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Hi PinguPingu,

Do you know if Australians are allowed to short US stocks with IB margin accounts?

Also why do you think Australians will be able to open individual margin accounts now? I thought opening an IB branch here wouldn't make a difference in terms of legislation (that Australians cannot open individual margin accounts).

Thanks
 
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Lantus said:
Hi PinguPingu,

Do you know if Australians are allowed to short US stocks with IB margin accounts?

Also why do you think Australians will be able to open individual margin accounts now? I thought opening an IB branch here wouldn't make a difference in terms of legislation (that Australians cannot open individual margin accounts).

Thanks
Click to expand...

I can't answer the first part but in regards to the second there is no legislation preventing Australians opening individual margin accounts. In fact, IB allowed it about 4 years ago, but was stopped due to some non-compliance issue with ASIC I think. It may have had something to do with their structure. The hope is that with this new company they have set up, they will meet the compliance issues and margin for individuals (as well as FX trading) will be allowed once more.
 
I was always under the impression minimum amount to open an account was USD10,000 or Australian equivalent which would be at the moment approx. AUD12,500. According to the IB site this is not the case.
Account Information
Accounts are geared towards professional/active traders and investors; therefore we require the following from customers:

  • Good or extensive product knowledge for any product you wish to trade.
  • You must have executed at least 100 trades for any product type, or 100 simulated trades in our real-time demo.
  • A minimum equity deposit in cash or stock of AUD 10,000 (or USD equivalent).
Must be 18 years or over to open an account.
Click to expand...
 
Wysiwyg said:
I was always under the impression minimum amount to open an account was USD10,000 or Australian equivalent which would be at the moment approx. AUD12,500. According to the IB site this is not the case.
Click to expand...

I can't remember what the case was when I opened my account quite some years ago. But maybe they are becoming more Australia orientated. As well as the new PLC mentioned above, I have noticed that their Account Management login has gone from https://www.interactivebrokers.com.hk/sso/Login (Hong Kong) to https://www.interactivebrokers.com.au/sso/Login (an au login). This happened a few months back.
 
Wysiwyg said:
I was always under the impression minimum amount to open an account was USD10,000 or Australian equivalent which would be at the moment approx. AUD12,500. According to the IB site this is not the case.
Click to expand...

My first deposit was only about $2k. They didn't seem to care as long as you answer the questionnaire during the sign up process saying you have sufficient liquid assets/cash.
 
Does anyone have a timeframe on when margin trading for Australians with individual IB accounts will be approved?

Also, does anyone know if Australians with IB margin accounts can sell short US stocks?
 
notting said:
I hate this company.
They took away the ability to short, leverage, to trade FX meaningfully and charge you sick fees on your cash holdings. They try to charge for real time data and charts. Why use them when you can do all this effectively for nothing elsewhere?
Click to expand...

You can't even get a margin unless you trade as a company which means you will be taxed more in Australia and treated as a trader as apposed to and investor. They all pick money out of your bank account for themselves and charge you for data which some Ausi ones do not.
They even charge you for live charting and quotes!
 
notting said:
You can't even get a margin unless you trade as a company which means you will be taxed more in Australia and treated as a trader as apposed to and investor. They all pick money out of your bank account for themselves and charge you for data which some Ausi ones do not.
They even charge you for live charting and quotes!
Click to expand...

Having used IB for years, both investing as an individual and trading as a company (where I get margin), I can say that they are by far the best and cheapest broker in Australia, particularly if you trade US stocks.

How many brokers would allow you to buy USD32,000 of Apple stock for just USD1.00 commission? Their US commission is just USD0.005 per UNIT sold (which is dirt cheap if trading high value stocks like AAPL, AMZN, MSFT, GOOG etc.). Australian stocks just $6 minimum or 0.08% (so a $10K trade is just $8). I buy US options for about USD1.10 for 1 contract (have never bought more than 1, so I don't know how it works out when buying 2 or more contracts).

