Two main issues with IB:

a) Their data
b) The TWS interface with NinjaTrader

I think that if you are trading futures, and you are trading anything smaller than Dailies (and even then, if you value historical data accuracy) then you need a real data provider such as DTN IQFeed or Kinetick if you only use Ninja.

That solves A.

As for B, from what I've read, it really isn't a big deal so long as you don't upgrade TWS until NinjaTrader tells you to. It is a pain that it forces you to log out, but get over it. Not a big deal.

So if you really want IB, then just supplement with a quality data feed and you'll be fine.

Mike

How about trade execution? Some people say the execution is pretty bad.

I've been using IB for many years with no problems.

First of all, IB is a BROKER. Their business is not a chart and data provider.
They do provide charts.... not very good. They provide data.... usable, but far from perfect.

You're better off getting your charting and data from another source.

But if you're looking for a good broker with EXCELLENT EXECUTION, IB would not be a bad choice.

Don't recall ever hearing that complaint about IB.

Mike

Customer money is segregated in special bank or custody accounts, which are designated for the exclusive benefit of customers of IB. This protection (the SEC term is "reserve" and the CFTC term is "segregation") is a core principle of securities and commodities brokerage. By properly segregating the customer’s assets, if no money or stock is borrowed and no futures positions are held by the customer, then the customer’s assets are available to be returned to the customer in the event of a default by or bankruptcy of the broker.

A portion of customer funds are typically invested in U.S. Treasury securities and FDIC-backed bonds. Although permitted by regulations, given the credit concerns over foreign sovereign debt IB does not currently invest any customer money in money market funds.

As a practice, IB holds an excess amount of its own money in these reserve and segregated accounts to ensure that there is more than enough cash to protect all customers.

Securities accounts with no borrowing of cash or securities
Securities customer money is protected as follows:

A portion is deposited at 13 large U.S. banks in special reserve accounts for the exclusive benefit of IB’s customers. These deposits are distributed across a number of banks with investment-grade ratings so that we can avoid a concentration risk with any single institution. No single bank holds more than 5% of total customer funds held by IB. As of February 29, 2012, the following banks held deposits from IB (this list is subject to change over time at IB’s discretion). Certain banks, which are affiliates or branches of foreign financial institutions, are subject to regulatory oversight by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

-Branch Banking and Trust Company
-Bank of America, N.A.
-Bank of the West
-Citibank, N.A.
-Deutsche Bank AG
-Fifth Third Bank
-HSBC Bank USA, N.A.
-JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
-KeyBank National Association
-Royal Bank of Canada
-SunTrust Bank
-The Bank of Nova Scotia
-Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

A portion is invested in U.S. Treasury securities, including direct investments in short-term Treasury bills and reverse repurchase agreements, where the collateral received is in the form of U.S. Treasury securities. These transactions are conducted with third parties and guaranteed through a central counterparty clearing house (Fixed Income Clearing Corp., or "FICC"). The collateral remains in the possession of IB and held at a custody bank in a segregated Reserve Safekeeping Account for the exclusive benefit of customers. U.S. Treasury securities may also be pledged to a clearing house to support customer margin requirements on securities options positions.
A small portion is invested in FDIC-backed corporate bonds, which are held in IB’s customer depository account at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. (DTCC).

Customer cash is maintained on a net basis in the reserve accounts, which reflects the long balances of some customers and loans to others. To the extent any one customer maintains a margin loan with IB, that loan will be fully secured by stock valued at up to 140% of the loan. The security of the loan is enhanced by IB’s conservative margin policies, which do not allow the borrower to correct a margin deficiency within days, as permitted by regulation. Instead, IB monitors and acts on a real-time basis to automatically liquidate positions and repay the loan. This brings the borrower back into margin compliance without putting IB and other customers at risk.
Current SEC regulations require broker-dealers to perform a detailed reconciliation of customer money and securities (known as the “reserve computation”) at least weekly to ensure that customer monies are properly segregated from the broker-dealer’s own funds.

In order to further enhance our protection of our customers’ assets, Interactive Brokers recently sought and received approval from FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), to perform and report the reserve computation on a daily basis, instead of once per week. IB initiated daily computations in December 2011, along with daily adjustments of the money set aside in safekeeping for our customers. Reconciling our accounts and customer reserves daily instead of weekly is just another way that Interactive Brokers seeks to provide state-of-the-art protection for our customers.
Customer-owned, fully-paid securities are protected in accounts at depositories and custodians that are specifically identified for the exclusive benefit of customers. IB reconciles positions in securities owned by customers daily to ensure that these securities have been received at the depositories and custodians.

