After quite a while backtesting my strategy I finally pulled the trigger, open an account on IBKR and have several questions: I deposited 50k to buy 100k worth of stocks. Right now my portal looks something like this: Total 52700 Daily PnL +72 Mkt Value 0 Pnl 2700 Maint margin 27k Liq Excess: 27k Buying Power: 163k Cash: -45k And here i go with the questions: - Why the mkt value show is zero. - Right below the total, theres a number in green thats going up. Why is that if the mkt is closed? - Ive only been live for 2 days and the report says Ive made (non realized) approx 600usd. Why the PnL shown is more than 2x? - Regarding to paying margin interest, is the MTD interest shown in account window? I guess I will have to pay at the beginning of the next month, right? - I not going to use more margin but I have few questions about it: > I understand maintenance margin is the least I have to have in cash in my account for my positions to not be closed, right? Can somebody in this case explain to me whats excess liquidity and SMA? Thanks!
It's best to ask this under the Interactive Brokers subforum. I've had IBKR since 2007 & even I don't know the answer to your questions that well. Market value = 0. That is strange. After market values can change if your securities trade after hours. It seems the data you posted states you have already made $2700. Excess liquidity according to their website is: Current Excess Liquidity is a measure of an account's margin cushion before liquidation. For the Securities segment, it is calculated as Equity with Loan Value minus Maintenance Margin. Buying power seems somewhat discretionary as well (PM seems to have more): The amount of Buying Power available for a given trade depends upon a number of factors including the product traded and the account type (e.g., Cash, Reg. T, Portfolio Margin). It is calculated by dividing the Equity with Loan Value in the account by the margin percentage. Assuming an account with a balance consisting solely of USD 100,000 cash, purchasing stock as an example: Cash - in a Cash type account borrowing is not allowed and the margin requirement for any stock purchase is 100%. The Buying Power for a Cash account with a USD 100,000 cash balance is USD 100,000 (100,000/100%). Reg. T - in a Reg. T margin account the default overnight Initial Margin Requirement is 50% which, for a USD 100,000 cash balance, translates to Buying Power of USD 200,000 (100,000/50%). For day trading accounts, the intraday Initial Margin Requirement is 25% which, for a USD 100,000 cash balance, translates to Buying Power of USD 400,000 (100,000/25%). Portfolio Margin Account - In a Portfolio Margin account, the margin requirement can be as low as 15% which, for a USD 100,000 cash balance, translates to Buying Power of USD 666,667 (100,000/15%). As capital is used to place trades, the available buying power in the account will decline. I didn't even know what SMA was until I searched it on the website: SMA stands for Special Memorandum Account. It represents a line of credit created when the market value of securities in a Reg T margin account increases. SMA is neither equity nor cash. It only includes funds in the Securities segment of an IBKR Universal Account. The SMA balance cannot be transferred into cash. When trading commodities, cash may move from the Securities segment to the Commodities segment, causing the SMA to decrease. After closing a contract and releasing the margin requirement, users can sweep settled cash back to the Securities segment using the "Sweep to Securities" setting for the account's Excess Funds Sweep. It seems SMA is related to a Reg T margin scenario. Maybe that's what you are using? I don't know for sure.
IB expects their customers to have PhD in English, Accountancy, and Law. Why can't they use simple English?