News @ IBKR - Volume 9

Fractional Trading

NEW TOOLS

Too Expensive?
Not Anymore with Fractional Trading

Interactive Brokers recently introduced the ability to buy and sell using a cash quantity or fractional shares, which are stock units that amount to less than one full share. This new functionality lets investors purchase as little as $1 of almost any US stock, experiment with trading and investing without committing substantial sums of money or learn about building and rebalancing diversified portfolios.

You can request permission for fractional trading of stock orders by logging in to Client Portal and selecting the Settings > Account Settings menu item. Click the Configure (gear) icon for the Trading Experience and Permissions section, expand the Stocks section and select United States (Trade in Fractions) to enable.

Once enabled, you can trade fractional shares from our IBKR Mobile, Client Portal or Trader Workstation (TWS) trading platforms. When placing an order, simply tap or click the quantity field to show the size wand, use the toggle to switch between dollars or fractional share quantity and enter the quantity for your order.

Please let us know what you think by sending feedback to fractions-feedback@ibkr.com.

Learn More

Track Your Wire Withdrawals in Real–Time

New Tools

Track Your Wire Withdrawals in Real–Time

IBKR is a participant in the SWIFT Global Payment Innovation (GPI) initiative to bring greater transparency to the routing of electronic payments.

We recently introduced functionality to let clients track in real-time the progress of wire withdrawals from their IBKR account. In addition, this functionality will help you better understand the costs associated with wire transfers, including the fees taken during each leg of the transaction and, if applicable, foreign exchange rates.

Real-time data regarding wire withdrawals is available from the Transfer & Pay > Transaction History menu in Client Portal.


Log in to Client Portal

Use Your IBKR Account for More

EXPANDED OFFERING

Use Your IBKR Account for More

An Integrated Investment account from IBKR provides several of convenient cash management tools that let you use your IBKR account for more. Direct Deposit lets you automatically fund your account with the benefit of earning competitive interest on idle cash balances. Invest in stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds around the world and use Bill Pay or our Debit Mastercard to purchase or pay expenses. In addition, you can:

  • EARN market rate interest on idle cash balances1 and earn extra income by lending your fully paid shares of stock to IBKR.
  • BORROW against your account whenever needed at extremely low, market determined rates.
  • SPEND with the IBKR Debit Mastercard wherever Mastercard is accepted and use Bill Pay to pay almost any expense with your IBKR account.
  • INVEST on more than 125 markets in 31 countries from a single Integrated Investment account.

The Interactive Brokers Debit Mastercard is currently available to US resident account holders with cash or margin accounts. Applying for the card is fast and easy. Log in to Client Portal and select the Transfer & Pay > Debit Card menu item to apply, request additional cards, manage your cards or track your transactions.

Learn More

 

IBKR Trading Platform

New Tools

New Features for Trading Platforms

We have added new functionality to our platforms to deliver the best trading experience whether you are trading on the go or from your desktop.

  • The IBKR Mobile homepage was enhanced to consolidate key account, position and market updates - plus quick access to For You notifications - on a single page
  • Each of our trading platforms has an improved news reader that offers better readability with larger headlines, eye-catching fonts, and cleanly formatted articles.
  • IBot was updated to include improved fundamentals research support.

ABOUT IBKR TRADING PLATFORMS

 

Mutual Fund Research

EXPANDED OFFERING

Mutual Fund Research Made Easy

Mutual funds offer a way of diversifying a portfolio and gaining exposure to a variety of market strategies. IBKR added enhanced support for mutual fund research to simplify finding funds that meet your investment style or criteria.

  • Trader Workstation (TWS) now includes support for mutual fund data points in Watchlist columns.
  • Fundamentals Explorer now lets you use data from Lipper to compare funds, view holdings and allocations, and view detailed breakdowns of fees and performance over time.

Click learn more to explore our mutual fund offering.

Learn More

 

NEW PRODUCTS

New Funds, Product and Research Providers

IBKR recently expanded its offering of funds, products and research providers.

Funds

We now offer access to 12,467 mutual funds from 261 fund families, including 8,987 no-load funds and 4,445 no transaction fees. New US fund families include

  • AXS Investments
  • Cavanal Hill Funds
  • Payden & Rygel Funds
  • Schroders – US Funds

Learn More


New Trading Venues / Products

Products

Explore all the products available on the IBKR Platform.

