FAQs
Information about your account, software, technology and other topics.
Account Related
1. First please complete the application process by clicking on Open An Account above
Once you have agreed to the TradeStation Agreements, you must go on to complete the Interactive Brokers account application
Applications will be processed within 3 business days of the receipt of the application under normal business conditions.
1. Once your account has been approved you can fund your account by Wire, ACH, and other methods. You must first notify Interactive Brokers about the transfer – Please follow these instructions. This process will provide you with all the details (e.g., ABA number, Swift BIC Code and bank account number) in a printable form which you, in turn, can provide to your bank in order for it to initiate the wire transfer. See for more information and instructions.
2. Please note – in order to receive your TradeStation Global platform the minimum initial funding deposit is $1000USD. After funding you will receive access to the TradeStation platform.
In order to open an account with Interactive Brokers you must submit 1 type of Photo ID and one address verification document. Below you can find which documents are acceptable for different regions.
UK Residents
Document Category Acceptable Documents
Proof of Identity
• Passport
Must be currently valid, signed by the account holder and clearly indicate the number, date of expiration, date of birth and country of issue; any visa stamped pages must be included;
• UK Driver’s License
Must be currently valid, signed by the account holder and clearly indicate the number, date of expiration, date of birth and country of issue.
Proof of Residency
• Utility Bill
Electricity, water, telephone, gas; the bill must be less than six months old and show the account holder’s full name and address. Please note: Bills for cell phone service are not valid proof of residency;
• UK Driver’s License
Must be currently valid, signed by the account holder and clearly indicate the number, date of expiration, date of birth and country of issue. Note: If driver’s license is used for proof of identity, it can not also be used as proof of address;
• Bank Statement
Must be less than six months old and show the account holder’s full name and address;
• Notarized Document
Must be another document e.g. rental/lease agreement, work permit etc., which shows currently valid address and be less than three months old which certified by a solicitor that he/she has seen the original document; solicitors must provide their full name, address and telephone number.
Residents of All Other Countries
Document Category Acceptable Documents
Proof of your identity and date of birth
The document must include your name, date of birth and a photograph and clearly state the identification number that you provided in your application.
• Passport;
• National Identity Card;
• Driver’s License;
• Alien Identification Card.
Proof of your address
The document must clearly list the customer name and the address being verified.
• Mortgage Statement, Deed or Other Evidence of Property;
• Current Lease;
• Utility Bill (less than 12 months old);
• Current Driver’s License
o But if you used driver’s license as proof of identity, then we are required to obtain a second, different document for proof of address (i.e., driver’s license cannot be used again);
• Bank Statement, Bank-Issued Credit Card Statement or Bank-Issued Debit Card Statement or Signed Letter from Bank on Bank Letterhead Confirming Address
o Customer and bank must be from a country that is a member of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (see http://www.fatf-gafi.org);
o Statement must be less than 12 months old;
• Brokerage Statement from a U.S.-Registered Broker Dealer or Foreign Affiliate of a U.S.-Registered Broker Dealer
o Customer must be from a country that is a member of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (see http://www.fatf-gafi.org);
o Statement must be less than 12 months old;
• Current Homeowner’s or Renter’s Policy Documents or Riders
o Policy must be currently in effect;
• Bill for Homeowner’s or Renter’s Insurance Policy (less than 12 months old);
• Security System Bill/Statement (less than 12 months old); or
• Government-Issued Letters or Statements Establishing Current Address (less than 12 months old). For example:
o Tax Letters and notices;
o Letters or notices from government housing authorities;
o Jury duty notices;
o Voter registration notices;
o Other official government letters or notices showing customer name and address being verified.
You can fund with all major currencies in your Interactive Brokers account. For more information please see your funding deposit notification page in client centre.
Applications will be processed within 3 business days of the receipt of the application under normal business conditions.
Please click on ‘open account’ and ‘new account’ in order to begin your new account opening process for this TradeStation Global and Interactive Brokers brokerage account. Your new account will be independent from your existing TradeStation (US) brokerage account.
In order to get access to the TradeStation platform you must click on ‘open an account’ and then click on ‘current IB client’. You must accept our Terms and Conditions and then contact your Interactive Brokers account representative to finalise the process.
Fees & commissions
Please see https://www.tradestation-international.com/global/stock-trading-commissions/ for commissions and fees.
There is no separate fee for the TradeStation platform with this TradeStation Global product
Please email us if you wish to discuss high volume discounts. Based on your trading history with other brokers and other factors we may be able to customise a commission plan to suit your needs.
