Account Management Webinar Notes

Quick Links

Overview

IB's Account Management system lets you configure and manage your IB account from a single window and gives you convenient access to these account functions:

Getting Around


Logging In


 

Failed Login Attempts

After ten failed login attempts within 24 hours, your Account Management login will be disabled. If this happens, contact Customer Service.


Home Page

When you log into Account Management, the Account Management Home page appears. The Account Management menu appears in the left pane and the various pages appear in the larger right pane.


Navigation



Menus

You access all the pages and functions of the Account Management system from the menu in the left pane. Each main menu item contains a submenu with several links that give you access to all the features of the Account Management system, depending on the type of account you have. Simply click a menu item to open that page in the right pane.



Menus and Submenus

Click a main menu item to expand its submenu, and click the menu item again to collapse its submenu. Main menu items have a plus or minus sign next to them. For example, if you click Account Administration, all of the submenu items in that category become visible and you can click any one to access that page. If you click Account Administration again, the submenu is hidden.

 

Continue and Back Buttons

Many Account Management functions contain several pages, which are connected by Continue and Back buttons.

The following image shows how the Continue button lets you navigate through the User Access Rights pages.

Important:When navigating through the different pages in Account Management, do NOT use your browser’s Back button. If you do, you may be logged out of the system. Instead, use the Back button provided on the Account Management page


Getting Help


Contextual Help

Get contextual help for the Account Management menu and submenu items. Turn off contextual help by clicking the link at the bottom of the menu.


Account Management Users' Guide

The Account Management Users Guide contains detailed instructions on how to use the different functions in Account Management. Access this Users Guide from one of the two locations in Account Management:

Many pages in Account Management contain additional brief information in the form of Explain links. Click an Explain link to display a popup window with additional information about a specific item on a page. For example, the following figure shows an Explain link on the Trade Confirmations page in the Report Management menu.


Printing and Logging Out


Printing

You can print any page by clicking the Print link in the upper right corner.

Logging Out

Log out of Account Management by clicking the Logout link in the upper right corner.

 

Automatic Logoff

If you are logged into Account Management but the system detects no activity for 30 minutes, your Account Management session will automatically expire and you will have to log back in. This is true even if you access Account Management from within TWS.

A message will appear warning you that you will automatically be logged out without further activity.

Once your session expires, another message appears informing you that your session has expired and you have been logged out. You must log in again to start a new Account Management session.

Customer Service Tools

Account Management gives you access to several Customer Service Tools at the top of the left pane, including corporate action updates:


Message Center

Click the Message Center icon in the left pane to access to our Client Inquiry Management System (CIMS), which lets you submit questions directly to IB Customer Service and track the status of your Customer Service inquiries.

To find out what the various symbols and icons in the Message Center mean, click Legend.


Corporate Actions

In the Message center, click the Corp Actions tab to view Corporate Actions messages. Corporate actions include notifications of dividends, stock splits and corporate reorganizations. For voluntary


Live Chat

Customer Service Live Chat lets you communicate directly with an IB Customer Service representative in real time. To access Customer Service Live Chat, click the Chat button in the Customer Service Tools Menu at the top of the Account Management left pane.

To begin a Live Chat:

  1. In the Customer Service Live Chat window, select a category from the Category list. For example, you can select Account Security & Protection or Account Services as the Category, or one of the other categories in the list.
  2. Select a sub-category from the Sub-Category list.
  3. Select your language from the Language list, and then click Submit.

Tools

Click the Tools icon at the top of the Account Management left pane to access the Customer Service Tools page. This page provides a list of useful links, including contact instructions, tips for getting the best service, and more.

The last three tools listed are ONLY available from this page in Account Management:


Short Stock Availability Tool

This tool shows the number of shares available to borrow of a stock for shorting and the current indicative borrow rate.

You can:

Security


Protecting Your Account

Note: For more information regarding account security, see our Security web pages or our Strength and Security page.


Secure Login System

IB provides additional protection to your account against fraudulent transactions via our Secure Login System. As soon as your account is funded, the Secure Login System sends you an IB security device free of charge, which is a passcode card the size of a small credit card with a list of random codes to be used in conjunction with your username and password to access secure areas. If you are an existing customer and are not enrolled in the Secure Login System, or have opted out of the program in the past and now want to enroll, you can use the Secure Login System page to apply for an IB security device.

Use the Secure Login System page in Account Management as follows:

Once your device has been activated, each login attempt to either Account Management or TWS will require the two authentication factors - your user name and password combination and the security code generated by your device.


