Interactive Brokers

[captain black]

which broker r u getting webiress from? does that mean u have 2 brokers and paying twice for market data?

No, only paying for data in webiress, not paying for ASX data from IB as it's not needed to trade with them. I'd use only IB data if they had open/close auction pricing and more than 5 levels. Thought about feeding IB data into Excel and calculating indicative prices in Excel but webiress does everything I need so haven't bothered. Using ETrade webiress as it has excel plugin included which is handy for calculating position sizes in real time as the indicative price changes during the preopen and closing auctions.

 

[So_Cynical]

A stupid question perhaps but.

Should i be seeing the bid and ask price in options chains, in IB web trader? i never had option trading enabled before, with other brokers, so not 100% sure what to expect...to be honest i figured there would be the same sort of depth screen that you get with stocks? is this not so?

 

[DocK]

My account with IB has operational margin..... Do these changes apply only to new accounts perhaps?

Spoke too soon it seems - It would appear that no margin lending will now be available to any Australian clients on general shares until they sort out some red tape with ASIC. They expect the delay to be temporary, but no actual timeframe has been given.

 

[RazzaDazzla]

Quick question. Sometime ago, I transferred a bunch of WBC shares from another broker to IB. They came across to IB with a cost price. I was wondering how accurate this cost price would be?

These WBC shares were originally held in trust for me by my mother, then they were transferred to my name. The whole time, They have been participating in the DRP and I too have purchased a few times through share offers.

So with all that going on, would my sponsoring broker (ABN Amro) at the time have been keeping an accurate track of the cost price and then accurately transferring that to IB?

Otherwise it's a near impossible task for me to pull paperwork out documenting all this for the day when I sell these shares and it comes to CGT etc.

 

[bellenuit]

bellenuit

Spoke too soon it seems - It would appear that no margin lending will now be available to any Australian clients on general shares until they sort out some red tape with ASIC. They expect the delay to be temporary, but no actual timeframe has been given.

Unless I am misunderstanding something, this will effectively prevent me buying any shares through IB as I have a large margin balance and can't see how I can buy using cash until that balance is cleared. Any cash deposited, dividends received or sales proceeds received will simply reduce my negative balance until such time as the negative balance is eliminated. In the meantime any purchase would by definition be on margin and thus not allowed. They would need to create a special account to quarantine new cash from the existing amount that is on margin and then allow you to purchase shares though that new account. Do others read it as I do?

 

[geeroy]

Re: bellenuit

Unless I am misunderstanding something, this will effectively prevent me buying any shares through IB as I have a large margin balance and can't see how I can buy using cash until that balance is cleared. Any cash deposited, dividends received or sales proceeds received will simply reduce my negative balance until such time as the negative balance is eliminated. In the meantime any purchase would by definition be on margin and thus not allowed. They would need to create a special account to quarantine new cash from the existing amount that is on margin and then allow you to purchase shares though that new account. Do others read it as I do?

sounds right to me. can only buy with cash and can only do that when you have no existing loan

Found this article IB has put up too http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/article/2101

 

[OZ Trade]

Re: bellenuit

sounds right to me. can only buy with cash and can only do that when you have no existing loan

Found this article IB has put up too http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/article/2101

Thanks for the link..

Its actually hard to find a broker who can cover all the instruments across FX, futures and stocks that IB does..

For the record.. none of the other brokers I'm in contact seem to have any trouble at all signing me up on a margin account..

Now using MB Trading for stocks and Deep Discount Trading for futures..

 

[Chilli]

Spoke too soon it seems - It would appear that no margin lending will now be available to any Australian clients on general shares until they sort out some red tape with ASIC. They expect the delay to be temporary, but no actual timeframe has been given.

This is such a pain in the backside and so typical of ASIC. They can't be bothered with Aussie investors getting ripped off in Australia, but don't like them having access to cheap credit overseas. I wonder how temporary, temporary will be? My feeling is months rather than weeks! Oh well it was good for the one month that I had access to it.

 

[Chilli]

A stupid question perhaps but.

Should i be seeing the bid and ask price in options chains, in IB web trader? i never had option trading enabled before, with other brokers, so not 100% sure what to expect...to be honest i figured there would be the same sort of depth screen that you get with stocks? is this not so?

