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Typical margin rates for professional traders are far below 5%. See https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1595 https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en

Typical margin rates for professional traders are far below 5%. See https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1595 https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1595. And IB is basically the most expensive professionally focused brokerage. If you've got a million bucks you can probably get Fed Funds + 50 basis points.

rl3 9y ago
Thanks for pointing this out. 5% is probably more representative of typical major retail margin rates. I removed the statement in question.
morgante 9y ago
> And IB is basically the most expensive professionally focused brokerage. Uh, IB is not a professionally-focused brokerage. It's the most professional retail brokerage though. On what basis are you calling it most expensive though? It's much cheaper than any other brokerage I know when you look at fees holistically.
- scott00 9y ago
  > Uh, IB is not a professionally-focused brokerage. It's the most professional retail brokerage though. It's sort of in the middle. They have plenty of retail customers for sure, but they also have hedge fund and proprietary trader accounts. I doubt you would find a single hedge fund among Etrade customers. > On what basis are you calling it most expensive though? It's much cheaper than any other brokerage I know when you look at fees holistically. It's much cheaper than most retail brokerages. It's more expensive than firms that cater to professionals; for the most part those firms don't put their pricing on their website because they're individually negotiated with each customer. Some example firms: all the big banks, Apex Clearing, eRoom Securities, TJM Institutional Services. For the banks you're probably looking at a minimum $20 million account size just for them to accept you as a customer. The smaller players require $1-$5 million for decent rates, but might accept smaller account sizes.
  - morgante 9y ago
    > It's much cheaper than most retail brokerages. Ah, I see what you meant now. Yeah, I was just comparing it to most retail brokerages since I see the others (Apex, etc.) as in a different category. IB is something which the average HN user could actually use.

rl3 9y ago

Thanks for pointing this out. 5% is probably more representative of typical major retail margin rates. I removed the statement in question.

morgante 9y ago

> And IB is basically the most expensive professionally focused brokerage. Uh, IB is not a professionally-focused brokerage. It's the most professional retail brokerage though. On what basis are you calling it most expensive though? It's much cheaper than any other brokerage I know when you look at fees holistically.

scott00 9y ago
> Uh, IB is not a professionally-focused brokerage. It's the most professional retail brokerage though. It's sort of in the middle. They have plenty of retail customers for sure, but they also have hedge fund and proprietary trader accounts. I doubt you would find a single hedge fund among Etrade customers. > On what basis are you calling it most expensive though? It's much cheaper than any other brokerage I know when you look at fees holistically. It's much cheaper than most retail brokerages. It's more expensive than firms that cater to professionals; for the most part those firms don't put their pricing on their website because they're individually negotiated with each customer. Some example firms: all the big banks, Apex Clearing, eRoom Securities, TJM Institutional Services. For the banks you're probably looking at a minimum $20 million account size just for them to accept you as a customer. The smaller players require $1-$5 million for decent rates, but might accept smaller account sizes.
- morgante 9y ago
  > It's much cheaper than most retail brokerages. Ah, I see what you meant now. Yeah, I was just comparing it to most retail brokerages since I see the others (Apex, etc.) as in a different category. IB is something which the average HN user could actually use.