WHICH ONE IS CORRECT ? 1) According to demoship: "Great firm, great services, great commissions. Don't do an ACATS, it will end up in a disaster, like the two attempts I tried to make ended up in. As long as you stick with only transferring cash in and out, you should be fine. I've never had to call my broker for an issue, so the nonexistent support is no big deal." 2) However, according to MR.NBBO: "Just did an ACATS into IB, zero problems & was very fast. Been a customer for years. They've got a phenominal group of developers for TWS, but very rough customer service employees. NMS takes a lot of adjustments at any broker, but the newest underlying TWS platform reminds me of the TWS from the early IB days. Just a couple more NMS adjustments in TWS -and we're there. The API is well documented & very easy to get set up. Commissions- really hard to beat given the product availability & quality of clearing & reporting. I've been happy with them for years, and remain so-they've created their own league." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.dtcc.com/Publications/acats/index.html
How bored must you be to start a post debating IB's ACATS performance? Here's some options: 1) Cash out and wire to IB 2) Do an ACATS and pray to your G-d it makes it safely to its intended destination. 3) Roll-over until the urge passes to leave your current kiddie-broker.
My theory is that it depends on how quickly your sending broker responds, and whether everything can be done electronically or not. I've had both experiences recently -- in one case it took only 2 days, in the other, am still trying to straighten it out. But they were from different sending firms.
Mine worked fine. 2 different IRA accts from Etrade to IB. This was 2 years ago. Make sure the names match *exactly* and that all positions held are eligible. You do it online. They won't accept other brokers paper forms requesting transfers.
I saw 2 recent experiences with IB's ACAT. The one did not complete even after 12 days. The other one was all done in a week!
First I opened a cash a/c at IB wiring $ 3000 from bank. Then did a full transfer from OXPS to IB.Took 7 days I think. Instead of transfering large amount of cash( or cash out/wire in),bought SPY for the whole amount + & sold deep in the money call options. Transfer done much before option expiry & I could wriggle out of the covered calls/SPY longs(less decay) & went to back my normal day trading. No problem