Interactive Brokers Wiki
What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying stocks, ETFs and other instruments through Interactive Brokers? In this article you will find a comprehensive review about this broker. At the same time, in this article you can also find instructions on how to open an account, how to close orders in Interactive Brokers, and how to activate settings that are especially beneficial for Slovaks and Czechs.
What is the biggest advantage of Interactive Brokers (IB)? That we, as Slovaks and Czechs, can open up to them.
In July 2021, there was a change in IB fees. Interactive Brokers
has eliminated the Activity Fee, which was a monthly fee of $10 per
month. Today, Interactive Brokers is one of the most advantageous
brokers with which Slovaks, Czechs and Europeans can open an account
(buying shares or ETFs usually costs up to 2 Euros per transaction)
In this article, you will find a detailed review for Interactive Brokers as well as instructions and sub-instructions for this broker.
Tip: This guide is longer and comprehensive. You'll want to come back to it occasionally. Therefore, you can save it and read it several times .
Tips for specialized IB articles (Sub-guides)
- Interactive Brokers – Detailed instructions on how to register an account (LINK)
- Interactive Brokers guide how to deposit, withdraw money and change currency (LINK)
- Attention: These articles are placed outside of the main Interactive Brokers article due to size
Interactive content
- Basic evaluation of Interactive Brokers
- The basics of keeping an account at Interactive Brokers
- Minimum deposit for opening an account in IB
- Interactive Brokers Fees
- Archive: What was the Activity fee in IB
- Currency conversion and subaccounts in IB
- Taxation of dividends at Interactive Brokers
- IB specialty – Smartrouting
- Differences between Cash and Margin account in IB
- IB specialty - Stock Yield Enhancement Program
- IB Specialty - Cash Yield Enhancement Program (Earn Interest on Cash)
- Choosing an Interactive Brokers branch
- Are corporate investments through Interactive Brokers worthwhile?
- Open an IB account if I am a beginner with a small initial amount?
- Interactive Brokers Tutorials, Trading Explained
- How to register an account in Interactive Brokers
- How to use the referral bonus in Interactive Brokers
- First steps after logging into Interactive Brokers account
- How to understand and enter a purchase order in IB
- Determination and types of Order Type orders
- What does Time In Force mean?
- What does Outside RTH mean?
- Setting Take Profit and Stop Loss
- Order entry and Preview function
- FAQ: Frequently asked questions
- Currency change in IB
- Change of IB fees from Fixed to Tiered
- How to activate the purchase of fractional shares
- What to do when you can't trade stocks, bonds, options, ETFs
- IB sub-account - how to create it
- Export of transactions from IB for tax return purposes
- Login to IB via multiple devices
- Referral bonus and other bonuses when opening an IB account
- How to get your special questions answered
- Tips for other articles
A basic comparison of Interactive Brokers versus the competition
From our point of view, Interactive Brokers has long been one of the best brokers for buying shares and ETFs, if the client wants to buy shares or ETFs for at least €100 per trade. At the same time, it is suitable for people who want to trade Indices, Commodities, FOREX, options, investment certificates or other financial derivatives with or without leverage. At the same time, this broker is also suitable for automated trading.
From our point of view, most Slovaks today, when looking for a broker, choose a broker from the trio of XTB, Lynx and Interactive Brokers.
Do you want to find out if a broker other than Interactive Brokers is more beneficial for you?
Check out our big broker comparison. In it, we compare Interactive Brokers, Lynx, Etoro, Fio, Degiro, Revolut, Finax and EIC. At the same time, we also have an article where we directly compare Interactive Brokers, Lynx and XTB.
- Part 3. - How to choose an ETF broker - a great comparison of brokers
- Choose XTB, Lynx or Interactive Brokers?
This article also contains two sub-guides
- Interactive Brokers – Detailed instructions on how to register an account (LINK)
- Interactive Brokers instruction how to deposit and withdraw money (LINK)
Who is Interactive Brokers (IB) for?
IB is suitable for anyone who knows English. From the point of view of the price of transactions (Purchase and sale of securities), Interactive Brokers is one of the low-cost and interesting brokers.
Interactive Brokers is a large international giant that came to Slovakia, therefore most Slovak or smaller European companies cannot compete with it either in terms of security or fees.
Advantages of IB in a nutshell
- Interactive Brokers is one of the most famous and popular brokers on a global scale (It definitely belongs to the TOP 10 brokers in the world)
- High security of the broker (IB is probably one of the safest brokers available for Slovaks)
- Low fees for the transaction (Fees up to 2 Euros for the purchase of a US share)
- Low currency exchange fees
- Possibility to maintain investment sub-accounts in any currency (EUR, USD, CZK, PLN...) free of charge
- The possibility to buy most shares and ETFs practically all over the world, including the purchase of one share or ETF on several different world exchanges and thus buy them at a better price
- One of the few brokers that allows you to buy Czech, Polish, Chinese or Asian shares
- IB has advantageously solved taxation, advantageous for Slovaks as well (Form W8-BEN is a matter of course, it also conveniently solves EU taxation of shares of various countries)
- IB has its own API enabling automated trading
- IB also allows you to trade other financial products such as bonds, options, contracts, Forex, other types of CFDs and so on...
- IB allows trading without leverage (Cash account) and with leverage (Margin account)
- IB is one of the few brokers whose services are also used by banks, funds, and securities traders
Disadvantages of IB in a nutshell
- English required (The entire IB system is in English, sometimes you will also need to contact English IB support, so an English-speaking person nearby is useful. At IB, you will meet either American business support or Indian administrative support).
- IB has very low and long-term sustainable fees, but for smaller transactions you can find even cheaper brokers
- Interactive Brokers is not for people who are looking for savings for 20 Euros per month. If you want to take advantage of lower IB fees, always buy for at least 100 Euros or for significantly higher amounts
- The broker's system is quite complicated and you will be glad for a person who will explain to you how to use this broker's platform and how to trade on it (Complexity and lack of clarity is a price for the fact that the system contains almost all options for a professional trader)
- It does not offer any education in Slovak / Czech.
- Therefore, IB is especially suitable for moderately advanced and more creditworthy users
Why don't you see Interactive Brokers in ads and broker comparisons?
How is it possible that we have never seen an advertisement for Interactive Brokers on Slovenská TV, we have not seen an advertisement for it on the Internet, and it is usually missing in comparisons of stock brokers. You may be wondering: Is Interactive Brokers even safe when they don't write about it anywhere?
Reasons why IB is not in the comparisons
- Interactive Brokers has a very good own brand and a large number of clients, so it does not need to acquire clients through aggressive marketing and advertising.
- At the same time, Interactive Brokers is interested in a different type of client, because it is interested in acquiring more reputable clients and financial institutions. However, these clients will not be acquired through regular Google ads. Regular ads on Google will bring mainly regular and less creditable clients. Therefore, in SK/CZ you will find much more advertising for Lynx (which uses the Interactive Brokers system), because Lynx has higher fees and at the same time is more interested in regular SK/CZ clients.
- Interactive Brokers offers smaller account referral commissions than competing brokers. Therefore, a large part of the portals do not recommend it and do not write about it, because they get minimal profit from it
- Interactive Brokers is missing in SK/CZ broker comparisons usually because it is too cheap. However, the purpose of the comparison articles is for you to choose a broker recommended by the portal so that the portal can make money.