Their monthly minimum fee is USD10.00, but that only comes into play if you don't have any trades. Otherwise the brokerage is deducted from that fee (it basically is a minimum brokerage). For example, do 3 aussie trades (which will have commission of at least $18 in total) and you do not pay that minimum fee of USD10.00.

OK realtime data is extra. But I have a dormant CommSec account for getting my Aussie Realtime and I have paid $24 (one off charge) for an IOS app that gives me realtime US stocks and Options prices.

It's easy to get round their shortcomings, but they simply cannot be beaten on price, unless you want to just hold investments with them and not ever trade (then the USD10.00 minimum monthly fee becomes an issue). But if holding just for long term with no trading, real time data is hardly an issue.
 
notting said:
Now tell me what they will charge you if you want to buy $20,000 GRR @ .12c
Click to expand...
What is GRR. A stock? US, Australian, other?

If it is a US penny stock, then obviously you wouldn't use IB to trade it because as I mentioned it shines when buying high value US stocks. If a US penny stock, then it will cost you 0.005 * 20,000/.12. That would be $833.

But that doesn't take from them being perhaps the cheapest broker in Australia for the most commonly traded stocks.
 
i just received a notification from IB stating that they are not reporting my short stock positions to ASIC and that i'm meant to be reporting them myself:

http://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resou...t-selling-reporting-short-position-reporting/

this is news to me - i thought that was something that all brokers should be doing on their clients behalf? how are we supposed to be building our own systems to transmit the necessary information over the FIX protocol to ASIC?

has anyone else gotten the same message and if so, how are you reporting your shorts to ASIC? are you using one of the suggested solutions on the ASIC page?
 
I will be trading both AAPL and MFST (both NASDAQ), stocks and options, over the next few months and want to subscribe to get realtime data with IB. I currently use an app called Stocks Tracker and it seems to have gone off the air in relation to Options data (no realtime options data on my IOS version this Friday and their website not responding from 2 different browsers).

I am a bit confused as to what subscriptions I should get in relation to trading the above.

There is the US Equities and Options Add on Streaming Bundle for USD $4.50 per month (non-professional). This includes streaming realtime quotes for NYSE (CTA/Network A), AMEX (CTA/Network B), NASDAQ (UTP/Network C), and OPRA (US Options). Requires subscription to US Securities Snapshot and Futures Value Bundle. The prerequisite US Securities Snapshot and Futures Value Bundle for $10.00 provides NBBO snapshot quotes for all listed US equity issues as well as top of book data for CME Group Futures. Also includes Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 Indices, and OTC Markets quotes. Note, US Equity NBBO snapshot quotes will cost an additional 0.01 USD above the listed subscription price and waiver.

However, what do I miss if I only subscribe to Nasdaq (Network C/UTP) at $1.50 which gives: NASDAQ (UTP Tape C) Level 1 and OPRA (US Options Exchanges) which for $1.50 provides option data from AMEX, ARCA, BATS, BOX, BSE, CBOE2, CBOE, ISE NASDAQ AND PHLX. Neither of these have a prerequisite of the $10 US Securities Snapshot and Futures Value Bundle.

When I trade with IB, I currently use CommSec for my Australian share data and the StocksTracker app for US stocks and options, so I am not sure how IB presents the data subscribed to. One difference between the two alternatives above is that the US Equities and Options Add on Streaming Bundle uses the term streaming realtime quotes but the Nasdaq (Network C/UTP) and OPRA (US Options Exchanges) do not say streaming.

I essentially want to be able to view the current realtime price of the stock or option at all times (preferably without having to refresh the screen) and in particular when I am placing an order.
 
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Interactive Brokers is pleased to announce the establishment of Interactive Brokers Australia Pty Ltd, which is headquartered and regulated in Australia and which will provide all IB services to our Australian clients.

More details here...

Looks like IB are coming to the party with the regulators. Will be interested to see exactly what all that means for Aussies. Hopefully it means full service with margin, clearing etc
 

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