Funding
As this TradeStation Global and Interactive Brokers product is geared towards professional/active traders, our minimum deposit requirement is US$1,000. You must also have good or extensive knowledge of the products that you wish to trade.
No, however we reserve the right to review inactive accounts on a regular basis, contact clients and take any appropriate action.
Funds management, such as depositing, withdrawing, and transferring cash and positions into and out of Interactive Brokers, is administered through the Interactive Brokers Account Management Tool. Use your login credentials to log into Account Management from the Login menu on the Interactive Brokers website, or access it directly from within TWS using the Account Management command on the View menu.c. Please see here for more information.
To make a wire deposit to your account, you will first need to provide a deposit notification through Interactive Brokers Account Management. Once logged into Account Management, select the Funds Management and then Funds Transfers menu options. From there you will select the Transaction Type of “Deposit” and the Method of “Wire”.
Overview: Interactive Brokers provides account holders with a tool that delivers real-time updates and current status of all deposit and withdrawal transactions relating to both cash and positions which have taken place over the prior 45 calendar day period. This tool is made available through the secure Account Management application and may be accessed via Funding and then view Transaction History menu options.
Margin
Margin transactions are subject to initial and maintenance margin requirements of exchanges, clearinghouses and regulators and also to any additional margin requirement of Interactive Brokers, which may be greater (“Margin Requirements”). Interactive Brokers MAY MODIFY MARGIN REQUIREMENTS FOR ANY OR ALL CUSTOMERS FOR ANY OPEN OR NEW POSITIONS AT ANY TIME, IN INTERACTIVE BROKER’S SOLE DISCRETION. Customer shall monitor his, her or its account so that at all times the account contains sufficient equity to meet Margin Requirements. Interactive Brokers may reject any order if the account has insufficient equity to meet Margin Requirements, and may delay processing any order while determining margin status. Customer shall maintain, without notice or demand, sufficient equity at all times to continuously meet Margin Requirements.
IF AT ANY TIME CUSTOMER’S ACCOUNT HAS INSUFFICIENT EQUITY TO MEET MARGIN REQUIREMENTS OR IS IN DEFICIT, Interactive Brokers HAS THE RIGHT, IN ITS SOLE DISCRETION, BUT NOT THE OBLIGATION, TO LIQUIDATE ALL OR ANY PART OF CUSTOMER’S POSITIONS IN ANY OF CUSTOMER’S INTERACTIVE BROKERS NON-IRA ACCOUNTS, INDIVIDUAL OR JOINT, AT ANY TIME AND IN ANY MANNER AND THROUGH ANY MARKET OR DEALER, WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE OR MARGIN CALL TO CUSTOMER. CUSTOMER SHALL BE LIABLE AND WILL PROMPTLY PAY INTERACTIVE BROKERS FOR ANY DEFICIENCIES IN CUSTOMER’S ACCOUNT THAT ARISE FROM SUCH LIQUIDATION OR REMAIN AFTER SUCH LIQUIDATION. INTERACTIVE BROKERS HAS NO LIABILITY FOR ANY LOSS SUSTAINED BY CUSTOMER IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH LIQUIDATIONS (OR IF THE INTERACTIVE BROKERS SYSTEM DELAYS EFFECTING, OR DOES NOT EFFECT, SUCH LIQUIDATIONS) EVEN IF CUSTOMER RE- ESTABLISHES ITS POSITION AT A WORSE PRICE.
Please see the link below for our margin policies as executed by Interactive Brokers
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1562
Other Account related Questions
For brokerage related queries you can create a ticket in your Interactive Brokers Client Centre Tool. From Account Management you can contact Client Services creating a new ticket simply clicking on menu Support and Message Center. From TWS click on menu Help > Customer Service > Open Message Center.
Most exchanges and data vendors classify clients as either non-professional or professional. By default, organizations such as corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and any account where the data is used for more than personal investment purposes is deemed to be professional. In addition, private persons may be considered professional if they are registered as a security or investment advisor, or act in a similar capacity. A trader who is employed by a financial services business may also be considered a professional. Click here for more information about non-professional qualifications.
Please see, Exchange listings at: www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1562
TradeStation Global allows you to monitor your account balances and current positions. As well as Interactive Brokers provides multiple, customizable tools and resources to help you monitor the performance of your portfolio and measure it against popular benchmarks, see your real time account balances, check P&L and margin requirements, and analyze and adjust your risk profile to keep your portfolio within the limits of your risk tolerance.