How Interactive Brokers is promoted
- You can find it on portals with international broker comparisons, where it usually ends up in the Top 5 or Top 10 of the best brokers
- You will find paid ads on IB much more often in the US, where IB is more targeted in its marketing and has more clients.
- The Interactive Brokers brand is often spread by the recommendation of more experienced investors, so you will often learn about IB from investment portals focused on stock trading and ETF funds
- The IB brand is also spread thanks to mutual recommendations from the management of banks, insurance companies and securities traders. This management is usually not easy to target with paid advertising and also this management rarely meets regular clients.
How Interactive Brokers and Lynx differ
The Interactive Brokers system is robust and allows, among other things, to "repaint your system" and provide it to other brokers under their own brand. Brokers who use most of the IB system are called Introducing Brokers. The most famous of these introducing brokers in Slovakia is Lynx. Therefore, the Lynx system contains an almost complete IB platform.
If you register an account in Lynx
- After logging into your account, you see the Lynx logo instead of the Interactive Brokers logo,
- Your account will be created directly by Interactive Brokers,
- From Lynx, you get access similar to if you were an IB client directly,
- Your deposits to the investment account via Lynx go to the IB account
- Your transactions are technically executed by Interactive Brokers
- Your securities are also held and managed by Interactive Brokers
Fees - The biggest difference between Lynx and Interactive Brokers
- Update: Interactive Brokers has canceled the Activity Fee of USD 10 per month starting in 2021. Therefore, Interactive Brokers comes out cheaper than Lynx under any circumstances
- Interactive Brokers Fees: You usually pay up to 2 USD / 2 EUR for buying shares and ETFs, and usually up to 2 EUR for currency conversion.
- Lynx fees : buying US stocks and ETFs will cost you at least 5 USD, buying EU stocks and ETFs usually 6 Euros and changing currency usually 5 USD
Other differences
- Lynx also has the Lynx Basic platform. It is a simplified Interactive Brokers platform suitable for beginners
- Lynx has local Czech-Slovak support, while IB only has English support
When does Lynx pay and when does Interactive Brokers pay off?
- Lynx is especially worthwhile for clients who do not know English and therefore appreciate Lynx's local Czech-Slovak support. Therefore, they are willing to pay even higher trading fees
- Interactive Brokers is for everyone who knows English, so there is no need to contact the broker's support in Czech or Slovak
- Our BlueNumbers portal also cooperates directly with Interactive Brokers. That is why we can provide you with paid support for Interactive Brokers, as well as represent you when communicating with Interactive Brokers (In practice, we create an alternative to Lynx support for BlueNumbers, but directly for Interactive Brokers)
Can I register Interactive Brokers if I have Lynx?
( First prerequisite for Interactive Brokers – Not having a Lynx account )
If you have a Lynx account, you may be denied account registration with Interactive Brokers. Lynx, as a broker using the IB platform, has set the conditions so that if you want to open an Interactive Brokers account, you can register it up to 6 months after canceling the Lynx account.
If you want to have a Lynx and Interactive Brokers account at the same time, I recommend:
- If you have a wife and joint ownership, open an account for the wife (She is a different person, even if the property is jointly owned by the spouses)
- Try to register an IB account with a different registration email than you have in Lynx (Maybe it will let you complete the registration and open an IB account)
- Alternatively, consider registering an account for another person
- If you are unable to create an IB account according to the points above (even repeatedly), you may want to consider either canceling your Lynx account or considering a broker other than Interactive Brokers
If IB detects that you also have a Lynx account, you may receive the following email:
Interactive Brokers Security and Guarantees
We would divide the guarantees of this broker into three parts
- Guarantees of the states of the broker's seat
- Guarantees of a broker as a Securities Dealer under supervision
- Business and other broker guarantees
Interactive Brokers offers one of the highest security that a broker can offer
Guarantees of the states of the broker's seat
Interactive Brokers is regulated by the highest financial authorities of various states such as
- US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- English UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in Great Britain
- He also has a permit for the free cross-border operation of a securities dealer in the territory of the Slovak Republic issued by the Slovak NBS ( link ). It also has similar permits in other EU countries.
Interactive Brokers has several stockbroker licenses in the European Union, namely IBIR (IB Ireland), IBLU (IB Luxembourg) and IBCE (IB Central Europe in Hungary). In case of IB bankruptcy, you will receive state guarantees depending on which IB branch you will have an account with. Slovaks only have an account in IBIR (Ireland).
There are guarantees in case of bankruptcy of the broker
- For UK clients £85,000 guaranteed by the English Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- For US clients $500,000 guaranteed by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
- For European clients with an account in IBIR (Ireland) guarantees in the amount of €20,000
Please note that Interactive Brokers is a very large international broker with a relatively low probability of bankruptcy (Described in points below). If Interactive Brokers gets into trouble, it will likely be because many other banks and later states will also be in trouble. In the event that the entire financial system collapses and states have problems, clients will probably only have these state guarantees on paper.
Guarantees of a broker as a securities trader
Did you know that even with the standard license of the Securities Dealer (OCP) for the Slovak OCP, the broker needs to keep his own money separate from the client's money? Therefore, if a Slovak owns a bond, his security is deposited with a depository (usually a bank) and the broker can buy, sell, hold and charge fees to the client, but cannot appropriate his bond deposited with the depository.
Interactive Brokers takes this protection even further
- It is under the supervision of several control authorities of many countries
- Therefore, these control bodies ensure that the broker does not embezzle clients' money
- Shares and other securities of IB clients are separated from Interactive Brokers' own securities through the depository system, in the case of ownership of US shares and US securities, these securities are subject to additional increased protection
- At IB, client money is deposited in the accounts of several large American or other global banks protecting clients from the insolvency of one bank
You can see the details here. The article concerns the UK branch of Interactive Brokers. A similar article will probably be created for clients in the IBIR branch.
Other Interactive Brokers Guarantees
Business guarantees include, for example
- Company operating since 1978
- Traded on the US stock market, including NASDAQ and NYSE (Traded under the ticker IBKR). As a result, it must regularly publish audited financial statements of the company.
- The company is valued at USD 45 billion and is part of the S&P400 midcap index (Index of medium-sized US companies).
- In practice, this means that the value of the Interactive Brokers holding is similar to or greater than the value of the holdings of many banks and insurance companies, for example slightly lower than Unicredit Group (Value 60 billion USD), significantly higher than Reifeisen Group (6 billion USD), or NN ( USD 14 billion)
- Assets
under management over USD 500 billion, more than 3,000,000 client
accounts opened. To give you an idea of how much 500 billion assets
are under management (Numerically 500,000,000,000 USD or 200 Billion in
English)
- About 1/90th the size of the entire S&P 500 (The entire S&P500 is worth about $45 trillion)
- About 1/7 the value of Apple or 1/6 the value of Microsoft
- One of the largest brokers in the USA (Probably belongs to the "Too Big To Fail" type of companies, and in case of problems the broker can be rescued by the US government)
- Interactive Brokers is one of the few global brokers through which banks, funds and other securities traders also invest
Sustainability of the broker
- If you invest through a broker, you will like to see how the broker's sales and profitability develop. If the Revenue (Income) of the broker is 100%, the costs of the IB are around 60% and therefore the IB can maintain a profitability of approximately 40%. Only a company that can generate profit can function and develop in the long term.
