IB Knowledge Base

IBKR Australia Account Types and Products Offerings

Interactive Brokers Australia Pty Ltd (“IBKR Australia”), which holds an Australian Financial Services License (“AFSL” No. 453554), has been established. IBKR Australia is headquartered in Sydney and has been set up to provide services to our Australian clients. IBKR Australia clients, products and services have some unique characteristics when compared to the Interactive Brokers (“IBKR”) global account and product suite. The purpose of this document is to outline these characteristics of the IBKR Australia offering.

Account Types

IBKR Australia offers both cash accounts and margin accounts to all types of clients, including Individual / Joint account holders as well as trust account holders and corporate clients.

For Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (“SMSF”) account holders, IBKR Australia only offers cash accounts.

Natural Person v Non-Natural Person

Under IBKR Australia clients will be categorised as either natural persons or non-natural persons.

A natural person client would include individuals / joint account holders, as well as trusts with at least one natural person trustee. A non-natural person client would include corporate entities as well as trusts with only non-natural person trustees.

Australian Regulatory Status

Under IBKR Australia clients will be classified as either a retail, wholesale or professional investor. All new clients of IBKR Australia default to being classified as a retail investor unless they produce the required documentary evidence to enable IBKR Australia to treat them as a wholesale or professional investor.

Refer to this link for information regarding Australian regulatory status under IBKR Australia.

Please click [Here] to download the wholesale investor booklet, and click [Here] to download the professional investor booklet.

Cash Accounts

IBKR Australia offer three different types of cash accounts:

Investment account
Trading account
SMSF account (only available to Self-Managed Superannuation Fund)

Investment Account: Similar to the IBLLC Cash account model, the IBKR Australia Investment account does not allow you to short securities or to borrow funds, i.e. your account cannot have a debit balance. Moreover, only a limited number of options strategies will be available. This account is not eligible for reduced intraday Futures margin.

This account is available for all clients except SMSF clients.

Trading Account: While this is also a cash account that does not permit you to have a debit balance, you will be permitted to short stock and trade any of the available option strategies in the Trading Account, provided that you have the requisite trading experience and expertise, which is outlined [Here]. Further, Trading Accounts enable you to trade with unsettled funds.

If you currently have an Investment Account, you can submit a change of account type to change to a Trading Account by logging into the Client Portal > Settings > Account Settings > under Configuration, click the Configure tool next to Account Type. This may take 2-3 business days to review.

This account is available for all clients except SMSF clients.

SMSF: This is only available to SMSF clients. This is a cash account that does not permit you to short securities or to borrow funds, i.e. your account cannot have a debit balance. Moreover, only a limited number of options strategies will be available. This account is not eligible for reduced intraday Futures margin.

The options strategies that are available in the Investment Account and the SMSF account are as follows:

Long Call or Put
Covered Calls
Short Put
Call Spread; exdate(long) >= exdate(short)
Put Spread; exdate(long) >= exdate(short)
Long / Short Butterfly
Iron Condor

Margin Accounts

IBKR Australia offers two types of margin accounts that will provide all clients excluding SMSF clients with the ability to create portfolios to the maximum degree of risk taking/leverage allowed by IBKR Australia. The two account types are:

Leveraged Trading account
- Available for both natural persons and non-natural persons, regardless oftheir regulatory status. However, there are some important differences between the margin accounts available for retail clients and wholesale clients, as outlined below.
Professional account
- Available primarily for non-natural persons that are confirmed as a professional investor.

Important characteristics of IBKR Australia margin accounts are as follows:

All eligible margin accounts employ a risk-based model to calculate margin requirements. Please click [here] for more details.
Interest rates on financing may vary depending on the type of client obtaining margin. Please click [here] for more details.
For all natural person clients (e.g. individuals), only cash or marketable securities may serve as collateral for the margin lending facility, and the collateral deposited must be unborrowed & otherwise free of any mortgage or lien or other encumbrance.
For all natural person clients, you may only withdraw funds from the margin facility for the limited purpose of repaying another margin lending facility which was used to acquire financial products.
- However, if you are classified as retail you will be not permitted to withdraw from the margin facility if you are already borrowing funds via that facility, i.e. if you are already negative cash, or otherwise if the withdrawal would place your account into cash deficit.
All retail natural person clients must meet specific financial thresholds in order to be granted a margin account, specifically income must be greater than AUD $40,000 or Liquid net worth must be greater than AUD $100,000. In addition, IBKR Australia is obliged to verify that the information concerning the client’s financial situation that was collected during the application is accurate and complete. If the verified information concerning the client’s financial situation does not meet the thresholds stated above and/or are not comparable to the financials declared by the client during the application, the client will not be granted margin. However, if the client has a valid and recent Statement of Advice (“SOA”) from their registered financial advisor or financial planner that recommends that the client can be issued a margin lending facility and that SOA is made available to IBKR Australia, this additional verification of the client’s personal financial position will not be required.