Software and Technology Related
Getting started, Configuration & Login
You will have access to the TradeStation platform but will also be able to use Interactive Brokers TWS, Mobile and online platforms.
For TradeStation see (https://www.tradestation.com/trading-technology/system-requirements/)
For Interactive Brokers see (https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1658)
A customer service representative will contact you with a download link as soon as you have opened and funded your TradeStation Global account with Interactive Brokers.
1. Install the Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation (TWS). You will download it from the specific URL Beta Link that will be provided by your TradeStation account representative for the customized TradeStation-Interactive Brokers build.
Configure the TWS Gateway in the following manner:
To configure the TWS Gateway:
a.Install TWS.
b.Go to File->Global Configuration->API->Settings.
c.Select the following settings from the Trader Workstation Configuration dialogue:
i.From the left panel, select Configuration->API->Settings.
ii.From the center panel, make sure the following check boxes or associated input values are selected:
•Include FX positions when sending portfolio
•PrepareDailyPnL when downloading positions
•Send status updates for EFP and Volatility orders with “Continuous Update” flag
•Socket port: 4002
•Use negative numbers to bind automatic orders
•Create API message log file
•Include market data in API log file
•Expose entire trading schedule to API
•Logging Level: Detail
•Master API client ID: 0
•Timeout to send bulk data to API: 30 seconds
•Allow connections from localhost only
d.Select Apply and restart the TWS Gateway application.
e.Re-login.
You will only need to verify your configuration settings when you reinstall and/or upgrade. Note: if you have multiple Interactive Brokers credentials (username and password), you will need to configure the API for each set of credentials.
Note: You only need to configure one type of Gateway (TWS).
2.Install the TradeStation Global platform.
3.Open TWS and log in with your Interactive Brokers credentials (username and password).
4.Open TradeStation Global, and log in with your TradeStation Global credentials (username and password).
1.Check to ensure that you have loaded up and logged into the Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation (TWS) (Build 967.1f- version Latest).
2.In order for the TradeStation Global platform to run as expected, you must have a successful connection with Interactive Brokers’s TWS platform.
3.Although your particular configuration may need customization, the Interactive Brokers TWS Gateway connection is highly configurable. Please review the settings in the “To Configure the TWS Gateway” section above.
No. Your configuration will not transfer to a different set of credentials. You will need to configure the API for each set of Interactive Brokers credentials that you may have, following the steps in the “To Configure the TWS Gateway” section above.
No. You will be issued new TradeStation Global credentials once you have completed the online application process for TradeStation Global and Interactive Brokers. To log in to the TradeStation Global platform you will need to use your specific TradeStation Global credentials.
Yes. You can run both applications on the same computer at the same time; however, you cannot be logged into both applications with the same user ID and establish a connection with the TradeStation Global platform. The TradeStation Global platform will only establish one connection with the first active connection that it detects with either the Trader Workstation or the Interactive Brokers Gateway. *Note: If you are signed up for the TradeStation-Interactive Brokers BETA program you should only be using the TWS Gateway.
Symbology
Place your cursor in the Symbol box on any asset class tab, and begin entering a ticker symbol. The smart symbol look up will populate a drop-down list with the matching symbols, routes and respective asset classes. You may also click on the Symbol Lookup button to lookup a symbol
The symbol syntax is: .-‘
Note: there is a period after the Ticker Symbol, a hyphen after the Currency, and an apostrophe after the Route.
Below are the details for each term in the symbology:
•Ticker Symbol: the exchange issued three or four letter symbol that is industry standard.
•Currency: the currency in which the symbol trades in, dependent upon which country the exchange is located.
•Route: the path of execution for an order. The TradeStation Global platform defaults to “SMART”, similar to “Intelligent” in the US-based version of the TradeStation platform. SMART works similarly in that it seeks out the route with the highest liquidity for a particular symbol.
If there is a specific exchange or ECN you would like to route to directly, for example, NASDAQ, or ARCA, you can enter your route of choice in place of the word “SMART”. If you do not know the alternative routes, you can enter a ticker symbol in the Symbol input field and the drop-down-combo box will populate with the available route options for the symbol you entered.
•Asset Class: refers to the category of the instrument, including:
•Stock: STK
•Option: OPT
•Future: FUT
•Forex: CASH
•Contract for Difference: CFD
Here are examples of the correct syntax for each asset class:
Equities:
Ticker symbol AAPL – Apple Inc.
•AAPL.USD-SMART’STK: The top default listing if you were to simply enter AAPL in the symbol box.
