Anyone use Interactive Brokers?

outonawing

I use DeGiro and Trading 212 at present.
Recently DeGiro had issues with their platform stability and their delayed US prices is annoying. Yesterday I was unable to access my Trading 212 account for a period of 45 minutes immediately after the US open.

Such experiences can be costly, hence I'm considering moving to IB.

I'd love to hear opinions on their service before taking the plunge.

TIA.

cronos

outonawing wrote: »

I use DeGiro and Trading 212 at present.
Recently DeGiro had issues with their platform stability and their delayed US prices is annoying. Yesterday I was unable to access my Trading 212 account for a period of 45 minutes immediately after the US open.

Such experiences can be costly, hence I'm considering moving to IB.

I'd love to hear opinions on their service before taking the plunge.

TIA.

I'm curious about this myself. Hate the Degiro delay and would like them to have the latest SPAC's available immediately. Don't want to have to be requesting they add things, such a pain.

I do like the fees though. What are the IB fees in comparison?

Rolling Stone

Another query on IB to add to the list. Can you trade OTC stocks and do they allow after hours and pre-market trading?

outonawing

My understanding of IBKR is as follows:

Account monthly maintenance fee $10(is reduced or eliminated by commissions paid in that month).

The client can choose either fixed or tiered transaction fees. Exchange fees are in addition to transaction fees. My overall impression is that IBKR is a low cost broker. OTC stocks can be traded. No out of hours trading.

Fixed transaction fees:

US, stocks $0.005 per share.
Minimum $1 per trade, Max 1% trade value

UK stocks £6 per trade up to 50,000 shares.

Tiered transaction fees:

US stocks value <= $300,000 per month
$0.0035 per share Min $0.35, Max 1% trade value

UK 0.050% per trade value, Min £1 per trade

I am open to correction on any of the above.

outonawing

IBKR accept joint accounts. According to Shedite27 their fees are similar to DeGiro.

slo007

Would be nice to hear from current users of the service.

I'm currently using Revolut which is nice, though a bit of a pain to use on the phone only. They are adding more features over time; though I wish I could download an electronic copy of all transactions to clarify my taxable income and CGT due to Revenue. Having to type everything is a pain.

codrulz

Rolling Stone wrote: »

Another query on IB to add to the list. Can you trade OTC stocks and do they allow after hours and pre-market trading?

yes to all of the above.

outonawing

slo007 wrote: »

Would be nice to hear from current users of the service.

I'm currently using Revolut which is nice, though a bit of a pain to use on the phone only. They are adding more features over time; though I wish I could download an electronic copy of all transactions to clarify my taxable income and CGT due to Revenue. Having to type everything is a pain.

TBH Revolut, while great for day to day spending and making transfers to friends, it does not appeal as a broker.

I completed the application to IBKR for a joint account this afternoon, following another server issue with Trading 212 today.

codrulz

IBKR lost my trust and respect today - will be moving my business elsewhere. https://twitter.com/IBKR/status/1354792600004386818?s=20

https://twitter.com/IBKR/status/1354792848923701251?s=20

outonawing

codrulz wrote: »

IBKR lost my trust and respect today - will be moving my business elsewhere. https://twitter.com/IBKR/status/1354792600004386818?s=20

https://twitter.com/IBKR/status/1354792848923701251?s=20

I fully understand your frustrations, however their action is not as draconian as Trading 212 and Robinhood.

codrulz

outonawing wrote: »

I fully understand your frustrations, however their action is not as draconian as Trading 212 and Robinhood.

true! exactly why I didn't opt for the likes of T212 though, always knew they'd be worse lol

outonawing

codrulz wrote: »

true! exactly why I didn't opt for the likes of T212 though, always knew they'd be worse lol

It turned out that IBKR were just as bad as T212 and Robinhood in the end, back to the unreliable DeGiro platform I guess.

neris

I applied for an account earlier in the month and sent in the relevant paperwork & ID but couldnt access the platform properly to have a look around. Day or 2 later got an email off them asking me to clarify my net worth which I didnt bother replying to, then I got emails saying my application was under review and they approve accounts quicker if you deposit money so at that stage I just thought no thanks and havent done anything with it since

outonawing

neris wrote: »

I applied for an account earlier in the month and sent in the relevant paperwork & ID but couldnt access the platform properly to have a look around. Day or 2 later got an email off them asking me to clarify my net worth which I didnt bother replying to, then I got emails saying my application was under review and they approve accounts quicker if you deposit money so at that stage I just thought no thanks and havent done anything with it since

I applied to open an account on Wednesday and funded it. Got approval by Thursday night.

