I have a margin warning right now and its bothering the hell out of me.I thought I wasnt using any margin.I thought my account had $16k cash in it.I have only penny stocks in my account and I thought they were not marginable.IB have sent three warnings so far.I am going to have to talk to IB customer service.Its bloody depressing.
What have I learned from my margin calls?DONT BUY FOREIGN STOCKS!When I sold my canadian stocks a few weeks ago I thought that was the end of them.But no.Looks like there is canadian cash in my account even though my account is US$ base.This canadian cash "accrues" interest but a larger amount of interest is subtracted from my US dollars to pay for the "loan" of this CAD cash.But the IRS doesnt care,its in there grabbing interest tax.Yesterday IB hit me with a $865 FX fee and a margin warning.Today the circus in my account continues and no help from IB on how to stop it.