There are 2 pricing structure available for IBKR's customers to choose from - Tiered and Fixed. For retail investors, Tiered is cheaper most of the time. There are exceptions, so do double check though - for markets like SGX and lower amounts Fixed is cheaper.

Members of FINRA (which IBKR LLC is) are regulated in a pretty air tight manner - in an unfortunate event of a FINRA broker collapses, either:
i. another broker takes over and it's business as usual for you (e.g. Bear Stearns takeover by JP Morgan back in 2008)
ii. or SIPC is invoked to liquidate your securities and you get market value back + FDIC is invoked and you get deposited cash back

Things kick in automatically for whichever outcome

Update: Apparently tiered for SGX is cheaper now compared to a year back

This post has been edited by roarus: Nov 2 2019, 07:03 PM

He tried, it failed to go through and he got his money back like 3 weeks later

Once you buy securities with money - you'll be holding securities, not currency anymore. So doesn't matter which denomination you pick if it's a multi currency cross listed fund.

That is unless it's a currency hedge class fund

This post has been edited by roarus: Nov 3 2019, 12:28 AM

For initial deposit might take 1-2 business days, subsequently usually around 15mins during Singapore business hours

IDEALPRO creates a virtual position you can see in your portfolio e.g. USD.SGD
FXCONV does not

For those trading currency pairs, you can easily do a 'sell' by selecting close position option.

For long term buy and hold investors, it makes no difference. To me it's an eyesore so I use FXCONV

Unless it's TT, certain remittance service transfers with a different the account holder name attached.

Examples tested (by forumer):
i. Instarem -> USD IB US (failed)
ii. Instarem -> EUR IB Germany (OK)

Or some might have faster and/or cheaper way to transfer to their SG account first.

Or some change regularly but keeps the cash as warchest in their SG account (gaining some interest), ready to deploy.

It's great, the following is a snapshot of the CURRENCY.PAIR, BID, ASK and LAST DONE:


Correct, if you're not a trader you can probably live with quotes off google finance/investing.com

I'd say some of the info on their website info is outdated, for example:
i. NYSE trades are $1 min (bought 1 ticker on NYSE ARCA for shits and giggles)
ii. For inactivity fee, I've contacted support and was told no inactivity fee (well specifically, I asked if I traded only 1-2 times a year would there be inactivity fee imposed)

For 'educational' purpose, (because I think borrowing money to trade FX is not likely going to end well) - I'm 90% sure you can open a virtual position for currency via IDEALPRO on a margin account.

Or you can check out this thingy called CME FX Futures or its Micro/E-Micro equivalent (definitely tradable with IB account, do check if it's tradable via TradeStation Global). Supposedly it's a whole lot cheaper to trade (by contract vs % of cash value) with similar spread tightness.

Perhaps do a Reports -> Statement run for month of Nov 2019 to see what the item description is?

Looks like you were hit with this - Broker Client Account min liquidation value < USD$1000


Did you have on the dot USD$1000 equivalent of SGD during account opening? USD.SGD might've fluctuated and you ended up with < USD$1000 on certain periods

It's just an extra platform with graphing tools, if you're not active trader you can ignore it and just use IBKR TWS/WebTrader/Mobile directly. Fees will follow TradeStation Global's fee table - same, doesn't matter if you execute using via TSG or IBKR directly.

There's a chance it may not work, you may still try it out for the benefit of everyone with a small amount

This is what shows up in my SG bank for Instarem and BigPay transfer:
i. Intarem
Inward FAST -
NSTAPTE3, OTHR-<MY NAME>XXXXXXXX<SEEMINGLY RANDOM ALPHANUMERICS>

ii. BigPay
Giro Credit from TikFx Singapore
BECH-<SEEMINGLY RANDOM ALPHANUMERICS>

For BigPay my name is not visible in the inward transfer. Another thing is that in BigPay there's no place to include transfer remarks to enter IBKR account number/name.

Cool thanks, I'll use this for this month instead of BigPay!

Can, my name (Chinese name) in broker transfer instruction is <first name> <last/family name> but the bank account I transfer from is <last/family name> <first name>.

There's more not shown in the screenshot (understandably since there's private info), the section below it has:
i. Bank Account Number - this is a virtual account number to transfer to unique for each of their customer
ii. Payment Reference/For Further Credit to - brokerage account code + your name for you to fill in your bank transfer transaction reference box

This post has been edited by roarus: May 24 2020, 12:42 AM

Anyone got this message recently when placing Buy?

YOUR ORDER IS NOT ACCEPTED. THERE IS INSUFFICIENT SETTLED CASH [-XXX USD for 20210402] IN YOUR ACCOUNT TO
OBTAIN THE DESIRED POSITION.

Seems to imply that my SGD -> USD need to wait until 2 Apr 2021 to settle before I can use?

This is my first time banking into the new HSBC account, previously Citibank I could just convert SGD->USD and execute buy immediately.

I deposited from my CIMB SG account, the deposit notification status for SGD is available and no longer pending. I converted that amount to USD.


Eh? Mine's cash account. You use FXCONV or IDEALPRO? I've always used FXCONV in TWS and able to trade the same day previously. Only thing different this round was depositing to HSCB instead of Citibank.

Tried to use livechat but no one picking up the ticket

Update: I'm able to trade with my USD today instead of having to wait another day. Will observe my next transfer and conversion to see if goes back to "normal" i.e. same day trade allowed.

Ok, I think it's due to IBKR changing from CITI to HSBC. My 2nd time depositing to HSBC, I'm able to convert SGD->USD and immediately use it for buy

That and broker country regulation. TSG is subject to regulation of UK law. IBKR (LLC - US) is subject to regulation of US law.

However since IBKR has opened up shop down south, I'm not sure if Malaysians are "forced" to open up account with IBKR SG instead.

Estate tax applicable for monies and US domiciled securities only, laddered starting from USD 60k onwards

To be doubly sure, from generated report you can see which entity of Interactive Brokers you're dealing with