Interactive Brokers
- Thread starter MrMarcus
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I was logging on a couple of days ago to do some transaction and it asked me if I wanted to convert to the new platform (forgot what it is called). Conversion then was optional, but it would be automatic in a few weeks. It mentioned the new platform was much improved and everything could be accessed from the one place (which I assumed to mean trading as well as account admin).
I was too busy at the time and declined to be converted, but it will be interesting to see what they offer. I would certainly like to see Login improved (particularly with a digital security card) and a vast improvement in speed is needed on the admin side. I find it unbelievably slow in this day and age.
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At 9:49am US EST on the 3rd (Monday) I did a forex conversion. My activity statement for the 4th still has it under Ending Cash, but not under Ending Settled Cash. As the activities statement for the 4th was generated at 2018-12-05, 04:38:58 EST which is also US EST, I would have expected all settlements for the 4th to have been included. So I guess I am also NOT getting T+1 on that margin account.
I usually can buy US shares straight away following a currency conversion (to USD), but if I convert USD to AUD (buy AUD) I have to wait T+2 before I can withdraw the AUD to an Aussie bank.
However, I have found this on their website which suggests T+2 is the norm, though some are T+1 (just CAD/USD is listed for those).
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=709
The new “client portal “ is now link to “Account Management”
so by default from TWS goes to client portal instead of account management
https://www.interactivebrokers.com.au/sso/Login?forwardTo=22
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nothing strange about that at all. that 2 day delay is what's known as spot, and it's a convention that's observed pretty much universally.
when you put in an order to sell USD / buy AUD, IB goes into the FX spot market to obtain that AUD for you. whoever they obtain it from won't deliver the AUD to IB until the spot date, as that is the market convention. very few instos will want to wear the risk of letting you have the AUD before they've taken delivery of it themselves, that's why they make you wait 2 days.
now if you go to ANZ, CBA etc. or any other retail currency exchanger, they let you have the currency straightaway, even though if they wanted to exactly "square" their position, they would also need to go into the FX spot market and wait the same 2 days as IB before they can take delivery of the currency you just bought. the difference is they're quite happy to wear that risk, since of course they are more than compensated for it by the massive spreads they're making off you.
don't know about you, but personally i'd much rather wait the 2 days and get IB's close to wholesale rates, than pay the rip-off rates of retail exchangers to get it immediately.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/spottrade.asp
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Takeover play
With other brokers any orders I have are cancelled in this event
This has not happened recently with IB costing me $$$ anyone else Come up against this?
With other brokers any orders I have are cancelled in this event
This has not happened recently with IB costing me $$$ anyone else Come up against this?
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And at 1300 today I get a message saying my a/c is down 185000 wtf is going on with them?
yes I logged in and stock still there ;-)
yes I logged in and stock still there ;-)
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Another thing - I recently did the BHP RIO buy back identical to that a friend was doing
It seems the quantity IB did was a lot less than through his brokers
It seems the quantity IB did was a lot less than through his brokers
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Yes, if you have been moved to IB Australia and only for ASX stocks. If you are still with IB US then no.
Is there an easy way I can work out if I'm with IB Aust or IB US?
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I would assume most have been migrated to IB Australia by now. Most Individual accounts were done last year, Companies in December last year and Trusts in January this year. I had one of each of these and after migration the account number changed, with a "7" replacing or added in front of the first digit of the account number.
If you already had an account with IB, you would have received emails regarding the migration and you would have to give your consent to the migration. If you are opening a new account, I assume that will automatically be with IB Australia.
So for those of you who have or are about to move across - what is your plan? I set up a corporate trustee structure a couple years back so that I could access margin through IB which i'll now be losing as I don't meet the criteria for professional investor or wholesale investor. What're you guys in a similar boat doing?
Originally I was involved in options trading but that has moved more to mostly just passive buy/hold, but not being able to do so with Margin is pretty ordinary.
Thoughts?
Thanks
David
Originally I was involved in options trading but that has moved more to mostly just passive buy/hold, but not being able to do so with Margin is pretty ordinary.
Thoughts?
Thanks
David
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I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I set up a trust account with corporate trustee last July/August, specifically as that allowed margin. I also has a company account with margin. I used both for US shares and option trading only, but without margin my trading strategy is currently useless. I will continue to do covered calls, but that is it.
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I've just opened an Account with IB and I'm not soo keen on their Workstation for charting so I've been searching for other software (I'm used to Trading View but that's not supported). I found the
Software Vendors Marketplace
https://gdcdyn.interactivebrokers.com/Universal/servlet/MarketPlace.MarketPlaceServlet
Now there are tons of software options there, can anyone recommend any? Ideally I'd like charts/tools similar to Trading View where I can do my TA and trade setups . . . then just use the Order window on the TWS.
Thanks for the help.
Software Vendors Marketplace
https://gdcdyn.interactivebrokers.com/Universal/servlet/MarketPlace.MarketPlaceServlet
Now there are tons of software options there, can anyone recommend any? Ideally I'd like charts/tools similar to Trading View where I can do my TA and trade setups . . . then just use the Order window on the TWS.
Thanks for the help.
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i had been trading options thru IB LLC under a corporate trust account for almost 10 years with margin, until being migrated over to IB Aust last month.
the impact of losing margin is not actually that bad for options trading, it's more an inconvenience rather than a major issue. i clarified this with IB on their live chat. as far as collateralising short gamma positions is concerned, they still use the same margin calcs as IB LLC. so no need to have sufficient cash to fully cover naked puts etc. the only new limitation is we can't let our cash balance drop below zero, so for options trading that means closing out/rolling positions on expiry instead of taking delivery if that will drop your cash balance below zero.
for buy & hold that limitation is going to be a problem though. but i only use IB for options trading, for the larger buy & hold component of my portfolio i just use a CHESS broker. i don't care that much about brokerage if it's a buy & hold position (the difference between paying 0.11-0.12% vs IB 0.08% is chicken feed if you spread it out across the multiple years that such a position would be held for), and i'd rather have the majority of my holdings under CHESS sponsorship instead of a nominee account. as safe as IB seems to be, you just never know.
as such, i'm not that worried about the loss of margin from the IB Aust migration. it's the loss of SIPC that's the bigger concern to me. my IB account is currently hovering around that 500K USD SIPC limit, i've been drawing funds out periodically to keep it within SIPC coverage for risk management purposes (some might say paranoia). now that we no longer get SIPC, i'm thinking about dropping my IB account to around 200K AUD or so as stocks collateralising covered calls slowly get called away, scaling back my options trading activity, and using the proceeds to buy up more ETF units under a CHESS broker, bringing me more into line with the rest of the FIRE movement.
Has anyone looked into setting up a "Friends and Family Advisor" account with IB Australia to facilitate the handling a Family Trust, Company (non-trustee) and Personal and/or Partnership Account or any combination of the above?
Unless I am misunderstanding the relevant info relating to these style of accounts it would seem that margin loans are available.
Cheers,
Rob