If you are interested, I recommend to look at Interactive Brokers stock on Google (Ticker IBKR) and also look at the IB brokers page for investors.
https://investors.interactivebrokers.com/ir/main.php
Interactive Brokers minimum deposit
Interactive Brokers offers two types of accounts - Cash and Margin
For a Cash account:
- There is NO official minimum deposit for a Cash account . On the other hand, with IB, we are talking more about the minimum suitable deposit
- With the Cash account, you have automatic currency conversion . IB will transfer all the money to your chosen domestic currency, e.g. EUR, CZK. He will change your money at a very favorable IB forex rate, which is a currency change with almost no surcharge. You do not deal with sub-accounts in different currencies in IB.
- Minimum suitable deposit in IB – to begin with at least EUR 1000 and gradually buy more (In short, if you have little money in IB, there is nothing for you to appreciate).
- If you just want to try Interactive Brokers, you can also start with 500 EUR and buy one or two shares or ETF funds
- It is true that the more money you have in IB, the less fees you pay (you can read about the fees below)
For Margin account :
- With this account, Interactive Brokers allows you to trade on leverage, even with borrowed money from IB. Therefore, this type of account has a minimum required balance
- The minimum deposit (balance) for the Margin account is €2,000
- If you have less in your account, you will not be allowed to buy leveraged positions or other financial assets.
- The margin account has sub-accounts for each currency. Then you deal separately with the purchase of each asset in a currency different from the domestic currency
- However, you can usually buy stocks, ETFs and securities with only your money in the account (no leverage), even if you have less of that money there.
Interactive Brokers Fees
IB offers standard clients to choose between two types of transaction fee system - Tiered and Fixed commissions.
Fixed / Tiered Commissions
For most clients investing in smaller amounts, we recommend Tiered Commissions, as they have a smaller minimum transaction fee (each purchase / sale of a security). In practice, the purchase of US shares for 1000 USD will cost approximately 1 USD, the purchase of EUR shares up to 2 EUR.
GOLD TIP: set up TIERED FEES at Interactive Brokers
Attention, Fixed fees are preset for new accounts. Therefore, we recommend changing them to Tiered immediately after registering an account. You can also change the Fixed / Tiered fee scheme in the Interactive Brokers account settings.
Tiered commissions
- The transaction price depends on the volume and number of shares
- This type is suitable for most smaller investors
- US stocks and ETFs
- the fee is approximately 0.0035 per 1 share
- minimum per transaction $0.35
- maximum per transaction 1% of the transaction volume
- European shares and ETFs (Traded in EUR)
- transaction fee 0.05% per 1 share or €1.25 (whichever is higher)
- Other European / World Stocks (Except EUR and USD currencies)
- Transaction fee usually up to 0.1% or required minimum per transaction (whichever is higher)
- Tiered fees are more convenient for most regular clients
- more at: https://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/en/index.php?f=39753&p=stocks2
Fixed Commissions
- for the price of the transaction, it is characteristic that it has a larger minimum fee, a larger fee calculated from the volume of the transaction (approx. 0.1% in volume) and the transaction also has its maximum fee (from 30 to 120 EUR)
- this type of fee is suitable for big players
- American shares and ETFs for a minimum of 1 USD, at the same time 0.005 per 1 pc with a ceiling of 1% in the transaction volume
- European shares and ETFs in EUR - minimum usually EUR 4-6 per transaction with a usual ceiling of EUR 50 for the entire transaction
- World stocks are calculated according to a similar key
- Fixed fees are more advantageous only for very creditworthy clients and some companies that trade for several tens to hundreds of thousands of EUR
- more at: https://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/en/index.php?f=39753&p=stocks1
Currency conversion fees
When converting currency, your fee consists of two parts
- Currency exchange fee
- Markup to the market rate of the currency pair (You buy more expensive and sell cheaper than the official currency rate)
The difference between changing the currency Cash vs. Margin account
The cash account has automatic currency conversion , when every purchase is automatically converted to the Forex rate in your chosen domestic currency (EUR, CZK, USD). The Forex rate in IB is an interbank exchange rate with almost no surcharge (You only pay a low spread fee). Therefore, even if you are buying USD shares, you are buying them in EUR, and you can exchange currency almost free of charge.
The margin account has separate sub-accounts for each currency . Therefore, in IB you pay a minimum fee for currency conversion of 2 EUR + a smaller fee from the amount of money. In short, €2 extra per transaction compared to a cash account. If you exchange more than €200, the €2 fee becomes negligible.
However, beware of imbalances in your IB accounts, where you have excess money in one currency and lack in another, so you will pay a fee for borrowing money. For example you can have 2000 EUR in IB, you buy shares for 2000 USD, you forget to change the money and it happens that your USD balance is -2000 USD. Then the IB asks for the annual interest (fee, Margin) for borrowing this -2000 USD.
IB uses the FOREX market when changing currency and can provide favorable exchange rates. When changing the amount of about €1000, the fee for changing the currency is around 2.5 USD for a Margin account and around 0.5 USD for a cash account.
Therefore, as an Interactive Brokers client, your total fee for changing currency is low, so you have no reason to deal with another money change using, for example, Revolut or Transferwise
For comparison, if you use the services of Slovak banks to change 1000 EUR to USD, according to their exchange rates, the surcharge for changing the currency will be in the range of 1.5% to 2.5%, i.e. for changing 1000€ you will pay on average around 20€
If you want to buy American stocks and have a margin account, you can change a larger amount of Euros to Dollars at once and buy several American companies with them. Alternatively, do it the other way around, first buy USD shares and then settle the USD debt by swapping to EUR, leaving only a small uninvested USD balance
Archive: What was the Activity Fee
The Activity Fee was like a prepaid credit of $10 per month that you either used to pay transaction fees or forfeited and deducted from your account. The Activity Fee was canceled as of June 1, 2021.
There were also exceptions to the Activity Fee, for example:
- An account with a value of less than $2000 pays an Activity Fee of $20 per month
- An account with an account value between 2000 and 100000 USD pays an Activity Fee of 10 USD per month
- An account with an account value over USD 100,000 does NOT pay the Activity Fee
- People under 25 had their Activity Fee reduced to $3 per month
What was the significance of the Activity Fee for Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers' decision was that they didn't want to have a lot of small clients. That's why they decided to introduce an Activity Fee.
- IB's goal is to receive a monthly fee for each client
- That's why they decided to introduce an Activity fee - they will collect an account fee of at least USD 10 per month from each client (With some exceptions)
Benefits of canceling the Activity Fee
- Interactive Brokers can thus compete with new competition - low-fee brokers such as Robinhood and others
- At the same time, IB surpasses the competition with its security and the fact that, as a large broker with an automated system, it manages a large amount of money and clients. Therefore, even after the cancellation of the Activity Fee, this broker is profitable
- Interactive Brokers thus becomes choice no. 1 for people in SK, CZ, or Europe
Disadvantages of canceling the Activity Fee
- Clients with small accounts also have the least knowledge and therefore call the Broker's support the most. Therefore, small clients are "expensive" because they pay minimum fees and significantly increase the costs of broker support.