Learn More

Expanded Research Offering

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

  • TheLeadingEdge
    A macro and asset allocation research publication that is geared toward the everyday investor. A subscription provides a monthly, in-depth report, actionable advice and strategic asset allocation recommendations.
  • Validea
    Validea's Stock Research suite is a web-based investment research tool that analyzes stocks using a series of systematic, fundamentally-oriented investing models.

View our current listing of research providers.

Learn More

New Feature

A New Tool for Introducing Brokers

Introducing Brokers on the IBKR platform can access our new Broker Portal by clicking the LOG IN button on our website. The new Broker Portal maintains all the functionality of Classic Account Management but offers significant improvements in navigation, workflow and design.

Key enhancements include:

  • Full Integration of the Dashboard with CRM: Use a single screen to manage the full client acquisition and client relationship lifecycle.
  • Client Data Queries: Generate reports to segment and analyze your client base. All reports are available in HTML, PDF or .CSV format and can be searched by:
      • Symbol: Query by symbol, position or activity and generate client activity reports by symbol, performance or volume for specified timeframes.
      • Transaction Count: Measure client transaction activity across trades, dividends or position transfers for specified timeframes.
      • Performance: Identify accounts with Time-weighted returns above or below a user-defined threshold for specified timeframes.
  • Updated Semi-Electronic Application: The fully electronic application was previously updated and now the semi-electronic application has a new look, improved workflow and mobile support.
  • 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.

Additional information about the new Broker Portal is available in a recorded webinar from July 2019 or in the Broker Portal Users' Guide.

Feedback is welcome and can be sent to am@interactivebrokers.com.

Learn More

New Products

Interactive Advisors Introduces Five Socially Responsible Investing Portfolios

Interactive Advisors Socially Responsible Investing portfolios are designed to invest in companies that operate businesses with socially desirable products and services, and incorporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into investment decision-making, thus incentivizing better practices from the companies. Portfolios are constructed using a rules-based approach, offered at a relatively low cost and managed by Interactive Advisors' Chief Investment Officer and Investment Management team. Each portfolio has a minimum investment of USD 1,000 and an AUM fee of just 0.11%.

Click on a link to learn more about the portfolio:

Please note that commissions for trades in these portfolios charged by Interactive Advisors' affiliated broker-dealer Interactive Brokers LLC are separate and in addition to the management fee.

ESG investment strategies could limit the types and number of investment opportunities available to these portfolios, lead the portfolios to underperform portfolios without an ESG focus or with a distinct ESG focus, and result in these portfolios investing in securities or industry sectors that underperform the market as a whole or foregoing opportunities to invest in securities that might otherwise be advantageous to invest in. Interactive Advisors could also be unsuccessful in creating a portfolio composed of companies that exhibit positive ESG characteristics.

Learn More about Interactive Advisors

Past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all investments, including those in this portfolio, involve the risk of loss, including loss of principal and a reduction in earnings.

Interactive Advisors is currently licensed to offer investment services to US residents only. This communication and Interactive Advisors' website are NOT intended to be a solicitation or advertisement in any jurisdiction other than the United States. Interactive Advisors 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 Interactive Advisors portfolios should consult with their tax professional about the tax consequences of investing in Interactive Advisors portfolios.

EXPANDED OFFERING

Market Commentary Delivered to Your Inbox

IBKR recently launched a new website for our Traders' Insight and Quant Blog market commentary sites.


traders' insight
Market Commentary from Nearly 100 Firms

Traders' Insight, our market commentary blog, features written and video market commentary from individuals at nearly 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.

Watch IBKR Traders' Insight video commentary from the News monitor panel in TWS by clicking the "expand" button in the News monitor panel and selecting Traders' Insight Video.

Quant Blog
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, IBKR API, artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain 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 contributors covering markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

READ THE QUANT BLOG

Connect with IBKR on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube.

