Configuring Your Account

Configuring Your Account

Customer Types

Depending on the customer's country of residency, an account will be assigned to IB LLC, IB CAD (Canada), IB UK (Europe), or IB (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Individual

Available Legal Vehicles: LLC, CA, UK, India

Available Account Structures:

• Individual, Joint, Trust, IRA
• Friends and Family
• Family Office
• Advisor¹
• Advisor Client¹
• Broker Client¹
• SIPP²
• EmployeeTrack³

Explanation: An account owned and utilized by a single trader or investor. A Single account can be linked to multiple Single or IRA accounts.

Trust

Available Legal Vehicles: LLC, CA

Available Account Structures:

• Individual, Joint, Trust, IRA
• Friends and Family
• Family Office
• Advisor Client
• Broker Client
• EmployeeTrack ³

Explanation: An account in which the securities are registered in the name of the trust, while a trustee controls the management of the investments. Trusts with more than one trustee will be deemed Professional for market data purposes.

IRA Trust

Available Legal Vehicles: LLC

Available Account Structures:

• Advisor Client

Explanation: An IRA account held at a designated Third Party Trustee. This account is only available as a client account for a U.S Advisor.

Corporation

Available Legal Vehicles: LLC, CA, UK

Available Account Structures:

• Friends and Family
• Small Business
• Family Office
• Advisor
• Advisor Client
• Broker
• Broker Client
• Proprietary Trading Group
• Fund
• EmployeeTrack ³

Explanation: An account in the name of a corporation, managed on the corporation's behalf by the corporation's officers or authorized traders.

Limited Liability Company

Available Legal Vehicles: LLC, CA, UK

Available Account Structures:

• Friends and Family
• Small Business
• Family Office
• Advisor
• Advisor Client
• Broker
• Broker Client
• Proprietary Trading Group
• Fund
• EmployeeTrack ³

Explanation: An account in the name of a limited liability company ("LLC"), managed on the LLC's behalf by its officers or authorized traders.

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Available Base Currencies

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 who hold a margin account may change their base currency at any time through Account Management.

Cash accounts can have multi-currency (MULT) capability and can trade non-base currency products. ¹

You are not restricted from making deposits and withdrawals in any one of the aforementioned non-base currencies. ²

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Account Types

When opening your account you have a choice of Reg T Margin, Reg T IRA, Cash, or Portfolio Margin account types. For more specific information on margin calculations, see our Margin Requirements page. The following table provides a quick-glance comparison of these accounts. View the account type page from the links above for more details.

Stocks and Warrants

Reg T Margin: Margin is calculated on a real-time basis. Immediate position liquidation if minimum maintenance margin requirement is not met. Purchase and sale proceeds available immediately. US securities regulations require a minimum USD 25,000 in equity or equivalent to day trade.

Reg T Margin - IRA: Cannot borrow cash i.e. have a debit balance or short stocks.

Cash (including IRA accounts): Account must have enough cash to cover the cost of stock plus commissions. Shorting not allowed. Cash from the sale of stocks is available three business days after the trade date. Account may trade in different currencies but must have the settled cash balance to enter trades. When authorizing market, relative and VWAP orders, a 5% cash cushion is required to compensate for market movements.

Portfolio Margin¹: Margin is calculated on a real-time risk basis. Immediate position liquidation will occur if the minimum maintenance margin requirement is not met. Purchase and sale proceeds available immediately. US securities regulations require a minimum USD 110,000³ or equivalent for this account. If your account drops below USD 100,000, Reg T margin requirements will apply.

Stock and Cash Index Options

Reg T Margin: Margin is calculated on a real-time basis. Immediate position liquidation if minimum maintenance margin requirement is not met. Purchase and sale proceeds available immediately. To purchase options the entire premium plus commissions must be deposited. To sell options and other strategy-based combos, the margin requirements and commissions must be covered. US Securities regulations require at least 25,000 USD in equity or equivalent to day trade. Option market value may never be used for the purpose of borrowing funds.

Reg T Margin - IRA: Cannot borrow cash i.e. have a debit balance or short stocks. For information on combination strategies that require borrowing and consequently are not available, see the Reg T Margin IRA column on the Options Margin Requirements page.

Cash (including IRA accounts): Full payment required for all call and put purchases. Covered call writing is allowed, but the underlying stock must be available and is then restricted. Naked put writing is allowed, but the funds must be available and then are restricted. Cash from the sale of options is available one business day after the trade date.

Portfolio Margin¹: Same as Portfolio Margin requirements for stocks.

Futures Options²

Reg T Margin: Margin is calculated on a real-time basis. Immediate position liquidation if minimum margin requirement is not met. Cash required to meet variation margin requirements. Non-US futures options are available to US legal residents.

Reg T Margin - IRA: N/A

Cash (including IRA accounts): N/A

Portfolio Margin¹: Same as Reg T Margin account type.

Single Stock Futures²

Reg T Margin: Margin is calculated on a real-time basis. Immediate position liquidation if minimum margin requirement is not met. May be cross-margined with US stocks and options.

Reg T Margin - IRA: N/A

Cash (including IRA accounts): N/A

Portfolio Margin¹: Same as Reg T Margin account type.

Forex-Leverage

Reg T Margin: Borrowing to establish a position (trading Forex on a leveraged basis) is allowed. Additional qualifications must be met and additional trading permissions are required for Forex-Leverage.

Reg T Margin - IRA: Never allowed to borrow currencies.

Cash (including IRA accounts): Cash from Forex transactions is available two business days after trade date. Never allowed to borrow currencies.

Portfolio Margin¹: Same as Reg T Margin account type.

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Pricing Structure

IB offers a variety of pricing structures to calculate commissions. See our Commissions page for complete details on all of our pricing structures.