Some brokers (Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity) offer no fees on orders of new issue US Treasuries. Does anyone know if IB offers that? https://thefinancebuff.com/treasury-bills-cd-money-market.html
You can sign up on Treasury Direct and buy without fees. Your bond can then be transferred into IB... ...for a feeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Yeh, I can already earn around 1.91% (currently) on cash held in my IB account, but I can buy treasuries that expire 4/30 that yield around 2.38% last time I checked in their secondary market. But then there are some fees that reduce the yield a bit. Since I have money that I know I won't use during that time frame, I'd like to squeeze out a little more risk-free yield. But I want to keep my money in my IB account for flexibility and not move it around between multiple accounts.
There is another way to basically capture the fed funds rate -- buy 100 SPY, sell 1 ATM call, buy 1 ATM put. Go at least a month or two out in expiration. After commissions, you'll capture about 2.3% annual yield. Downside is that the premium captured is subject to state tax exemption unlike treasuries. Treasury yield is also slightly higher.