I was flicking through some TV channels last night and I saw an advertisement for Interactive Brokers Inc. You know the market is getting too speculative when you see they are offering margin rates of as low as 1%, i.e. you can borrow money at that rate to purchase shares.
This is some of what they say on their web site:
“Lowest Financing Costs:
We offer the lowest margin loan interest rates of any broker, according to the StockBroker.com 2021 online broker review.
Earn Extra Income:
Earn extra income on the fully-paid shares of stock held in your account. IBKR borrows your shares to lend to traders who want to short and are willing to pay interest to borrow the shares. Each day shares are on loan you are paid interest while retaining the ability to trade your loaned stock without restrictions”.
That last statement is truly surprising. So it seems you could sell all the stock you purchased on margin even though it has been lent out.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a US listed company with revenues of over $2 billion. They are authorised by the FCA. The fact that they are now actively promoting their services in the UK tells you that the mania for share trading by small investors is spreading from the USA to the UK.
I suggest that buying shares on margin should be accompanied by very strong health warnings to investors and tougher regulations. It was one of the reasons for the collapse of the US stock market in the 1930s. Too many folks geared up with broker loans that were unsupportable when the market headed down. Investors were unable to meet margin calls, and the lenders then went bust.
Borrowing to speculate on shares is like gambling with other people’s money.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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