Commodities accounts
Commodities customer money is protected as follows:

A portion is invested in short-term U.S. Treasury securities and pledged to futures clearing houses to support customer margin requirements on futures and options on futures positions or held in custody accounts identified as segregated for the benefit of IB’s customers.
A portion is held at commodities clearing banks/brokers in accounts identified as segregated for the benefit of IB’s customers to support customer margin requirements.
As prescribed by commodities regulations, customer funds are subject to real-time protection. IB performs a detailed reconciliation of customer equity on a daily basis to ensure that customer monies are properly segregated. This computation is submitted to the regulators daily.

Securities accounts with margin loans
For customers who borrow money from IB to purchase securities, IB is permitted by securities regulations to utilize for financing purposes up to 140% of the loan value of the stock these customers hold with IB. In simple terms, IB borrows money from a third party (such as a bank or broker-dealer), using the customer’s margin stock as collateral, and it lends those funds to the customer to finance the customer’s margin purchases. Typically, IB lends out a small portion of the total stock it is permitted to lend out.

As an example, at June 30, 2011, IB lent $0.8 billion of customers’ stock out of the $13.0 billion made available to it by margin customers.
When IB lends customers’ stock, it must put additional money into the special reserve accounts set aside for the benefit of customers. In the example above, the full value of $0.8 billion of customer stock that was lent was segregated in the special reserve accounts.

The Importance of Choosing a Safe Broker
In light of the recent bankruptcy of MF Global, customers should understand how it is possible to lose money in the event of their broker’s bankruptcy. Despite all of the protections described above, there are still two ways a customer can lose money without losing it to the market:

If, in violation of the reserve and segregation rules, the broker does not keep some customer monies segregated, either by not putting newly deposited monies in the segregated account or if money is transferred out of segregated accounts for some other purpose, then there can be a shortfall. This may have happened at MF Global.
Customers can lose more money in the market than they hold with the broker. When this happens the broker is obligated to make up the deficit from its own funds. If the broker fails to do so, (i.e., has not sufficient capital of its own to make up for the losses) and SIPC (and, if offered, excess-SIPC) coverage is insufficient or unavailable, then the other customers bear the cost of that shortfall. This, too, may have happened at MF Global.

This is the reason why it is vitally important to choose a broker that has a massive amount of capital and very good, automated credit controls.

...
There are only a few of them, and IB is the one that can also trade stocks, which is kind of nice...

Another vote for IB.

Their executions are excellent. Their data is good if you don't require tick data - it all depends what you need and how you trade.

The upside of ib is that they focus on low cost and excellent execution with a data feed suited for some but not all; hence they have a huge customer base amongst experienced traders and even seem to be the biggest fx business (a chart I saw put them ahead of Oanda, Fxcm etc). The downside is that they are not in the customer service for newbies business - if you are new to the game and might want some hand holding you should probably go somewhere else. Also, if you want tick data or sub minute data is important to you (they send a data packet 10 times a second only) then you'll also want a different data feed.

Another vote for IB.

Their executions are excellent. Their data is good if you don't require tick data - it all depends what you need and how you trade.

The upside of ib is that they focus on low cost and excellent execution with a data feed suited for some but not all; hence they have a huge customer base amongst experienced traders and even seem to be the biggest fx business (a chart I saw put them ahead of Oanda, Fxcm etc). The downside is that they are not in the customer service for newbies business - if you are new to the game and might want some hand holding you should probably go somewhere else. Also, if you want tick data or sub minute data is important to you (they send a data packet 10 times a second only) then you'll also want a different data feed.

In search of a trustful broker/bank there is only ONE question of importance:

stock listed @ a stock exchange?

If yes - the company needs to report frequently and is observed from different authorities / stock holders etc.
If not - do NOT burn your fingers...

Just a little observation.
IB is a listed company under NASDAQ: IBKR
and the latest reports are to find here: https://investors.interactivebrokers.com/ir/main.php

GFIs1

No need to wait. You can trade with your money however you want regardless of the account it is in, as long as it is not tied up in margin on another trade.

