Where do you buy your shares online?

[gav]

I am also looking at opening an account with IB. My trading frequency will be quite low, and I know IB is oriented towards more active traders. But I want to open an account with IB because it will be much better for me when I become more experienced and/or begin trading more actively. I know IB isn't simple to use, but I'd rather learn now than 2+ years down the track.

According to this link http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/node/314 the minimum monthly activity fee is USD $10. So I assume this means if I don't make $10 worth of trades for any month I'll simply be charged $10? Or if I pay more than $10 in commissions, I won't have to pay this fee? (I'm not taking into account data subscriptions here, I'll be getting my data elsewhere)

I want to open an account sooner rather than later, so I can watch all the tut's and do some paper trading to get used to the platform. Also, I read somewhere that you need to have completed at least 100 trades to open an account with IB. Is this true, and do they ask for anything to prove that you have completed 100 trades?

 

[SmellyTerror]

So I assume this means if I don't make $10 worth of trades for any month I'll simply be charged $10? Or if I pay more than $10 in commissions, I won't have to pay this fee?

That's right: if you pay $10 or more in commission, no fee. If you have less commission, they charge ya. I'm pretty sure they just top it up to the $10 minimum (eg if you have $2 brokerage, they charge $8 to bring it up to $10), but I've never had less than $10 brokerage so I'm not 100% on that.

100 trades is just a question they ask during your sign-up. Just tick the box and (electronically) sign the form and you're good to go. No other proof required.

 

[gav]

Thanks Smelly Terror