Brokerage/platforms terrible in Oz

[yonnie]

seems like the TWS platform was down this morning.

fortunately a few orders I wanted to cancel, didn`t get filled.

 

[Steve-IB]

yonnie - We were disconnected from the ASX early Tuesday - please call us immediately if you experience order issues.

CHESS - stocks are kept in the CHESS account of our custodian, Fortis, on behalf of Interactive Brokers LLC, on behalf of yourself. You will not have a HIN number yourself. Corporate actions, such as dividends are processed automatically and paid to your IB account. For elective corporate actions you need to send a ticket to us to instruct and we will act on it (telephone us if it's near the deadline). Thus, you will not get a CHESS holding statement. You will get a statement from IB which shows your positions. IB doesn't own the stock.

This is a similar arrangement if you deposit funds a broker. The broker holds your funds on your behalf in a client segregated account at it's bank. In our case, funds are held in Citibank, in an IB Client Segregated Account, on behalf of yourself.

IB is registered with ASIC and a member of the SFE, and also carries insurance protection on our customer accounts. There is some info here about the insurance and the size of IB, as well as links to more detailed information:
http://institutions.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/about/ibgStrength.php?ib_entity=inst

 

[Steve-IB]

btw.. would there be any interest in us offering the ASX CFD's?

 

[RichKid]

btw.. would there be any interest in us offering the ASX CFD's?

(Thanks for your replies Steve).

Do you mean access to the new exchange traded CFD's (xtCFD) or over the counter CFD's via IB?

xtCFD's seem to be taking their time accurately reflecting underlying spreads.

Eitherway, I would prefer a fully transparent direct market access model. I'd hazard a guess that if you could keep prices transparent and avoid some of the dodgy tactics that IGMarkets and the like engage in (eg spreads and stop-loss triggers not reflecting movements in the underlying market- see the IG threads here on ASF) there'll be a lot of people joining in. It is a growing market here in Australia as you would know. I'd highly recommend a low-cost Guaranteed Stop Loss facility as well and a broad shorting list.

Just my views fwiw.

 

[professor_frink]

btw.. would there be any interest in us offering the ASX CFD's?

maybe once they get a little more active. Don't think there is too much interest in them at this stage.

 

[RichKid]

If any ASF members (especially regular contributors or long standing members) have opened an IB account and trade ASX equities or derivatives through IB regularly could you please share your experiences please? I'd be interested in the feedback. Thanks!

 

[BBand]

I,m also thinking of switching from etrade to IB - I think I read somewhere in this thread that SMSFs can trade through IB.

Being able to trade ASX CFDs would be a definate bonus

 

[Shutty]

If any ASF members (especially regular contributors or long standing members) have opened an IB account and trade ASX equities or derivatives could you please share your experiences please? I'd be interested in the feedback. Thanks!

Does a long term lurker count.

I've only recently joined and have not placed a single trade yet but I can share my experiences up to date.

The joining process wasn't too painful, although some of the legal stuff was a hard read.

The online account tools look OK.

Next, the Trader Workstation. I've been learning how to use it (esp. orders) through their PaperTrader account. To me after using a basic Aussie broker, this TWS is in another league. It has taken me a few weeks to work out how to use it and only now ironing out some things I've had problems with.

Some were my misunderstanding but one was a PaperTrader thing which SteveK cleared up quickly.

They have online webinars to learn this stuff plus past archived ones which is good because of the time the webinars are held. The live ones are timed for the US.

These are a big help.

Anyway, getting there!

Cheers Shutty

 

[RichKid]

Does a long term lurker count.

I've only recently joined and have not placed a single trade yet but I can share my experiences up to date......
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Anyway, getting there!

Cheers Shutty

Thanks Shutty & Welcome to ASF! Looking forward to your experience of IB in the local market, especially the day-to-day processes and CHESS and dividend payment procedures (including how they handle TFN rego, capital raisings and the like). Good luck with it, hope to hear from you after a few dozen trades or in several weeks if you have time to report back.

 

[elbee]

Having used IB for a number of years now for my futures trading I have moved a large part of my SMSF funds from Macquarie Equities into a new account at IB.

I am surprised IB have not elected to become a CHESS sponsor in their own right. I would have thought it was cheaper and easier for them if corporate action decisions were handled completely by the beneficial owner rather than IB having to process individual requests.

Also as SMSF' s need to be independently audited having an audit trail of CHESS statements and dividend notices direct from the company is probably easier for most auditors to understand than IB's sometimes complex statement printed from the internet.

That issue aside, I welcome IB's entry to the Australian equities market. Their platform will enable me to trade my SMSF system far more cheaply and conveniently.

