Alternative to IB / more user-friendly

I think he knows all the answers so don’t bother, it was just o prove a point.

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This looks pretty straight forward. Anyone should get it.

I am using this all the time. Don’t see any reason to use the complex currency conversion ever again.

did you check the conditions? did you compare the exchange rates? I wonder if they give you just a wrapper around the complex trading place, or do they charge something extra.

I did never see any extra charges. The feature allows a preview of what you will be charged.
For me it is the usual 2 USD per FX conversion.
Of course, they just exchange at market rate. So if you want to execute a minimum order or other complex features, you need to do it the old fashion way. But I don’t care much about the rate and am fine with exchanging currency for the daily rate.

edit: I think the desktop version has this currency conversion feature, too. But I never used that one because it felt too difficult to navigate the pro app. So I went the “buy USD, sell CHF” way. And then when this new feature appeared in the mobile app, I switched to this.

Are the USD available immediately after the conversion? Or is it like +2 days?

Then i will gladly sell you 1 USD for 10 CHF. :smiley:
The exchange rate is of course important and it would be nice to know what the rate actually is.

For example, if you exchange 10’000 CHF and get 9’950 USD, but with regular forex you would get 10’000 USD, that means there is a hidden cost of 0.5% in the exchange rate.

You either don‘t understand what a market rate is or read too fast.

Anyway: why don‘t you test it yourself when you don‘t believe it? It is literally a button away and you don‘t lose any money by doing so if you don‘t execute the order.
Attached a screenshot from like 2 minutes ago.

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I just started opening up my IBKR account. This thread convinced me.

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Depends on where you buy the USD.
If you login and trade here it’s almost instant (maybe a few minutes).
If you use the classic trading app it takes 2 days for the exchange to settle your transactions.

I think he probably meant that he doesn’t care what the actual market rate is at the time of conversion. I.e. no short-term speculation on the USD rate.

I just tried the Android app demo and the exchange was instant.

I’ll probably use Client Portal or the app. So in both cases it will be an instant fx change?

I am using the iOS app, and conversions are instant. I tend to only do conversions when the US markets are open. However I don‘t know if it would make a difference to convert outside of the opening hours of the US markets.

I do believe investing in broadly diversified inexpensive index funds (ETFs) is as straightforward as it gets, if you want to have a diversified equity portfolio.

IBKR though is anything but that, compared to other brokers. And for Swiss customers you can add the need to learn about, look up and “translate” IBKRs symbols to ISIN or valor numbers and vice versa for tax purposes.

That’s the point I was trying to make: For them, IB is less user-friendly than other brokers (except, maybe, pricing), and the “fear” of complexity is rational. :slightly_smiling_face:

Though I have to admit, they seem to be trying to improve on that, especially in Account Management portal and maybe mobile app. Which likely has to do with their recent launch of the Lite accounts.

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So, opening up the account was pretty easy with the 101 guide from retireinprogress. Account is now active and funded with 100 CHF. Just having 2 issues:

  1. You are currently logged in without Trading/Market Data permissions. I guess this will solve itself out this week.

  2. App is insisting that my password is wrong. I will also wait and see if this is related to the account opening.

I just really hope we’ll keep having access to US ETFs in the next 20-25 years.

This will not solve, as long as you won’t pay for it.

I had the same, it was due to a “double-login” (you can only trade on one of the logged on devices/platforms)

This is just nagging you to pay for real time data, which you don’t need unless you want to do high frequency or day trading. (If you really want to be sure you can go to the stock exchange website and look into the real time orderbook there for free.)

App is insisting that my password is wrong. I will also wait and see if this is related to the account opening.

Did you generate a cryptic password that includes “1”, “l” and “i”? I had the same problem when I tried to login on my phone because I read a small L instead of a 1.

I don’t need that. I’ll just buy VT once a month and that’s it. I didn’t generate a password, just came up with my own, so that should be fine.

I just started a live chat to sort this issue out. I don’t have a 2nd login, it’s only one session.

If I remember well, you need to have some minimum balance on the account in order to have trading permission, I don’t know if it is still applicable though.

You might just need to wait for a few days for the deposit to settle.