Lying on Interactive Brokers application?

I wish to open up an account and start trading futures (//www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/how-to-start-tradi…).

I have 10k in savings and my income is 450 fortnightly. As such I am not "qualified" for an IB account. I am tempted to just lie about my net worth, liquid net worth, annual net income and total assets because I want to trade with IB who have a decent platform and low commisions, plus I suspect any other brokerage would have similar requirements.

I also don't have any experience trading, which is another requirement of IB. Again, tempted to just lie.

Now I have no idea how they would check my net worth or trading experience, I am sure these are just to cover their asses. And I really want to start trading.

But I am very hesitant to lie.

What to do?

18 Comments
AsatarEveryone lies, they cannot check. Its just to cover their asses legally so they can say they weren't exploiting an innocent person and that you were fully aware of the risks.

This is what Im guessing, but they have some serious personal details on me (required for ID and tax), so I am very very hesitant to lie.

 

We lost 86k through one of their traders who we figured out has 11 aliases!!! What do we do?

 

It's in their interest to give you an account. They don't care if you lose money, they just care about you suing them. I'm not for a second encouraging you to lie, I'm just saying you won't get in any kind of trouble if you do (as long as you dont go bust and try and sue them).

 

I've heard good things about TD but I don't like the idea of paying $10 a trade. If I make a $1000 investment, I lose 1% of my investment every time I buy and sell. I can't diversify with my current level of funds without getting raped by fees, which is part of the reason I'm leaving Scottrade as well. Interactive Brokers charges $0.005 per share, which is perfect for a cheap and low net worth individual such as myself.

Now, if only I was this cheap while buying drinks in Manhattan...

Competition is a sin. -John D. Rockefeller
 
Hooked on LEAPSI've heard good things about TD but I don't like the idea of paying $10 a trade. If I make a $1000 investment, I lose 1% of my investment every time I buy and sell. I can't diversify with my current level of funds without getting raped by fees, which is part of the reason I'm leaving Scottrade as well. Interactive Brokers charges $0.005 per share, which is perfect for a cheap and low net worth individual such as myself.

Now, if only I was this cheap while buying drinks in Manhattan...

TD is currently offering 60 days of free trading if you have an account with $2000 or more.

But since you aren't a day trader, I'm not sure if you'd benefit much from that.

 

Yeah, I think it's mostly CYA for them. Realistically, IB doesn't care if you gamble too much of your money on futures, but they don't want to look negligent in case anyone starts poking around.

When I was graduating I wanted to play around with options and margins a little bit to learn. My net worth was probably ~($50k). I had no possessions and ~$5k in the bank. I asked the Scottrade guys what the requirements were for the account I wanted. Turns out the requirement was $2k to open the account and $50k net worth. This is exactly what I put on the application and I still have that account today.

twitter: @CorpFin_Guy
 

Have to bump this thread. I also lied about my net worth and income, however they actually want a confirmation for those numbers. Does anybody have a good idea on what to say? Should I just admit I was lying?

 

stop being unethical and trying to potentially steal money from a company? that's a solution. the reason you are supposed to have that much, and a certain amount of income, is so that you can meet margin calls when you inevitably blow up. if you can't figure out how to cover your ass on an application i'm not sure how you can figure out the futures market well enough to take money from the people who are, apparently, infinitely smarter than you.

 

Look "Tupac", I didn't even apply for a margin account and intend to trade options, not futures. Even if someone were to trade futures on margin, be wiped out and unable to pay, he would not "steal" money from IB.

btw I don't think a guy like you has the right to judge other people's intelligence.

 
Polymath89Look "Tupac", I didn't even apply for a margin account and intend to trade options, not futures. Even if someone were to trade futures on margin, be wiped out and unable to pay, he would not "steal" money from IB.

btw I don't think a guy like you has the right to judge other people's intelligence.

so you can figure out how to find mis-priced options and take advantage of inefficiencies in the derivatives market but you can't figure out an ib application?

also, if they lent you money under a set of assumptions, those assumptions were lies, and there wasn't enough margin in your account to pay them back (and the futures weren't worth enough to cover it), and they have to pay the clearinghouse, you weren't stealing from them?

 

I must not fit in. I fill these forms out honestly. I err on the side of caution and conservatism.

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

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