I just opened an account with IB. I left for lower margin rates, and ideally for lower commissions. I've only had this account active today, and I'm puzzled by the commissions. For today.....
BOT & SLD 1500 F - Comm 15.00 (RT)
BOT & SLD 100 JPM - Comm 2.00
BOT & SLD 5000 SNV - Comm 50.00
BOT & SLD 2500 EK - Comm 25.00
BOT & SLD 1500 AGNC - Comm 15.00
I was with Ameritrade, and upon request quite a few months ago lowered my commissions to $7 per trade. I had been swinging 10K shares on SNV for $7, the downside was that the maint margin was $20K on the transaction. With IB, the maint margin is greatly reduced but the transaction costs are high.
I plan to park almost all of the funds in a high dividend-yielding stock, and then purchase about 65% more shares on margin. This will comprise my core position plus allow me to trade a bit, but I'm going to have to switch gears and focus on higher priced shares (note JPM comm is $2).
The software takes some time to get used to, this weekend will be spent watching the educational webinars and studying the user quide.
I had a few questions for IB staff in getting the account activated, replies via email or chat were quick and accurate. The BlackBerry application works well too.
I'll post more comments as experiences allow. Have a great weekend gang!
Tom