I googled IBKR lite after hearing on youtube comments it was available in Canada clicked the green link and followed the directions to open an account. Only to discover it was a PRO account. Disappointed! I should just relocate to the US.
Now that you do have a PRO account you can contact their helpdesk to have it converted to a LITE account. I recall that there is a way to switch between these two account types. I don't know whether LITE accounts are limited to US citizens only.
So what are the advantages does Pro have over Lite? Trying to stay positive here... PRO Faster Execution DMA routing trading starts at 4am 3rd party platform support Lite Slower execution? Non-DMA routing. Trading starts at 7am No Das Trader support or not? (This one would be the dealbreaker for me.)
If lite can use Dastrader as well to override the things they lack in TWS than there is really no point of pro. In this case, they need to restructure their commissions for pro otherwise every pro user will must migrate to lite.
Not necessarily. From what I have researched, if your are actually an experienced, professional trader, the ability to direct route your orders is considered a must have. Also all things being equal, i.e. being able to use a platform like DAS Trader Pro, they tend to say the fastest execution speed is essential. That being the case, Lite doesn't have direct routing and will not have the fastest execution speeds. Moreover, depending on how much slower executions are, it is possible that what you gain in free commissions might be lost in slippage. I mean even if your losing just .01 cents per share due to slippage by not having direct routing or access to the fastest routing options, if you by 10,000 shares, that would be a loss of $100, per trade. In comparison, the commissions on 10,000 share would likely be only $40-$50. Honestly it all comes down to just how much slippage your have with Lite's routing based on what makes IBKR the most money verse Pro's routing based on fastest execution. I am not sure where you might get these sort of statistics at to compare but Pro's routing could actually save you money, even with having to pay commissions.
Well that kind of sucks but I had planned to start off with using TWS for a while anyway so I will have to see if I am more profitable with Lite or Pro. I still think depending on execution speed, it is entirely possible that Lite will cost you more money in the long run but I am not sure if there will be any way to know for certain. One question about DAS though, will it eliminate situations like getting these messages (see attached file) or will these sorts of things still happen with DAS. I was in a trade, moving my stop from $2.15 to $2.40 which was closer to the ask price of $2.50 when I got this message indicating they were capping my order at $2.28. Customer service couldn't even explain why this occurred but I was lucky, I was using the simulator because it cost me over $500 of loss profit so I am not super happy with IBKR at the moment.
I just wanted to add that I decided to try out Interactive Brokers LITE and switched back to Pro almost immediately. Honestly, I just tried it in the Simulator so I can't say for sure if my experience with it would carry over to live but if it does and your an active traders, avoid lite like the plague. First of all in the pre-market I tried to buy into EKSO because it took off running like crazy. I placed my limit order in for 1000 shares at $4.15 and got no fill. Tried to again. No Fill. Tried 5 times, no fill. Using Pro I always got at least a partial fill and usually a full fill with the type of volume that was coming it. EKSO managed to get to around $5.75 per share in like 10 minutes so the "COST" of using Lite, since I couldn't get a fill due to the "simulated" poorer execution, was like $1600. My cost if I had been using pro would have been around $10 to make that $1600. Ouch. Later after the market opened, I tried to get into EKSO again with a Stop Limit order set to buy at ASK with an offset of .05 cents and again I got no fill. That probably cost me another $500 give or take based on when I think I would have exited. So if this had been live trading, I would have gave up around $2000 to save myself roughly $20 in commissions. I called IB to discuss how big a different the execution was in the simulator comparing LITE to PRO and the person I spoke to said that they insured that the execution in the simulator was as close to realistic as possible. They also said, that yes, what I experienced was common when using LITE vs PRO due to the difference in direct routing vs sending everything to the MM. Of course what they say and what is real can be two different things. To Conclude, again, I will say this was simulated so I can't be sure this massive difference in execution speed would carry over to live and it is possible IB set the simulator to purposefully give extraordinarily bad execution to encourage people to use Pro, but if what I experienced using Lite in the simulator is even close to realistic, there is no circumstances where I would use Lite as an active momentum trader.