Interactive Brokers | Forex Factory

Options

Permalinks
Print Thread

Similar Threads

Connecting interactive brokers to metatrader 9 replies

Any brokers bigger than Interactive Brokers? 5 replies

Account application InterbankFX/Interactive Brokers - arbitration agreement 2 replies

No stop orders with interactive brokers? 0 replies

Interactive Brokers and Metatrader 0 replies

Interactive Brokers

  • #1
  • First Post: Jul 23, 2012 8:10am Jul 23, 2012 8:10am
Hi,

Anyone here who uses Interactive Brokers US or UK. How you find the platform and execution. If you have experiences of FXCM and/or MB Trading how would rank IB against those ?
  • #2
  • Jul 23, 2012 10:17am Jul 23, 2012 10:17am
Spreads and execution are very good the platform is ok they made some changes lately so it is much more userfriendly in my opinion.
I used to trade on FXCM imo IB is far better regarding spread and speed of execution
  • #3
  • Jul 23, 2012 11:15am Jul 23, 2012 11:15am
Quoting Kiado
Spreads and execution are very good the platform is ok they made some changes lately so it is much more userfriendly in my opinion.
I used to trade on FXCM imo IB is far better regarding spread and speed of execution
Thank's for reply. How's the commissions ? I'll trade less than 10 m a day. MBT offers 0,5 round and somehow I have understood that for a small account IB would be expensive.
  • #4
  • Jul 24, 2012 9:38am Jul 24, 2012 9:38am
Quoting kalastaja
Thank's for reply. How's the commissions ? I'll trade less than 10 m a day. MBT offers 0,5 round and somehow I have understood that for a small account IB would be expensive.
if I understand the IB commission table correctly:

doing over usd 2M monthly, it is 0.1 basis point x value.
basis point is 0.0001 so to open or close a position worth 1M costs 10

there is also a 2.5 usd minimum, that kicks in if you do less than
2.5 lot trade.

with 1M usd position, 1 pip is 100, so the commission is about 0.1 pip each way

of course there is also the spread, which is said to come straight from the actual market
  • #5
  • Jul 24, 2012 10:26am Jul 24, 2012 10:26am
Quoting Madhat
if I understand the IB commission table correctly:

doing over usd 2M monthly, it is 0.1 basis point x value.
basis point is 0.0001 so to open or close a position worth 1M costs 10

there is also a 2.5 usd minimum, that kicks in if you do less than
2.5 lot trade.

with 1M usd position, 1 pip is 100, so the commission is about 0.1 pip each way

of course there is also the spread, which is said to come straight from the actual market
its 0.2 basis point , one basis point is one pip (0.0001) so for one way its 0.00002 , for a roundtrip its 0.00002x2= 0.4 pips minimum charge 2.5 usd
  • #6
  • Jul 24, 2012 11:06pm Jul 24, 2012 11:06pm
Quoting kalastaja
Hi,

Anyone here who uses Interactive Brokers US or UK. How you find the platform and execution. If you have experiences of FXCM and/or MB Trading how would rank IB against those ?

FXCM is pretty reliable but has not the better spreads for sure
  • #7
  • Jul 25, 2012 9:26am Jul 25, 2012 9:26am
Quoting Kiado
its 0.2 basis point , one basis point is one pip (0.0001) so for one way its 0.00002 , for a roundtrip its 0.00002x2= 0.4 pips minimum charge 2.5 usd
It's still cheaper than MBT and seems to have a much tighter spread than FXCM. Normally I do 10-30 lots / trade (100.000- 300.000) so 2,5 minimum is not a problem.

Charting seems to be quite poor. What charting you guys use ?
  • #8
  • Jul 25, 2012 2:23pm Jul 25, 2012 2:23pm
Looks like they just ran into some regulatory issues: http://www.forexindustryinsider.com/...-700k-by-cftc/

Though I guess the charges don't sound that bad.
  • #9
  • Jul 25, 2012 2:46pm Jul 25, 2012 2:46pm
Thank's for posting this article. Charges don't sound too bad but still it is negative. I am still wondering should I choose MBT or IB (or Dukascopy) as second broker. Maybe just best to stay with one I am using now...
  • #10
  • Edited 5:10pm Jul 28, 2012 4:39pm | Edited 5:10pm
Spreads at IB are far lower then with the others, specially when trading not just eurusd. Commission is lower compared with mbt and slippage is less ( closer spreads). It's a reliable broker imo just as mbt. Support and platform can be à problem/more difficult, guess they focus on more experienced traders instead of holding the fresh traders hands.

