $127750.
Divide 127750 by 1000000 = 0.12775
multiply 0.12775 with $20 = $2.55 .. this would be your commission for entering. ditto for exit.

If however you trade 50k then your commission WILL NOT BE
0.05x20 = 1
since the minimum commission per entry is still $2.5.
So if you trade 50 k commission will be a full 1 pip
  • #392
  • Jan 10, 2012 7:32am Jan 10, 2012 7:32am
Quoting dakoo
To open you need to deposit 10k. but in order for you to have trading facility 2500 must be minimum maintained at all times. Ib leverage for major pairs is 1:40 .
to your example, Fee is $20 per million dollars transacted. The current exchange rate for EURUSD is 1.2775 so 1 lot is $127750.
Divide 127750 by 1000000 = 0.12775
multiply 0.12775 with $20 = $2.55 .. this would be your commission for entering. ditto for exit.

If however you trade 50k then your commission WILL NOT BE
0.05x20 = 1
since the minimum commission per entry is still $2.5.
So...
Noted, thx.
~~ Happy Trading ~~
  • #393
  • Feb 17, 2012 2:46pm Feb 17, 2012 2:46pm
I've been looking around on the internet and see a few things about Interactive Brokers volume being talked about, but its all shut down immediately by people saying "its just tick volume". I trade through Interactive Brokers and decided to start charting with them on NinjaTrader. Last week I pulled up the volume histogram and was interested at what I found - its typical readings are about 4.6B per minute. What's more, volume will continue to rise at any given price level without any movement in the actual price. And what's more than that, I can actually bring up a volume chart (2B bars is ninja's max) unlike my other data provider Gain, which most definitely provides tick volume.

This seems to me to not be "tick volume". Can someone explain why I am wrong? I'm not trying to be flippant, I am seriously just curious what it is that I am seeing. Could IB be releasing the volume that is coming from its liquidity providers? Could it just be volume that is going through IB itself to the liquidity providers? As many know, IB does not actually provide tick data, maybe because they are providing volume in terms of actual currency value, as opposed to just whether price moved or not (i.e., like Gain)?

Thank you for the clarification
Small disciplines repeated with consistency lead to great achievements.
  • #394
  • Feb 28, 2012 12:36am Feb 28, 2012 12:36am
Dear all,

I know this is an old thread, but was wondering if anyone would be so kind as to shed some light.

I have been told that with Forex, I need 25,000USD just to trade the equivalency of $2.5USD per pip movement (i.e. equal to 2.5 mini lots). The problem I have is that I want to vary trade size between Half a full lot to 5 full lots or so. If I need 25,000USD to trade @ $2.5USD per pip of movement, that means for $10USD per pip of movement (i.e. 1 full lot), I would need a deposit of $100,000USD. For 5 full lots, that's $500,000USD of deposit.

Can anybody verify this? As I know, Interactive Brokers has poor customer service, I am not sure if this information I was given to by them is really correct. It seems unrealistic for someone to fork out a $100,000USD deposit just to trade 1 full lot.

Appreciate any Interactive Broker users feedback...
  • #395
  • Feb 28, 2012 1:35am Feb 28, 2012 1:35am
dakoo,

thank you so much for this informative calculation. I would like to ask, what you've described here is equal to $10USD per one pip of movement (i.e. one full lot) is that correct?

And also, because the leverage on EUR/USD is 1:40, that means the deposit required in this example of yours would be: 127750/40 = $3193.75USD?

Do you know the calculations on IDEAL PRO?

Quoting dakoo
To open you need to deposit 10k. but in order for you to have trading facility 2500 must be minimum maintained at all times. Ib leverage for major pairs is 1:40 .
to your example, Fee is $20 per million dollars transacted. The current exchange rate for EURUSD is 1.2775 so 1 lot is $127750.
Divide 127750 by 1000000 = 0.12775
multiply 0.12775 with $20 = $2.55 .. this would be your commission for entering. ditto for exit.

If however you trade 50k then your commission WILL NOT BE
0.05x20 = 1
since the minimum commission per entry is still $2.5.
So...
  • #396
  • Feb 28, 2012 3:13am Feb 28, 2012 3:13am
Quoting chiba_san
dakoo,

thank you so much for this informative calculation. I would like to ask, what you've described here is equal to $10USD per one pip of movement (i.e. one full lot) is that correct?

And also, because the leverage on EUR/USD is 1:40, that means the deposit required in this example of yours would be: 127750/40 = $3193.75USD?

Do you know the calculations on IDEAL PRO?
Leverage is borrowing money to supplement existing funds for investments in such a way that the potential positive or negative outcome is magnified and/or enhanced. Leverage is vitally important to your trading activities. Choosing the incorrect leverage could result in large losses and damage potential profits.
The amount of leverage on your account will in part determine the amount of funds you need to put up for a trade.

To calculate the amount of funds required for a specific trade you need to do the following calculation:
Units of base currency / leverage = margin requirement
A trade of 1.00 lot on the GBP/USD with a leverage of 1:500
1.00 lot = 100,000 units of base currency, so in this case 100,000GBP
100,000 / 500 = 200
The margin required for this trade is 200GBP

If you were to lower the leverage the margin required for this trade would increase, see the example below:
A trade of 1.00 lot on the GBP/USD with a leverage of 1:100
1.00 lot = 100,000 units of base currency, so in this case 100,000GBP
100,000 / 100 = 1000
The margin required for this trade is 1,000GBP

As you can see from these two examples the margin requirements differ significantly when trading the same volume but with a different leverage.
  • #397
  • Feb 28, 2012 8:01am Feb 28, 2012 8:01am
chiba: you would need to buy 25.000 EUR/USD (for example) for $2.5 per pip PnL, that is correct - but your broker will provide leverage - that means that you only need a fraction of that in margin to keep this position open. About $600 in IBs case. IB will buy the $25K for you on credit, and you will pay interest on it.

I suggest understanding the basics before you press any buttons..
  • #398
  • Mar 7, 2012 5:41am Mar 7, 2012 5:41am
Quoting dakoo
I trade with IB. There isn't a broker thats better for FX. Large pool of liquidity providers, tightest spreads, zero manipulation, fast data transmission, low fees and access to other markets as well. They have the FX trader feature in TWS platform which is extremely simple for fx trades. BTW you are mistaken, there is no charge for modifying orders like tp and sl.

If you trade a standard lot with them it would cost around 1.4 pips commisions and spread included. On paper more expensive than oanda but oanda plays spread and quoting games and...
I guess you very conveniently omitted some details: partial fills - thus requiring additional transactions to close a position incurring additional commission in the process; almost never executed at the price wanted - even in slow moving markets; every day a non-tradable half hour due to clearing purposes; awful charts; inactivity fees, etc.
  • #399
  • Mar 7, 2012 2:50pm Mar 7, 2012 2:50pm
Quoting freelancer
every day a non-tradable half hour due to clearing purposes;
It's 15 minutes.

But the other criticisms are valid, they have their pros and cons like all brokers do.
  • #400
  • Mar 7, 2012 3:04pm Mar 7, 2012 3:04pm
Can't think why you'd want to trade with IB unless you were swinging 300,000+ around. I've been there and done that (not 3000,000). Platform just isn't great for FX. It's all things to all men. Great for a fund manager.
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