While there is no provision for dormant or inactive account status, there is no monthly minimum activity requirement or inactivity fee in your IBKR account.
While we have no minimum account balance, should the account balance fall below USD 2,000 IBKR is precluded, by regulation, from affording margin treatment to securities positions. In addition, account holders will also be billed for any market data subscriptions maintained and, as a matter of policy, will have subscriptions terminated automatically when the account balance falls below USD 500.
Individuals seeking to close an account are encouraged to refer to our User's Guide to familiarize themselves with the steps and prerequisites for taking this action.
The goal of this article is to provide proper understanding of exchange fees and add/remove liquidity fees for the Tiered commission schedule.
The concept of adding or removing liquidity is applicable to both stocks and stock/index options. Whether or not an order removes or adds liquidity is dependent on that order being marketable or non-marketable.
Marketable orders REMOVE liquidity.
Marketable orders are either market orders, OR buy/sell limit orders whose limit is at or above/below the current market.
1. For a marketable buy limit order, the limit price is at or above the Ask.
2. For a marketable sell limit order, the limit price is at or below the Bid.
Example:
XYZ’s stock current ASK (offer) size/price is 400 shrs at 46.00. You enter a buy limit order for 100 XYZ stock @ 46.01. This order will be considered marketable because an immediate execution will take place. If there is an exchange charge for removing liquidity, the customer will be charged that fee.
The first point to understand is what a marketable order is. Marketable orders are either market orders or buy and sell limit orders whose limit price is at or above/below the current market price. A marketable buy limit order would have a limit price set at or above the current ask in the market. Conversely, a marketable sell limit order would have a limit price set at or below the current bid in the market.
Marketable orders remove liquidity from the market.
Non-marketable orders are buy and sell limit orders in which the limit price is below/above the current market price. A non-marketable buy limit order would have a limit price that is below the current ask in the market. Conversely, a non-marketable sell limit order would have a limit price that is above the current bid in the market.
Non-marketable orders add liquidity to the market.
Based upon the premise that the Globex platform is negatively affected when clients send excessive messages (e.g., orders, modifies and cancels) that do not provide market value, the CME imposes monetary penalties upon clearing members submitting orders on behalf of its clients in excess of benchmark volume ratios for a given product. IBKR, in turn, maintains the right to pass these charges on to clients and will send a warning message when a violation appears imminent. Clients who receive this notice and continue to send excessive messages may be subject to surcharge fee of $2,000 each time a product benchmark is violated. Additional information regarding the CME Globex Messaging Policy can be found on the CME Group web site.
Advisor accounts have the ability to configure the fees which they assess to their clients.
Information:
The procedure for changing fees for a client account is as follows. You must log in to Advisor Portal and select Manage Clients -> Fees -> Configure. You will need to change the fees in this section online, but you still must have the client sign the fee change form and submit to us for processing.
Please see the Advisor Client Fees page for additional information, such as the available billing methods and the fee caps currently in place.
Daily activity statements for the past 6 years are available online through Client Portal. Monthly activity statements for the past 84 months and annual statements for the past 7 years are also available. Archived statements are available on a best efforts basis and are available in electronic format only (delivered via email). Charges vary by currency, and the fee schedule can be found on our website under the Pricing menu followed by Other Fees.
Note: IBKR does not typically provide daily statements in lieu of monthly or annual statements.
Payment may be made in the form of check, or in the case of active accounts a debit to the account cash balance. Requests for archived statements may be made via web ticket and checks are to be mailed to Interactive Brokers, Attn: Funds & Banking, 209 S La Salle St. Suite 1000, Chicago, IL 60604 USA
IMPORTANT NOTE
Cashier’s Checks, Official Checks, Teller’s Checks and Banker’s checks issued by banks are the recommended forms of payment. Personal checks and checks issued by a credit union or bill payment service are subject to a seven business day hold period, after which the requested statements will be issued.
A short stock position may originate from an option position which you held in your account. For example, if you hold a long put position in your account, that position may be subject to automatic exercise by the clearinghouse if it is in-the-money by a defined threshold at expiration. This put exercise will generate a short stock position in your account (assuming you do not have an offsetting long position), and you are obligated to pay any dividends should you maintain a short stock position on the ex-dividend date.
Similarly, a short call position in your account is subject to assignment should a call purchaser elect to exercise their right to purchase the stock and your account be allocated through the random clearinghouse and broker assignment process. This call assignment will generate a short stock position in your account (assuming you do not have an offsetting long position), and you are obligated to pay any dividends should you maintain a short stock position on the ex-dividend date.
These payments will be reflected on your Activity Statement as a 'Payment In Lieu Of Dividend'.
A Payment in Lieu, or Pil, typically refers to a cash debit or credit made to an account in recognition of a stock dividend. A Pil in the form of a debit will be made when an account is holding a short position in a stock on its ex-dividend date. This debit occurs as the lender of the shares which facilitated the short sale remains entitled to all dividends paid throughout the duration of the loan period.
Conversely, a Pil in the form of a credit is made when a long stock position in an account has been loaned out on its ex-dividend date. Account holders should note that shares which are held long and which are the subject of a margin lien may be eligible to be loaned by the broker. In this situation the credit originates from payment by the borrower of the shares rather than from a dividend by the share issuer. U.S. taxpayers who are recipients of Pil credits should discuss the tax implications of Pils and non-qualified dividends with their tax adviser.