- Interactive Brokers' support for regular clients will deteriorate significantly, as IB refuses to invest in a certain loss in extending support that clients have no way to pay for.
- For this reason, Interactive Brokers also promotes Fixed fees and these fees are also pre-set so that IB can get more from ordinary ignorant clients.
- As BlueNumbers, we use the corporate and partner line for Interactive Brokers, so we can solve clients' problems much faster. Since Interactive Brokers does not pay us directly, BlueNumbers support for Interactive Brokers is paid by the client (just like you pay an accountant, tax advisor or other specialists).
IB specialty - Account for every currency and advantageous currency conversion
From our point of view, Interactive Brokers has a very good currency exchange system for both Cash and Margin accounts.
When registering with Interactive Brokers, you determine the base currency of the account (For Slovaks usually Euro, for Czechs CZK).
If you only have Euros in your account, you can buy stocks, ETFs and other securities with Euros only
If you want to buy shares in another currency (for example American or Czech shares), you need to exchange your home currency for another. With such a change, a sub-account for the given currency is automatically created in IB (Margin account) or the money is automatically exchanged for your Forex rate (Cash account).
There is a difference between Margin and Cash account in Interactive Brokers
Margin account: The creation of an IB sub-account for a new currency is automatic
You simply change your money from EUR to USD and a sub-account in USD is automatically created for you. You can buy US stocks and ETF funds with your new USD. The same applies to CZK, PLN, or any other currency
Within the IB Margin account, you can also have many sub-accounts with different currencies.
Cash account: IB uses automatic currency conversion
Choose your home currency (e.g. EUR or CZK). Then all your deposits will be converted to your home currency. If you buy USD shares, IB will use automatic currency conversion and exchange your money at a favorable Forex interbank rate with almost no markup. Therefore, with a cash account, you do not settle sub-accounts, but only settle the account in your home currency. It is easier for beginners.
Is it worth changing the currency at Interactive Brokers or elsewhere?
We recommend currency exchange directly at Interactive Brokers. Systems such as Revolut or Transferwise will not pay you very much (You will save the minimum). We definitely do not recommend changing the currency at the bank, this method is the most expensive.
Tip on how to find out currency exchange fees:
You want to change EUR to USD. Therefore, first change, for example, 1000 EUR to USD, then change the same amount in USD back to Euros. Then you will find out in practice how much the transfer costs you.
Interactive Brokers has a fixed fee of USD 2 for changing the currency on the margin account, and it changes the currency at the Forex rate with almost no markup.
With a Cash account, you can automatically change the currency and exchange money with a Forex rate at almost no surcharge.
Comparison of currency conversion fees
- Interactive Brokers
- (Margin Account) Change 1000 Euro to 1212 USD (+ 2 USD fixed fee)
- Subsequently, change 1212
- USD to approx. 999.8 EUR (+ 2 USD fixed fee)
- The cost of conversion there and back for the sum of 1000 Euros was 4 USD
- (Cash account) Your fees will be up to 0.5 USD
- Transferwise
- Changing 1000 Euros to 1206 USD (fee from 5.14 Euros to 9.2 Euros)
- Change 1206 USD to 985 EUR (fee from 3.7 to 5.8 USD)
- The cost of conversion there and back for the sum of 1000 Euros was 15 Euros
- Revolution
- Change 1000 Euros to 1212 USD
- Subsequently, a change of 1212 USD to approx. 999 Euros
- The cost of conversion there and back for a sum of 1000 Euros is around 1 Euro
- Standard bank
- Change 1000 Euros to 1176 USD
- Subsequently, the change of 1176 USD to approx. 946 Euros
- The cost of conversion there and back for the amount of 1000 Euros is 54 Euros
Example:
I have €10,000 in my IB account, I will buy a European ETF for €6,000. I will change the remaining €4,000 to USD. I can use these dollars in the account to buy US stocks and other securities denominated in USD.
Currency conversion usually costs a little more than $2.
Recommendation:
- Interactive Brokers has an advantageous currency conversion and at the same time accounts in different currencies (including EUR, USD, CZK, PLN, HUF), so we recommend that you send your money to IB in any currency and do the currency conversion only in Interactive Brokers
- You can deposit to IB as many times a month as you want and in any currency
- You can also use Interactive Brokers as your own currency exchange
- You have to be careful about the limitation - only one withdrawal per month is allowed from IB without a fee
Taxation of dividends - advantage of Interactive Brokers
With brokers, you usually trade either
- American shares
- European actions
- Stocks of the rest of the world
Every country has different tax laws. At the same time, many countries have cross-signed agreements on the avoidance of double taxation. Altogether, there are dozens to hundreds of exceptions. If a broker wants to offer lower dividend taxation, he must provably distinguish which of his sub-accounts belongs to a citizen of which country. Complying with these regulations costs money, so the broker often does not have the ability to ensure effective taxation of dividends and taxes them at a higher rate.
Many brokers will start taxing US stocks at only 15% tax instead of 30% via the W8-Ben form. This form applies to US stocks only.
Dividend tax hell in the European Union
EU
countries are different. Every country has a different tax system.
Therefore, if you want to buy Czech shares, you may be unpleasantly
surprised that the dividend tax rate for Czech shares is up to 35%,
while the normal rate is 15%. It is similar with Polish, Hungarian or
other EU actions. Therefore, in some cases, due to better taxation of
dividends, you may be a more advantageous local broker (For example,
Czech shares through Fio. You can buy them for 8 EUR, but you have a
lower dividend tax rate of 15% and maybe only a SK dividend tax rate of
7%. In Interactive Brokers you can buy them for up to EUR 2, but you
will pay a rate of 35% from the dividend of Czech shares. Therefore,
calculate what is worth it to you)
Interactive Brokers Tax Rates by State
If
the owners of IB accounts own shares, Interactive Brokers deducts tax
from the clients when paying dividends from the given shares.
The list of selected countries and withholding tax rates is given below:
Taxation of US dividends:
- USA 15%
EU countries:
- Austria 27.5%
- Belgium 30%
- Hungary 15%
- Czech Republic 35%
- Denmark 27%
- Finland 30%
- France 28%
- Germany 26.375% (25% WHT + 1.375% solidarity surcharge)
- Netherlands 15%
- Ireland 25%
- Italy 26%
- Norway 25%
- Poland 19%
- Portugal 35%
- Spain 19%
- Sweden 30%
- Switzerland 35%
- UK 0%
IB specialty – Smart Routing and IBIS own exchange of Interactive Brokers
Securities
in IB can be purchased through many different exchanges. The specifics
of IB are the IBIS exchange and Smart Routing technology.
Conventional brokers usually offer stocks and ETFs from only a few
exchanges in the world. Interactive Brokers is different. It offers
actions from tens and hundreds of different stock exchanges of the
world. It often happens that the same share is traded on several
exchanges, even at different prices. That's why Interactive Brokers
takes advantage of this and uses the Smart Routing system for stocks and
ETFs
- If you have it turned on by default like most people, the IB algorithm will find and buy shares on the stock exchange at the best price in the given currency
- Subsequently, when selling shares, he will sell them on the stock exchange for the most advantageous, i.e. the highest, price
- SmartRouting specialty - you can buy shares on one exchange and sell the same shares on another exchange in the same currency (e.g. USD or EUR)
- However, you can NOT buy shares in one currency (e.g. in EUR) and sell them in another currency (e.g. in USD)
What is the IBIS exchange?
- IBIS is the designation of a specific IB exchange that uses IB SmartRouting. That is, if you click buy on the IBIS exchange, you buy and sell shares or other securities at the best price (in the given currency)
- The IBIS exchange is non-physical and virtual, with the help of which you can use the services of other physical exchanges
Thanks to IB Smart Routing, you can buy shares and ETFs on the cheapest exchange at the best price
TIP: IBIS is Interactive Brokers' own exchange that fully supports SmartRouting
This is especially true for large technology companies, as they are traded on many stock exchanges around the world. If you decide to buy, for example, Microsoft shares for USD, IB will look at which exchanges this share is traded in USD and where it is the cheapest. So, to my surprise, I bought my first Microsoft shares in USD through Iceland.
Therefore, if you buy shares in USD, for example, you can sell them on any other exchange in the same currency (that is, in USD).
Be careful, however, if you buy a share traded in EUR, you can no longer sell it in USD or another currency.
The largest exchanges available at Interactive Brokers
US stock exchange
- NYSE (USA) - New York Stock Exchange, the largest in the world
- NASDAQ (USA) – Exchange of mainly technology shares
EU stock exchanges
- XETRA (DE) – The most famous German exchange
- EURONEXT stock exchanges – A connected network of EU stock exchanges, consisting of stock exchanges of different countries (E.g. Euronext France, Euronext Brussels...)
- LSE (UK) – London Stock Exchange, the most famous stock exchange in the United Kingdom
- Borsa Italiana BMVE (IT) – The largest Italian stock exchange
- VSE - Vienna Stock Exchange (AT) - Austrian stock exchange
- WSE - Warsaw Stock Exchange (PL) - Polish stock exchange
EU exchanges that are not in IB
- BCBP – Stock Exchange in Bratislava (SK) – too small to be interesting for IB trading
- PSE - Prague Stock Exchange (CZ) - also too small to be interesting for trading for IB
Other stock exchanges of the world
- ASX - Australia Stock Exchange (AU) - mainly on Australian mining companies
- SEHK - Hong Kong Stock Exchange (CN) - the largest exchange for buying Chinese shares for investors outside of China
- SGX - Singapore Exchange - to buy Asian stocks
Interactive Brokers enables the purchase of financial instruments on more than 100 exchanges in the world. You can find the entire list at the link below
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1562&p=north_america
TIP for beginners: Choose the IBIS exchange. It is usually the most advantageous
Cash or Margin account in IB
When trading securities, you have the option of using only your own money, or you also have the option of borrowing other people's money. That's why IB has a basic Cash or Margin account
Cash account
- You trade on it only with your own funds
- You cannot borrow other people's money
- You can't accidentally close a trade that you don't have enough money for
- Therefore, for the reasons above, you cannot even accidentally get your account value to zero
- This account also has a downside. Although you can buy shares, ETFs and convert currency immediately at the current exchange rate, administratively it takes up to 3 days for IB to fully process this transaction for you and you can sell these securities or use your money after currency conversion
- The cash account has automatic currency conversion. So you keep an account in your home currency (e.g. EUR or CZK), and when you buy assets in another currency (e.g. shares in USD), it will automatically convert the currency to the FOREX exchange rate. This conversion is very profitable (fee up to 0.05% per transaction) and therefore automatic conversion is beneficial for beginners.
- The cash account does NOT require a minimum initial deposit
- For the reasons above, we recommend a Cash account for beginning investors and for investors using the Buy & Hold strategy .
Margin account
- It allows you to borrow and use foreign money for a fee for borrowing money
- This allows you to buy stocks worth more than the amount of your own money. You trade "on leverage".
- When trading on leverage, not only your profits are multiplied, but also your losses. Therefore, leveraged trading is risky
- If you close your leveraged positions by mistake, you can lose a significant amount of money
- At the same time, with a Margin account, you can buy and sell your shares, ETFs and other securities immediately without restrictions, and you do not have to wait 3 days for the transaction to be confirmed, as with a Cash account
- With a margin account, you have an IB sub-account for each currency in which you buy assets. It is up to you which exchange rate and when you change your money. The minimum conversion fee is €2 + a very small spread. Beware of the situation when you have 2000€ in your account, you buy shares for 2000 USD, and so you have a debt on your USD account of -2000€. Then you receive a fee for borrowed money (Margin) in USD. You need to settle your bills yourself.
- The margin account has a minimum deposit of €2,000
- We recommend the margin account especially to traders and traders with experience
TIP: You can later switch from a Cash account to a Margin account
(Especially when you learn to work with the IB platform and you will not be in danger of using leverage out of ignorance)
IB specialty - Stock Yield Enhancement Program
If you have an account in IB worth at least 50,000 USD, you can join the Stock Yield Enhancement Program. Thanks to this program, external third-party companies can borrow "your stocks and ETFs" for short-term trading. With this program, you cannot lose your shares and "lose them". On the contrary, you can get extra appreciation for renting them out.
When using this program, it can sometimes happen that your shares are borrowed during the dividend payment date and you will receive Dividend in Lieu money instead of an official dividend. With this dividend, you get your dividend paid not by the company whose shares you own, but by a third party. Therefore, this dividend is subject to different types of taxation.
According to IB statements, they always try to eliminate that their clients receive Dividend in Lieu (PIL dividend).
From our point of view, it is worth participating in the Stock Yield Enhancement Program. If your IB account value is less than USD 50,000, this program is automatically disabled. You can change your participation in this program in the IB account settings
More information about the Stock Yield Enhancement Program
Link: https://ibkr.info/node/1838
More information about Dividend in Lieu
Link: https://ibkr.info/article/2713
IB Specialty - Cash Yield Enhancement Program (Earn Interest on Cash)
Earn
Interest on Cash (Formerly Cash Yield Enhanced program) allows you to
earn your funds at Interactive Brokers. The interest in IB is derived
from the standard interest rates of the central banks in the given
currency. The interest rate is usually a bit more favorable than in the
bank.
The standard conditions of the automatic program are:
- Account balance of at least USD 10,000 / EUR 10,000 or equivalent in another currency
- Appreciation (Interest) varies according to interest rates.
- If the conditions are met, the program will start automatically
- You can find the exact conditions on the link below.
https://www.interactivebrokers.ie/en/accounts/fees/pricing-interest-rates.php
Choosing an Interactive Brokers branch
Interactive
Brokers owns branches in several countries. In Europe, we meet with
branches of IBUK (Great Britain), IBIR (Ireland), IBCE (Hungary) and
IBLU (Luxembourg). The main reason why IB has up to 4 different branches
in Europe is EU regulations. Each EU country has slightly different
legislation. Some EU countries resemble tax havens (for example Ireland,
Cyprus or Hungary).
