Study Notes:
Interactive Brokers offers access to a variety of market data from exchanges around the world. IBKR client accounts come with delayed market data free of charge, but investors can quickly and easily subscribe to real time market data from around the world which will be immediately available for use with a few mouse clicks.
Why does IBKR charge for Market Data?
Market data is considered an asset for the exchanges and therefore, exchanges charge entities to connect and stream orders into the exchange matching engines. They also charge investors for the privilege of seeing orders that set bid and ask market prices. The data is billed on a complex sliding scale depending on several factors including whether the investor qualifies as a professional or non-professional.
Interactive Brokers simply acts as a pass-through entity facilitating the delivery of data and carrying through the payment to the exchange. Other Brokers may offer free Market Data to their clients; however, they make up the cost by typically charging higher service fees in other areas such as Custody, Account minimums, commission minimums, or financing costs.
Are there equity minimums to subscribe to market data?
Please note that depending on the IBKR account type of the subscriber, there are account equity minimums that must be met in order to subscribe and maintain the subscriptions. The minimum equity requirements are listed on the IBKR website, and the account must have sufficient equity to cover the minimum requirement plus the cost of the desired subscriptions for the data to be active. Further information on the available market data subscriptions and the pricing can be found on the IBKR website.
How to Subscribe to Market Data?
To subscribe to market data in the Portal, click the Head & Shoulders icon in the upper right corner and click Settings. On the User Settings section on the right side, select the Market Data subscriptions button. Subscriptions the investor is currently subscribed to will be reflected in the Current GFIS Subscriptions table along with the associated price. To manage the market data, click the configure gear icon.
The subscriptions are broken out by market location reflected as tabs and each tab has sub-sections underneath to categorize the available subscriptions. To add a subscription, check the box next to the desired product and to remove or cancel an existing subscription, click to uncheck the box. When ready, click continue to review the selected subscriptions and acknowledge and sign any applicable agreements and disclosures. Click Continue until a confirmation page is reached.
Note that market data subscriptions are not prorated for the month. If the user decides to subscribe in the middle of the month, they will pay the fee for the entire month as listed on the page. If the user is unsubscribing in the middle of the month, they will continue to see the data for the rest of the month and will no longer have access to the data on the 1st of the following month.
Additionally, subscription fees are assessed based on the number of users subscribed to the service on an account. Therefore, if multiple users are subscribed, there will be multiple charges assessed to the account.
How to know what market data subscription is needed for a specific product?
Investors can also use the Market Data Assistant if they are unsure which subscription would provide market data for a specific asset. To access Market Data Assistant, click the Help icon in the upper right corner and select Support Center. Click the Market Data Assistant button and on the following page enter the desired product’s information such as symbol or ISIN and exchange. For example, the investor can search for symbol AAPL listed on the NASDAQ and filter for only Professional Subscribers. The results will show which subscriptions will provide real time data for that product.
How to Subscribe to Research or News Providers?
In addition to market data, Interactive Brokers clients enjoy access to dozens of free and premium market research and news providers. However, investors can also subscribe to additional, a la cart research and news.
Research and News subscriptions are also managed from the User Settings page of the portal. Under the Trading Platform section, select Research Subscriptions. Click the configure gear icon and the list of available research and news providers will populate. Click the blue information icon to the right for more information on a particular subscription. Check or uncheck the box to the left of the desired research or news subscriptions and click continue until a confirmation page is reached.
For more information on the research or news offerings, please see our website.
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