Help with understanding Interactive Broker fees, for first-time investor

Question

Interactive Brokers says that clients with less than USD 2,000 in account balance are charged USD 20 (monthly) if they don’t generate a minimum of USD 20 in commissions (monthly).
It also says:

US Stock Fee contributes to USD 0.005 in commissions, per trade

(reference)
So does this mean I need to buy/sell 4,000 US shares per month (USD 20 commission / USD 0.005 commission) per month?

Bob Baerker · Answer

IBKR charges 50 cents per 100 shares so yes, you would have to trade 4,000 shares per month to avoid the monthly fee.
However, there is also a $1 minimum ticket fee so if you are going to trade 100 shares at a time (20 trades), you would only have to trade 2,000 shares per month.
Note that IBKR offers a Lite version which charges no commissions.  I don't know what the minimum account  size for that is so I don't know if that's a better choice for you.  Check it out.

Help with understanding Interactive Broker fees, for first-time investor

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