Traders' Insight:
IBKR Quant:
Corporate:
Traders' Academy

EXPANDED OFFERINGS

New Courses Available at Traders' Academy

Traders' Academy offers investors, educators and students 40 courses on the products, markets, currencies and tools available at Interactive Brokers. Each course uses a syllabus to define instructional goals, clearly states learning objectives and delivers content across multiple lessons. Quizzes and tests are used to benchmark progress against learning objectives and each course uses a combination of online lessons, videos or notes to help students learn at their own pace. In addition, students can ask questions of IBKR subject matter experts, provide written feedback on each course and rate their learning experience.

New courses include:

Understanding Leveraged & Inverse ETFs

ETFs resemble mutual funds in structure but can be traded throughout the day like stocks. Direxion offers leveraged ETFs - daily trading tools that are designed to help increase exposure and stay agile in rapidly changing markets.

Introduction to American Depositary Receipts

If you are interested in investing in non-US companies, this course explains how to gain exposure through American Depositary Receipts. We explain what an American Depositary Receipt is; why an investor would use them; where and when ADRs are traded and how investing in ADRs differs from investing directly in the stock of a foreign company. This course also covers the history of ADRs and potential benefits and risks.

Futures Fundamental Analysis

Fundamental analysis is the process of determining the model price of a futures contract, now and in the future, using factors like micro economic data, macro-economic data, and industry financial conditions.

Sector Investing

This course aims to help students understand some of the tools available within TWS to better analyze sector investing. The course also explains the use of Beta in understanding the economic cycle.

Introduction to Stocks

If you are new to investing and want to begin to understand stock market fundamentals, this course will help familiarize you with some common terms and concepts surrounding investments.

Fundamental Analysis

This course walks through fundamental accounting concepts covering Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows, using available company data in TWS.

Introduction to Indexes

This course introduces indexes. You will learn what an index is, how it is used, and how index constituents are selected. We will discuss what it means for an index to be float-adjusted, as well as how index values are calculated, and how those values are used to calculate performance.

U.S. Municipal Bond Market

In this course, IBKR senior market analyst Steven Levine provides an overview of the US municipal bond market, including the types of securities investors typically encounter, tools for understanding the risks associated with municipal securities and using Trader Workstation (TWS) for municipal bond investing.

Enroll Today

2019 Calendar App

New Tools

2019 Tax Form Availability

Please note that 2019 tax forms will be accessible in early 2020 via the Reports > Tax menu in Client Portal. Alternatively, you can visit the Tax Information and Reporting section of our website for additional information.

Start Your Planning

 

2020 Calendar App

New Tools

2020 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.

View the Calendar App

 

Margin borrowing is only for sophisticated investors with high risk tolerance. You may lose more than your initial investment.

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 at the stated rate on balances over USD 10,000 in securities accounts with NAV exceeding USD 100,000. Accounts with less than 100,000 NAV will receive USD credit interest at rates proportional to the size of the account. The rate paid in smaller accounts is proportionally reduced, so that if the total value of the account is $60,000, the interest rate paid is reduced by 40%. For more information, see ibkr.com/interest.

Margin loan rates and credit interest rates are subject to change without prior notice.

BY USING THE INTERACTIVE BROKERS DEBIT MASTERCARD YOU AGREE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE CARDHOLDER AGREEMENT AND FEE SCHEDULE, IF ANY. This card is issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank (Member FDIC) pursuant to a license from Mastercard International. "Metropolitan Commercial Bank" and "Metropolitan" are registered trademarks of Metropolitan Commercial Bank© 2014.

All interest and borrowing activity is through Interactive Brokers LLC. Please see your customer agreement with Interactive Brokers LLC for further details.

Card program marketed and administered by Interactive Brokers LLC, the Program Manager of the Interactive Brokers Debit Mastercard.

Please keep in mind that Interactive Advisors is currently licensed to offer investment services to US residents only. This communication or Interactive Advisors' website is NOT intended to be a solicitation or advertisement in any jurisdiction other than the United States. Note that commissions for trades in these portfolios charged by Interactive Advisors' affiliate, Interactive Brokers LLC, are separate and in addition to our management fee. Note that there may be similar offerings in the marketplace with lower investment costs. 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. For a set of full disclosures regarding investments in these portfolios, please review this document: risk-disclosures-for-socially-responsible-investing-portfolios-28-nov-2019.pdf