CognitiveDissonance wrote:Any thoughts on IB as a broker for equities, futures and options?
Thanks!
Hey CD, I use IB and I have found them to be superb, and better than OXPS, Schwab, and TOS all of which I have used in the past. I do still have a TOS account for the free data, and I still use Schwab for checking, but for trading, the cake is taken by IB.
The way I use IB is JUST to execute, that is ALL. There is ZERO data feed in the account, save for the $10 corporate events calendar which is very handy for earnings announcements. Other than that the monthly expense is negligible. The pluses aside from ultra cheap commissions are the myriad ways to create orders to hide size/intentions, there is a LOT of functionability with respect to bracketing orders.
Two big pluses are they hold the stops on THEIR server until the trigger price is hit. I will take this ultra millisecond lag in exchange for my order NOT just sitting on the order book, like it will do with those other brokers. The other HUGE one for me is you can elect for trades to trigger on a LAST price, not bid/ask which helps prevents the stop runs where your trade is the actual tick low.
I have heard their customer service is poor. Do not expect any niceties from them, although I myself have not had any trouble.
I am not affiliated, so this review is just my perspective from being a customer, hope it helps your decision.