If You Choose Not to Participate in the Secure Login System

If you choose not to get participate in the Secure Login System, be aware of the following:


Secure Login Device Sharing

The security device obtained through our Secure Login System can be used to access multiple accounts as long as the user identification of the accounts is identical. You request this feature on the Secure Login Device Sharing page in the User Management menu.

Note: For more information on the Secure Login System, see our Secure Transaction Program web page.

Account Administration

Account Administration lets you configure your IB account, including configuring financial and regulatory information, IP restrictions, pricing structures, base currency; set up user access rights; and change personal account information such as name or address.


Creating Additional Linked Accounts

You can create new accounts that are linked to your account from the Create Additional Account page. Once you create linked accounts, you can access all of them in Account Management using a single user name. You can create any number of new linked accounts. Once you create a linked account and log into Account Management, you can perform any action, such as modify trading permissions or transfer funds, for a specific linked account. Linked accounts must be separately funded. You can also access linked accounts using a single user name in Trader Workstation, WebTrader, MobileTrader and iTWS.

At the present time, only Individual Users and Individual IRA Users can create and link new Individual and Individual IRA accounts.

If You Do Not Finish the Account Application in One Session

If for any reason you must log out of the new account application, you can finish it later and complete the linking process. To complete an unfinished account application for a new linked account, first log into Account Management then go to the Create Additional Account page. Click Finish Application to complete the in-progress Account Application for the new account.

When the new account is activated and open, it will be linked to your original account.

Account Management for Linked Accounts

After you have created a linked account, you can perform any action in Account Management for that account as long as that account has a status of Open, such as modify trading permissions or transfer funds, by first selecting the linked account. Once an account has been created and linked, it will appear in a drop-down list in the menu above “Home” the next time you log into Account Management. Simply select a linked account from the drop-down before you do anything else in Account Management.

Adding Users and Assigning Access Rights

The User Access Rights page displays information about all users registered with your account.


On this page, you can:

Note: For more information on User Access Rights in Account Management, see our Users and Access Rights web pages.


Other Account Administration Functions

There are a number of other things you can do in Account Administration.

Funds Management

Lets you set up fund deposits and withdrawals, initiate position transfers, view your transaction history for the last 45 days, and create settlement instructions.


Fund Transfers

The Fund Transfers page lets you set up fund deposits to and withdrawals from your IB account, as well as internal fund transfers between IB accounts. You can also view cash balances in your account on this page.


Cash Balances

You can view the following cash balances on the Fund Transfers page:


Deposits

IB supports the following types of fund deposits:

To use this page to set up a deposit of funds, first select Deposit Cash from the Transaction list, then select the type of deposit you want from the Method list. Fill in the fields on the screen then click Confirm. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete your deposit request.


Bank Instructions

For ACH Initiated At IB and Canadian EFT Initiated At IB deposits, you must also select a Bank Instruction from the Source list. If you don’t have any bank instructions yet, select Add New Instruction from the Source dropdown to create one.

Follow the instructions on the screen to fill in the fields for your new bank instruction, then click Continue. Once you create this instruction, you can re-use it for future ACH and Canadian EFT deposits.


Withdrawals

The Fund Transfers page lets you notify IB of a withdrawal or outbound transfer of funds from your IB account. IB supports the following withdrawal and outbound transfer types:

To use this page to set up a withdrawal of funds, first select Withdraw Cash from the Transaction list, then select the type of withdrawal you want from the Method list. Fill in the fields on the screen then click Confirm. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete your withdrawal request.

Withdraw Cash


Recurring Transactions

When you set up deposit or withdrawal transactions, you can schedule the transaction to recur at monthly, quarterly or yearly intervals. Each recurring transaction requires that you first create a bank instruction, which can then be used for both recurring and non-recurring transactions. You can also view a list of all existing recurring transactions.

You can set up all deposit and withdrawal transaction types to be recurring transactions EXCEPT Direct Rollovers and Trustee-to-Trustee deposits, which are only available for IRA accounts.

When you select Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly as the Frequency, you also specify:

Viewing Existing Recurring Transactions

All bank instructions for recurring transactions are displayed in the Recurring Transaction section of the Fund Transfers page. To view a list of existing recurring transactions, on the Fund Transfers page, click Recurring Transactions. The section expands to display all saved bank instructions for recurring transactions.

Cancelling a Recurring Transaction

To cancel a recurring transaction, click the corresponding red X in the list of recurring transactions on the Fund Transfers page. Clicking the X removes this recurring transaction instruction from the system and cancels all future recurring transactions that use the instruction. If the recurring transaction you cancel is already in process, it will not be cancelled when you click the X on this page. You must also cancel the transaction in process on the View Transaction History page.