 

[Aussiejeff]

Apart from the initial overlong time to transfer a portion of my Commsec shares to IB (partly due to Commsec being somewhat "unhelpful" and "unwilling" to expedite the process and IB help being delayed by a day everytime you need to communicate because of the International time zone difference), I've been happy with the process using Trader Work Station. I only trade the ASX (in $AU currency).

Oh, and the other day there was a singular glitch (yonnie had a similar problem I believe) when I had placed a SELL order just after open and the system "hung" - and would not process the order. I suspect a server problem somewhere? However it would process a CANCEL order ok so I did ... no real damage done. The problem disappeared the next day and no further hitches since.

Hopefully IB will continue to enhance its operations here and streamline the processes - including setting up the CHESS situation so it is no different to Commsec in effect. Or would doing that cost money and raise the fees?

Cheers,

AJ

PS: I DO wish they would get a realtime help desk (phone/e-mail) up and running in OZ! That time delay is my main peeve.

 

[BBand]

Hi elbee,
Thank you for clearing up the SMSF/IB situation for me - saves me a lot of checking

At present I trade only the ASX stocks from the long side, but would like to include CFD's for shorting.

My requirements are quite basic, so I hopefully it should not take me long in finding my way around the IB platform
IB certainly appear to provide plenty of instructive, helpful material on their web site, so once I have worked my way through that I should have a good idea of what to do should I encounter problems.

I primarily trade breakouts, they either work or they don't, and I know real soon if there is no immediate follow through with price - so brokerage is a definate concern for me - a major plus for IB

Peter

 

[RichKid]

Welcome to ASF elbee! Hope you find your time here to be enjoyable and productive.

Glad to hear of your views guys. As AussieJeff & elbee suggest, it would be much easier for all of us if IB became a CHESS participant. It appears to be a de facto barrier to entry for retail traders as it complicates the normal situation experienced by most customers who use commsec and the like as their CHESS sponsor. Is it a legal issue or a financial (costs) issue that prevents IB from becoming a CHESS sponsor?

btw, there are some remarks here by Sails relating to IB- a question or two for you there as well Steve-IB: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=227525#post227525

Hoping to hear from more active ASF members about their experiences of IB as detailed in recent posts. If IB can simplify and streamline their procedures and services in Australia they really will shakeup the industry. Thumbs up to IB and Steve for making the effort to act on feedback.

 

[RichKid]

Apart from the initial overlong time to transfer a portion of my Commsec shares to IB (partly due to Commsec being somewhat "unhelpful" and "unwilling" to expedite the process and IB help being delayed by a day everytime you need to communicate because of the International time zone difference), I've been happy with the process using Trader Work Station. I only trade the ASX (in $AU currency)..........
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Cheers,

AJ

PS: I DO wish they would get a realtime help desk (phone/e-mail) up and running in OZ! That time delay is my main peeve.

btw AJ,

1) How long did it take for comsuc to tfr your holdings from the time you submitted your form to ComSuc (presumably the portion of the completed 'Asian Asset Transfer form' that IB asks you to forward to comsuc)?

2) Any tips on how to avoid the delay or commsuc tactics?

I assume that once you list your stocks on the Asset Tfr form and send it to Commsuc there is nothing else you can do til they process it and transfer to Fortis. Then it's upto IB, I presume, to credit your IB account with the stock.

You might have had to cross your fingers and hope that you didn't need to sell that stock while it was in limbo between the two CHESS sponsors!!

 

[Aussiejeff]

btw AJ,

1) How long did it take for comsuc to tfr your holdings from the time you submitted your form to ComSuc (presumably the portion of the completed 'Asian Asset Transfer form' that IB asks you to forward to comsuc)?

2) Any tips on how to avoid the delay or commsuc tactics?

I assume that once you list your stocks on the Asset Tfr form and send it to Commsuc there is nothing else you can do til they process it and transfer to Fortis. Then it's upto IB, I presume, to credit your IB account with the stock.

You might have had to cross your fingers and hope that you didn't need to sell that stock while it was in limbo between the two CHESS sponsors!!

Hi RichKid.

It took 8 effing working days, believe it or not! Pretty much out of the market for that time apart from a few trades I had to make with my remaining Commsec shares portfolio. Chewed my fingernails the whole time.

I posted my app on a Wednesday. After waiting unsuccessfully for two days for a response, I initially phoned Commsuck on the Friday afternoon. They said they hadn't received my app but that it was probably in the inbox somewhere. Starting the next monday, I phoned FOUR times over five days before they confirmed they had actually bothered to process my application. Took a further couple of days to settle.