In addition retail natural person clients will not be granted a margin account if their occupation is either retired or unemployed or student.
For all retail clients (both natural person and non-natural person clients), margin loans will be capped at a specific amount (subject to change in IBKR Australia’s sole discretion). Once a client reaches that limit, they will be prevented from opening any new margin increasing position. Closing or margin-reducing trades will be allowed. Please click [here] for more details.
For the non-natural person clients that are NOT categorized as retail clients, IBKR Australia is permitted to utilize for financing purposes a portion of the loan value of the stock these customers hold with IBKR Australia. In simple terms, IBKR Australia borrows money from a third party (such as a bank or broker-dealer), using the customer's margin stock as collateral, and it lends those funds to the customer to finance the customer's margin purchases.
Please take particular note of how we determine natural person v non-natural person for IBKR Australia trust accounts, as detailed above. It is imperative that if you hold a trust account with IBKR Australia and there exists individuals (natural persons) that are labelled as trustees in your account, then even if you have a corporate trustee, that trust would be considered a natural person trust. The difference between a natural person and non-natural person margin account can be significant as shown above. As a result, please contact customer service if you need to modify trustees.

CFD Product Offering

As a client of IBKR Australia, provided that you have the requisite trading experience and expertise, which is outlined [Here], you will be able to trade all of exchange traded products available (including local and global stocks, options, futures, bonds, ETFs etc.) through IBKR’s award winning trading platform and software. In addition, you may also trade our Stock, Index and FX CFDs and Spot FX over the counter all within the one IBKR Australia account.

In addition, IBKR Australia issue Contracts for Difference (“CFDs”) over global shares, indices and FX. These are only available to IBKR Australia clients. For further information on IBKR Australia's products and services, please see our website.

Refer to this link for information on IBAU’s share CFDs.
Refer to this link for information on IBAU’s index CFDs.
Refer to this link for information on IBAU’s FX CFDs.

FX Offering

IBKR Australia can only support currencies in AUD, USD, EUR and GBP and you can convert between these currencies. If you have cash balances in currencies other than IBA supported currencies (AUD, USD, GBP or EUR) these will to be converted into your nominated base currency.

IBAU clients, when permissioned, can trade in any market available across the IBKR network, even those outside the 4 supported currencies above. However, upon your instruction for any market outside the 4 supported currencies, IBKR Australia will automatically execute Forex conversions to ensure non-supported cash balances be cleared.

For example, if an IBKR Australia client using a Cash account wishes to buy HKD denominated securities, as long
as the client has sufficient available funds, the trade is permitted. To settle the trade, IBKR Australia will convert the existing cash balances into HKD. Similarly at a later date, if the same client wishes to sell their HKD denominated securities, IBKR Australia would automatically convert the HKD proceeds to the base currency by day end, once again leaving no residual HKD cash balances.

If an IBKR Australia client using a margin account has any positive or negative cash balances outside of the 4 supported currencies, it will be automatically converted to base currency by day end.

ASX24

In order to ensure continued compliance with our regulatory obligations, IBKR Australia will NOT accept any other form of collateral except cash for the purposes of determining whether you can trade or hold ASX24 products. If the margin requirements of ASX24 products cannot be met using cash, your account will be subject to automated liquidation.

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Account Structures

Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited – MiFID Categorisation

Introduction

The European Union legislative act known as the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID, as amended by MiFID II, requires Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited (IBUK) to classify each Client according to their knowledge, experience and expertise: "Retail", "Professional" or "Eligible Counterparty".

In accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority rules, IBUK categorises most clients as Retail clients, providing them with a higher degree of protection.

Only those clients that are either regulated entities or funds managed by regulated fund managers, are categorised as Per Se Professional Clients.

The main differences in regulatory protections afforded to Professional Clients as compared with Retails Clients are:

1. Description of the nature and risks of packaged investments: A firm that offers an investment service with another service or product or as a condition of the same agreement with a retail client must: (i) inform retail clients if the risks resulting from the agreement are likely to be different from the risks associated with the components when taken separately; and (ii) provide retail clients with an adequate description of the different components of the agreement and the way in which its interaction modifies the risks. The above requirements do not apply in respect of professional clients. However, IBUK will not make such differentiation apart from the case specified under point 3 below.