Bank Instructions

For ACH Initiated At IB, Wire and SEPA withdrawals, you must also select a Bank Instruction from the Instruction list. If you don’t have any bank instructions yet, select Add New Instruction from the Instruction list to create one. For a Wire Bank Instruction, you must also select either Bank Wire Transfer or Broker Wire Transfer.


Internal Funds Transfers

The Fund Transfers page lets you transfer funds internally from your IB account or an internal fund transfer to another IB account. IB supports the following kinds of internal fund transfers:

To use this page to set up an internal transfer of funds, first select Internal Funds Transfer from the Transaction list, then select the type of internal funds transfer from the Method list. Fill in the fields on the screen, then click Confirm. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete your withdrawal request.


Internal FUnds Transfer

Position Transfers

The Position Transfers page lets you transfer positions to and from your IB account. IB supports the following types of position stransfers in Account Management:

To use this page to set up a transfer of positions, first select your desired transaction type from the Method list, then make additional selections based on the type of transfer:

The following screens show how to add positions to a partial ACATS transfer.



View Transaction History

The Transaction History page lets you view cash transactions, position transfers and bank instructions made within the last 45 days for your account or for a client or sub account that you manage.

You can view the following information on the Transaction History page:

To view your transactions, select View Transaction History in the Funds Management menu, then click on the appropriate tab. If you move your mouse over the status of each transaction, a little popup window displays a description of that status. Cancel pending transactions by clicking the X icon in the Action column.


Stop Payment

You can submit a request to stop payment of a check withdrawal on the Transaction History page. Stop payment requests are subject to the following rules:


Requesting a Stop Payment

To request a stop payment of a check withdrawal:


Settlement Instructions

For recurring transfers of funds or securities, you can create settlement instructions in Account Management that can be used each time a transfer request is made. The Settlement Instructions page lets you add, view, and delete settlement instructions that can be used when you want to transfer US stock or options positions between IB and another broker.

Note: This page is not available for IRA accounts.

This page displays information for stocks, options, futures and futures options settlement instructions. You can:

Report Management

Lets you customize and generate reports such as activity statements, margin reports, trade confirmations, and tax forms.

Activity Statements

Activity Statements include information about your account activity and you can generate daily, monthly or annual statements for all of your accounts. Information included in an Activity Statement is presented in expandable/collapsible sections with click-down detail, and you can create customized statement templates to include or exclude individual sections. You can also choose to include closed accounts. You are notified via email when there is account activity.


Viewing Activity Statements

To view activity statements, click Report Management in the left pane, then click Activity Statements. Select a template, dates, account and format (HTML/Web to view in your browser, or PDF).

You can select Full Default, Simple Default or one of your own customized templates as the template for your statement. Select the Full Default template to include ALL sections of an activity statement. (Note: this is the only template that supports the Annual period.) Select Simple Default to specify fields to use and exclude some sections that you do not want to use.

Make a note of the following guidelines when viewing activity statements:

You can expand and collapse each section individually. Click the slate blue section heading bar to expand a section, and click it again to collapse it. Here is an example of an Activity Statement, shown with sections collapsed and expanded.


You can expand all sections or contract all sections in an HTML activity statement by using the links in the upper right corner of the report.

You can also print an HTML activity statement by clicking the Print link in the upper right corner.

For a complete list and description of all sections in an Activity Statement, see the Activity Statements tab on our Statements and Reports web page.


How Long Can You Access Activity Statements in Account Management?

Activity statements can be downloaded and stored locally. IB provides Web access to activity statements in Account Management for a limited time; after that, there is a fee for each request:

You can obtain older account statements for a processing fee of $100 for the first statement requested, plus $25 for each additional statement requested at the same time.

Customized Templates

You can create and save customized statement templates that let you exclude information you do not need in an activity statement. When you create a customized template, you select only those sections that you want to include in your activity statement.

You can do the following with Activity Statement customized templates:


Settings for Delivered Statement Templates

You can specify additional information for customized activity statement templates that you want to be sent via email at the bottom of the Activity Statements page. Enter Account, Activity Period and Format information for customized templates that will be delivered via email.

Selecting Profit and Loss

Profit and loss across all transactions, positions and asset types is calculated under First In, First Out (FIFO) and Mark-to-Market (MTM) methodologies.

With the FIFO method, a closing transaction is matched with the cost basis of the earliest transaction in the position to determine realized profit or loss (the difference between your entry execution cost and exit execution cost).

MTM shows how much profit or loss was made in current trading. The MTM calculations assume all open positions and transactions are settled at the end of the day and new positions are opened the next day. When you set up your customized activity statements, you can select FIFO, MTM, FIFO and MTM, or None.