Yes but you first have to subscribe to the relevant data feed for the market you are trading. The US one is cheap $10 plus $1.50 for options data, per month, AU data feed is more expensive. Data feeds can be purchased in Account management.

 

[skyQuake]

What are you guys on about? Just log in to acct management, electronically sign the agreement, and everything is fine again.

 

[Chilli]

What are you guys on about? Just log in to acct management, electronically sign the agreement, and everything is fine again.

Except if you sell any stock that was purchased using margin, then when that stock is sold, that money is used to pay down your margin loan and you won't be allowed to borrow it again. In fact you cant use margin to make any future purchases. For me it means reducing my option trading portfolio from 200K to 100k and a reduction in income from 4k per month, down to 2k. So it is a big deal.

 

[bellenuit]

bellenuit

Except if you sell any stock that was purchased using margin, then when that stock is sold, that money is used to pay down your margin loan and you won't be allowed to borrow it again. In fact you cant use margin to make any future purchases. For me it means reducing my option trading portfolio from 200K to 100k and a reduction in income from 4k per month, down to 2k. So it is a big deal.

Ditto for dividends received and for cash deposited. All credits to your account just reduce your margin and that new margin level then becomes the new upper limit.

If the resolution is to take longer than a few weeks, they should offer every margin holder a second cash only account without minimum monthly fees. Cash deposits, sale proceeds and dividends should be paid into this account and be usable to purchase additional shares etc. You won't be able to buy on margin, but at least you will be able to maintain your current cash margin without slowly depleting it.

 

[DocK]

Re: bellenuit

Ditto for dividends received and for cash deposited. All credits to your account just reduce your margin and that new margin level then becomes the new upper limit.

If the resolution is to take longer than a few weeks, they should offer every margin holder a second cash only account without minimum monthly fees. Cash deposits, sale proceeds and dividends should be paid into this account and be usable to purchase additional shares etc. You won't be able to buy on margin, but at least you will be able to maintain your current cash margin without slowly depleting it.

+1 I sent an email asking if just such a thing was possible, but it bounced back - no doubt they're being inundated with protests/enquiries atm. Would be great to see something along those lines being made possible though.

 

[IFocus]

What are you guys on about? Just log in to acct management, electronically sign the agreement, and everything is fine again.

Where, I logged in and couldn't find any thing?

Sent a tick off

 

[hawamahal]

Where, I logged in and couldn't find any thing?

Sent a tick off

The first screen i get when i sign into account management is the new margin lending agreement, there are 2 options basically either accept the new agreement or the 2nd one is to close the account.

 

[IFocus]

The first screen i get when i sign into account management is the new margin lending agreement, there are 2 options basically either accept the new agreement or the 2nd one is to close the account.

Thanks Hawamahal, I have three accounts logged into all and nothing, they all have the message about margin etc but no form.

Have sent off a ticket

 

[DocK]

The first screen i get when i sign into account management is the new margin lending agreement, there are 2 options basically either accept the new agreement or the 2nd one is to close the account.

Despite accepting the new agreement at least 3 times now, this screen keeps popping up each time I log on. I also seem to be unable to access account management as I cannot proceed past this screen.

 

[blue0810]

Despite accepting the new agreement at least 3 times now, this screen keeps popping up each time I log on. I also seem to be unable to access account management as I cannot proceed past this screen.

Try this option:

EXIT - ASK ME AGAIN LATER

 

[sails]

Re: bellenuit

sounds right to me. can only buy with cash and can only do that when you have no existing loan

Found this article IB has put up too http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/article/2101

There is an email address at the bottom of the article link above which is specifically for questions about the Australian margin lending problem. Might be worth a try.

 

[DocK]

Re: bellenuit

There is an email address at the bottom of the article link above which is specifically for questions about the Australian margin lending problem. Might be worth a try.

Yes, I sent my original email to that new address and it didn't bounce back, so hopefully will be replied to in the fullness of time.... Hopefully all will be sorted with ASIC in short order as it does sound like a red tape issue, but ASIC being ASIC ......