Broker Summary - Interactive Brokers: Account Types And Minimum Deposits

Interactive Brokers offers customer accounts for individuals, families and small businesses. In addition, IB offers a variety of customer account structures to meet the specific needs of institutions, such as professional advisors, registered brokers, futures commission merchants (FCMs), money managers, and hedge and mutual funds. Most individual accounts require a minimum equity deposit in cash or stock of USD 10,000 (or USD equivalent) or USD 5,000 for IRA Accounts (or USD equivalent); the following minimums are required to open an account:

Figure 1: IB account minimums

Individual, Joint and IRA Accounts
Interactive Brokers offers Individual, Joint and IRA Accounts that are structured as single accounts with a default single user. Customers must be 21 or older to open a margin account, and 18 or older to open a cash account. An optional second user with Power of Attorney can be added. Two "tracks" for Individual, Joint and IRA Accounts are offered:

FastTrack Application - for customers who:

• Want to start with trading stocks only, and
  
  
• Want to trade in a single country with a single currency, and
  
  
• Want a cash or Reg T Margin account but not a Portfolio Margin account, and
  
  
• Are not a professional for purposes of market data subscriptions, and
  
  
• Do not want to subscribe to news and information services, and
  
  
• Do not require Non-Resident Indian status.

ProTrack Application - for customers who

• Want to start trading multiple products in addition to stocks (including options, futures, forex, bonds, mutual funds, and CFDs), or
  
  
• Want to trade in multiple countries and multiple currencies, or
  
  
• Want to choose among multiple commission plans, or
  
  
• Want a Portfolio Margin account.

Friends and Family Group Accounts
Customers must be 21 or older to open a margin account, and 18 or older to open a cash account. Parents who wish to trade on behalf of their children can open a Friends & Family Advisor Account with a Trust client account for each child. IB offers Friends and Family Group Accounts for managing multiple accounts (15 or fewer) of varying types under a single login, including:

• Individual
  
  
• Joint
  
  
• Trust
  
  
• IRA
  
  
• Corporation
  
  
• Partnership
  
  
• Limited Liability Corporation
  
  
• Unincorporated Legal Structures

Note: To manage more than 15 multiple accounts from a single login, one must be a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) or a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) and should open a Professional Advisor account.

SEE: 10 Steps To Building A Winning Trading Plan

Small Business Accounts
IB offers account structures for corporations, partnerships, limited liability corporations and unincorporated legal structures.

• One or more users manage a single account
  
  
• Must be 21 or older to open a margin account; 18 or older to open a cash account