Brokers have the ability to charge their clients for services rendered, on a fees per trade basis which can be specified by asset class (e.g. stocks, options, etc.), exchange or currency.
Client fee schedules can be applied to accounts individually or can be stored in templates. As a broker, you can configure fees for one or more client accounts, or set up client fee schedules in templates, then assign the templates to client accounts. The use of templates allows you to easily maintain different fee schedules for multiple client accounts. If you are a new broker (i.e., you just opened your IB account), then there will be a blank default client fee template, which you can then configure with your own fee schedule. If you are an existing broker, your old global fee schedule is now the default client fee template.
You set client fees in Account Management using the Manage Clients > Fees > Configure page. On this page, you can:
View and sort all client accounts.
Select one or more client accounts, then view (and if necessary, modify) the current fee schedule for those accounts.
Select one or more client accounts, then configure and apply a fee schedule to those accounts.
Select one or more client accounts, then apply a previously saved client fee template to those accounts.
You can set client fees for stocks, warrants, stock and index options, futures, futures options and SSFs, forex and bonds in any of the following ways:
Set a minimum fee per trade for all asset classes.
Set an absolute markup amount. This is the amount added to IB’s commission.
Set a percent markup. This is the amount added to IB’s commission, computed as a percentage of IB’s commission.
Set an absolute amount. An absolute amount includes both IB’s commission and your client fee. For futures products, you also have the option to set absolute amounts for specific exchanges as well as by individual product.
Set absolute fees in a tiered schedule by volume level. These are called Absolute Tiered Commissions, and they allow you to provide different commissions based on volumes traded.
Include pass-through fees, which specify that all regulatory and exchange fees be added to any absolute amounts you enter and passed through to the customer.
Set mark-down credit and short proceeds credit interest and mark-up debit interest.
Charge markups to your clients based on our stock borrow rates, entered as a variable or fixed percentage of our borrow rate. You can enter both types of markups and our system will apply the markup rate that results in the larger total amount.
If no global or individual account fees are specified, Interactive Brokers standard commissions will be charged with no markup for the broker.
For more information
For details on broker commission markups and interest markups and markdowns, including examples, see the Broker Client Markups page on the IB web site.
Short Video - Managing Fees