Account holders are encouraged to routinely monitor their order submissions with the objective of optimizing efficiency and minimizing 'wasted' or non-executed orders.  As inefficient orders have the potential to consume a disproportionate amount of system resources. IB measures the effectiveness of client orders through the Order Efficiency Ratio (OER).  This ratio compares aggregate daily order activity relative to that portion of activity which results in an execution and is determined as follows:

OER = (Order Submissions + Order Revisions + Order Cancellations) / (Executed Orders + 1)

Outlined below is a list of considerations which can assist with optimizing (reducing) one's OER:

1. Cancellation of Day Orders - strategies which use 'Day' as the Time in Force setting and are restricted to Regular Trading Hours should not initiate order cancellations after 16:00 ET, but rather rely upon IB processes which automatically act to cancel such orders. While the client initiated cancellation request which serve to increase the OER, IB's cancellation will not.

2. Modification vs. Cancellation - logic which acts to cancel and subsequently replace orders should be substituted with logic which simply modifies the existing orders. This will serve to reduce the process from two order actions to a single order action, thereby improving the OER.

3. Conditional Orders - when utilizing strategies which involve the pricing of one product relative to another, consideration should be given to minimizing unnecessary price and quantity order modifications. As an example, an order modification based upon a price change should only be triggered if the prior price is no longer competitive and the new suggested price is competitive.

4. Meaningful Revisions – logic which serves to modify existing orders without substantially increasing the likelihood of the modified order interacting with the NBBO should be avoided. An example of this would be the modification of a buy order from $30.50 to $30.55 on a stock having a bid-ask of $31.25 - $31.26.

5. RTH Orders – logic which modifies orders set to execute solely during Regular Trading Hours based upon price changes taking place outside those hours should be optimized to only make such modifications during or just prior to the time at which the orders are activated.

6. Order Stacking - Any strategy that incorporates and transmits the stacking of orders on the same side of a particular underlying should minimize transmitting those that are not immediately marketable until the orders which have a greater likelihood of interacting with the NBBO have executed.

7. Use of IB Order Types - as the revision logic embedded within IB-supported order types is not considered an order action for the purposes of the OER, consideration should be given to using IB order types, whenever practical, as opposed to replicating such logic within the client order management logic. Logic which is commonly initiated by clients and whose behavior can be readily replicated by IB order types include: the dynamic management of orders expressed in terms of an options implied volatility (Volatility Orders), orders to set a stop price at a fixed amount relative to the market price (Trailing Stop Orders), and orders designed to automatically maintain a limit price relative to the NBBO (Pegged-to-Market Orders).

The above is not intended to be an exhaustive list of steps for optimizing one's orders but rather those which address the most frequently observed inefficiencies in client order management logic, are relatively simple to implement and which provide the opportunity for substantive and enduring improvements. For further information or questions, please contact the Customer Service Technical Assistance Center.

Under Section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, U.S. national securities exchanges are obligated to pay transaction fees to the SEC based on the volume of securities that are sold on their markets. Exchange rules require their broker-dealer members to pay a share of these fees who, in turn, pass the responsibility of paying the fees to their customers.

This fee is intended to allow the SEC to recover costs associated with its supervision and regulation of the U.S. securities markets and securities professionals. It applies to stocks, options and single stock futures (on a round turn basis); however, IB does not pass on the fee in the case of stock trades executed under the flat rate plan nor single stock futures trades.  Note that this fee is assessed only to the sale side of security transactions, thereby applying to the grantor of an option (fee based upon the option premium received at time of sale) and the exerciser of a put or call assignee (fee based upon option strike price).

As of the start of fiscal year 2011 the fee was assessed at a rate of $0.0000192 per $1.00 of sales proceeds, however, the rate is subject to annual and,in some cases, mid-year adjustments should realized transaction volume generate fees sufficiently below or in excess of targeted funding levels.¹

Examples of the transactions impacted by this fee and sample calculations are outlined in the table below.

¹Information regarding current Section 31 fees may be found on the SEC's Frequently Requested Documents page located at: http://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/mrfreqreq.shtml#feerate

Launch of P.M.-Settled End of Week (i.e. Week-End) SPX Options on Thursday, December 2, 2010

• Regulatory Circular RG10-112
• TO: Trading Permit Holders
• FROM: CBOE Research and Product Development
• DATE: October 28, 2010
• SUBJECT: Launch of P.M.-Settled End of Week (i.e. ?Week-End?) SPX Options on Thursday, December 2, 2010

OVERVIEW

• On Thursday, December 2, 2010, CBOE will commence trading of PM-settled End of Week (?Week-Ends?) SPX Options for expiration on Friday, December 10, 2010.
• With the commencement of trading in Week-End SPX Options, CBOE will discontinue the listing of AM-settled SPX Weeklys options, although they will be available during the month of November (expiring November 5, November 12 and November 26), with the last expiring on Friday, December 3.

The listing of the initial Week-End SPX options on Thursday, December 2 will allow for a one-day roll period between the SPX Weeklys options that expire on December 3 and the initial Week-End SPX options that expire on Friday, December 10. Initially, Week-End SPX Options will be listed on Thursdays of the week prior to their expiration.