2. Investor protection measures on the provision of Contracts for Differences (“CFDs”): The European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) introduced product intervention measures on the provision of CFDs to retail investors. The measures include: (i) New leverage limits on the opening of a position, which vary according to the volatility of the underlying; (ii) A margin close out rule on a per account basis that standardises the percentage of margin at which providers are required to close out one or more open CFDs; (iii) Negative balance protection on a per account basis;
(iv) A restriction on the incentives offered to trade CFDs; and (v) A standardised risk warning, including the percentage of losses on a CFD provider’s retail investor accounts.The above requirements do not apply in respect of professional clients.

3. Communication with clients: A firm must ensure that its communications with all clients are fair, clear and not misleading. However, the way in which a firm may communicate with professional clients (about itself, its services and products, and its remuneration) may be different from the way in which the firm communicates with retail clients. A firm’s obligations in respect of the level of details, medium and timing of the provision of information are different depending on whether the client is a retail or professional client. The requirements to deliver certain product-specific documents, such as Key Information Documents (“KID”) for Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (“PRIIPs”), are not applied to professional clients.

4. Depreciation in value reporting: A firm that holds a retail client account that includes positions in leveraged financial instruments or contingent liability transactions must inform the retail client, where the initial value of each instrument depreciates by 10 per cent and thereafter at multiples of 10 per cent. The above requirements do not apply in respect of professional clients.

5. Appropriateness: When assessing appropriateness for non-advised services, a firm may be required to determine whether the client has the necessary experience and knowledge in order to understand the risks involved in relation to the product or service offered or demanded. Where such an appropriateness assessment requirement applies in respect of a client, the firm may assume that a professional client has the necessary experience and knowledge in order to understand the risks involved in relation to those particular investment services or transactions, or types of transaction or product, for which the client is classified as a professional client. A firm may not make such an assumption for a retail client and must determine that a retail client does have the necessary level of experience and knowledge.

IBUK provides non-advised services and is not required to request information or adhere to the assessment procedures for a professional client when assessing the appropriateness of a given service or product as with a retail client, and IBUK may not be required to give warnings to the professional client if it cannot determine appropriateness with respect to a given service or product.

6. Exclusion of liability: Firms’ ability to exclude or restrict any duty or liability owed to clients is narrower under the FCA rules in the case of retail clients than in respect of professional clients.

7. The Financial Services Ombudsman: The services of the Financial Ombudsman Service in the UK may not be available to professional clients, unless they are, for example, consumers, small businesses or individuals acting outside of their trade, business, craft or profession.

8. Compensation: IBUK is a member of the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme. You may be entitled to claim compensation from that scheme if IBUK cannot meet its obligations to you. This will depend on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim; compensation is only available for certain types of claimants and claims in respect of certain types of business. Eligibility for compensation from the scheme is determined under the rules applicable to the scheme.

Re-categorisation as Professional Client

IBUK allows its Retail Clients to request to be re-categorised as Professional Clients. Clients are notified of their Client Category and can check it at any time from Account Management, under Settings> Account Settings> MiFID Client Category. From this same screen, Clients can also request to change their MiFID Category.

IBUK will consider re-categorising Retail Clients to Professional Clients in two instances:

1. Per Se Professional Clients can notify IBUK that they consider that they should have been categorised as Per Se Professionals under the FCA rules, because at least one of the following conditions applies:

(i) authorised or regulated to operate in the financial markets; or

(ii) a large undertaking meeting two of the following size requirements on a company basis:

(a) balance sheet total of EUR 20,000,000;
(b) net turnover of EUR 40,000,000;
(c) own funds of EUR 2,000,000;

(iii) an institutional investor whose main activity is to invest in financial instruments. This includes entities dedicated to the securitisation of assets or other financing transactions.

2. IBUK may treat Clients as Elective Professional Clients if, based on an assessment of the Client’s expertise, experience, and knowledge, IBUK is reasonably assured that, in light of the nature of the transactions or services envisaged, the Client is capable of making its own investment decisions and understand the risks involved. Clients who do not meet the requirements to be categorised as Per Se Professional Clients can still request to be categorised as Elective Professional Clients.

To obtain such re-categorisation, Retail Clients must provide evidence that they satisfy at least two (2) of the following criteria:

1. Over the last four (4) quarters, the Client conducted trades in financial instruments in significant size at an average frequency of ten (10) per quarter.

To determine the significant size IBUK considers the following:

a. During the last four quarters, there were at least forty (40) trades; and
b. During each of the last four (4) quarters, there was at least one (1) trade; and
c. The total notional value of the top forty (40) trades of the last four (4) quarters is greater than EUR 200,000; and
d. The account has a net asset value greater than EUR 50,000.

Trades in Spot FX and Unallocated OTC Metals are not considered for the purpose of this calculation.

