Alternative to IB / more user-friendly

Just put CHF as base currency… If you live and work in Switzerland it really is your base currency. Why would you want to shoehorn USD over that?

Do I get this right?

By default, users will receive free delayed market data for available exchanges. If needed, users can subscribe to real-time streaming market data for the prices listed in the tables below. Once a subscription is active, the delayed market data will be replaced with the real-time quotes. In addition, clients who do not need streaming real-time quotes will have the ability to request snapshot data from multiple exchanges worldwide. This request will provide a static quote for the instrument. U.S. listed equities are USD 0.01 per quote request and all other instruments are USD 0.03 per quote request. As a courtesy, accounts will receive a waiver of USD 1.00 per month for snapshot quotes. Home | Interactive Brokers Luxembourg SARL

So before buying I can get a snapshot of the realtime quote for 0.01 USD, but this will be waived as long as I stay below 1USD/month or 100 snapshots/month?

Edit: Ok it’s true, wow!

Clients will receive $1.00 of snapshot quotes free of charge each month. Free snaphots may be applied to either U.S. or non-U.S. quote requests and charges will be applied, without additional notice, once the free allocation has been exhausted. Frequently Asked Questions

2 Likes

How does it work the snapshot quote?

1 Like

Well coming with news about TD. I already have the TD account. First impressions, good, better that IB in some things. Second impression … well, less good :frowning_face:

The transfer of positions from IB to TD worked IMMEDIATELY It is the first time I see this! I was really surprised You go to IB, you tell what you want to transfer, you wait … 1, 2, 3 seconds, but really 3 !!! And all the positions are in TD! Incredible connection IB -> TD !!!

Until there, everything perfect! But oh friend … when I tried to “link” accounts … puff … I threw myself last night really late and I only managed to make a link between TD and IB with the “link broker” but I haven’t tried yet because they charge $ 25 … so we’ll see.

I have sent a question to the support by email to explain to me how # $% I will put money there because there has been no way with Revolut, or with Transferwise to link ACH accounts.

I always got a type error: “TD Ameritrade does not currently support ACH transfers with certain institutions.”

I was close to abandon … but this morning, I start looking at forums, and several other places … and I see that people do not understand that being Transferwise a genuinely American account, sometimes do not works as it… and there are people who had received the explanation that TD does not send money to companies type Moneygram, etc … although people have their number and routing …

Anyway, I was going to leave completely when I decided to verify if TW is a real bank or not because the problem could come from there! And surprise, when I put the ABA / ACH number that TW gives to make the transfers on the aba site: https://routingnumber.aba.com/ I get that it is a bank, its address … etc … and … a different Routing Number !!! :rage::see_no_evil::hocho::axe: !!!

Well, putting that new routing number: 026073008 , YES, let’s link! Now they say they will send the famous 2 small amounts and if all goes well, will be done.

What is clear is that TD is purely a broker for Americans …As a curiosity, I was for more than one hour without being able to do anything because I did not receive the SMS on my phone … until I discovered that by putting +41 it does not work … and the 0041… neither. You have to put 011 … anyway … I hope it helps someone.

3 Likes

Holy cow, that sounds horrible!

I’m really happy with IBKR now.

1 Like

Yeap… honestly is just crazy that one broker cannot have everything :frowning: Really…
The interface, information, tools, aspect, etc…in TD is much better that IB. The web page is much, much faster, easy to use but for transfers… No…
IB is better on that. The CHF and EUR transfers in local IBANs… the withdraws, etc… In TD, several things must be done by paper, sign and send back to them…They told me that they are working to make everything online but for the moment, nothing.

It’s clear that if you have a USA Bank account, then, perfect. They link with your bank, send, receive money practically instantaneously but if you don’t have a US account…

I did 2 more tests with Revolut -> Wire and TW -> ACH. Next week I’ll know if is working… if not… To think about.

Thanks for your feedback. That’s why I was asking for some first hand experience of other brokers. We all know that IB works, and I mean it, it works really well. It seems to me that since IB is catered to advanced traders, it allows you to do more, even if the experience is not “friendly”. And the other conclusion is that American brokers do not care much about foreign customers. They just allow us to have an account, but it’s all far from smooth sailing.

I wonder if anybody can give a first hand experience from a US broker that would not be much more expensive than IB, when counting all costs, bank transfers & FX included.

I feel much better having an account with an UK company than a US company. Just a gut feeling.

Hi!
I wanted to ask if you have any news regarding this??