Mav11

outonawing wrote: »

I applied to open an account on Wednesday and funded it. Got approval by Thursday night.

How's it working out? Looking to change from Degiro myself, getting sick of their platform glitches.

outonawing

Mav11 wrote: »

How's it working out? Looking to change from Degiro myself, getting sick of their platform glitches.

I was disappointed by their restrictions on Gamestop and haven't actually used it yet. Admittedly they were one of the first brokers to row back on them.

I'll probably get started this week on selling some of my T212 and DeGiro stocks and adding them on IB. Will update then.

DraftDodger

I was with Interactive for a while but got sick of the glitches the platform seemed to throw up especially at US open and sometimes at London open. Changed to IG Markets and all good so far thankfully.

outonawing

DraftDodger wrote: »

I was with Interactive for a while but got sick of the glitches the platform seemed to throw up especially at US open and sometimes at London open. Changed to IG Markets and all good so far thankfully.

Are you limited to spread betting and cfd's with Ig Markets? Their website is unclear.

Also, I came across minimum charges of £10 and $15 per trade. IB minimum is £6 and $1.

I made my first purchase with IB yesterday. My account has € as my base currency. To buy US or UK shares, I have to first make sure that I have converted sufficient funds to cover my purchase, not a big deal, just T212 and DeGiro do it automatically. The user interface takes a bit of getting used to too.

Noticed Ig Markets are not allowing new positions on AMC and GME, hardly a recommendation.

rojito

IB is the only decent broker I could find that is available to non-US residents that provides an API at no extra cost.

I run my trading strategies 100% automated, but you could also just use it to pull any fundamental or technical data you wanted to play around with before executing manual trades.

feelings

Do interactive brokers have access to CSE? degiro don't unfortunately.

outonawing

feelings wrote: »

Do interactive brokers have access to CSE? degiro don't unfortunately.

If that is Calcutta Exchange, I can't see it on IB

feelings

Canadian Securities Exchange

outonawing wrote: »

If that is Calcutta Exchange, I can't see it on IB

outonawing

feelings wrote: »

Canadian Securities Exchange

IB provide access to both
Canadian Securities Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange.

feelings

Awesome thanks for that. I'll have to figure out now how to transfer from DeGiro to IB. Thanks outonawing.

finbarrk

I find IB complicated to use. But I'm an amateur at this game. Etorro seems easier in my opinion.

Jacobs_Stripe

Hi all,

I am new to IB and feeling very frustrated with it. I am in Ireland and it appears the only platforms which allow Irish people to trade HCMC is Trading 212, Degiro & IB.

Trading 212 - Isn't opening new accounts at present. I have joined the waiting list.
Degiro - I have provided all my docs but have been told it will be about 10days to open the a/c. Its been about that but there seems to be a backlog.
IB - My a/c is set up and I have funded it with 200 EUR.

When I went to trade on HCMC I was first told that I wasn't eligible and that I would need to set up a Margin a/c. I did this. Then I was told I needed to change my experience on trading to match the requirements for the Margin a/c and to select 'US Penny Stocks'. I did this also.
Now I am been told that I am unable to place the trade as the amount is less than 2000 EUR.

Has anyone else come across this when trading Penny Stocks on IB and do you know how I can overcome it? On another Forum someone told me to transfer my EUR to USD and leave 5EUR in my account and trade then in USD and it should work. But I don't want to go through the hassle of converting the money over if I still can't trade it. At this stage I am fed up and just thinking of pulling my money out, but on the other side I really want to trade on HCMC.

Appreciate any advise TIA

MugsGame

Jacobs_Stripe wrote: »

Hi all,
Degiro - I have provided all my docs but have been told it will be about 10days to open the a/c. Its been about that but there seems to be a backlog.
IB - My a/c is set up and I have funded it with 200 EUR.