Also a happy IB customer that swing trades futures and tinkers with options when I have gambling fever. From what you described, it sounds as if IB would be fine for your purposes.

My only experience with customer service was on a trade related matter several years back, and it was handled quickly and correctly. I believe it was closing a position when I had a major computer failure. But I would agree that IB expects you to know what you are doing. Customer service won't hold your hand, but they do have good documentation and a bunch of webinars and educational stuff like that...however I don't know the quality of said educational material.

Anyways, I have not come across any reason that swing traders should not choose IB during my 6 years with them. You can even yield enhance and let the stock you buy get borrowed.

They cancel the other one correctly.

They don't guarantee it because IB (unlike a bucket shop) will let you place the OCO so close together that they can both get hit before IB's server can cancel the other half. But if you don't do that then they have been very consistent.


From my last post in case BM misses it: Answering BM's question.

True data is called 5 second data by IB. In answer to the problem that their live data doesn't necessarily catch all prices (its one price per 100ms) they created a new data feed that supplies the true OHLCV for the 5 second period at the end of each 5 second period.

With Sierra Chart the TD feed can be used to correct any errors in the live feed. That way you get prices instantaneously (well, within 100ms) but they are corrected for any missing ticks as each 5 second true data packet arrives. IB seem to do the same with their charting.

Really? They said they do not guarantee cancellation of the OCO?
I am going to do swing trades so I will place the two sides relatively far away. ES for example, at least 20 points away. But if the market gets volatile (Remember the flash crash in 2010?), then it is still possible for this to happen. If they do not have statements like, if you place the two sides at least xxx points apart then we will not guarantee cancellation of the other side, then it is still too dangerous for me. One bad trade can wipe my life time's cumulative profits out.

Hi, it is highly unlikely you will get guarantees like this from any brokerage. I'd be surprised if their liability insurers would allow it for a start.

I can tell you this though I do swing trade futures through IB and have been doing so for awhile. I've also been swing trading stocks for much longer and use TD Ameritrade, IB and lightspeed for my stock and option portfolio.

I would rate IB superior than the others in terms of product offering, execution and fee structure. I have never had an issue with OCO cancellation, not once. Having said that my stops and targets are never close. The biggest weakness with IB is their data feed and I use another for that.

As an additional piece of information I only use TD for longer term low $ amount shares. If you are trading shares for $1 you are better off using TD and if you are trading $100 shares use IB. However the slippage on TD is atrocious so limit orders are recommended.

It is important to look at the bigger picture on this type of thing in my opinion. Where will your funds be the safest? For a start IB is a publicly listed company which has more stringent regulatory and reporting requirements. I feel much more secure in this environment than some small brokerage with a handful of staff. Of course Ib can go bankrupt but normally you have a pretty good idea when this will happen with slide in the stock price.

You are much more likely to get better controls and less likely to get a "Bernie Madeoff". At least if I want to look at the financial condition of IB I can pick up an annual report. These other outfits report a one line on a disclosure statement.

You also read people on this forum raving about the customer service of some these smaller brokers and how they answer the phone on the 5th ring and how IB is useless and is rude etc. If you want hand holding then IB is probably not the best but I'd pick safety over customer service any day.

Like anything, this is not a recommendation for IB just my experience so far. It is up to the individual to do their own due diligence and select the broker that best meets their needs.

Cheers
DJ

Thank you.
I don't think I would need much customer support. I may need some initially to get familiar with the tws interface though.
So for OCO, if one side is executed, are they going to actively check the other side and make sure it is cancelled, and if it is too late to cancel that side, then immediately place a market order to flatten that new position? I think it is reasonable not to guarantee cancellation of the other side, but it is reasonable that they actively check for that, and flatten the new position if it is unfortunately not cancelled successfully. Maybe I need to directly ask IB about that.
For the real time data feed, it costs $10 per month and as many of you said, it is no good. Can I choose not to use that data feed and don't pay the $10, and if I do that, will I at least still see real time bid and ask when I place my order?

I am a happy IB customer for over 6 years. Never had a problem with them. And since they have release the IB Gateway some time ago the integration with MultiCharts is quite good. As many others have already mentioned before the feed is unusable if you use any other bar type than minute or daily.. For this reason I have added IQFeed to the mix.

