New Feature

IBKR Expanding Interest Payment Benefit to Smaller Accounts

IBKR client accounts with a Net Asset Value (NAV) of USD 100,000 (or equivalent) or more are already eligible to receive credit interest on long settled cash balances and short stock collateral values in their securities accounts.1 However, starting January 1, 2019, IBKR client accounts with a NAV of less than USD 100,000 (or equivalent) will receive credit interest on long settled cash balances and short stock collateral values in their securities accounts.

The interest these clients receive will be proportional to the size of the account. For example, an account with a NAV of USD 50,000 would receive credit interest at a rate half that of an account with a NAV of USD 100,000 or greater.

IBKR is committed to helping you minimize costs to maximize returns. We pay our clients competitive interest on cash balances and offer extremely low commissions to invest in stocks, options, futures, forex and fixed income products in more than 120 markets. In addition, we offer some of the lowest borrowing rates in the industry.

Bond Trading Desk

NEW FEATURE

IBKR Launches Corporate Bond Trading Desk

IBKR created a corporate bond trading desk to facilitate larger US and European corporate bond trades where electronic liquidity is insufficient.

While the desk will not take positions, it will broker everything with the street. The minimum size for a trade is USD 100,000 and the desk charges the regular electronic commission plus a ticket charge of USD 50 per trade.

The corporate bond trading desk currently supports individual "U" accounts but does anticipate adding support for other client types and fixed income products in the future.

Clients who wish to reach the desk may do so at bonddesk@ibkr.com.

 

IBot Intelligence

Innovative Tools

IBot – The Next Step in Intelligence

IBKR continues to incorporate the latest AI research into the engine powering IBot. Recent integrations and enhancements to functionality mean that IBot helps you do more than ever, including:

  • Managing your account and subscriptions, transferring and depositing funds, and running in-depth portfolio analysis.
  • Trading corporate, municipal and government bonds.
  • Accessing the abundant information in our IBKR Knowledge Base and Traders' Academy courses to provide more detailed answers.
  • Keeping you informed of upcoming corporate actions, dividends and other events with corporate and economic calendars.
  • Connecting to your production account through the IBKR IBot Alexa app to provide you with account-specific data.

With its powerful predictive algorithm that suggests the most useful "Next Steps" for you and a new, optimized user interface, IBot presents smarter, more detailed answers for a more intuitive trading experience.

 

IBot Skill

New Tools

IBKR IBot Skill for Amazon Alexa: Check Prices, Get Market Updates and Much More

In 2017 we launched IBot, our natural language interface to trading and account management that made it easier than ever to submit a trade, find key account information, stay current on market activity and more by using simple text and voice commands.

Now we are pleased to introduce the IBKR IBot Skill for Amazon Alexa, which leverages the power of IBot to access content quickly and securely from any Alexa-enabled device, including the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Fire TV, and Fire TV stick.

Use the simple voice command: "Alexa, open IBKR" to enable the skill. Once enabled, you can ask Alexa for the latest market updates, real-time quotes, and general information or "how-to" instructions about Interactive Brokers.

Current IBKR clients can securely link their trading account to Alexa via the Alexa app. Once linked, you can interact in read-only mode to quickly access account details such as your current P&L, spending limits, position details and more.

Note that we keep your login details completely private, and never share this information with Amazon.

Click the link below to learn more about the IBKR IBot Skill for Alexa and how to securely connect your account.

 

IBKR Mobile

New TOOLS

Closing the Gap Between Mobile and Desktop

We added functionality to IBKR Mobile, Trader Workstation (TWS) and Client Portal to create a seamless trading experience across platforms, whether you are trading from your desktop or on-the-go.

IBKR Mobile

We released the following enhancements to simplify trading on-the-go:

  • An Events Calendar to view Corporate Earnings and Events, Economic Events, Dividends, Splits and IPO/Secondary Offerings – all from one screen. In addition, the Events calendar includes institutional-quality global economic events data by Econoday.
  • Twenty four new Implied Volatility (IV) data points that you can display as columns in your Portfolio, Watchlists and Scanners. IV data points for options include IV Percentile, IV Rank, IV High and IV Low, for 13, 26 and 52 week periods.
  • Streaming video on the new Media tab, including Bloomberg TV, Traders' Insight and more.
  • Trader Launchpad (Trades button in iOS), which is always available to summarize recent activity, quickly create a buy or sell order or view recently used symbols.
  • The ability to see up to seven days of trades from the Orders/Trades screen.
  • Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data points to provide a broader basis for investment decisions.