Strangely I had the opposite experience - submitted Degiro and IB applications on 2nd Feb and my De Giro account was open and funded the following day.

IB on the other hand emailed me yesterday to say there is a backlog on IB IE applications and they can't say when my (funded) account will be approved. They said I could submit an application to IB Central Europe instead, which would be approved quicker.

Diarmuid

rojito wrote: »

IB is the only decent broker I could find that is available to non-US residents that provides an API at no extra cost.

I run my trading strategies 100% automated, but you could also just use it to pull any fundamental or technical data you wanted to play around with before executing manual trades.

Hi, I am looking at this myself. Did you sign up for IB Central Europe or IB Ireland? I presume the latter but I'm struggling to find out the practical differences? Previously they were based in the UK but are moving due to Brexit

td2008

Quick question guys - trying to fund my account and it's asking to do a wire transfer

So it has JP Morgan in Germany as an intermediate bank and their IBAN etc but then mentions the IB bank in Hungry just their address.

Can i just do a normal SEPA transfer to JP Morgan with the reference or do i need to ring up the bank for a transfer like this?

Cheers,

outonawing

td2008 wrote: »

Quick question guys - trying to fund my account and it's asking to do a wire transfer

So it has JP Morgan in Germany as an intermediate bank and their IBAN etc but then mentions the IB bank in Hungry just their address.

Can i just do a normal SEPA transfer to JP Morgan with the reference or do i need to ring up the bank for a transfer like this?

Cheers,

Looks like you've signed up for a central Europe account. My wire also goes to JPMorgan in Germany, but the account name is IB with a Dublin address. So a normal sepa payment and be sure to use the specified reference. Only takes a few hours to get credited to your IB account.

Atlas_IRL

Added 500e to my account i havnt used it before but wanted to use it to yolo into some pennies. Says I need permission for OTC. Tried to buy a regular stock and got the following

"BUY 100 DSS AMEX" CASH AVAILABLE (SETTLED CASH): 0.00; CASH NEEDED FOR THIS ORDER AND OTHER PENDING ORDERS: 461.43

Do I need to convert my account from a cash account??

outonawing

Atlas_IRL wrote: »

Added 500e to my account i havnt used it before but wanted to use it to yolo into some pennies. Says I need permission for OTC. Tried to buy a regular stock and got the following

"BUY 100 DSS AMEX" CASH AVAILABLE (SETTLED CASH): 0.00; CASH NEEDED FOR THIS ORDER AND OTHER PENDING ORDERS: 461.43

Do I need to convert my account from a cash account??

Yes, you need to convert your Euro to USD before buying a USD stock, bit of a pain.

I've got a Euro balance, GBP balance and a USD balance.

rojito

Diarmuid wrote: »

Hi, I am looking at this myself. Did you sign up for IB Central Europe or IB Ireland? I presume the latter but I'm struggling to find out the practical differences? Previously they were based in the UK but are moving due to Brexit

I was on IB UK but got transferred to Ireland. I'm not sure if any practical difference, if you live in Ireland you'll pay tax in Ireland either way.

One thing to note about the API is that it is asynchronous, I would recommend the open source set of wrapper classes ib_insync to let you run it synchronously. I was struggling to get to grips with API and then found ib_insync which had me writing code and pulling historical data within an hour. Unless you're running a high frequency algorithm I don't see much benefit in running asynchronous anyway.

pioneerpro

MugsGame wrote: »

IB on the other hand emailed me yesterday to say there is a backlog on IB IE applications and they can't say when my (funded) account will be approved. They said I could submit an application to IB Central Europe instead, which would be approved quicker.

Have you had any luck getting this sorted since? Waiting for document verification atm and would like to trade this week and would prefer the money not be tied up.

Also can anyone confirm:

* If you can buy warrants and rights for US SPACs?
* How much it costs and how long the wait is to split units?
* Is there a minimum buy size/lot size for penny stocks? I saw 2,000 euro mentioned previously in the thread
* That the net liquidity of 20k+ and the other crazy requirements are just to cover their ass and they don't check?