•AAPL.USD-ARCA’STK: One of the available listed routes for AAPL. The route listings that appear depend on the ticker symbol entered; not all symbols share the same tradable routes.
•AAPL.MXN-MEXI’STK: An available route listing which represents that Apple Inc. stock is traded in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Here, the Mexican peso is the currency and the Mexican stock exchange is the route.
•AAPL.USD-SMART’CFD: The syntax for the Apple Contract for Difference (CFD) for Equities (traded in the Equity tab of the platform).
Futures:
•DAXM17.EUR-DTB’FUT: The top default listing if you were to simply enter DAX in the symbol box. Entering DAX also provides listings for other months, for example, U17, Z17, etc..
Forex:
•EUR.USD-IDEALPRO’CASH: The top default listing if you were to simply enter EUR in the Forex tab currency pair box. Entering DAX also provides listings for Forex CFDs.
Yes. Here are some examples of a shorter syntax you can use:
Equities:
•Enter AAPL (or any other NASDAQ traded symbol) in the symbol box, press the Enter key, and it will be converted to AAPL.USD-NASDAQ\SMART’STK
•Enter AAPL’CFD in the symbol box, press the Enter key, and it will be converted to AAPL.USD-SMART’CFD
Futures:
•Enter DAX in the symbol box, press the Enter key, and it will be converted to DAXM17.EUR-DTB’FUT. Entering DAX also provides listings for other months, for example, U17, Z17, etc..
Forex:
•Enter EUR.USD (or any other currency pair) in the Forex tab currency pair box, press the Enter key, and it will be converted to EUR.USD-IDEALPRO’CASH
Add new trading products and manage your subscription-based market data feeds at any time by logging into Interactive Brokers Account Management going to ManageAccount>TradeConfiguration>MarketData
The TradeStation Global platform’s data is provided by its connection to Interactive Brokers. Therefore, the speed of market data, the speed of trade execution as well as the overall performance and reliability of data being displayed in TradeStation Global is relying 100% on the Interactive Brokers source.
TradeStation Global displays all the account information it receives from Interactive Brokers either via TWS or the Interactive Brokers Gateway API, and passes those values directly through to the TradeStation Global platform. While we display the majority of the information available in TWS, the 1% difference is because some data values are hard-coded into the TWS platform, the calculations of which are not shared externally from TWS.
No, they will not remain connected overnight. TWS will automatically shut down nightly. You will need to restart both TWS and TradeStation Global in the morning.
If you are running the TradeStation Global platform and Interactive Brokers Traders WorkStation (TWS) simultaneously, and the TradeStation Global platform fails, you can close your open positions and take control of your account using TWS.
On the Bid/Ask column in the Market Depth window, the letter(s) are abbreviations for the exchanges/ECNs on the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO). There is not always an alphabetical correlation between the exchange abbreviation and the ECN it represents. For example, P = ARCA, Q = Island, and R = BATS. You can hover over the abbreviation to see a pop-up with the full exchange name.
One of the implications of using SMART order routing is that if you subscribe to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) market data for a particular symbol, you are not necessarily subscribed to the accompanying ECN(s). However, be aware that your order, when using SMART, may get filled on the ECN(s) and not the LSE. The ECN National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) can be trading significantly away from the price quote of the LSE and NBBO.
Please restart both Tradestation and TWS platforms; if the discrepancy continues please contact us at tradestationglobal@tradestation.com
TWS is the primary source of data and trade information.
We are working on the continued development of the conversion factors across all currencies. When trading FX currency pairs, please verify the information in the confirmation dialog box before placing your order.
If you collapse the FX Portfolio – Virtual FX Positions in TWS it shuts down the data feed, and you will stop receiving Forex P/L data. To avoid the issue, keep your Virtual FX Positions view expanded.
No, there is nothing wrong with your charts. When sending the true 5-second bar at the end of the 5-second cycle, you may see differing Open, High, Low, and Close values.
TWS calculates the bars from the real-time data it receives. The real-time data is not tick-by-tick; rather it represents most up-to-date data available. At the end of the time period, TWS receives a complete (slightly delayed) bar from Interactive Brokers’ servers, which is calculated from every tick. The platform will issue updates when accurate 5-second bar information arrives.
You’ll need to subscribe to all of the components of SMART to see the charts for EU stocks.
However, if you are subscribed to one, or a few (but not all), of the components, you can get the chart for a component like ADM.GBP-LSE\LSE’STK instead of ADM.GBP-LSE\SMART’STK.