2. The Client holds a portfolio of financial instruments (including cash) that exceeds EUR 500,000 (or equivalent);

3. The Client is an individual accountholder or a trader of an organisation account who works or has worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position which requires knowledge of products it trades in.

Upon review and verification of the information and supporting evidence provided, IBUK will re-categorise clients if all relevant conditions are met to satisfaction.

Retail Clients requesting to be re-categorised as Professional Accounts must read and understand the warning provided by IBUK before the relevant request is submitted.

Re-categorisation as Retail Client Professional Clients can request IBUK to be re-categorised as Retail Clients, from the same Account Management page described above (under Settings> Account Settings> MiFID Client Category).

With the sole exception of regulated entities or funds managed by regulated fund managers, which are categorised as Per Se Professional Clients, IBUK accepts all such requests.

THIS INFORMATION IS GUIDANCE FOR INTERACTIVE BROKERS FULLY DISCLOSED CLEARED CUSTOMERS ONLY.
NOTE: THE INFORMATION ABOVE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A COMPREHENSIVE, EXHAUSTIVE NOR A DEFINITIVE INTERPRETATION OF THE REGULATION, BUT A SUMMARY OF IBUK’S APPROACH TO CLIENT CATEGORISATION AND RE-CATEGORISATION POLICY.

Converting From an Individual to Trust Account

The process of converting from an individual account to a trust account is outlined below:

1. As the trust account structure differs from that of the individual in terms of account holder information required, legal agreements and, in certain cases, taxpayer status, direct conversion is not supported and a new trust account application must be completed online.

The online trust application may be initiated by visiting www.ibkr.com and clicking the "Open Account" button. Be sure to request trading permissions and, if necessary, margin status, sufficient to maintain the positions currently carried in your individual account. Note that if your account is managed by a financial advisor or you are a client of an introducing broker, please contact your advisor or broker to initiate the new application (you may need to make arrangements with your advisor or broker for fees that have accrued but not yet paid when the individual account closes).

2. The trust account application requires Compliance review and approval and documentation evidencing the creation of the trust and proof of identity and address of trustees may also be required. If this is the case, notice as to the required documents and how to submit will be provided at the conclusion of the online application.

3. Once you have received an email confirming approval of the trust account application, send a request from your Message Center authorizing IB to manually transfer positions from your Individual to trust account. Prior to submitting the request you should make sure to close all open orders in the individual account to ensure that no executions take place following the transfer.

Due to the manual steps and scheduling required, you should allow a minimum of one week after trust account approval and submitting your request for the transfer to take effect.

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. Note that exchange regulations preclude ownership transfer of derivative contracts such as futures and options. If you are holding such positions you would either need to close them prior to the transfer taking place or request that they remain in your individual account.

2. Prior to processing the transfer, you should make sure to close all open orders in the individual account to ensure that no executions take place following the transfer.

3. The SMA (Special Memorandum Account) balance in your individual account will not transfer to the trust account. In certain cases this may impact your ability to open new positions in the trust account on the first day after the transfer is completed.

4. Elective options such as market data subscriptions and participation in IB's Yield Enhancement Program will not be carried over to the trust account and must be re-initiated to continue. Note that trusts are often classified as Professionals for market data subscription purposes which generally implies higher subscription rates than that for Non-Professionals.

5. The cost basis of transferred positions as reported in the activity statements will remain unchanged for tax purposes. The cost basis as reported in your trading platform (which is not used for tax reporting purposes) will not transfer over to the trust account but may be manually adjusted.

6. Once the transfer has been completed and assuming all positions have been transferred your individual account will be designated for automatic closure. Note that certain balances such as dividend accruals can’t be transferred until paid, after which they will then be transferred and your individual account closed.

7. You'll receive any applicable tax forms for the reportable activity transacted in each of your individual and trust accounts at year end. Access to Account Management for you individual account will remain after it has been closed for the purpose of reviewing and printing activity statements and tax forms.

8. IBKR does not provide tax advice or investment guidance and recommends that account holder consult with qualified professionals to determine any legal, tax or estate planning consequences associated with individual to trust transfer requests.

Account Structures

Free Riding Rule

In a cash account, an investor must pay for the purchase of a security (meaning, the trade must settle) prior to selling that security. If an investor buys a security and then sells that same security without paying for the security in full by settlement date, the investor is considered to be “free riding.” Accounts that commit free riding violations will be restricted for 90 days, during which time the account can only purchase securities using settled funds.

