Can there ever be a situation that one can get an after-hour liquidation on stocks with IB? It would seem to me this question would only be relevant to a stock which the intraday & overnight margining are the same. If this concern exists, then it would seem possible for a stock that closes at $20, and the extended hours bid is $10, for someone to hit the bid (even if it's his own in another account), and lead to the downfall of someone else's account.
Only once did I ever have after hours liquidation at IB. That was due to IB's error. It took me some time to have IB realize or admit that mistake. The bug was supposed to be fixed according to IB CSR.
I sure hope someone else can verify this, and that IB would take responsibility today without hastle.
You will find that premarket and after hours trading that if the stock has a trade in excess of 5 percent of the last price the trade usually gets busted. (excluding stocks reporting) Under normal? conditions IB will give you until 940am the next trading day to bring your account into compliance. It is not uncommon to have large bid/ask spreads on stocks after hours especially on nyse stocks. Usually you will receive an email advising that your margin is not in check even if it is only a few dollars. I would assume that an account would receive an internal alert and be monitored from that point on to ensure IB does not participate in any losses as a result of the trader and their trade. w
My understanding was that trades can get busted only if the counterparty is a MM?? or specialist??, but not a fellow retail trader--unless he agrees. So you are saying that although intraday IB will liquidate on the spot, but after hours, they will be patient till 10 minutes into the next trading day. I hope you are correct.
During the day IB will liquidate you but not with out notice. You will receive a bulletin prior to a margin compliance call. You will also notice in your account window a yellow line will appear in your excess. This is another warning margin continues to deplete you will receive another notice and you will notice a red line in your account window. Usually you will have from 0-10minutes when you receive the red line. If this occurs ie 340pm you will receive notice and red line and your sma line will probably be negative and you must liquidate positions until the sma is above zero. IB has busted orders premarket that one of the trader executed by accident above 5percent. I at the time was not even aware until I received an email advising me. They are very good at doing this premarket and after even without notice. If this occurs during the day and it is above 5percent if you call immediately they will do their best to see if they can get it busted. w
Does that mean they wont liquidate you in extended hours if the difference is >5%? BTW, to the best of my understanding it could be 100% difference and you wont get it if the counterparty is a retail trader.
Liquidation window for all USD denominated stocks and options is 9:40-16:00 EST. Futures and futures options could be liquidated from 9:40 to 16:15 with a few exceptions of highly liquid futures such as ES.
I should add a disclaimer. I spoke about liquidation windows of our automated system. We do reserve our right to liquidate manually any time if account is in bad standing.