IBIE branch (Ireland): It is currently the main branch of Interactive Brokers for all clients in the European Union
IBUK branch (Great Britain): Until 2020, most IB clients were under the IBUK branch, because Great Britain was still a member of the European Union and Interactive Brokers could use the broker's international passport and thus open accounts with any citizen of the European Union with a branch in the UK. On 1 January 2021, Brexit took place, and the hardest Brexit concerned financial companies. That's why Interactive Brokers created new branches IBCE and IBIR. The reason why there are currently three IB branches in the EU is from our point of view
IBCE branch (Hungary):
This branch in Hungary is being phased out from 08/2024. All clients
had the opportunity simply, with a few clicks, to transfer to IBIE
(Ireland), i.e. to the main branch of IB in the European Union. The
reasons for the cancellation of the IBCE branch from BlueNumbers' point
of view are mainly the targeting of the IBCE branch for clients in
Central Europe, Ukraine, and Russia. Thanks to the Russia-Ukraine war,
from 2022 sanctions on Russia and in the direction of Russia have also
increased. As a result, most foreign investors lost their ownership of
Russian stocks. As IB can no longer serve clients from Russia due to
sanctions, it has decided to gradually cancel the branch in Hungary
(IBCE) and move all clients to Ireland. IB will thus significantly save
on administrative costs.
IBLU branch (Luxembourg): Currently inactive. Luxembourg used to be a well-known financial center, but today it is losing the benefits of a tax haven and financial companies are moving to other countries
Usually, the client does not have the opportunity to choose under which branch he will be registered. A European citizen automatically comes under the IBIR branch (Ireland). According to his broker's branch, he is covered by Interactive Brokers bankruptcy guarantees (This section is described above in the Broker Security section).
IB specialty - APIs and connections for automated trading
If you are going to trade stocks using automations and trading robots, you will probably be using the IB platform. They offer suitable APIs and data sources necessary for robo trading.
IBKR Lite vs. IBKR PRO
IBKR PRO is a standard Interactive Brokers account for Europeans (including Slovaks). From 6/2021, you do not pay the Activity Fee on IBKR PRO.
IBKR Lite is a free account for clients from the US and India, as a direct competitor to the Robinhood broker. With IBKR Lite, you can trade shares and ETF funds commission-free, with no minimum required deposit and no Activity Fee. However, neither Europeans nor Slovaks can open this account, and there is no point in opening it anymore, since the main advantage of IBKR Lite has been lost - no Activity Fee and IBKR Pro fees for buying shares are very low.
Interactive Brokers specialty - suitable for corporate investing
If you want to invest company money, for example from an s.r.o. or a.s. environment using trading on your own account, Interactive Brokers will be your first choice.
Investing in the stock market through a legal entity is completely different from investing through a natural person. With a legal entity, you cannot use the time test, on the other hand, you can use various tax and accounting optimizations. For example, one of them is to use the investment in shares as a tax expense.
Investing through an s.r.o. is mainly about equipment for paperwork, accounting, tax consulting and tax optimization.
Therefore, if you want to invest company money, our VIP services for entrepreneurs can be very interesting. We can bring you investment-tax-accounting advice on how to better evaluate your company money, get more favorable special types of company loans or get other benefits for entrepreneurs. It's like having an accounting, tax and investment advisor in one person. Savings can be in the thousands of EUR.
- Contact us via BlueNumbers contact
Open an account in IB if I am a beginner and want to start investing with a small amount of money?
Choosing a broker and his fees are only half of investing. The other half is education, your experience and understanding of how the market behaves. Therefore, if you are a complete beginner and just want to try investing, you may be interested in having an account with, for example, broker XTB for education in Slovak / Czech, or Etoro because you can also buy fractional shares in it for a few tens of Euros. When you want to evaluate an amount less than 500 Euros, I recommend not looking only at your profit. If you earn even 10% per year, with an account value of 500 Euros, it will be a profit of only 50 Euros. Much more important are your experience, patience, adherence to your strategy and managing panic in case of market declines.
Nothing prevents you from opening multiple accounts with different brokers for the sake of education and gaining experience.
Our guess is that you will have the majority of funds in Interactive Brokers and other broker accounts will only be "auxiliary"
If you are interested in learning more about investing, take a look
How to register an account in Interactive Brokers
In this section, you will find practical advice on how to proceed when setting up an Interactive Brokers account. When opening an IB account, you can use the Interactive Brokers referral bonus.
Interactive Brokers Referral Bonus
- It is an account registration to refer another client to Interactive Brokers
- The new client will get
- A new client will receive a bonus of up to 1% of the value of deposits up to USD 1000 (So the maximum bonus you will receive for a deposit of USD 100,000 in the first year)
- The client can get this Bonus only once and only for one of his accounts
- The new client will continue to have the same fees as without using the Referral Bonus. In short, this referral bonus is just a Bonus without disadvantages
- This bonus is paid in the form of Interactive Brokers shares (IBKR)
- Attention: To get this bonus you need to use a really valid IB referral link. One referrer can refer a maximum of 15 people per year, so if you use an old link somewhere on the web, the bonus will not be credited to you (described below).
- The referrer gets a new client
- Receives the first $100 bonus if the new client pays a total of $330 in fees. The referrer will receive an additional $100 if the new client pays an additional $330 in fees
- So the bonus is a maximum of $200 paid out for $660 in fees paid
- In practice, this means that this referral bonus will only come to you when you no longer need it, i.e. in 1 to 6 years
- Referral notices
- A referrer can only refer 15 accounts per year and 30 accounts for the entire duration of their IB account. Therefore, if you use the old IB referral links on the website, you do not need to get this bonus of 1000 USD in IBKR shares .
- Therefore, check whether you still have free invitations. Instructions for finding the number of recommended accounts are a few paragraphs below.
- (The reason for limiting referral links to only 15 people is EU regulations)
- BlueNumbers tips for the referral line
- Ask your acquaintances in IB if they can send you a link. Verify that they have referred less than 15 people.
- If you don't know someone in IB, you can use the link below. More than 15 people have already registered through this link, so the chance of getting a bonus is 50:50
- You can also ask for a valid link on this post in the BlueNumbers Facebook group
- Do NOT look for IB referral links on websites and forums. More than 15 people definitely registered through them. Therefore, the chance of getting a bonus is similar to when you use the IB link in the paragraph above. However, you will save time searching for other IB lines
- We at BlueNumbers do not have any bonus from your registration via the link above, because more than 15 people have already been recommended via this link
- If you want to deposit up to 5000 in the first year, your maximum bonus can be up to €50, so these bonus lines have no practical meaning for you. If you deposit several tens of thousands of Euros, this bonus is already interesting
How to find the number of recommended accounts within IB
Instructions in steps
- Log in to your IB account
- 1. Click on user settings (arrow above)
- 2. Then click on Account Settings
- 3. The IB Account Settings section will open, and there you will find the Reffer and Friend Status section
Option to try Interactive Brokers Demo account
With this Demo account, you can see how well you know Interactive Brokers, as well as find out the fees for buying different stocks from different countries. I recommend creating a Demo account via the link
What to watch out for when registering an IB account
We recommend during registration
- Create an Individual account
- Choose a Cash account (For most clients, a Cash account is more suitable than a Margin account)
- After registration, change your Tiered fees (Instead of Fixed fees)
- Join the Stock Yield Enhancement program
When registering an account, you will need to enter
- Your name, surname and address without diacritics (If you enter diacritics there, it will give you an error and will not let you continue with registration)
- For Slovaks, TAX ID is their birth number without a slash
- The Bonita form must be filled out in order to pass. In that case, the minimum property value must be more than 20,000 EUR)
- It allows you to trade different instruments according to your experience. Therefore, you need to specify that you have experience in trading stocks and funds. If you want to buy bonds, you will need to similarly enter your experience with bonds
We recommend that you see the picture instructions for registering an Interactive Brokers account
This guide can help you deposit money into IB
First steps after logging into Interactive Brokers account
You
have created an account in IB, and it has been approved. After logging
in, you will see the main screen of your Interactive Brokers account.
