Hello all IB users, I have been quite active with IB for some time now, and probably spend about $500+ /day in commissions. Combination of US stocks and futures. I am wondering for other active traders if anyone has found any useful tips for reducing commissions or costs, such as buying exchange seats, changing any other settings or discussing fees directly with customer services, etc.? I was recently reading a post someone mentioned about buying a CME seat and IB would allow me to pay member prices, which may be interesting if anyone has had success with this. Any other ideas or learned lessons appreciated.
Oh, I have heard otherwise. Let's hear that from @def Let's hear (or read) him saying that directly to this forum.
With regard to just the equity orders, what is your average size order? We also offer a per trade rate which can save a lot of money if you enter orders materially above 1000 shares. https://www.lightspeed.com/pricing/commission/
If futures, your biggest cost will be exchange fees and we can help sponsor you for a seat. I am not familiar with all the details offhand but shoot me a PM and I can put you in touch with the appropriate team if interested. For stocks and other it depends on numerous factors and activity. Usually the sliding scale works very well providing a low cost blended rate for active traders. From what you write a above the CME costs seem to be the main issue so perhaps we can dive into that first. Adding to my post as I didn't see Roberts post. He of course is providing fixed fees for selling order flow and charging higher margin than we do on top of that. If you want the risk sub-par executions, we can also provide the same but with a fixed cost of ZERO and lower margin rates. Just choose IB LITE but that of course isn't the topic.
Email memberpricing at interactivebrokers.com who will take off the exchange fee from your commission after you have bought a seat.