HTH

I haven been using IB with an advisory account for many years now. I also use(d) Zen-Fire / Dorman, TradeStation,... I am happy with IB besides the data quality. If you go for aggressive hf scalping Zen-Fire / Dorman is the better choice in combination with Ninja Trader.
IB Gateway can be used with NinjaTrader for order execution without disconnects, although it is not officially supported. The accounts cash amounts are only updated on executions.

I used SC with IB -TD for 5 minutes and 1 minutes chart, it works well, but yesterday and today, there are about half of the bars (5 minutes) are not correct, and I checked TWS chart, it has the same issue. I compared their chart with TOS and chart from other source. Does anyone have the same issue?

Oh... That sounds fishy.

I have decided not to use IB.
I think it is important to separate stocks with futures in different brokers, so if one broker is down, that is still ok.
IB is not great for futures trading(data issues), and not that great for stocks trading( tax filing not convenient).
So I would rather pay the occasional wire transfer cost between my stock broker and my futures broker than having everything in IB.

I have been using SC with IB for 6 months, but this is the first time I had the issue, and hope they will correct after holiday.

I do occasionally use Fidelity Active Trader for swing stocks with my IRA, but I feel so awkward to place a trade, even if the minute bar is not that important for swing.

I have some concerns (but likely unfounded) about IB's business model and so I've recently moved all of our money out of there but I have never -- in 10+ years of use -- had a problem with executions or commissions over there - solid on that front.

What concern? Where did you move?

I moved to TOS/TDamer

I have traded for about 12 years now (a lot of that with IB) and have ended up wanting a brokerage with a strong financial position that didn't encourage or allow quite as much risk or active trading as IB does (so I can feel more comfortable about the company (and its/my fellow clients) in an uncertain global economic/'geopolitical backdrop with any potential large market sell-offs and how those might affect the brokerage overall) and yet still had commissions I can live with. Also wanted an FDIC insured account for the cash sweeps from both futures and equities trades. Was able to negotiate TOS commish down a bit and I like their platform - it does everything I need for what I am trying to do, which is a combo of swing trades and some day trading. Some issues, like all brokerages but I see improvement over at TOS, a bit at a time.

I don't know anything about IB that everyone else doesn't know and I never had a problem with wires out, executions, commissions, or any of the core stuff, all solid. Over the last few years, always up (like most platforms now). IB is probably fine for most people and my concerns with them are on the paranoid side and likely unfounded. Still ....

Your mileage may vary.

Hi @heywally, you can never be "too paranoid". My understanding with IB is if you elected to sweep excess funds into the IB securities account as opposed to the commodities account you had SIPC insurance up to $900k (See below) with SIPC which is why I used them. I'd prefer to have FDIC insurance over SIPC though.

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=ibgStrength&p=a

I still have unanswered questions with this though. For example I got this from another forum awhile ago and have it in my notes:

.....
Cheers
DJ

Yes, I followed that whole thread on the IB futures cash sweeps, SIPC insurance (or not) and it left me with an unsettled sense. Maybe that got cleared up but I haven't seen anything. That was part of my decision along with some other stuff.

The other problem with this is if you choose the commodities option then you are reliant on segregation saving you. We saw in the case with MF Global where rules were pretty much ignored. I read an alarming article awhile ago how Merrill lynch was trying to co-mingle some "dirty laundry" into some BAC FDIC insured customer accounts. Check out this article which makes you wonder what the hell is really going on.....

BofA Said to Split Regulators Over Moving Merrill Derivatives to Bank Unit - Bloomberg

Cheers
DJ

Oh that sucks.
With the MF global saga, I am really not sure if there is a safe futures broker because they can always try to co-mingle the assets.
Are regulators not planning to do anything?

They are doing something, they seem to be encouraging it and trying to pass the risk on to the FDIC. From the article:

"The Moody’s downgrade spurred some of Merrill’s partners to ask that contracts be moved to the retail unit, which has a higher credit rating, according to people familiar with the transactions. Transferring derivatives also can help the parent company minimize the collateral it must post on contracts and the potential costs to terminate trades after Moody’s decision, said a person familiar with the matter".

I'm sure this is going on everywhere and could have even been the intention of the Fed when they encouraged these "marriages" after the crisis.

Cheers
DJ

OK.
Well, I think at least finding a futures clearing firm that does not do any prop trading will help greatly reduce the risk.