Trader Workstation (TWS)

Trader Workstation sports a new look and feel for cleaner navigation and easier viewing. We added a new Search field to the top of most menus and the New Window drop-down simplifies your search for tools by allowing you to search by name or asset type (e.g. search "options" to see all option-based tools).

We also added Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data points to provide a broader basis for investment decisions and added 24 new Implied Volatility (IV) data points that you can display as columns in your Portfolio, Watchlists and Scanners. IV data points for options include IV Percentile, IV Rank, IV High and IV Low, for 13, 26 and 52 week periods.

Client Portal

The Client Portal recently introduced a new homepage and added a Market Overview page with streaming video, including Bloomberg TV and IBKR Traders' Insight.

New Feature

Announcing the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studios

Interactive Brokers is the new sponsor of Bloomberg's radio studios. Our sponsorship includes studio branding, a radio presence, YouTube and simulcast opportunities, podcasts and social media promotion. In addition, high-profile guests will relax in the new Interactive Brokers Market Lounge as they prepare to go on the air. The studios are prominently located in Bloomberg's New York City headquarters, which welcomes more than 130,000 visitors annually.

Listen and watch for the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studios in the coming weeks.

New Products

IBKR Asset Management Adds State Street Portfolios

IBKR Asset Management combines the low costs and convenience of online investing with human support. Its broad selection of actively and passively managed portfolios now includes portfolios based on model ETF portfolio data licensed from State Street Global Advisors. The minimum investment for the new portfolios is just $5,000 and the annual management fee is 0.30%.

The model portfolio allocations are actively managed by IBKR Asset Management and rely on State Street Global Advisors' tactical asset allocation decision-making process, which includes evaluation of global asset classes. The investment views underlying each portfolio are informed by State Street Global Advisors' quantitative approach and refined by the fundamental views of their Investment Solutions Group, a 90+ member investment team.

  • The Tactical Moderate Strategy seeks to capitalize on short-and long-term mispricing in the global equity and fixed income markets by overweighting asset classes which appear attractive and underweighting asset classes which the team expects to underperform.
  • The Tactical Growth Strategy seeks to capitalize on short-and long-term mispricing in the global equity and fixed income markets by overweighting asset classes which appear attractive and underweighting asset classes which the team expects to underperform.

Interactive Brokers LLC brokerage clients who are US residents can partition their existing brokerage accounts to select IBKR Asset Management as an investment advisor and invest in these and other portfolios suitable for their risk level. Advisors may also invest their clients' assets in any other IBKR Asset Management portfolios suitable for their investment profile.

State Street Global Advisors

Past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all investments, including those in these portfolios, involve the risk of loss, including loss of principal and a reduction in earnings. Commissions for trades in these portfolios charged by IBKR Asset Management's affiliate, Interactive Brokers LLC, are separate and in addition to IBKR Asset Management's management fee. There may be similar offerings in the marketplace with lower investment costs. While based on data licensed from State Street, these portfolios are not managed by State Street. In providing the model ETF portfolio data, State Street does not act as an investment adviser or fiduciary or provide individualized investment advice to IBKR Asset Management or its clients. IBKR Asset Management clients are required to review and acknowledge a risk disclosure document before being able to invest in these portfolios.

IBKR Asset Management is currently licensed to offer investment services to US residents only. This communication or IBKR Asset Management's website is NOT intended to be a solicitation or advertisement in any jurisdiction other than the United States. IBKR Asset Management does not provide tax advice, does not make representations regarding the particular tax consequences of any portfolio investments and cannot assist clients with tax filings. Clients investing in IBKR Asset Management portfolios should consult with their tax professional about the tax consequences of investing in these or any other IBKR Asset Management portfolios.