For me TD Ameritrade is very interesting in case you want to try some actual trading instead of just buy and hold.

From what I understand, for US stocks TD is completely free, while IB still makes you pay minimum 1chf/trade… Imagine in a day-trading session I sometimes buy and sell 10 or 20 times! a few days a month makes IBRK pretty expensive, and TD would be completely free!!

Any comments on this welcome :slight_smile:

Hi there,

Well, after some weeks using both brokers I would maintain both :wink:
I think that in general, TD is better. Better interface, quicker, cheaper :wink: etc… But… there is always a “but”

TD: (+ and -)

The (+):

  • Cheap, 0$ in all the transactions I did. Just one they took 0.12 $ because something related with the SEC… Nothing related with TD.
  • Cheap in options: 0.65 $ for 1 option. Really cheap.
  • Web interface less “nice” than IB but quicker and more useful… I prefer the functionality over the cosmetics…
  • Thinkorswim software… my good… years light better than Trade Workstation! Launching, using, etc…
  • They promise me a gift of 600$ for passing my portfolio there. I think the offer is still running. This money will cover all the fees for withdraw or small fees I’ll have with them.

The (-):

  • Withdraw money is really expensive but more or less like others. It’s 25$ for each withdraw. Since I don’t plan to withdraw any money I don’t care but if you want to take money every month…hummmm…
  • Only USD as currency! You cannot wire CHF or EUR… :frowning:
  • Only US Market. For me is OK because the European companies I have they are available in ADR, so I don’t pay the stupid taxes of France or Switzerland :wink: and I buy them in USD.
  • No interest in USD not used in your account… or really small. No interest in short positions neither. Any payment for lending stocks. I don’t know if the lend our positions, I think not, but I’m not sure. In IB you have money for all those concepts. Not too much but some.

Why I’ll maintain IB?: Because the multicurrency system at IB, because I’d like to have more than one broker just in case and because the changing, deposit currency of IB. I send the money to IB, exchange to USD and with ACH (Free) I send the money to TD.

Regards.

1 Like

Cost is 0.0035 USD per share with a minimum of 0.35 USD per order.

1 Like

I don’t get it. The + that you listed are mostly irrelevant. Cheaper? By how much? I pay a few bucks per year for IB, so how could this be the point? But the - seem like a big deal. Withdrawal, no currency converter, that all costs a lot of money, so again, I don’t see how you can say it’s cheaper.

1 Like

Bojack, I’m not selling to anybody TD or whatever. I have an affiliate link but I didn’t post here, so no reason for promoting TD.

You don’t see any advantage? Very well… stay in IB! I had more than 300 USD this year in commissions, so for me, there is important.

I trade options and I sell put options for 50, 60, 100 USD of reward. You don’t trade options? Ok, but me yes, and 5, 6 USD of fees for 50 USD of benefits is not a correct reward/risk/fee ratio… but 0.65 for 50 it’s OK for me.

If you are buying 3 VT per year, yes, stay in IB and don’t go anywhere else. But for me and people that do more than that, the difference could be more than 500 USD per year.

I just tried to help the community with a test in another platform, just that.

Regards.

3 Likes

fair enough, I didn’t know you invest in such advanced products.

Using DKB for several years now, but only for GER-GER money transfer. Great bank, low costs, easy to handle. Just checked how the “Wertpapiersparplan” works and I have to say it looks super easy. You chose your ETF (or other), the interval, the date and the amount you want to buy - that’s it. Actually everything you would need to “fire and forget”. The selection is big, but mostly in EUR. Also no equities, but only funds, ETF and certificates.

Imgur

IB do not make you pay a minimum. Unless you use fixed pricing.

Interesting… I can’t find those costs for trading Options on IB, but tbh I didn’t try. I’m just checking their site.
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1590&p=options1

I am really confused about their pricing to be honest…

Let’s say I trade 5 days a month, and each of these days I make 10x full trades (10 buy, 10 sell). Let’s say only in the US stock market, 50 stocks@$100, total $5000 per trade.

Then should I get the tiered or the fixed plan? How much would it cost?

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1590&p=stocks

Heheh, yes, this is where I am confused :sweat_smile:. For fixed pricing it is easy:
It is 20 chf/trading day which means 100 chf/month (this is a lot!!)

So the question was more, if the tiered pricing is any cheaper for my case!

But from what it seems, the tiered pricing makes sense when you trade like 300000 shares each time, not 50 :stuck_out_tongue: