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Interactive Brokers

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Wysiwyg said:
IB was the only broker I could find searching that had this function. I wish it were more widely available.
Click to expand...

IG Market has chart trader. Not sure how good it is however.. never used it.
 
I've just had a look at the IB website and started to fill out the form to openan account and it says you must have already completed 100 trades. Is this something you actually have to prove? I haven't seen any mention of this in the forums so I am gathering it is not really an issue. Can anyone confirm?

 

You just click on whatever you want to trade, and if you have not completed the 100 trades, you'll have to do a multiple choice test of each instrument you want to trade.

You'll have to do a bit of study/reading on what you want to trade.

About 25 to 30 questions from memory.
 
Interactive Brokers starting account balance

I was thinking of opening an account with IB .
I would appreciate advise re starting balance of account assuming money management 1-2% of Account/ trade also info on futures contract minimums/Leverage etc.
I have not traded futures and haven't being able to find this information easily.
 
Hi guys, last week I found out from this thread that I could log in to TWS on the weekend (was on Sunday).

Today my TWS disconnected around 12pm, since then I haven't been able to log back in (much the same like before). According to their system status page, IB now offers 24 hour trading 7 days a week, unavailable only between server reset time 11:45pm-12:30am Friday.

Am I the only one not able to log in today on a Saturday? Or is it only available on Sundays?

Thanks
 

I just logged in OK
 
Yeah I could log back in later on during the day, but was disconnected for about 5 hours which were outside of their reset period.
 
Hi guys

I'm interested to hear from any members that use IB and trade Aussie stocks (specs from 0.20 cents to stocks around $3.00), or Nasdaq and NYSE stocks as well as ASX CFDs. Can you please tell me how good IB is at executing their orders? Especially stoploss orders? Any issues? Any comments on their speed of execution? Do they get you out promptly at yout stoploss price or very close to it at all times?

I'm gona give the Paper Trader a whirl first to see what that does. How did you find the fills and stop loss exits using the Paper Trader as compared to those when trading for real?

Anything else to watch for?

regards
 

This is exactly what I'm talking about.
 
Just finished my online application and I am now attempting to fund the account.

After getting through some broken english after calling their "australian" help desk; I beleive a wire transfer is what I need to fund the account quickly.

From what the lady said; I fill in the form that has amount, Currency, sending institution, provide wire bank account number (optional) and then I will be presented with an Australian BSB and account number I can then transfer the money to from my bank. Is this correct?

Also, what is a suggested amount to fund the account with? I can afford to put in up to $20,000 in the account; But I would prefer to keep a lot less in there as my cash is better of where it is atm.

From some time ago I read/saw something that said you needed $US10,000 to open an account with no limits or something?

I don't mind if I have to fund it with $A20,000 as long as I only need to leave $1K-$3k in there at a time.

So how much should I open with?

Thanks
 
RazzaDazzla said:
So how much should I open with?
Click to expand...

Hi RazzaDazzla,

That's really something only you can answer, without any idea of what you'll be doing i don't think anyone else can suggest a figure.

Are you actually going to do any trading, if so which instruments ?

1K won't get you very far.

BTW, the minimum opening amount is 10K
 
Cutz,

Thanks for the reply...

I'm not asking "what is a good starting balance for trading ABC and XYZ?", I'm asking if there is any minimums on opening account balances with IB?

Or is there any advantage to having say opening with $10,000 as apposed to opening with $1,000.

At the moment, I will be purchasing shares for the medium term in lots of ~$1,000.

As cash is currently offsetting a mortgage; I'd rather only keep say $3,000 in IB and transfer more over as required to purchase more shares.

When my investing/trading habits change; then I will of course keep more more $ in my IB account.
 
Gotcha RazzaDazzla,

10K US cash to open an account, must maintain at least 2K US equity otherwise you'll be charged an activity fee.

Please check the website to confirm.
 
cutz said:
Gotcha RazzaDazzla,

10K US cash to open an account, must maintain at least 2K US equity otherwise you'll be charged an activity fee.

Please check the website to confirm.
Click to expand...

Thanks cutz.
It's a bit disappointing that this info isn't freely available when you are about to fund!

I'm trawling the IB site now to find this info for my self.

EDIT:
http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/minimumDeposits.php

Customer with equity balances < USD 2,000
(or USD equivalent) USD 20 (or non-USD equivalent)

and if I don't make USD 10 worth of trades, then I'll be charged the difference between my commissions and USD 10.

So unless I'm missing something; as long as I keep > USD 2,000 in the account, I shouldn't be charged anymore than either USD10 or the difference between USD10 and my trading commissions.
 

There doesn't seem to be any minimum account balance.

http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/node/314

Note your money (above $15K) is paid interest in the IB account. Probably not as high as your mortgage offset but much better than day to day banking account.

http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/interest.php
 

Says;
> USD2,000 = USD10 in fees (minimum)
< USD2,000 = USD20 in fees (minimum)

I think I'll keep just above the USD2,000 and keep the rest of my spare cash in the mortage.

Just on that; if I have shares of USD5,000 and cash of USD1,000 does this mean my account balance is USD6,000 ?

Or do I need a minimum of USD2,000 cash in the account?
 

The account balance includes your stock I believe.

And USD10 is only payable if you don't generate equivalent commission in the month. http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/taxonomy/term/161
 

I haven't had any issues with execution (I use stop limit entry with bracket orders) but I also trade stocks with high liquidity (mainly US) cannot comment on speed of execution other than forex / futures which is instant.

The simulator account isn't a good measure for comparing fills compared to the real world as real world fills are about liquidity.

The sim account is really about sorting out how to place trades, order types, and test strategies. Make your mistakes with pretend money...........
 
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