Free riding examples that would be considered a violation at Interactive Brokers

Example A:

1) On T, the account has settled cash of $10,000

2) On T, the account buys ABC for $10,000

3) On T+1, the account sells ABC and buys $10,000 of XYZ

4) The customer sells the XYZ shares without depositing sufficient funds to pay for the purchase of XYZ in full

Example B:

1) On T, the account has fully paid for stock in ABC and no excess cash

2) On T, the account sells $10,000 of ABC

3) On T, the account buys $10,000 of XYZ

4) On T+1, the account sells the XYZ shares without depositing sufficient funds to pay for the purchase of XYZ in full

The end of day surveillance process would consider both of these scenarios to be free riding violations, which would restrict the account to only purchase using settled funds for 90 days. IB has put certain controls in place to help prevent free riding violations.

Account Structures

Can I have more than two individuals on a joint account?

IB offers three types of joint accounts: Tenants with Rights of Suvivorship, Tenancy in Common and Community Property. Each of these joint account types is limited to two account holders.

Applicants interested in opening an account with muliple owners in excess of two may consider the corporate, partnrship, limited liability company or unincorporated legal structure account types offered by IB. Note that documentation establishing proof of formation and address are generally required at the point of application.

Converting From a Single to Joint Account

The process of adding a second owner to an existing single account for purposes of converting to a joint account is outlined below:

1. As the joint account structure differs from that of the individual in terms of account holder information required, legal agreements and, in certain cases, taxpayer status, direct conversion is not supported and a new joint account application must be completed online.

The joint application may be initiated online from the single account by logging into Account Management and clicking the Settings and Account Settings options followed by clicking the gear icon next to the words "Create, Move, Link or Partition an Account" in the Configuration section. This process will allow you to retain your existing user name, password and security device for purposes of operating the joint account. Be sure to request trading permissions and, if necessary, margin status, sufficient to maintain the positions currently carried in your individual account. Note that if your account is managed by a financial advisor or you are a client of an introducing broker, please contact your advisor or broker to initiate the new application (you may need to make arrangements with your advisor or broker for fees that have accrued but not yet paid if the individual account closes).

The joint account application requires Compliance review and approval and documentation evidencing the identity and address of the second account holder may be required. If this is the case, notice as to the required documents and how to submit will be provided at the conclusion of the online application.

2. Once you have received an email confirming approval of the joint account application, send a request from your Message Center authorizing IB to manually transfer positions from your single to joint account. Prior to submitting the request you should make sure to close all open orders in the individual account to ensure that no executions take place following the transfer.

Due to the manual steps and scheduling required, you should allow a minimum of one week after joint account approval and submitting your request for the transfer to take effect.

IMPORTANT NOTES

2. Prior to processing the transfer, you should make sure to close all open orders in the individual account to ensure that no executions take place following the transfer.

3. The SMA (Special Memorandum Account) balance in your individual account will not transfer to the joint account. In certain cases this may impact your ability to open new positions in the joint account on the first day after the transfer is completed.

4. Elective options such as market data subscriptions and participation in IB's Yield Enhancement Program will not be carried over to the joint account and must be re-initiated to continue.

7. You'll receive any applicable tax forms for the reportable activity transacted in each of your individual and joint accounts at year end. Access to Account Management for you individual account will remain after it has been closed for the purpose of reviewing and printing activity statements and tax forms.

Designation of Eligible Contract Participant

Account holders may designate their status as an Eligible Contract Participant (ECP) by completing an online questionnaire provided via Client Portal/Account Management. In the case where the account holder has provided information via the application process which suggests that they meet the ECP financial and/or organizational qualifications (see KB2731), the questionnaire is posted online in Account Management. If the information submitted at the point of application does not support ECP qualification, the account holder may update their information online to obtain the questionnaire. Outlined below are the steps necessary to access the questionnaire.

Step 1. Determine if the ECP questionnaire has been posted to your account:

For individual accounts, log into Client Portal/Account Management and select the Settings, Account Settings, and then Investor Category menu options. If you reported net worth in excess of the minimum qualifying threshold, you will be provided with the ECP questionnaire. Note that account holders reporting net worth below the ECP qualifying threshold may be provided with questionnaires for different investor categories (i.e., Accredited Investor).

For organization accounts, log into Client Portal/Account Management and select the Settings, Account Settings, and then Investor Category menu options. If your organization is of a specified category (e.g., registered broker dealer, FCM) or reported net worth in excess of the minimum qualifying threshold, you will be provided with the ECP questionnaire. Note that organizations reporting net worth below the ECP qualifying threshold may be provided with questionnaires for different investor categories (i.e., Qualified Purchaser).

If the ECP questionnaire has been posted to your account, complete and acknowledge the document via electronic signature. If the questionnaire has not been posted to your account, follow Step 2 below.