IB may not be a bad broker, but they where definitely naughty

UPDATE 2-Interactive Brokers to pay $700,000 to settle charges | Reuters

Wow that is a very bad sign........
Futures account does not have SPIC insurance and it is entirely relied on aggregation to protect customers. If IB fails to do so for the past four years, but in their website kept saying how safe they are, it is a big red flag.

Anyway, I have decided to choose a broker that specialize in futures. Thanks for your guys's information!

My understanding from the article is that they didn't report large trader positions correctly, which is used by the CFTC in their commitment of traders report. Meaning their report is not as accurate as it should be.

The whole MF Global and PFG saga's was due to the brokers not segregating their clients accounts. Which is like a bank stealing all the money out of your account.

So the article is not implying your money is not safe at IB. All I think you should take from this is that there seems to be irregularities at the brokers you might least expect it to be and only to keep enough money in your account to cover your margin.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I've read through this thread and as a long time user of IB there I am well versed with the software and the firm. There are many misperceptions here that I'll try to discuss.

First, data: the naked eye can't click a mouse in < 200 or so milliseconds. The data complains I'm reading about are thus bogus. On their server side, the data is streaming so stops and algos run fine. On the TWS, the snap shot 100ms data keeps things running smoothly with no data lag in fast markets. That works perfect for me (although I do have a back up source of data and would recommend all to do the same).

Executions: options, stocks and FX - haven't found anything better. The smart routing often gets me price improvement and for the currency trading, there is nothing better than splitting a 1/2 pip market and getting a fill that often has price improvement. Love it.

Safety: Futures brokers capital is not guaranteed. IB combats this with a sweep of excess cash to the securities account but if you're solely a futures trader, that might not be acceptable if SIPC is needed. Nevertheless, look at their capital. They make money and have a deep layer of safety with the billions of excess capital in the group. There margin policy protects all and if you follow them, you'll know that they run a conservative ship.

They constantly innovate and while the front end might not be the prettiest in the world, once you learn the hotkeys and other bells and whistles, you'll find it quite powerful and fast.

@Third Base

A couple of points:

1. Data

IB should not be used for anything other than minute or daily data. Tick, range, renko, volume, or other tick-based chart types should not be used with IB data as it is heavily filtered. IB data is worthless for my purposes.

2. Risks

IB offers the trader exactly the same risks as MF Global. The real risk is hypothecation. Read here.


Cheers
DJ

The distinction on data is charting vs trading. IB data is great for trading. I'm not a tick by tick charting type of guy so I can't comment on that. But if you read the thread, most are not distinguishing a difference between trading or charting.

hypothecation: you need to read up on it more. A broker can't do stock loan business without putting stock or cash up as collateral - ie. hypothecation. However, I recall after MF this was big news on other forums and IB clarified how they do it. I don't have time to search for the dialog now but I did find the link below the IB site, after searching hypothecation, which states that they stick to the more restrictive rules of the SEC. All brokers have the ability to re-hypothecate - including all in that list from your link.

Here's the link: ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/node/1851 (you'll have t cut/paste as I've been a lurker and I don't have enough posts to link yet and sorry I had to remove your link as well)

one additional comment on risk after reading your link: dig into IB's financials and group structure. you'll see that the prop trading arm, Timber Hill, is a separate company. If it goes bust IB's brokerage assets and clients would not have any liability and are fenced off.

For me, I prefer stick to a larger well capitalized firm that doesn't sell order flow as execution and safety of funds are my greatest concerns. Of the firms that offer what I need, I believe only IB fits the bill.

@Third Base


IB should not be used for anything other than minute or daily data. Tick, range, renko, volume, or other tick-based chart types should not be used with IB data as it is heavily filtered. IB data is worthless for my purposes.

@Third Base, if you believe IB is the safest bet for you then that's all that counts. Same as you, my personal preference is the larger the better hence I am moderately invested with IB although "big" isn't always better, look at MF Global.

At least with IB, I can look and analyze IB's audited financial statements and at least get a feel of what is going on. Secondly, if my equities and futures accounts are with one firm it's easier to move funds back and forth. Thirdly, the other options are even more risky. The only idea of financial condition from another broker I use is $800k in net assets on a disclosure statement. $800k doesn't provide much comfort plus we know from PFG broker disclosure statements are pretty much worthless.

Having said the above, the glaring risks and lack of transparency with IB cannot be ignored. As a result, I've steadily reduced my exposure to IB and spread around the risk. Anybody who has all of their capital with one broker is acting foolishly in my opinion. Refco, MF Global, PFG who is next?

