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Interactive Brokers

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I am wondering if IB would be a suitable broker for my needs. This is a summary of my trading:-
1. 95% of my trading is with futures (mainly US markets) with the occasional stock transaction or fx.
2. I would rarely hold a position more than a month.
3. An average of 2 or 3 trades per day.
4. Don't really require live data.

I would prefer the account to be in A$ and any profits to be held in A$. Is this possible with IB?
 

Yep except any profits traded in any other market except your base currency requires you to convert the P&/or L back but thats the same for all accounts.
 
Trembling Hand said:
Yep except any profits traded in any other market except your base currency requires you to convert the P&/or L back but thats the same for all accounts.
Click to expand...
ing the

What is involved in converting your profits back to $A? I have not used an online broker before so its all a bit new. Previously I have only used Australian based brokers where orders were taken over the telephone or by email. Still tossing up weather to go that way again. However they can't compare with IB's brokerage.
 
Is this correct:
When I open a new position in a US based futures contract and all my funds are in A$, IB lends the margin required in US$? If so what is the interest charged?
 
p75213 said:
Is this correct:
When I open a new position in a US based futures contract and all my funds are in A$, IB lends the margin required in US$? If so what is the interest charged?
Click to expand...

Rates are here:

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=interest&p=schedule2

So up to USD100K, its just 1.65%

You can see other costs from this link

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=4690

What is involved in converting your profits back to $A?
Click to expand...

You do a currency conversion. It seems daunting, but it is very simple to do. It's not much different than a stock trade, except the ticker is AUD.USD. I don't know how the commission is worked out, but I never pay more than a couple of dollars. The costs link above explains it, but I don't understand their terminology. You will find a few education videos on how to do it at their website. Your conversion rate will be excellent, as you are buying/selling at the current forex market rate, not some padded rate that a bank uses.
 
Just looking at some costs for positions etc in the Australian options market through IB.

Is exercise and assignment charged per contract, or per position?

And I'm assuming it's n number of contracts x 0.275 + $6 brokerage.

Is that correct?

Cheers.
 

You pay commish on the face value of the stock. Say you get assigned on a $10 strike and you have 10 contracts, your up for $8 commish.
 
cutz said:
You pay commish on the face value of the stock. Say you get assigned on a $10 strike and you have 10 contracts, your up for $8 commish.
Click to expand...

Sweet.

That's what I've got in the spreadsheet.

Cheers.
 
Anyone else's P&L in tws all screwed up?

It's fine in the account, but the running P&L for the last day or so only seems to read a daily P&L.

Or has it always been like that?

Cheers.
 
chops_a_must said:
Anyone else's P&L in tws all screwed up?
Click to expand...

Yes. It's showing me in the read today. It's plaine wrong. I never lose money!!!

chops_a_must said:
It's fine in the account, but the running P&L for the last day or so only seems to read a daily P&L.

Or has it always been like that?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Doesn't it depends on what headings you've put in the portfolio column. The running P&L always read today's P&L for me. You can choose to show unrealised P&L which will be the cumulative results.
 
Hello Out There!

Has anybody used the TWS platform for Gamma Scalping?
 
I think that the IB reps are sick of my questions so I'l ask them ere,

Does the $3750 intraday initial margin ( per contract) for the SPI also exist on the night sessions? Or is it $6k during the night, my previous broker had a $3K night session margin.

Does the $3750 apply every time I open a position?Say I opened a contract during the session, then lost 6 points, closed the contract then opened another one do I need to use $3750 again after the 6 point loss? Or is it $3750 to open 1 contract during the session then you need to maintain $3,000 during the session per contract no matter how many trades you place. I've never used a initial margin before.

Can I place a trade even though I don't have the money in my account but it is coming in due to an upcoming settlement? Commsec let me trade based on upcoming settlements ( offsetting).


Thanks for any help.
 
Day margins are for the day sess only.

Initial margin every trade.

As long as you have enough free capital you can trade as many times in a day as you want. Churn away!
 
Yea I"m sitting on $17k,

So I was kinda hoping to be able to hold more contracts on the night session.

I think I"l stick with options. Guess I"l have to look outside AUZ for some evening trading

I can't believe how dirt cheap IB is, they even include the ASX / SFE fees in the price, which was fairly cheap already.
 
Does anyone use the IB mobile app for trading? If so, how do you find it? Has anyone traded option combo's on it?

I have downloaded the app and see that they don't have separate strategies (which is fine) but it has the facility to order individual legs and send it off as a combo as far as I can work out.

I'm looking at getting back into trading options again after a couple of years out and it could probably work OK if I can make the occasional trade when I'm away from the computer. It's one of the reasons I had to give up because of too many interruptions taking me away from my PC through the day.

Any feedback would be much appreciated...
 

I have used it daily - often set up the order using webtrader on the open on pc at home and then adjust using the mobile app if needed. I use it for rolling out a few months for a credit always if close to being exercised
 
freebird54 said:
I have used it daily - often set up the order using webtrader on the open on pc at home and then adjust using the mobile app if needed. I use it for rolling out a few months for a credit always if close to being exercised
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback, Freebird - just what I was looking for - much appreciated...

Have put in the request to re-open IB account - waiting on them now.
 
Hello everyone.

I have a question re the iPhone app.

On the normal platform on my computer I "attach" stop orders to my pending stop-limit entry orders.

Is it possible to "attach" an order on the iPhone app? I'm not able to find a way.

Many thanks.


The above posts seem similar to this but I don't trade options so I'm not sure. I'm thinking stocks.
 
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