New Feature

Daily Leverage Certificates (DLCs) at Singapore Exchange (SGX) Available via IBKR

Single Stock Daily Leverage Certificates (DLC) started trading on the SGX in November 2018 and are now available via IBKR. The Single Stock DLC is a structured product offering investors fixed leverage of 5 times the daily performance of the underlying stock and provides a lower cost alternative to gain exposure to a select list of SGX and HKEx-listed stocks. Investors can also trade the 3x, 5x, and 7x Long and Short DLS on key Asian indices, including Hang Seng Indices and the MSCI Singapore Index listed on SGX.

Eligible clients can request trading permission for Singapore stocks by logging in to Account Management or Client Portal and selecting the Settings > Account Settings menu option. Click the "Configure" icon on the Trading Permissions panel and select "Singapore" from the listing of stock trading permissions.

From the Trader Workstation (TWS), you can enter the official ticker codes listed on the webpage of SGX. Click "Learn More" to review the listing of DLC Codes on the SGX website.

Note: Due to regulatory considerations IBKR is unable to offer trading in Singapore stocks and SGD-denominated futures on SGX to Singapore residents. We hope to offer this ability in the near future. Nothing on this or any other page on the IBKR website should be construed as being made to, directed at, actionable by, an offering to or solicitation of, persons in Singapore to trade on the SGX or outside of Singapore.

New Products

New Investment Products

New Mutual Funds

We now offer access to 11,107 funds from 228 fund families, including 7,558 no load funds and 4,197 funds with no transaction fees. In addition, we added 9 new fund families.

US Fund Families
  • Leaders Capital Funds
  • LS Theta Funds
  • Navigator Funds
  • Palmer Square Funds
  • Power Funds
  • Seven Canyons Funds
  • Third Avenue Funds
  • Weitz Funds
  • William Blair Funds

View our complete list of mutual funds.

New Trading Venues/Products/Market Data Feeds

Explore all of the products available on the IBKR Platform.

Expanded Research Offering

The following research providers were recently added to the IBKR platform:

View our current listing of research providers.

New Feature

New Account Management Features for Advisors

IBKR's complete turnkey solutions provide trading, clearing, reporting and billing for advisors of any size, with no long-term contract required. Our transparent, low commissions and financing rates and support for best price execution help you minimize costs to maximize your return. IBKR's advanced and powerful suite of trading platforms help you optimize your trading speed and efficiency.

We recently introduced several enhancements to help advisors more effectively manage their client relationships.

Responsive Account Management

Our new Account Management platform maintains all the functionality of Classic Account Management but offers significant improvements in navigation, workflow and platform design. Key enhancements include:

  • Full Integration of the Dashboard with CRM: Use a single screen to manage the client relationship lifecycle.
  • Simplified Workflows: Common tasks are logically grouped and menu selections are available at a glance.
  • On-the-go Functionality: Ability to manage clients on-the-go with almost any iOS or Android device.
Performance Fee Above Threshold Fee Structure

Advisors can now use our Performance Fee Above Threshold fee structure to charge performance fees for gains above an advisor-defined threshold. The threshold can be specified as a benchmark or fixed annual rate of return and charged on an annual or quarterly basis.

Traders' Academy

EXPANDED OFFERINGS

New Courses Available at Traders' Academy

Traders' Academy helps professionals, investors, educators and students better understand the products, markets, currencies, tools and functionality available at Interactive Brokers. Courses use a syllabus to define instructional goals. Learning objectives are clearly stated and content is delivered across multiple lessons. Quizzes and tests are used to benchmark student progress against learning objectives.

Each course uses online lessons, videos, and notes to help reinforce subject matter and let students learn at their own pace. Students can ask questions of IBKR subject matter experts, provide written feedback on each course and rate their learning experience. New courses include:

Measuring Portfolio Metrics with IBKR's Risk Navigator©

Learn how to use the IBKR Risk Navigator, which is a powerful standalone portfolio monitoring tool built to measure and aggregate real and dummy position exposure across all asset classes. The Risk Navigator can measure common size exposure according to currency and Greek metrics, such as delta, gamma and vega. This portfolio management tool can help users monitor positions according to beta or equal weightings. Its what-if functionality enables investors to measure the potential impact on investments and expected margin requirements of adding or reducing positions to and from a portfolio.