Activity Downloads

The Activity Downloads page lets you download daily and monthly activity statements into any one of the following software:

To download activity statements, click Report Management in the left pane, then click Activity Downloads. Select an account, date and format for Daily Activity or Monthly Activity reports, then click Download. Open the downloaded report in the desired application (for example, open a downloaded statement formatted for MS WORD in Microsoft Word.) You can also include closed accounts in the reports.

Note: For complete instructions on activity downloads, see our Statements and Reports web page. Click the Downloads link on the Activity Statements tab to view the download instructions for each format.

Margin Reports

You can see real-time margin summary amounts displayed in the Account window in Trader Workstation. For per position margin requirements, you can view margin reports in Account Management. At 4:15 ET each day, IB records your margin and equity information for positions across all asset classes and exchanges for the margin report.

Margin Reports show the margin requirements for all open single and combination positions. The report displays Available Funds (to determine if you can place a new trade) and Excess Liquidity (when excess is depleted, you risk liquidation).

Margin reports in Account Management are the only place where you can view the margin requirements for combination/spread positions. Margin reports are available for the previous 90 days.

To view a margin report, click Report Management in the left pane, then click Margin Reports. Select a Report Date (the format is automatically set to HTML/Web to view the report in your browser), then click View.

You can expand and collapse each section of the report individually. Click the slate blue section heading bar to expand a section, and click it again to collapse it. Here is an example of a Margin Report, shown with sections collapsed and expanded.


Here’s the Margin Detail section of a typical Margin Report expanded.

You can expand all sections or contract all sections in an HTML activity statement by using the links in the upper right corner of the report. You can also print an HTML activity statement by clicking the Print link in the upper right corner.

For a complete list and descriptions of all sections in Margin Report, see the Margin Reports tab on our Statements and Reports web page.

Trade Confirmations

Real-time trade confirmations are generated for all executions. On the report, trade confirmations are listed separately by asset class.

Trade confirmations are available for the entire previous calendar year and from the start of the current calendar year.

To generate the trade confirmations report, click Report Management in the left pane, then click Trade Confirmations. Select the account ID, date and format (HTML/Web to view the report in your browser), then click View Trade Confirmations.

Flex Queries

Flex queries are highly customized report templates for Activity Statements and Trade Confirmations. Flex queries let you specify exactly which fields you want to view in your Activity Statement or Trade Confirmation report, the time period you want the report to cover, the order in which you want the fields to display, and the display format, TEXT or XML, in which you want to view your report.

You can create multiple templates with different fields for each statement. All of your templates are stored in Account Management, and can be easily run from the Activity Flex Queries page.

You can also add default Activity Flex queries for Trades and Positions, and a default Trade Confirms Flex query, then use those queries as the starting point for your own by editing them.

An Activity Flex Query is different from an Activity Statement customized template in that you can customize a flex query at the field level, allowing you to include and exclude detailed field information. Activity Statement customized templates only let you include and exclude sections.

To run an existing Activity Flex Query, click the Run icon on the Activity Flex Queries page.

Creating a Flex Query

Note: This applies to both Activity Statement and Trade Confirmation Flex Queries, although Activity Statements have more sections and fields to select.

To create a flex query, click Report Management in the left pane, then click either Activity Flex or Trade Confirms Flex. The Flex Queries page opens and displays any existing Flex queries you have already created. You can run, edit or delete those existing Flex queries from this page.

Click Create a New Query to create a new Flex query, then enter all information required, and select the fields you want to include in each section of the report.

First enter the name of the flex query (this is the name that appears on the main Activity Flex Queries page after you save the query), the output format, the account, and the dates you want the query to cover. For output format, select XML to import the data into an XML reader or a customized programming application (i.e., a program that can import and read an XML file). Select Text to import the data into a text-friendly application such as Excel or Word. When you select Text, you are also prompted to select a text separator (Pipe, Comma or Tab), and select whether or not to include header and trailer records and section code and line descriptors.


Selecting Fields

Use the right and left green arrow buttons to move fields between the Fields Available list and Fields Included lists. Use the up and down green arrow buttons to change the order of fields in the Fields Included list.

The following screen shows a section from the Activity Flex Query page.

Note: For more information on creating and using Flex Queries, see the FlexTool tab on our Statements and Reports web page.

Position Transfer Basis

The Position Transfer Basis page lets you specify the cost basis for positions transferred into your IB account (ACATS/ATONS).

You can run this report only if you have eligible ACATS or ATON transactions. If you do not have any such transactions, a message to that effect appears on this page.

