A coating composition for an ink jet recording medium comprises an aqueous suspension of binder, a cationic fixing agent, an absorptive pigment, and a sizing agent. The coating composition combines solids content of greater than 30% with good runnability. The composition may preferably be dispersed at pH values in the range of 4.5 to 7.0. The pigment is preferably a mixture of 50% or more silica gel having a pore volume of 0.5-2.0 cc / g, and 10% or more alumina or alumina hydrate. A method for making down a composition has sequential steps of dispersing a binder in water, adding a cationic fixing agent, dispersing an alumina and an absorptive silica, adding a fluorescent whitening agent, cooling the composition, and finally adding a sizing agent.