Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Interactive Brokers

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Got the same email this morning. It looks like there is no chance of any margin trading with IB.

What other options are available?.
 
kid hustlr said:
Also received the same email.

Spanner in the works.
Click to expand...

Not if your in profit or within your margin
Which you should alway be.

Only stuffs you up if you have a position which is
To big for your equity base.
Solution
Trade a smaller position or add more of your own funds.

Most have no idea how to trade on margin.
 
tech/a said:
Not if your in profit or within your margin
Which you should alway be.

Only stuffs you up if you have a position which is
To big for your equity base.
Solution
Trade a smaller position or add more of your own funds.

Most have no idea how to trade on margin.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, you're talking about futures, not stocks?

IB is no longer providing margin to Australian customers. So for stock traders it's not a matter of using margin correctly, there is no margin available to use.
 
Just got that email. Bit of a shock.

So, I'm assuming that means that they'll only be offering "Cash accounts" rather than "Margin Accounts" to Australian customers after 11th November.

Is it still possible to trade (long and short) E-Mini (ES) Futures contracts on a "Cash Account"?
 
Lone Wolf said:
Just to be clear, you're talking about futures, not stocks?

IB is no longer providing margin to Australian customers. So for stock traders it's not a matter of using margin correctly, there is no margin available to use.
Click to expand...

Yes to clarification
And Yes to most people who trade equities don't know how to trade on margin correctly
They use it as a long term loan that multiplies their initial capital by the margin available.
They increase the risk at the same ratio be it 2/3/4/100:1
 
tech/a said:
Yes to clarification
And Yes to most people who trade equities don't know how to trade on margin correctly
They use it as a long term loan that multiplies their initial capital by the margin available.
They increase the risk at the same ratio be it 2/3/4/100:1
Click to expand...

I agree most don't use leverage correctly. Although I'm not a fan of the idea that people who do use leverage properly must be punished to protect those who don't. But here we are.
 
captain black said:
It only affects securities (ie. shares) not futures so it's business as usual for futures trading with IB.
Click to expand...

That's a huge relief.

My trading is pretty simple. I just day-trade one 2 contract position of the E-mini futures contract, and have a 30k USD account. I don't trade anything else. Sounding like I should be fine.

Just looked up the differences between IB's "Margin accounts" and "Cash accounts".

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=tradingConfiguration&p=acctypes

For Futures Trading on Cash Accounts they say this....

"Same as Reg T Margin requirements."

and

"Futures day trading benefits are not supported. (50% of regular margin requirements during the day, on certain exchanges). Margin is determined on a real-time basis with immediate position liquidation if the minimum margin requirement is not met. Only cash may be used to meet variation margin requirements. "
 
Hey Everyone first time posting here and only recently since April started to trade options and options on futures short calls and spreads. made about 25 per cent. So am upset by 1. Having to set up all over again 2. Not knowing who else can offer margin accounts at low brokerage rates.3. Having to relearn another platform ( if ones available). Can anyone in the same boat suggest a fix /broker with comparable commissions. Margin allowed me to have many small profit call options sold which I believe I will not be allowed to place in a cash account. Thanks in advance to anyone who has useable alternative brokers.
 
First time posting here too.. brought by the same IB margin issue.

I have been searching high and low for a broker that takes Australian residents, and have a reasonable margin rate.

At the moment I am considering Charles Schwab, their rate is high compared to IB (they ALL are!!), but seems to be the best I could find for the time being in my price bracket anyway.

And there is also Firstrade who is a bit lower - again depending on the bracket.

Interested in what others are thinking of moving to.

Edited to add: Firstrade currently have a 3.75% for 60 days special offer. Might look at them for now.
 
rocketroado said:
Hey Everyone first time posting here and only recently since April started to trade options and options on futures short calls and spreads. made about 25 per cent. So am upset by 1. Having to set up all over again 2. Not knowing who else can offer margin accounts at low brokerage rates.3. Having to relearn another platform ( if ones available). Can anyone in the same boat suggest a fix /broker with comparable commissions. Margin allowed me to have many small profit call options sold which I believe I will not be allowed to place in a cash account. Thanks in advance to anyone who has useable alternative brokers.
Click to expand...

Wont effect options trades.
 
TheUnknown said:
Whoever has dual citizenship has no problems :);)

But in other news its a shame they are such a **** broker.
Click to expand...

I dont think citizenship makes a difference, it is residency. I have dual citizenship AU and British, but am a AU resident. Happy to be advised differently.
 
rx2 said:
I dont think citizenship makes a difference, it is residency. I have dual citizenship AU and British, but am a AU resident. Happy to be advised differently.
Click to expand...

As long as you have an ID or a bank statement or an account with the other country with an address you are good to go.

I changed mine.
 
skc said:
Apparently Reuters news feed is available to IG customers for free. Not sure if the contents would be exactly the same as your $40/month. But this might solve your problems AND save you $500 a year.

http://www.ig.com/au/research-tools
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. The IB news feed includes DJ Australia news too and it streams live. I had a brief look at the news from IG I think you have to search by stock and doesn't stream. I want something that streams so if some news comes out I'm all over it. For some reason the behaviour is not consistent some days during the US bounce it recovers after a few minutes. Other days it keeps reloading and the only way to solve it is to restart TWS. For now its ok, most of the news comes out in the morning and the problems occur later in the day.
 
captain black said:
Effective 11 November, 2013, Interactive Brokers LLC (AFSL number 245574) will stop offering margin lending to Australian clients that are “natural persons” (ie. individuals). This applies to accounts in the name of an individual, joint accounts where one or more of the named account holders is an individual, and trust accounts where the trustee is an individual. This does not affect other accounts.
Click to expand...

I'm no lawyer but does that mean if you had a company structure you could still get a margin account?
 

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