END OF WEEK (i.e. WEEK-END) S&P 500 INDEX OPTIONS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

• Symbol: SPXW
• Description:
  • Week-End SPX options are PM-settled, European-style exercise options that may be listed for trading to expire on any Friday of the month, other than the third Friday of the month.
  • The Standard & Poor's 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index of 500 stocks from a broad range of industries. The component stocks are weighted according to the total market value of their outstanding shares. The impact of a component's price change is proportional to the issue's total market value, which is the share price times the number of shares outstanding. These are summed for all 500 stocks and divided by a predetermined base value. The base value for the
  • S&P 500 Index is adjusted to reflect changes in capitalization resulting from mergers, acquisitions, stock rights, substitutions, etc.
• Multiplier: $100.
• Premium Quote: Stated in decimals. One point equals $100. Minimum tick for options trading below 3.00 is 0.05 ($5.00) and for all other series, 0.10 ($10.00).
• Strike Prices: In-,at- and out-of-the-money strike prices are initially listed. New series are generally added when the underlying trades through the highest or lowest strike price available.
• Strike Price Intervals: Five points.
• Expiration Dates: Any Friday of the month, other than the third Friday of the month.
• Exercise Style: European - Week-End SPX options generally may be exercised only on the expiration date.
• Last Trading Day: Trading in End of Week SPX options ordinarily cease trading on the business day (usually a Friday) that the options expire.
• Settlement Value: The exercise-settlement value, SPX, is calculated using the last (closing) reported sales price in the primary market of each component stock on the last trading day. The exercise- settlement amount is equal to the difference between the exercise-settlement value, SPX, and the exercise price of the option, multiplied by $100. Exercise will result in delivery of cash on the business day following the day the exercise notice is properly submitted.
• Position and Exercise Limits, Reporting Requirements: As part of the SPX options class, there are no position limits for End of Week SPX options.
  • Positions in Week-End SPX options shall be aggregated with positions in SPX options for the purposes of satisfying the reporting requirements under Interpretation and Policy .03 to Rule 24.4, which, among other things, requires each TPH (other than a market maker) to submit a report to the CBOE whenever they maintain an aggregated position in SPX options in excess of 100,000 contracts. The TPH must report information as to whether such position is hedged and, if so, a description of the hedge employed, e.g., stock portfolio current market value, other stock index option positions, stock index futures positions, options on stock index futures; and for customer accounts, provide the account name, account number and tax ID or social security number. Thereafter, if the position is maintained at or above the reporting threshold, asubsequent report is required on Monday following expiration and when any change to the hedge results in the position being either unhedged or only partially hedged. Reductions below these thresholds do not need to be reported.
• Position and exercise limits are subject to change.
• Margin: Purchases of puts or calls with 9 months or less until expiration must be paid for in full. Writers of uncovered puts or calls must deposit / maintain 100% of the option proceeds* plus 15% of the aggregate contract value (current index level x $100) minus the amount by which the option is out-of-the-money, if any, subject to a minimum for calls of option proceeds* plus 10% of the aggregate contract value and a minimum for puts of option proceeds* plus 10% of the aggregate exercise price amount. (*For calculating maintenance margin, use option current market value instead of option proceeds.) Additional margin may be required pursuant to Exchange Rule 12.10.
• Cusip Number: TBD
• Trading Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 3:15 p.m. Central Time (Chicago time).
• If you have any questions about this memorandum may be directed to the Help Desk at 1- 866-728-2263.

Clients and as well as prospective clients are encouraged to review our website where fees are outlined in detail. An overview of the most common fees is provided below:

1. Commissions - vary by product type and listing exchange and whether you elect a bundled (all in) or unbundled plan. In the case of US stocks, for example, we charge $0.005 per share with a minimum per trade of $1.00.

2. Interest - interest is charged on margin debit balances and IB uses internationally recognized benchmarks on overnight deposits as a basis for determining interest rates. We then apply a spread around the benchmark interest rate (“BM”) in tiers, such that larger cash balances receive increasingly better rates, to determine an effective rate.  For example, in the case of USD denominated loans, the benchmark rate is the Fed Funds effective rate and a spread of 1.5% is added to the benchmark for balances up to $100,000.  In addition, individuals who short stock should be aware of special fees expressed in terms of daily interest where the stock borrowed to cover the short stock sale is considered 'hard-to-borrow'. 

 3. Exchange Fees - again vary by product type and exchange. For example, in the case of US securities options, certain exchanges charge a fee for removing liquidity (market order or marketable limit order) and provide payments for orders which add liquidity (limit order). In addition, many exchanges charge fees for orders which are canceled or modified.

4. Market Data - you are not required to subscribe to market data through IB but if you do you may incur a monthly fee which is dependent upon the vendor exchange and their subscription offering. We provide a Market Data Assistant tool which assists in selecting the appropriate market data subscription service available based upon the product you wish to trade. To access, log into Account Management click on the Tools icon and then the IB Market Data Assistant link.

5. Minimum Monthly Activity Fee - as we cater to active traders we require accounts to generate a minimum in commissions each month or be charged the difference as an activity fee. The minimum is $10 per month for accounts maintaining a balance above $2,000 and $20 per month for accounts whose equity has fallen below $2,000.

6. Miscellaneous - IB allows for one free withdrawal per month and charges a fee for each subsequent withdrawal. In addition, there are certain pass-through fees for trade bust requests, options and futures exercise & assignments and ADR custodian fees.

For additional information, we recommend visiting our website at ww.interactivebrokers.com and from the Individuals page select the Fees menu option at the top of the page.