Interactive Brokers account settings can be found as follows:
- Steps as shown below
- 1. Open your account menu. The icon is in the upper left bar.
- 2. Click on Settings
- 3. A new window with account settings will open
- 4. Scroll down to see more settings
After
unpacking, you will see quite a lot of options, views and settings in
the menu. There is no need to be scared, you will get used to them
quickly. You won't use much of this menu for a very long time.
How to buy your first stocks and ETFs at Interactive Brokers
The basis is to deposit the first money in Interactive Brokers. We recommend following this guide
How to understand and enter a purchase order in IB
If you want to buy your first stocks and ETFs, look for the ticker or ISIN code of your security through the magnifying glass. If you find it, you can look at the charts to see if you are seeing the right action
Once you have selected a particular stock, click on Buy / Sell and a shopping menu will open on the right.
In this menu you will find
- Name of the security (In our case, it is an Apple share)
- The current price of the unit
- Option to choose whether you will buy (Buy Order) or sell (Sell Order) the action. If you haven't bought the share yet, you have nothing to sell and the Sell Order will be closed.
- You choose the number of shares you want to buy.
Determination of Order Type
Interactive Brokers is a platform for professional traders. Therefore, it also allows conditional orders, i.e. buy a share if the condition is met and, for example, the price will be a maximum of xy Eur.
At the same time, it must be remembered that the shares of companies move, that is, they rise or fall. That's why some traders want to buy a share at a lower than standard price (buy with a discount). And that's exactly what the different types of commands below are for
Types of Order Type orders
- Limit
- With this order, you specify the maximum (limit) price at which you are willing to buy the share. If the share price is above the limit price, he will not buy you shares, but will wait for a possible drop in the price
- If your limit price is too low, the stock may not drop that much and therefore you will never buy your stock
- At the same time, this Limit order is also a guarantee that the price of the share will not rise too high at the time of purchase. It is the price of small and volatile shares that can fly hugely, so this order is often better than the market
- We usually recommend this command
- MidPrice
- It is a special command and a special feature of the Interactive Brokers platform. It allows you to buy shares cheaper and wait for the right moment. IB MidPrice is an enhancement of the LIMIT order,
- At the same time, Interactive Brokers can also buy these shares through its internal market (outside the stock exchange), so you can have a slightly lower transaction fee
- Interactive Brokers analysts determine what is a good price to buy and when to buy a stock
- We usually recommend this command
- Market
- With this order, you buy your shares immediately, at the current price. You do not have the option to set a maximum or minimum price
- Stop
- It is the first of the conditional commands.
- With it, you enter the conditions of what needs to be met in the market to activate and fulfill the order.
- The two basic types of Stop orders are Sell Stop and Sell Buy
- A Sell Stop is the sale of a stock if its price will fall to save you money. Sell Stop is an alternative to Stop-Loss in Forex.
- Buy Stop is the sale of a share, if you go to "Sell", you have bet on the decline of the share. It is again an alternative to Stop-Loss in Forex
- Most people don't use this command
- Stop Limit
- Another of the conditional orders, as a combination of the Limit (Buy maximum for) and Stop (Sell if the price drops to) order
- Most people don't use this command
- Market on Close
- Execute the order right during the last 15 minutes of the trading day on the stock exchange and buy at any price
- Most people don't use this command
- Limit on Close
- Execute the order during the last 15 minutes of the trading day, if the share price is below the Limit Price
- Most people don't use this command
Interactive
Brokers also allows other types of conditional orders for traders. If
you are an ordinary person who wants to buy and hold stocks for the long
term, we recommend MidPrice, Limit and Market orders.
What does Time-In-Force mean
- Time in Force determines how long your order will be valid and will wait for the "proper constellation of stars"
- Command types
- Day means that your order will either be filled for the current day or will expire at the end of the current day (disappear)
- At The Opening means to buy at the beginning of the trading day
- Good Til Cancel means leave the command there until it is fulfilled. It is used, for example, together with Limit orders, i.e. wait to buy until the price falls below, for example, the limit price xy
- We recommend Good Til Cancel to most regular long-term buyers
- Traders often use other types of orders as well
What does Outside RTH mean?
- Most trades on the exchange take place during normal trading hours of the exchange (European usually from 9:00 to 17:30 our time, American from 15:30 to 22:00 our time)
- Smaller businesses are also traded outside of these times. Since there are fewer traders on the stock market after hours, bigger players can more easily manipulate the stock price. That's why stocks can shoot up and down a lot outside of opening hours, causing losses to Stop-Loss traders
- Exchanges are closed on the weekend, and then the price action can rise or fall. Therefore, if you want to shop on the weekend, be sure to click Outside RTH
- If you trade as an ordinary person, and you have a Limit order, you usually check that you want to trade also outside RTH (Outside RTH), because the price of your share can jump significantly lower outside of opening hours, and thus you buy cheaper.
- If you want to buy long-term, buying outside RTH is often not important for you and you don't care if you buy a stock 1% less or more. .
Profit Taker and Stop Loss
- Profit Taker is more often called Take Profit, that is, selling shares as soon as their price reaches the xy value
- Stop Loss is the sale of shares as soon as their price falls below xy
Order entry and Preview function
- The preview function at the bottom of the menu allows you to see at what price you could buy the share and how much you will pay in fees. That's why we always recommend giving the Preview option before buying
- Transmit Order means to enter and confirm a full order, i.e. purchase according to our rules defined above
Currency exchange at Interactive Brokers
Look for the Transfer & Pay section in the menu and in it Tranfer Funds .
Then select the Convert Currency section and select the type and amount of currency you want to change.
If you are changing a new currency for the first time, a sub-account with the new currency will be created for you immediately, with which you can buy new shares. Changing currency in Interactive Brokers is convenient, so you often have no reason to deal with currency changes externally outside of IB.
When changing currency, always click the Preview button to see your conversion fees.
Below in 4 screenshots you will find a short guide to changing the currency. You can find the detailed system in the article below
Change of fees from Fixed to Tiered
If you accidentally clicked on Fixed Fees when signing up, you may be surprised at how expensive Interactive Brokers is. Therefore, I recommend changing the fees from Fixed to Tiered according to the instructions below.
