> It's why charles schwab is offering free trades CS is offering free trades because IBKR offered free trades. There was a cascade effect in the industry las

> It's why charles schwab is offering free trades CS is offering free trades because IBKR offered free trades. There was a cascade effect in the industry last year wherein IBKR announced free trades, and within two months the entire industry also started offering free trades. We'd need to figure out why IBKR made that change. If you read the announcements, it sounds like it was just so they could get more lending (margin trading), options, shorting, etc fees. https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/10/01/interactive-brokers-introduces-free-stock-trading.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/10/01/interactive-broker... I'm not sure if IBKR lite allows you to control order flow, so there might be some profit there too. I'd guess that's a major distinction between IBKR-pro and IBKR-lite.