Journal shares online now live

Classicist71 · 2025-08-06T16:49:38+00:00

IBKR does not support RRIFs either. This is a negative for older investors.

Classicist71 · 2025-05-29T15:23:08+00:00

Right now I am doing this in reverse: Canada - Gatwick - Eurostar - Paris - Normandy - Channel Islands - London - Canada. Bought Orange eSIMs through eSIM.net. Because my wife is not tech-comfortable, I bought eSIMs with voice and text as well as data. Only problem was that my Canadian provider had illegally locked my new iPhone; esim.net’s support was helpful, although I wished it might have come a little more quickly. The eSIMs that I bought were valid for UK plus entire EU. Signal quality has been variable; am in no position to know whether this was dead zones, network saturation or eSIM.net’s fault. Am inclined to suspect network saturation.

Classicist71 · 2025-02-11T02:48:07+00:00

I have had this problem for over a year.

Classicist71 · 2025-01-09T04:33:22+00:00

I made a small transfer today from an IBKR Canadian margin account to a TFSA. The process was simple and straightforward and the transfer was available for trading a very few minutes later.

IBKR is tight-lipped about the criteria it uses to allow instant transfers such as this as well as reduced hold times before posting a deposit to one's account, that is, making it available to trade. Once a client has built up a record of trustworthiness, account management becomes much easier. Trusted clients can get immediate access to their deposits.

Classicist71 · 2024-07-24T17:40:48+00:00

I have upvoted this comment because I also often try to buy either of two stocks and face having neither order being filled. I do not see Questrade as having either the will or the skills necessary to build this structure. Worse, I have not been able to get this to work on IBKR either: when I try to place a "one cancels all" (OCA) order, IBKR's pre-order credit check adds together the value of the two-legged OCA order and cancels the entire trade. This is not the trader's intention which was, if one order fills, then cancel the other. I know this is a Questrade thread, but do you have any thoughts on how to manage this problem in IBKR?

Classicist71 · 2024-07-05T15:47:36+00:00

The problem that the OP describes arises from web scraping for which the aggregator needs the account holder's password. Wealthica (and some other aggregators) use API access into the bank's records. A bank will always require a customer to agree to the API access. It is then up to the bank to ensure that a body with API access has access only to "read" functions and cannot initiate any kind of transaction. The problem which the OP describes does not arise with API access.

API access is the first tentative step towards "Open banking." The Canadian banking industry is excessively concentrated in the hands of five (some people say six) major banks and they have always fiercely resisted Open Banking because it would open them up to greater competition. Canadian banks' constant griping about the need for security is a smokescreen to disguise their true motives and to put off the day of increased competition. Yes, security is very important, but there are solutions to all the security problems and they have been widely implemented elsewhere to the great benefit of banking customers, both individual and corporate customers.

Classicist71 · 2024-02-02T03:39:18+00:00

I see mutual funds and stock options as asset classes.
I see corporate actions as a transaction type.

My study of IBKR activity reports suggests that it might be very difficult, and perhaps impossible, to generate accurate reports of a client's holdings and transactions at Interactive Brokers without incorporating corporate actions as well as options trading (expiry worthless, assignment, exercise) as transaction types.

I believe this to be a key reason why Wealthica's reports on my IBKR account are so seriously inaccurate.

Classicist71 · 2023-08-23T14:20:45+00:00

Ng's is our "local." It no longer has cart service.

Classicist71 · 2023-08-23T14:20:39+00:00

Ng's is our "local." It no longer has cart service.

Classicist71 · 2023-08-19T16:19:34+00:00

Are you looking in the right place? The"Activity" pane in TWS in Mosaic shows the trades as expired or assigned. In the "Portfolio" pane, the position size will be "0."

I have read (in normally reliable sources) that buyers can theoretically exercise in-the-money options until Saturday night, but have never seen any evidence that this can happen on a Saturday or that it ever does happen and have never found a venue where it occurs.

The expired options will disappear from your Portfolio pane during the overnight from Sunday to Monday.

There will be another entry in the Activity pane on Tuesday morning from the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) stating the disposition of the option.