Trading mainly eurjpy shortterm, stops at less then 10 pips, targets at 2-3 R. Average spread during my trading session is around 1pip. Most of the time 1pip, sometimes 1.5 and more often then 1.5 is .5 pip. Direct tradesize is ok (à few mln at bid ask) with around 30 mln at 3-4 = 2pip layers depth.

I am trading 5mln+ pd and use them for about 8 years now. Have used mbt and still have a minor account there for backup and also used dbfx in the past, which was more or less fxcm. Closed dbfx before it shut down, because of the (imo) extreme speads and slippage, non ecn and so on.

Charts on IB are poor as said in à prior post, but I have always used à combination of two sotfware applications, one for charting and one for trading. Imo, à broker is à broker and should focus on: brokerage and let someone else deal with THE graphics. You can always use an API. Metatrader, multicharts, ensign windows, ninjatrader and others are great for charting and most of them can be used with an API if I i am not mis informed ( don't use an API myself). Maybe some problem with IB compared to mbt is larger initial deposit and à minimum 25000 tradesize for IB's idealpro platform.

Can upload a live spread overview on monday if you like?
  • #11
  • Jul 29, 2012 5:13pm Jul 29, 2012 5:13pm
IB is better spreads and full round lot trading since commissions costs are not scaled on sub 100k lots. Whereas MBT is scaled costs, but wider spreads, however MBT does square positions on non base currency pairs on close out

With IB, On non base currency pairs you'll have to square manually your conversion differentials, since those positions close outs aren't automatically squared.

This can lead to further commissions and monthly interest cost if you don't perform this task end of day or end of pair trading.
  • #12
  • Jul 30, 2012 10:13am Jul 30, 2012 10:13am
Quoting Kiado
its 0.2 basis point , one basis point is one pip (0.0001) so for one way its 0.00002 , for a roundtrip its 0.00002x2= 0.4 pips minimum charge 2.5 usd
monthly amount traded: cost per roundtrip

less than 1M: 0.2 pip x 2 = 0.4 pip
1M to 2M: 0.15 pip x 2 = 0.3 pip
over 2M: 0.1 pip x 2 = 0.2 pip
  • #13
  • Jul 30, 2012 10:16am Jul 30, 2012 10:16am
Quoting kalastaja
It's still cheaper than MBT and seems to have a much tighter spread than FXCM. Normally I do 10-30 lots / trade (100.000- 300.000) so 2,5 minimum is not a problem.

Charting seems to be quite poor. What charting you guys use ?
normal lot is 100.000 so you are probably talking about mini-lots (10.000)

you will pay the minimum fee (2.5usd) up to 250.000
  • #14
  • Jul 30, 2012 10:36am Jul 30, 2012 10:36am
It depends on the pair. For example 100K EUR/USD the fee is 100K*1.22*0,00002 = $2.44

Which will be rounded up to $2.50 (the minimum ticket fee). With 110K units eur/usd you are already above the minimum - so the 250K figure from the post above is not correct.
  • #15
  • Jul 30, 2012 12:23pm Jul 30, 2012 12:23pm
well, the minimum for roundtrip is 2 x 2.5 usd = 5 usd

it seems like position sizes are converted to usd for the purpose of calculating fees.
  • #16
  • Jul 30, 2012 2:14pm Jul 30, 2012 2:14pm
I think this is 1 of the better brokers..
  • #17
  • Aug 5, 2012 2:57am Aug 5, 2012 2:57am
voila! if you are below 26, the minimum initial deposit for IB is 3k. this makes it a lota more assecible to more ppl!
  • #18
  • Aug 8, 2012 4:47am Aug 8, 2012 4:47am
One of the very few Brokers offering DMA across many asset classes. Execution and pricing is good, however, not so on Options, as it is IB's Timber Hill that is market-making those, just beware of this fact.

One other thing, with regards to using their feed for charting which is alright for intraday tick data, if you want daily historical data you would need to subscribe to something like IQ Feed as IB just seems not geared towards providing proper solid data on daily charts.

Trade well.
  • #19
  • Last Post: Aug 9, 2012 6:06am Aug 9, 2012 6:06am
Quoting Roughneck
One of the very few Brokers offering DMA across many asset classes. Execution and pricing is good, however, not so on Options, as it is IB's Timber Hill that is market-making those, just beware of this fact.

One other thing, with regards to using their feed for charting which is alright for intraday tick data, if you want daily historical data you would need to subscribe to something like IQ Feed as IB just seems not geared towards providing proper solid data on daily charts.

Trade well.
Are options on IB platform priced differently from quotes on the formal exchange?
0 traders viewing now