Click through to Account Settings as shown in the image below
You can find the IBKR Pricing Plan in the settings
You change the type of fees from Fixed to Tiered
How to activate the purchase of fractional shares
You can also buy fractional shares at Interactive Brokers. It is especially interesting when buying more expensive companies such as Amazon or Tesla.
You can activate the purchase of only fractional / fractional US shares
You need to buy European stocks and ETFs in whole units
You need to activate fractional share trading.
Instructions for activation:
- Article How do I enable Fractional Shares
- Youtube tutorial Enabling Fraction Shares
What to do when you can't trade stocks, bonds, options, ETFs
You can trade instruments in IB only if you meet EU regulations and write that you have enough experience to trade them. Therefore, find the Account Settings section again as in the chapter above. This time you will scroll down and you will find the Trading Experience & Permissions section.
You
fill in your experience with the instruments you want to trade. If you
complete your experience and meet the minimum requirements needed to
trade these instruments, these instruments will be unlocked for you and
you will be able to trade them.
Opening a sub-account to an existing account in Interactive Brokers
You can also open additional sub-accounts for the IB account. You can use sub-accounts, for example, when you need to create separate accounts for your family members or children. Again, you are the primary administrator of these accounts as well, and this account is yours for tax purposes.
Procedure:
- Log in to IB under your account
- Find the character icon (at the very top corner) and click on manage account
- On the manage account tab, find the Configuration section (left column)
- In the Configuration section, click Open Additional Account
- Then choose to create a New brokerage account and then an Individual Account
- You fill out a similar application as when registering an Interactive Brokers account for the first time. However, this application is significantly shorter because a lot of data is copied from your first IB account
- After approval, you will be able to switch between your IB accounts
Step 2:
Step 3 and 4:
Export of transactions from IB / Lynx for tax reporting purposes
You will definitely need a statement of transactions and portfolio in Interactive Brokers, for example, in situations
- Comparison of portfolio performance
- Separating your portfolio from others
- For the purposes of preparing a tax return
BREXIT and statements from Interactive Brokers and Lynx
If you had IB or Lynx even before Brexit (ie in 2020), and subsequently agreed to migrate to a new country, you will have a new account number in Interactive Brokers / Lynx. Therefore, for the needs of a statement of transactions for the past year, you need to view the history of your original account as well.
A typical mistake people make is that they look at the history of their migrated account and see nothing there. They don't know they need to switch to their old IB / Lynx account.
To obtain a tax statement, we recommend following this Lynx guide (IB has the same)
Login to IB via multiple devices
Most people will have Interactive Brokers as an app on their mobile. You will probably mainly trade through a computer web browser (You can see better charts). You can view your account simultaneously on several devices . At the same time, only one of your devices has the right to trade. Therefore, if you want to trade, choose the device through which you want to trade.
At
the same time, if you need, you can set up multiple users for one
account in IB, while each user has different login data and password.
Detailed instructions for Interactive Brokers belonging to this page
- Interactive Brokers – Detailed instructions on how to register an account (LINK)
- Interactive Brokers instruction how to deposit and withdraw money (LINK)
How to get your special questions answered
Surely, while reading the article or later, you have come up with questions to which you still cannot get an answer.
You can find the answers in the articles:
- You can check the articles on BlueNumbers where you can find the answer to your questions. For example, only the series Stocks and ETFs already has 5 parts. It is available here:
- If you are considering whether to choose XTB, Lynx or Interactive Brokers, we recommend the article
- If you are considering other brokers as well, you can view a large broker comparison
Ask your questions in our Facebook group
BlueNumbers free bonus:
You can also write your questions as a comment under this article
If you have a question and want to contact us directly, write to us.
During paid consultations, you can get answers and support, such as:
- Familiarize you with accounts with individual brokers and show their platforms
- Advise whether you are thinking correctly when choosing funds
- You can get feedback on other investment solutions (Including shares, funds, cryptocurrencies, commodities, or Forex trading)
- Get support regarding tax issues, accounting, or preparation of a tax return
- Get support in investing company money
- Get support if you want to learn to trade stocks, commodities, FOREX.
BlueNumbers bonuses when opening an Interactive Brokers account
- If you decide to register with Interactive Brokers through our recommendation, you can get a referral bonus , in the form of bonus shares in the amount of approximately 1% of your total deposits in the first year.
- In practice, this means that for a combined annual deposit of USD 100,000 (or its equivalent in Euros), you will receive an additional USD 1000 in the form of Interactive Brokers shares. In the case of smaller deposits, your bonus will be proportionally smaller.
- The maximum new client bonus you can earn as a referral is $1,000 in Interactive Brokers shares
- At the same time, the fees in Interactive Brokers will be the same regardless of whether you use the referral bonus or not.
- The bonus for the referrer (the current IB client who will provide the link) is significantly smaller. The bonus is max. $200, while on a new IB account, a new client needs to pay up to $660 in fees. Therefore, the IB referral bonus is slow and may take 1 to 6 years to arrive. In short, you only get the IB referral bonus when you no longer need it.
- WARNING! The referrer can refer only 15 new clients per year (and 30 clients for the entire duration of his IB account).
Referral notices
- A referrer can only refer 15 accounts per year and 30 accounts for the entire duration of their IB account. Therefore, if you use the old IB referral links on the website, you do not need to get this bonus of 1000 USD in IBKR shares .
- You can find out how many people you have recommended to IB by following the instructions in the picture below
- (The reason for limiting referral links to only 15 people is EU regulations)
BlueNumbers tips for the referral link
- Ask your acquaintances in IB if they can send you a link. Verify that they have referred less than 15 people.
- If you don't know someone in IB, you can use the link below. More than 15 people have already registered through this link, so the chance of getting a bonus is 50:50
- You can also ask for a valid link on this post in the BlueNumbers Facebook group
- Do NOT look for IB referral links on websites and forums. More than 15 people definitely registered through them. Therefore, the chance of getting a bonus is similar to when you use the IB link in the paragraph above. However, you will save time searching for other IB lines
- We at BlueNumbers do not have any bonus from your registration via the link above, because more than 15 people have already been recommended via this link
- If you want to deposit up to 5000 in the first year, your maximum bonus can be up to €50, so these bonus lines have no practical meaning for you. If you deposit several tens of thousands of Euros, this bonus is already interesting
How to find the number of recommended accounts within IB
Instructions in steps
- Log in to your IB account
- 1. Click on user settings (arrow above)
- 2. Then click on Account Settings
- 3. The IB Account Settings section will open, and there you will find the Reffer and Friend Status section
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Warning: Investing in the financial markets involves risks. Your total loss may exceed your total deposit.
Tips for other articles
Broker comparisons
- Choose XTB, Lynx or Interactive Brokers?
- Part 3. - How to choose an ETF broker - a great comparison of brokers
Tutorials for Interactive Brokers
- Interactive Brokers - Detailed instructions on how to register an account
- Interactive Brokers guide how to deposit and withdraw money
Parts of the Stocks and ETFs investment series
- Part 1. - How to avoid typical investing mistakes
- Part 2. - What are ETF funds and how are they taxed
- Part 3. - How to choose an ETF broker - a great comparison of brokers
- Part 4. - How to choose ETF funds
- Part 5. - Buy shares or ETF funds? How to choose them