Here are a couple of other points:

The reality is IB can take exactly the same sovereign debt bet that sunk MF Global and use customer funds in their UK subsidiary to collateralize the bet. I've seen no evidence to suggest otherwise. Brokers without UK subs are less risky in my view as that is where the loophole exists.

Just because IB states they do not collateralize does not negate the fact that tomorrow they can change the policy and do something completely different. I do no trust anything brokers tell me orally or in writing. If they go bust and then you remind them "But your website said that......" won't help you recover your funds.

Furthermore you or I do not know how IB is structured "behind the scenes". Just because IB states the trading business and prop businesses are ringfenced doesn't mean there aren't inter-company agreements between IB and the trading arm allowing collateralization.

The other point is only 11.5% of IB is publicly listed. As a result the founder could be influencing significant control over the business. This, in my view makes IB a more dangerous animal than MF Global in some ways. I've seen first hand where oversight boards are pretty much worthless where there is a controlling shareholder or an influential founder with a significant stake.

I'm also fairly sure IB is taking a fair amount of risk just by looking at their huge profit per employee.

On data feeds, if IB's data feed is sufficient for your purposes then good for you. The point is their datafeed is deemed worthless by a large group of traders which is why traders subscribe to 3rd party data feeds. Order flow traders in particular require clean and unfiltered bid/ask data. IB does not provide this.

Cheers
DJ

@Third Base, if you believe IB is the safest bet for you then that's all that counts. Same as you, my personal preference is the larger the better hence I am moderately invested with IB although "big" isn't always better, look at MF Global.

At least with IB, I can look and analyze IB's audited financial statements and at least get a feel of what is going on. Secondly, if my equities and futures accounts are with one firm it's easier to move funds back and forth. Thirdly, the other options are even more risky. The only idea of financial condition from another broker I use is $800k in net assets on a disclosure statement. $800k doesn't provide much comfort plus we know from PFG broker disclosure statements are pretty much worthless.

Having said the above, the glaring risks and lack of transparency with IB cannot be ignored. As a result, I've steadily reduced my exposure to IB and spread around the risk. Anybody who has all of their capital with one broker is acting foolishly in my opinion. Refco, MF Global, PFG who is next?

Here are a couple of other points:

The reality is IB can take exactly the same sovereign debt bet that sunk MF Global and use customer funds in their UK subsidiary to collateralize the bet. I've seen no evidence to suggest otherwise. Brokers without UK subs are less risky in my view as that is where the loophole exists.

Just because IB states they do not collateralize does not negate the fact that tomorrow they can change the policy and do something completely different. I do no trust anything brokers tell me orally or in writing. If they go bust and then you remind them "But your website said that......" won't help you recover your funds.

Furthermore you or I do not know how IB is structured "behind the scenes". Just because IB states the trading business and prop businesses are ringfenced doesn't mean there aren't inter-company agreements between IB and the trading arm allowing collateralization.

The other point is only 11.5% of IB is publicly listed. As a result the founder could be influencing significant control over the business. This, in my view makes IB a more dangerous animal than MF Global in some ways. I've seen first hand where oversight boards are pretty much worthless where there is a controlling shareholder or an influential founder with a significant stake.

I'm also fairly sure IB is taking a fair amount of risk just by looking at their huge profit per employee.

On data feeds, if IB's data feed is sufficient for your purposes then good for you. The point is their datafeed is deemed worthless by a large group of traders which is why traders subscribe to 3rd party data feeds. Order flow traders in particular require clean and unfiltered bid/ask data. IB does not provide this.

Cheers
DJ

Though I disagree that IB's data feed isn't 'good enough' to trade on, factoring in my belief that the short term data precision that some traders try and assign to the market over the long term is an illusion, I really appreciate the research you've done with IB as it relates to all of the financials.

For myself, IB is mysterious enough (and filled with high frequency players who would be more impacted during a market meltdown, thus affecting the overall pool) to me where I've pulled a lot of funds out of there over the last year or so, to the point where I have just enough there to play around with with a few futures contracts. I love the executions, commissions, products available (though not some of the extra data fees) with IB but that has to take a back seat. I miss my $1 commissions for 200 shares.

Bigger brokers providing FDIC cash sweeps and more 'buy and hold' investors as clients, that I am fairly comfortable with, are TD/TOS and Fidelity.