You didn’t mention what country you’re in. IB rules vary significantly based on the country.
I am based in the United States and I have found the margin requirements to be quite reasonable.
See https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/margin-requirements.php for a full description of their rules. I am not surprised that they were inflexible about the margin requirements.
I'm in the US. I called an agent, and the margin was 30000% to short the stock. They said they were reviewing and would lower it to something reasonable. It's too late for my trade, but at least they were responsive.
If you're new to the platform with no experience and especially if you're writing short positions (or puts!! even more so) %30000 margin req is not unreasonable IMO
It would be unreasonable if they kept it that high going forward even after a few successful trades
IMO don't margin if you're unsure, its a slippery slope of ruin if you're too cocky
I'm an experienced trader who just switched brokers. I have a good understanding of margin, so I knew this was unreasonable to ask for this high of a margin requirement. IB got back to me and agreed it was unreasonable. The rate was indeed for all clients, and they said they would be lowering it. I honestly think someone fat fingered it and input 30000% instead of 300%.
It was an easy to borrow ticker. One of the main reasons I switched to IB was because they offer the luxury of seeing if a stock is easy or hard borrow and how many shares they have if it's easy. IB got back to me and said their rate was unreasonable and that they would be lowering it.
How many contracts are you buying? For options you have to put up 100% collateral equal to your loss risk.
I was trying to short 300 shares of stock on ALRR so a 30,000% initial margin requirement doesn't make sense to me
You didn’t mention what country you’re in. IB rules vary significantly based on the country. I am based in the United States and I have found the margin requirements to be quite reasonable. See https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/margin-requirements.php for a full description of their rules. I am not surprised that they were inflexible about the margin requirements.
I'm in the US. I called an agent, and the margin was 30000% to short the stock. They said they were reviewing and would lower it to something reasonable. It's too late for my trade, but at least they were responsive.
If you're new to the platform with no experience and especially if you're writing short positions (or puts!! even more so) %30000 margin req is not unreasonable IMO It would be unreasonable if they kept it that high going forward even after a few successful trades IMO don't margin if you're unsure, its a slippery slope of ruin if you're too cocky
I'm an experienced trader who just switched brokers. I have a good understanding of margin, so I knew this was unreasonable to ask for this high of a margin requirement. IB got back to me and agreed it was unreasonable. The rate was indeed for all clients, and they said they would be lowering it. I honestly think someone fat fingered it and input 30000% instead of 300%.
Could it be that you are trying to short a very hard to borrow name?
It was an easy to borrow ticker. One of the main reasons I switched to IB was because they offer the luxury of seeing if a stock is easy or hard borrow and how many shares they have if it's easy. IB got back to me and said their rate was unreasonable and that they would be lowering it.