(I'm far from a new account btw, just careful about getting doxxed)

MugsGame

No, I withdrew my deposit from IB in the end since Degiro was good enough for what I need right now.

pioneerpro

MugsGame wrote: »

No, I withdrew my deposit from IB in the end since Degiro was good enough for what I need right now.

Yeah they're being ridiculous atm - won't take an AIB statement as POA for some reason and I've nothing else.

Atlas_IRL

i dont think any of them are now. I cant get Trading212 to verify my ID and I think degiro and IB are closed for signups. There is eToro which is not great and someone mentioned Saxo but I haven't tried it.

pioneerpro

Atlas_IRL wrote: »

i dont think any of them are now. I cant get Trading212 to verify my ID and I think degiro and IB are closed for signups. There is eToro which is not great and someone mentioned Saxo but I haven't tried it.

I've a live DeGiro thank god, but its pretty poor for SPACs which are my main concern. I wouldn't mind but IBKR verified my Passport/Selfie within a day, just refused the bank statement with no indication why... had my full name/address and was within 6 months. DeGiro took the same one fine previously.

Kilough

Got setup on IB yesterday. I think it helped that I lodged funds over the weekend - they arrived pretty quick as I lodged from my N26 which is a DE IBAN number. Maybe try lodging funds and try again

Atlas_IRL

Kilough wrote: »

Got setup on IB yesterday. I think it helped that I lodged funds over the weekend - they arrived pretty quick as I lodged from my N26 which is a DE IBAN number. Maybe try lodging funds and try again

You'll need to convert the euro to dollar to use the US companies, they don't explain it.

Atlas_IRL

So another question, if you sell something in IB does it take like 2 days for that to settle? Sold a stock to buy another but its saying I've no settled cash.

Ryaner

Atlas_IRL wrote: »

So another question, if you sell something in IB does it take like 2 days for that to settle? Sold a stock to buy another but its saying I've no settled cash.

The 2 day period (actually it is 3 days) is from the clearing house process rather than IB themselves. You can get access to the funds, indirectly, via a margin account. More details at https://ibkr.info/node/814.

finbarrk

MugsGame wrote: »

No, I withdrew my deposit from IB in the end since Degiro was good enough for what I need right now.

I withdrew my money also from them. Just not user friendly.

Atlas_IRL

Ryaner wrote: »

The 2 day period (actually it is 3 days) is from the clearing house process rather than IB themselves. You can get access to the funds, indirectly, via a margin account. More details at https://ibkr.info/node/814.

Its a weird site, It wont let me edit any of that.

Ryaner

Atlas_IRL wrote: »

Its a weird site, It wont let me edit any of that.

If you are an IB Pro account, you have to had answered certain questions during that investor knowledge survey before they even allow you to apply for margin accounts. I think it is the options question that triggers the ability to apply for it.

Definitely do read up on what and how margin accounts work though before applying if you don't already know. It is basically a loan.

irishguy

Are you able to trade US ETFs with them as an Irish resident?

Ryaner

irishguy wrote: »

Are you able to trade US ETFs with them as an Irish resident?

Due to KIDs regulations, they like all other brokers with a full EU presence have blocked those. You are left with the UCITS counterparts but those have the deemed disposal "fun".

Folks, is it possible to fund IB with a revolut account, or does it have to be a regular domestic bank?

Ryaner

Revolut is a full bank account these days so yeh that works fine. IB don't appear to process the transactions any quicker than normal Irish bank transfers however even though Revolut do use SEPA instant.

Ryaner

Ryaner wrote: »

Revolut is a full bank account these days so yeh that works fine. IB don't appear to process the transactions any quicker than normal Irish bank transfers however even though Revolut do use SEPA instant.

Thank you, that's good to know. I like to use revolut to spend through and just leave the big bills in my main bank account, so that's handy.

pioneerpro

Ryaner wrote: »

Revolut is a full bank account these days so yeh that works fine.

DeGiro won't take them, and any number of banks/utilities have trouble with it. Hell, a lot of Irish companies won't pay wages into Revolut or even N26 sometimes for whatever mad reasons - and there's been no test case taken against anyone for refusal to do so.