Step 2. Update your account information:

For individual and organization accounts, if your net worth exceeds the minimum qualifying threshold of $10 million, you may log into Client Portal/Account Management and select the Settings, Account Settings, and then Financial Information menu options. Included on that page will be a section where account holders can update and confirm their financial information. Note that updates to this information are subject to review by our Compliance Department prior to taking effect. Once changes have taken effect and, assuming those changes meet the qualifying threshold, the ECP questionnaire will be made available as noted in Step 1 above.

Account Structures

Eligible Contract Participant - Definition

IMPORTANT: Note that regulations are subject to change and clients are responsible for determining whether or not they qualify as an ECP. Please refer to "7 U.S. Code § 1a – Definitions" to ensure you are reviewing the most current definition of an ECP.

Account holders should take note of the below excerpt from the definition which is likely to be the most relevant.

(xi) an individual who has amounts invested on a discretionary basis, the aggregate of which is in excess of—
(I) $10,000,000; or
(II) $5,000,000 and who enters into the agreement, contract, or transaction in order to manage the risk associated with an asset owned or liability incurred, or reasonably likely to be owned or incurred, by the individual;

(18) Eligible contract participant

The term “eligible contract participant” means—

(A) acting for its own account—

(i) a financial institution;

(ii) an insurance company that is regulated by a State, or that is regulated by a foreign government and is subject to comparable regulation as determined by the Commission, including a regulated subsidiary or affiliate of such an insurance company;

(iii) an investment company subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.) or a foreign person performing a similar role or function subject as such to foreign regulation (regardless of whether each investor in the investment company or the foreign person is itself an eligible contract participant);

(iv) a commodity pool that—

(I) has total assets exceeding $5,000,000; and

(II) is formed and operated by a person subject to regulation under this chapter or a foreign person performing a similar role or function subject as such to foreign regulation (regardless of whether each investor in the commodity pool or the foreign person is itself an eligible contract participant) provided, however, that for purposes of section 2(c)(2)(B)(vi) of this title and section 2(c)(2)(C)(vii) of this title, the term “eligible contract participant” shall not include a commodity pool in which any participant is not otherwise an eligible contract participant;

(v) a corporation, partnership, proprietorship, organization, trust, or other entity—

(I) that has total assets exceeding $10,000,000;

(II) the obligations of which under an agreement, contract, or transaction are guaranteed or otherwise supported by a letter of credit or keepwell, support, or other agreement by an entity described in subclause (I), in clause (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (vii), or in subparagraph (C); or

(III) that—

(aa) has a net worth exceeding $1,000,000; and

(bb) enters into an agreement, contract, or transaction in connection with the conduct of the entity’s business or to manage the risk associated with an asset or liability owned or incurred or reasonably likely to be owned or incurred by the entity in the conduct of the entity’s business;

(vi) an employee benefit plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), a governmental employee benefit plan, or a foreign person performing a similar role or function subject as such to foreign regulation—

(I) that has total assets exceeding $5,000,000; or

(II) the investment decisions of which are made by—

(aa) an investment adviser or commodity trading advisor subject to regulation under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b–1 et seq.) or this chapter;

(bb) a foreign person performing a similar role or function subject as such to foreign regulation;

(cc) a financial institution; or

(dd) an insurance company described in clause (ii), or a regulated subsidiary or affiliate of such an insurance company;

(vii)

(I) a governmental entity (including the United States, a State, or a foreign government) or political subdivision of a governmental entity;

(II) a multinational or supranational government entity; or

(III) an instrumentality, agency, or department of an entity described in subclause (I) or (II); except that such term does not include an entity, instrumentality, agency, or department referred to in subclause (I) or (III) of this clause unless (aa) the entity, instrumentality, agency, or department is a person described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of paragraph (17)(A); (bb) the entity, instrumentality, agency, or department owns and invests on a discretionary basis $50,000,000 or more in investments; or (cc) the agreement, contract, or transaction is offered by, and entered into with, an entity that is listed in any of subclauses (I) through (VI) of section 2(c)(2)(B)(ii) of this title;

(viii)

(I) a broker or dealer subject to regulation under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) or a foreign person performing a similar role or function subject as such to foreign regulation, except that, if the broker or dealer or foreign person is a natural person or proprietorship, the broker or dealer or foreign person shall not be considered to be an eligible contract participant unless the broker or dealer or foreign person also meets the requirements of clause (v) or (xi);

(II) an associated person of a registered broker or dealer concerning the financial or securities activities of which the registered person makes and keeps records under section 15C(b) or 17(h) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78o–5(b), 78q(h));

(III) an investment bank holding company (as defined in section 17(i) [2] of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78q(i)); [3]