Order Types

This course covers multiple ways for investors to enter orders using TWS Mosaic. The lessons teach basic limit and market order entry, as well as setting up stop orders (existing position or not). The course also explains the Time-in-Force attribute and distinguishes between day and good-til-cancelled orders. As we progress, the lessons explain more complex orders such as bracket, one-cancels-all and trailing order types.

Securities Lending and Borrowing

This course is aimed at helping investors wanting to take a short position in stocks understand what to do and where to find key information in Trader Workstation. We explain the short selling cycle and how investors can easily find out stock loan availability in the platform. Students will learn about IBKR's Pre-Borrow utility and how this may increase the chance of settlement. Finally, we explain the benefits to shareholders of lending out stock and how IBKR's Stock Yield Enhancement Program automates this process for enrollees.

Trading Around the World

Understand the implications of trading outside of your domestic market. This course helps investors be aware of available markets, trading permissions and market data available through Interactive Brokers. Learn about the features of your IBKR account including decisions on managing exchange rate risk and the implications of fluctuating currencies. We explain the various forms of trading currencies, how and why it might happen, and spend time reviewing the FXTrader software. We also discuss borrowing as an alternative to currency hedging, evaluate the use of margin loans and address how currency orders can be attached to equity trades occurring outside of your denominated account currency.

TWS Algos

Algorithms are sets of instructions built to help the user perform complicated tasks easily. Trader Workstation employs many algorithmic order types with the aim of helping investors submit orders for execution subject to such a set of rules. This course introduces the user to several algos available in TWS and provides a detailed overview of several complex orders that can help maximize your returns by providing a better fill at the most advantageous destination subject to customized rules.

NEW FEATURES

New IBKR Market Commentary

IBKR continues to expand the resources available to help its clients understand markets, trading and technology.



More than 100 Firms Now Contributing to Traders' Insight

Traders' Insight, our market commentary blog, features written and video market commentary from individuals at more than 100 firms. In addition, IBKR's Chief Options Strategist Steve Sosnick offers market commentary and Senior Analyst Steve Levine provides Asian and US weekly previews.

Did you know you can watch IBKR Traders' Insight video commentary via the News monitor panel in TWS? Just click the "expand" button in the News monitor panel and select Traders' Insight Video.

A Growing List of Contributors to the IBKR Quant Blog

The IBKR Quant Blog serves quantitative professionals who have an interest in programming. Discussion topics include deep learning, artificial intelligence (AI), Block chain and other transformative technologies influencing modern markets. Discussions about R, Python and other popular programming languages often include sample code to help you develop your own analysis. The blog has more than 40 contributors covering markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia.


Learn more about these resources and how to connect with IBKR via Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels by visiting us online.

2018 Awards

AWARDS

IBKR has received industry recognition for its low costs, breadth of product, and sophisticated technology.

Interactive Brokers ranked number one in Barron's 23rd annual ranking of The Best Online Brokers.1 IBKR won high marks for pricing, range of offerings, trading experience and portfolio analysis. Columnist Theresa Carey wrote that the Interactive Brokers' low trading costs benefit both active and occasional traders. The firm was also ranked "Best for Frequent Traders" and "Best for Options Traders."

2019 Calendar App

New Tools

2018 Tax Form Availability

We would like to remind you that 2018 tax forms will be accessible in early 2019 via the Reports > Tax menu in Account Management / Client Portal. Alternatively, you can visit the Tax Information and Reporting section of our website for additional information.

 

2019 Calendar App

New Tools

2019 Trading Calendar

International Trading Calendar Holiday and Expirations HTML App

Our calendar displays exchange holidays and contract expiration dates for the major exchanges and products around the world. Use the HTML Calendar App on your desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile device. The calendar is also available as a PDF in poster size and wallet size.

 

Supporting documentation for any claims and statistical information will be provided upon request.

Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. For more information read the "Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options". For a copy, call 312 542-6901

Any trading symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to portray recommendations.

[1] USD credit interest is paid on balances over USD 10,000 in security accounts. For more information, see ibkr.com/interest. Please note that this web page will not be updated to show that customers with less than USD 100,000 NAV will be eligible to receive credit interest until 1/1/2019.