I have IBKR Pro and am thinking of switching to Lite because I am not seeing many advantages. IBKR Pro no longer pays interest on idle cash, and if I want to use a margin loan, I would just sell a box spread instead of getting a loan from the broker. I do notice that I frequently get liquidity rebates on my options trades. Does anyone know if IBKR passes these rebates on to their Lite clients? Also, does anyone think that you actually save money with IBKR Pro's direct routing compared to IBKR Lite's payment for order flow? (This is referring to stocks, not options.) Personally, I think that IBKR exaggerates how much you save with direct routing and that you would save more by avoiding IBKR's 30-70 cent commission per 100 shares. I am curious what others think.
LITE is only for stocks so I assume you would get rebates for options as you would be paying the standard commission schedule Fills, I've gotten price improvement with Pro and rebates that I suspect you won't get from the HFTs but I haven't gone side by side. Pro has lower margin rates along with algos that save me much more than I think I'd gain by moving.