So, yes ... in answer to your point (2), there isn't much you can do [apart from phoning and harrassing the buggers] until Commsuck decide to process your app. I'm not sure IB having CHESS sorted out would make any difference in that instance either...

Good Luck! I'm not looking forward to going through the process again, but I will have to in the future.

Cheers,

AJ

PS: Is there a Share Trading Ombudsman who could look into Commsucks stalling tactics? LOL

 

[RichKid]

Hi RichKid.

It took 8 effing working days, believe it or not! Pretty much out of the market for that time apart from a few trades I had to make with my remaining Commsec shares portfolio. Chewed my fingernails the whole time.

I posted my app on a Wednesday. After waiting unsuccessfully for two days for a response, I initially phoned Commsuck on the Friday afternoon. They said they hadn't received my app but that it was probably in the inbox somewhere. Starting the next monday, I phoned FOUR times over five days before they confirmed they had actually bothered to process my application. Took a further couple of days to settle.

So, yes ... in answer to your point (2), there isn't much you can do [apart from phoning and harrassing the buggers] until Commsuck decide to process your app. I'm not sure IB having CHESS sorted out would make any difference in that instance either...

Good Luck! I'm not looking forward to going through the process again, but I will have to in the future.

Cheers,

AJ

PS: Is there a Share Trading Ombudsman who could look into Commsucks stalling tactics? LOL

LOL AJ, you might have to try the Financial Services Ombudsman or something but I don't think it would help much! Wish they'd let you do it electronically via the CommSec web site but I guess that's asking too much and they probably would want to make it hard to transfer assets out of their clutches. I will try faxing the form to Comsuc and send it via express post on a Friday or Monday morning so that they can get onto it asap at the start of the working week.

As for CHESS, it's mainly an issue once Commsec have done their part and with ongoing matters once we're with IB, let's see how it works out.

Hang in there with the brokers, hope it works out well, the market is tough enough to deal with!

 

[RichKid]

Here's an attempt to answer all the questions provided on this thread:
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Trades: 0.08% or minimum $6AUD.. This works out to be about $8 on a $10,000 trade.
Account Fees: $10USD a month account fees = ~$11.91AUD

IB: Account fees are a minimum monthly fee per month. If you generate more than $10 in commission in the month then you will not be charged this fee


"Market Data" (what exactly constitutes this? anybody know, basic financial info for each company? ASX annoucements? or is this more in depth)
Australian Stock Exchange Australia AUD 37.50 (nonpro) AUD 49.50 (pro)

IB: Market data is real-time streaming quotes and shows the first 5 levels of market depth. This is an exchange cost and is passed straight through to the ASX. The 5 levels are aggregated – i.e. it the bid will show the top 5 prices, and the volume at each price, and the cumulative volume – it won’t show how many orders at a particular price – only the number of shares.
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Steve/current IB users,

Apologies if this has been answered before but I couldn't find an answer in this thread:

Is there a way to avoid the data fee ie can the ASX data feed be switched off?

I get live ASX quotes from elsewhere so would prefer not to pay for unnecessary data (AUD $37.50*12 = AUD $450 pa) .

 

[sails]

.... If IB can simplify and streamline their procedures and services in Australia they really will shakeup the industry. Thumbs up to IB and Steve for making the effort to act on feedback.

Absolutely agree, RichKid. Although my experience was not pleasant and I was somewhat reluctant to even share it, perhaps it may help prevent someone else making a similar mistake.

Their software is great with so many features - nothing like it in Aus AFAIK. Had there been even a warning message to stop that twisted trade of mine going through, the account would still be open and being used for smaller trades where assignment with IB could be easily managed in the first 10 minutes. In fact, I kept the account open for a while and even traded in it again, but found I had become too fearful of making another mistake. As emotions and trading don't mix, it was time to part company with the otherwise nice software and slightly cheaper fees.

I agree that some streamlining would be certainly beneficial in a few areas and especially for Aus ETOs. Yes, IB certainly do have a lot to offer the Aus market - no question about that.

Cheers

 

[sails]

Steve/current IB users,

Apologies if this has been answered before but I couldn't find an answer in this thread:

Is there a way to avoid the data fee ie can the ASX data feed be switched off?

I get live ASX quotes from elsewhere so would prefer not to pay for unnecessary data (AUD $37.50*12 = AUD $450 pa) .

Yes, it is easily turned on or off in account management. In fact when setting up the account you can elect not to have it...

 

[Sir Burr]

Is there a way to avoid the data fee ie can the ASX data feed be switched off?

Rich,

When you sign up there is are options for all the data feeds. Simple, don't pick any and you don't pay.

If you want any later you can turn on data through your account management.

Again, you do not have to subscribe to any data to use IB.

Edit: oooops too slow!