(ix) a futures commission merchant subject to regulation under this chapter or a foreign person performing a similar role or function subject as such to foreign regulation, except that, if the futures commission merchant or foreign person is a natural person or proprietorship, the futures commission merchant or foreign person shall not be considered to be an eligible contract participant unless the futures commission merchant or foreign person also meets the requirements of clause (v) or (xi);

(x) a floor broker or floor trader subject to regulation under this chapter in connection with any transaction that takes place on or through the facilities of a registered entity (other than an electronic trading facility with respect to a significant price discovery contract) or an exempt board of trade, or any affiliate thereof, on which such person regularly trades; or

(xi) an individual who has amounts invested on a discretionary basis, the aggregate of which is in excess of—

(I) $10,000,000; or

(II) $5,000,000 and who enters into the agreement, contract, or transaction in order to manage the risk associated with an asset owned or liability incurred, or reasonably likely to be owned or incurred, by the individual;

(B)

(i) a person described in clause (i), (ii), (iv), (v), (viii), (ix), or (x) of subparagraph (A) or in subparagraph (C), acting as broker or performing an equivalent agency function on behalf of another person described in subparagraph (A) or (C); or

(ii) an investment adviser subject to regulation under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 [15 U.S.C. 80b–1 et seq.], a commodity trading advisor subject to regulation under this chapter, a foreign person performing a similar role or function subject as such to foreign regulation, or a person described in clause (i), (ii), (iv), (v), (viii), (ix), or (x) of subparagraph (A) or in subparagraph (C), in any such case acting as investment manager or fiduciary (but excluding a person acting as broker or performing an equivalent agency function) for another person described in subparagraph (A) or (C) and who is authorized by such person to commit such person to the transaction; or

(C) any other person that the Commission determines to be eligible in light of the financial or other qualifications of the person.

Account Structures

Welcome to Interactive Brokers

Overview:

Now that your account is funded and approved you can start trading. The information below will help you getting
started as a new customer of Interactive Brokers.

Your Money
Configure your account to trade
How to trade
Trade all over the World
Five points to enrich your IB experience

1. Your Money
Deposits & Withdrawals General Info. All transactions are administered through your secure Account Management
Deposits
First, you create a deposit notification through your Account Management > Funding > Fund Transfers > Transaction Type: “Deposit” How to create a deposit notification. The second step is to instruct your Bank to do the wire transfer with the bank details provided in your Deposit Notification.
Withdrawals
Create a withdrawal instruction via your secure Account Management > Funding > Fund Transfers > Transaction Type: "Withdrawals" How to create a withdrawal instruction
If you instruct a withdrawal over the Withdrawal limits, it will be considered an exceptional withdrawal and we will therefore need to match bank account holder and IB account. If destination bank account has been used for a deposit, withdrawal will be processed; otherwise, you must contact customer service and provide the documents needed.
Troubleshooting
Deposits: My bank sent the money but I do not see it credited into my IB account. Possible reasons:
a) A fund transfer takes 1-4 business days
b) A Deposit Notification is missing. You have to create it via your Account Management and send a ticket to Customer Service
c) Amending details are missing. Your name or IB account number is missing in the transfer details. You have to contact your bank and ask for the full amending details.
d) ACH initiated by IB is limited to 100k USD in a 7 business period. If you opened a Portfolio Margin account where the initial requirement is 110k, a wire deposit might be the better deposit option to reduce wait time for your first trade. If selecting ACH a wait time of almost 2 weeks or a temporary downgrade to RegT can be possible solutions.
Withdrawals: I have requested a withdrawal but I do not see the money credited to my bank account. Possible reasons:
a) A fund transfer takes 1-4 business days
b) Rejected. Over the max it can be withdrawn. Please check your account cash balance. Note that for regulatory requirements, when the funds are deposited, there is a 3 day holding period before they can be withdrawn.
c) Your bank returned the funds. Probably because receiving bank account and remitting bank account names do not match.

2. Configure your account to trade
Difference between Cash and Margin accounts: If you have chosen the FastTrack application, by default your account type is a cash account with US stock permission. If you would like to get leverage and trade on margin, here how to upgrade to a RegT Margin account
Trading Permissions
In order to be able to trade a particular asset class in a particular country, you need to get the trading permission for it via your Account Management. Please note that trading permissions are free. You might however be asked to sign risk
disclosures required by local regulatory authorities. How to Request Trading Permissions
Market Data
If you want to have market data in real-time for a particular product/exchange, you need to subscribe to a market data package charged by the exchange. How to subscribe to Market data
The Market data assistant will help you choose the right package. Please watch this Video explaining how it works.
Customers have the option to receive delayed market data for free by clicking the Free Delayed Data button from a non-subscribed ticker row.
Advisor Accounts
Have a look at the user guide getting started as advisors. Here you see how to create additional users to your advisor account and grant them access and much more.