PortfolioAnalyst

PortfolioAnalyst allows you to evaluate the performance of your IB portfolio by creating and saving reports based on a set of measurement criteria and optionally comparing their data to selected industry benchmarks. You can create Detailed PDF reports, which let you select any combination of report sections for a variety of performance analyses, or Snapshot PDF reports, which are one-page summaries of an account's return, NAV, asset allocation and distribution of returns. Once you create and save reports, you can run, edit or delete them.

Detailed PDF Reports

Your Detailed PDF report output can contain the following information:

Snapshot PDF Reports

The Comprehensive Snapshot includes the following sections:

Other Report Management Reports and Functions

Trading Access

Lets you add market data subscriptions, enable or disable client trading, request additional products or countries to trade, and create a paper trading account.

Trading Configuration

Trading permissions specify which products you can trade and in which locations. You use the Trading Configuration page to view or modify existing trade permissions, subscribe to new products or exchanges, or upgrade your account to a margin account. When specifying permissions, you will be asked to sign any risk disclosures required by local regulatory authority.


Selecting Institutional Services

The first thing you can do on this page is select one of IB’s institutional services, including IBPrime and IBExecution.

Changing Your Account Type

In the Account Type section of the page, you can upgrade your Account Type from a Cash account to a Margin account, or upgrade a Reg T Margin account to a Portfolio Margin account.



Setting Trading Permissions

The Trading Permissions section of the page lists all of the IB products you can trade and the countries in which you can trade them. Currently approved products are shown in green and products with pending approval are shown in pink.

To modify your trading permissions, click the checkbox for the product you wish to trade in the country or countries in which you wish to trade them, then click Continue.

For example, to trade corporate bonds/treasuries, select Fixed Income.

You will then be prompted to update your financial information. This is the same page that appears when you select Financial Info in the Account Administration menu.

Market Data Subscriptions

IB provides real-time streaming market data at the price we are charged by the exchange. The Market Data Subscription page lets you add and delete market data subscriptions such as NASDAQ TotalView and NYSE Open Book, and news and information services such as Reuters Worldwide Fundamentals.

This page lists all of our available market data and news and information subscriptions, along with the monthly fee we are charged by an exchange.

Market data subscriptions are listed by region: Global, North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. You can expand and contract each of these sections individually by clicking the plus or minus sign in each section heading.


Notes About Fees

Here are a few important things to remember about market data subscription fees:

Note: For more information about market data subscription fees, see our Market Data, Fundamental Analysis and News Subscriptions web page.

Searching for Market Data Subscriptions

You can also search for any market data subscription using the Market Data Assistant, which is accessible from the Market Data Subscription page and from the Customer Service Tools page..

To search for a market data subscription using the Market Data Assistant, click Market Data Assistant in the upper right corner of the Market Data Subscription page, then enter a desired stock symbol and exchange (or use an ISIN or CUSIP) and click Search.

The search results will show which IB market data subscription(s) provide the real-time market data for all combinations of professional/non-professional, top-of-book, and deep-book data.

Paper Trading

Once your account has been approved and funded, you can open a Paper Trading Account, which lets you use the full range of IB trading facilities in a simulated environment with real market conditions to learn Trader Workstation features such as order types without risk, learn market dynamics in new exchanges and products, and simulate and test trading strategies. Submit your request for a paper trading account by 4:00 PM Eastern Time, and it will generally be created within 24 hours. You will be notified by email when the account is ready for paper trading.

Sign up for a paper trading account on the Paper Trading Account Activation page (click Trading Access, then click Paper Trading).

Click Continue. On the next page, enter the first five characters of the username that you plan to use to access the new paper trading account, and the password. The system will generate a full username for you when you click Continue.

A confirmation screen will appear along with a reminder to write down your username and password. Be sure to write down your username and password; your password will not be shown on the screen again.

Account Management for Paper Trading Accounts

With a paper trading account, you are limited to the following Account Management menus and functions:


Other Trading Access Functions

User Management

Lets you change your account password or email; change personal account information such as name or address; apply for a security device to protect your account; share your authentication information with another user; and sign up to use the Features Poll on our website.

Change User Information

The Information Change pages let you change your name, address and other personal information.

There are two Information Change pages:

A verification page appears. Make sure all the information is correct, then click Continue. A confirmation number is sent to your email address; enter the number on the next page that appears, then click Continue. If you don’t receive a confirmation number, you can request that one be emailed to you by clicking the Request Confirm # button.

Other User Management Functions

More Information

For more information on Account Management, see the following:


From the Accounts menu, you can access important information including company policies about our accounts, including funds and banking, account configuration, trading configuration, users and access rights, statements and reports.

Any symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and do not portray a recommendation.

Interactive Brokers LLC is a member of NYSE, FINRA, SIPC