Hi all, I just received IB daily statement for Monday and found that I got another interest charged when I had 100% cash sitting in my account on the weekend. I wondered why and did a little research. Here is what I found. I had overnight positions with margin on last Tuesday and the negative ending settled cash($-49,015) was posted on last Friday. And the time that IB charged me interest on that negative balance was on the weekend, therefore, they charged me three days' interest. I guess this is why I got a $-25.98 charge. It doesn't look reasonable to me. How can IB charge me three days' interest when I only had my account in negative balance for one day? Shouldn't IB just charge the interest for that single day? What do you think, guys? Bruce PS: Sorry about my English, it is not my mother tongue.
If you sell a stock, it takes three days for the trade to "settle", no matter which broker you use. This means it takes three market days for the proceeds of the sale to be credited to your account. The broker will charge you for margin interest on the missing funds for those three days, if the absence of those funds puts your account in deficit. If you have a margin account, then you can still buy and sell as though the funds were in your account, before the three days have elapsed; but you will be charged margin interest, or be paid interest, as though the funds were not in your account, until the three days elapse and the funds become "settled". Settlement day is often called "T+3".