3. How to trade
The Trader's University is the place to go when you want to learn how to use our Platforms. Here you will find our webinars, live and recorded in 10 languages and tours and documentation about our various Trading Platforms.
Trader Workstation (TWS)
Traders who require more sophisticated trading tools can use our market maker-designed Trader Workstation (TWS), which optimizes your trading speed and efficiency with an easy-to-use spreadsheet interface, support for more than 60 order types, task-specific trading tools for all trading styles, and real-time account balance and activity monitoring. Try the two models
TWS Mosaic: for intuitive usability, easy trading access, order management, watchlist, charts all in one window or
TWS Classic: the Advanced Order Management for traders who need more advanced tools and algos.
General Description and Information / Quick start guide / Usersguide
Interactive Tours: TWS Basics / TWS configuration / TWS Mosaic
How to place a trade: Video Classic TWS / Video Mosaic
Trading tools: General Description and Information / Users guide
Requirements: How to install Java for Windows / How to install Java for MAC / Port 4000 and 4001 needs to be open
Login TWS / Download TWS
WebTrader
Traders who prefer a clean and simple interface can use our HTML-based WebTrader, which makes it easy to view market data, submit orders, and monitor your account and executions. Use the latest WebTrader from every browser
Quick Start Guide / WebTrader User's Guide
Introduction: Video WebTrader
How to place a Trade: Video WebTrader
Login WebTrader
MobileTrader
Our mobile solutions allow you to trade your IB account on the go. The mobileTWS for iOS and the mobileTWS for BlackBerry are custom-designed for these popular models, while the generic MobileTrader supports most other Smart phones.
General Description and Information
Order Types Order Types available and Description / Videos / Tour / Users guide
Paper Trading General Description and Information / How to get a Paper Trading Account
Once your paper account is created, you can share the market data of your real account with your paper trading account: Account Management > Manage Account > Settings > Paper trading

4. Trade all over the World
IB accounts are multi-currency accounts. Your account can hold different currencies at the same time, this allows you to trade multiple products around the world from a single account.
Base Currency
Your base currency determines the currency of translation for your statements and the currency used for determining margin requirements. Base currency is determined when you open an account. Customers may change their base currency at any time through Account Management.
We do not automatically convert currencies into your Base currency
Currency conversions must be done manually by the customer. In this video you can learn how to do a currency conversion.
In order to open a position denominated in a currency that you do not have in your account, you have two possibilities:
A) Currency conversion.
B) IB Margin Loan. (Not available for Cash Accounts)
Please see this course explaining the mechanics of a foreign transaction.

5. Five points to enrich your IB experience
1. Contract Search
Here you will find all our products, symbols and specifications.
2. IB Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base is a repository of glossary terms, how-to articles, troubleshooting tips and guidelines designed to assist IB customers with the management of their IB accounts. Just enter in the search button what you are looking for and you will get the answer.
3. Account Management
As our trading platforms give you access to the markets, the Account Management grants you access to your IB account. Use Account Management to manage account-related tasks such as depositing or withdrawing funds, viewing your statements, modifying market data and news subscriptions, changing your trading permissions, and verifying or changing your personal information.
Log In Account Management / AM Quick Start Guide / AM Users Guide
4. Secure Login System
To provide you with the highest level of online security, Interactive Brokers has implemented a Secure Login System (SLS) through which access to your account is subject to two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication serves to confirm your identity at the point of login using two security factors: 1) Something you know (your username and password combination); and 2) Something you have (an IB issued security device which generates a random, single-use security code). As both knowledge of your username/password and physical possession of the security device are required to login to your account, participation in the Secure Login System virtually eliminates the possibility of anyone other than you accessing your account.
How to Activate your Security Device / How to Obtain a Security Code Card / How to return Security device
In case you forgot your password or lost your security code card, please call us for immediate assistance.
5. Statements and Reports
Easy to view and customize, our statements and reports cover all aspects of your Interactive Brokers account. How to view an Activity Statement

Change Your Billable Account

If you have additional linked, duplicate or consolidated accounts, the Billable Account section appears on the Market Data Subscriptions screen. Use the Billable Accounts panel to change the account that is currently being billed for market data.

To change your billable account

1. Click Settings > User Settings
2. In the Trading Platform panel, click the Configure (gear) icon for Market Data Subscriptions.

The Market Data Subscription screen opens.

3. Click the Configure (gear) icon in the Billable Account panel.
4. Select the account you want to be billed for market data, then click Save.

Beginning with the next billing cycle, your market data subscriptions will be billed to the account you selected.

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