Note that in the Program folder, in the file InteractiveBrokers.config, excerpted below, you may change the default_currency from USD to GBP:
STK
USD
This means that on the command line for the chart, you can type ADM-LSE\LSE, instead of ADM.GBP-LSE\LSE’STK since STK already is, and now GBP will be, the default as well.
As well as the TradeStation platform, Interactive Brokers has several trading platforms designed to meet the different trading needs of our customers. Your login credentials give you access to all these trading platforms, including the Interactive Brokers’ desktop platforms WebTrader and TWS or mobile solutions. Several API solutions are also available to connect to Interactive Brokers using your own front end.
Charting
You will need to subscribe to all of the components of SMART to see the charts for EU stocks. Please also see the SMART FAQ above for more information.
To apply an indicator to a chart, follow these steps:
1.Along the top of the platform, select Insert, and then select Indicator from the menu. You may also right-click on the background of a chart and select Insert Analysis Technique from the menu.
2.Select an indicator.
3.To format the indicator before you insert it, select the Prompt for Format checkbox. Otherwise, clear the checkbox to apply the indicator using its default values.
4.Click OK.
5.In order to enable alerts, right-click the analysis technique and select Alert from the shortcut menu.
6.Select the Enable Alert option for the type of messaging you want to use.
Note: The drawing objects that support alerts are Andrews Pitchfork, Fibonacci Tools (except the Price Retracement Calculator and Speed Resistance Arcs), Gann Fann, Horizontal Line, Vertical Line, Regression Channel, Time Cycle, and Trendline.
If you do not want the alert to be set in this manner, you can set it to play once instead of play continuously, by following these steps:
1.Right-click on the chart and choose “Format indicator.”
2.Once in the Format Indicator dialog, click on the Alerts tab. At the bottom of this dialog, check either “Alert once” or “Alert once per bar.”
Note: Once this is disabled you will need to go back into the indicator and re-enable the alert.
A data interval represents the amount of price action within a bar (from the open to the close) and is expressed either in terms of time (1 minute, 30 minute, daily, etc..) or trading activity (tick count or volume). For example, in a daily chart each bar interval represents the price action of one day – the bar opens in the morning with the beginning of the trading session and closes at the end of the trading session in the afternoon, and so on for each bar. However, you can use any interval for your chart, including non-time-based intervals.
The quickest way to change a chart’s data interval is to use the command line, once you have the chart open. In the Command Line from the Chart Analysis toolbar, you can type in the examples below:
•If you want each bar in the chart to represent 5 minutes of time you will type 5 min and press the Enter key.
Now each bar in the chart comprises all of the price ticks that occurred during every consecutive 5-minute interval.
•If you want each bar in the chart to represent 7 minutes of time you will type 7 min and press the Enter key.
Now each bar in the chart comprises all of the price ticks that occurred during every consecutive 5-minute interval.
This can be done to change each bar in a chart to represent daily, weekly or monthly time intervals.
•If you want each bar to represent an entire day of data, you type the word daily and press Enter. For each bar to represent a week, you would type weekly, and for each bar to represent a month, you would type, monthly.
Getting Help
To sign up to receive flash bulletins from Interactive Brokers, follow these steps: in the Trader Workstation Configuration -> Display -> Sub-menu toolbar -> check Bulletins. When you load the Trader Workstation platform and there is an issue, BULLETIN will flash in the top right corner where DATA is typically displayed. Click on the word BULLETIN and a dialog box will appear. Bulletins will not display if the Interactive Brokers standalone API Gateway is used.
Log into the TradeStation platform. From the top menu bar, select Help -> Get Help -> Platform Trading.
Alternatively please contact our support desk at tradestationglobal@tradestation.com
For brokerage help on account management, balances and trades please use the contact numbers available at Interactivebrokers.com or create a general inquiry web ticket from your IB account.
The ticket can be created using the message centre under the Support tab at www.ibkb.interactivebrokers.com
Please contact our support desk by email tradestationglobal@tradestation.com New customers can benefit from getting a free 30minute customisation session which can be organised by emailing a suitable time to the support desk.
Mobile App
Interactive Brokers Mobile can be download from the AppStore(IPhone), and Android from their respective store. TWS mobile installs like any other app.
Partnership Opportunities
Referrers are not employees or agents of TradeStation Global but may recommend TSG’s services in connection with the referrer’s primary employment or business.
If you are in the business of education and training, providing information or tools to traders or investors, or a regulated financial entity, please email us your contact details to TradeStationGlobal@tradestation.com and we shall be in touch to discuss our various partnership options.