While applicants are required to provide IBKR with notification as to the amount they intend to fund their account with and the manner in which they fund the account in order to have the application considered for approval, there is no requirement that the funding actually take place prior to approval.   

Applicants may nevertheless elect to remit funds via wire, check or electronic funds transfer (e.g., ACH, EFT) prior to receiving confirmation of account approval in an effort to accelerate commencement of any credit hold period. It should be noted, however, that deposits received prior to account approval are held in suspense and are not credited to the account nor eligible to accrue interest until the application has been approved.  In the case where the applicant has authorized IBKR to fund the account via asset transfer (e.g., ACATS, ATON) from another broker, IBKR will not initiate the transfer until the application has been approved.