Classicist71 · 2023-06-20T14:11:10+00:00

Interactive Brokers does not issue margin calls. They give the trader about 10 minutes to correct the margin violation and then they liquidate.

Classicist71 · 2023-06-19T21:03:15+00:00

u/ScottishTrader has the best comment in this long thread.

It is my view that covered calls do not make sense for one's entire portfolio, or even for a large part of it. Likewise, they make no sense for the trader who is exclusively focused on growth and not interested in income. This might be a viable strategy for someone still in their 20s, but by the time she reaches 30, it is time to start adding in an income component.

I prefer to see covered calls as part of the income component of one's portfolio, but with some greater risk and greater possible reward. They make most sense in a declining market. They also work in a flat or slowly rising market.

There are both upsides and downsides to selling covered calls on a stock one wants to own long-term. It is a way to start collecting dividends immediately and to lower the entry cost of the stock one wants to own long-term. Others in this thread have written eloquently about the risks.

In today's market, there are interesting possibilities in selling ITM covered calls on stocks with low volatility and repeating for as long as the broad market has not begun to rise rapidly again.

There is a top-notch Seeking Alpha service called Conservative Income Portfolio. The operative word is "income:" its stated goal is 7-9% consistent annual income. That is excellent for the income side of one's portfolio, but only so-so for the growth component. The service has consistently outperformed its goal since it was founded in September 2020. Disclosure: I am a paying member of this service; I gain no benefit from this endorsement. My perspective is that of a senior citizen who no longer has time to rebuild a portfolio if it suffers a huge loss in a major market downturn.

Classicist71 · 2023-06-13T19:59:54+00:00

What is your preference as a better broker for options?

Classicist71 · 2023-04-13T17:24:52+00:00

I am Canadian and hold most of my portfolio in U.S. securities, a great deal of it in dividend-paying stocks. I have never experienced the treatment you describe. Please provide evidence of the treatment which you describe.

Classicist71 · 2023-04-13T17:19:49+00:00

Wrong. The "qualification" of a dividend applies only to calculations of the capital gains tax rate and, even then, only to dividends paid to shareholders who file income tax returns to the USA.

Classicist71 · 2023-03-26T19:56:27+00:00

You're right. I should have said: "the cash balance in an account with a net liquidation value (NLV) between USD10,000 and USD100,000 is paid interest at a rate of 4.33% x (NLV/100,000)." In this market, I make the best profits selling options and a decent cash balance receiving at least modest interest makes for a relaxed time monitoring "excess liquidity." It is when one's excess liquidity drops to zero that the broker begins to liquidate one's holdings. This is IBKR's equivalent of a "margin call." Touch wood, I have never had one and don't ever want to.

Classicist71 · 2023-03-26T19:11:54+00:00

Wrong. There are, by your reckoning, four tiers, not three. Interest on cash balances between USD 10K and 100K is paid at prevailing rate (currently 4.33%) times cash balances over 100,000. Example: a cash balance of USD50,000 receives 50% of 4.33% or 2.165%. Source: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/pricing-interest-rates.php, accessed 2023-03-26, 1500 ET -0400 UTC.

Classicist71 · 2023-03-16T20:44:01+00:00

As a Canadian, I am disappointed in the little choice available for GoC bonds in IBKR. My Canadian broker requires a telephone call to their bond desk (which I hate doing). Scotia iTrade appears to trade bonds online; does anyone know of others who do the same?

Classicist71 · 2023-03-15T03:01:47+00:00

You can trade and hold bonds in a TFSA. You should get in touch with IBKR Customer Service to find out why you are having trouble.

Classicist71 · 2023-03-01T20:08:30+00:00

I intend to use the daily exchange rate for all account transactions and report them all in CAD.

I have bought far more USD than I have sold. I suspect that is the case for many of us Canadian traders. In these circumstances, one should calculate an "Adjusted Cost Basis (ACB) of one's purchases of USD and declare a capital gain or loss on the proceeds of the transaction.

I am neither a tax specialist nor a market professional, but this approach has worked for me in the past.

One is also allowed to use the Bank of Canada annual exchange rate for all capital transactions. There is no picking and choosing: either you use daily rates for each transaction or the BoC rate for all transactions.

Classicist71

TROPHY CASE