Agreed. Lack of proper communication with their customers and lack of respect for customers' time is a major problem with IB. Interactive Brokers is not very interactive at all.
Nobody spends all this time knocking other brokers they don't like, only IB. This implies you still use them for some other reasons.
A fellow at Oanda had his account frozen about a month ago. He bitched, whined and complained that he had no warning and hadn't done anything wrong. Turned out he'd been up to some shenanigans transferring funds between subaccounts of different currencies using stale quotes. Apparently all his huge profits were due to this and not any actual trading. He was busted plain and simple and had to give it all back. He was lucky the feds apparently didn't get involved. Oanda forum thread: "urgent! account locked without a reason"
Personally I think this post says it all. Although I would add that Danny boy is probably responsible for all of his problems --- thank you IB for dealing appropriately with the twats.
For some trading is their livelihood so I think it's important to ask: Is it IB's policy to freeze the account or federal regulations? I'm curious how long can your money be frozen w/o any charges being filled?
I'm sorry, but you are not eligible for the IB Reimbursement Program if you have signed up for the Bush Bailout Stipend.
I closed a 6 figure account w/IB a few weeks ago. I had a check within 10 calendar days of my request. No problems at all and will do business with them again in the future.
Its the USA. For ever and you'll be lucky not to end up in a nasty little holiday camp in Cuba. Seriously though. From time to time someone has made a "frozen account" complaint on ET. They all seem to end up smelling like old fish. We should be thankful that IB is cautious with our money. For those who want to whinge about high margins at present - go somewhere else, I don't want you endangering my money. IB's caution increases our chance of trading tomorrow --- just don't fuck around with your account in a way that will arouse suspicions!
Well, if your risk management is so great then why require $6188 per ES contract for day trading? Do you really think a customer is going to lose more than 120 ES points per contract in a day? Especially considering as you say, if a client is deficient you liquidate immediately.