How to use Ideal / Ideal Pro in IB?

Lets say I want to convert euros in my account into USD.

I select EUR - USD symbol. The bid-ask is

1.5170 - 1.5174


Do I sell or buy this symbol?

 

okay i used ideal pro to convert euros to usd. now i have an unrealized pnl in terms of usd and it keeps fluctuating.

why?

 

You are supposed to use regular IDEAL for cash conversions....IDEAL PRO is only for forex trading.

Also, wait a couple of days after you do the trade for the money to settle. I mistakenly thought ideal didn't need to clear and got charged a fee.

 

what? what's the difference? i thought the only difference is that IDEAL is for smaller transactions.

what do i need to do now? am i being charge interest on an "open" position or something?

 

The difference is that it creates a margin loan which you pay interest on when you do it thru IDEAL PRO.

Read this....it says at the beginning to use IDEAL for conversions and IDEAL PRO for trading

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/e...ch=idealfx&showcategories=&ib_entity=llc#show

Just reverse the trade in IDEAL PRO and redo it on regular IDEAL...then wait for the money to clear on the conversion before you wire it.


EDIT: Just to clarify...you are wanting to use or transfer this money in Euros right? If you just want to do a trade then forex thru IDEAL PRO is better.

 

but is also says that if you enter a trade through IDEAL and your transaction amount is larger than IDEALPRO minimum order size, then the trade will be automatically routed to IDEALPRO.

so what's the difference if your trade size is larger than the minimum?

 

this is not true

 

Ideal is for small amounts, Idealpro for bigger ones
you can use both for conversion as for speculation
you only use a loan if you convert more than there was in your balance
this is not complicated, please don't try to make it that way

 

thanks for jumping in. i did not convert more than what was in my balance. the problem, or perceived problem, is that my TWS now shows an unrealized pnl as if i have a trade on.

why is it doing this and what does it mean?

 

What is your base currency? I suspect it is not USD and the amount of USD is not changing but the pnl is in relation to the base currency.

Let me put it in another way. Let's assume my base currency is euros. I buy a US stock for $100. The stock goes up 10% so now I have $110*number of shares.

If the euro/$ was 1.5 at the time of the trade it would cost 100/1.5 = 66.7 euros.

Now if I hold the USD stock for the long term and the euro moves to 1.75 I actually end up losing money in terms of euros although I had a gain in share price.