Their web interface is rather unreliable. It randomly logs me out, forms have to be reloaded a few times before all the options show, you get logged out before being connected to a chat agent so it makes it impossible to actually chat with them, I called one of the two Swiss customer service phone numbers and was talked at in Polish by the IVR while on hold for over 30 minutes with no-one ever answering, the SSL certificate on their disaster recovery website (https://ibgdr.com/) is invalid and they didnât understand the issue when I brought it up 3 months ago⊠The list gets longer but you get it, it looks like they are far from having their IT in order.
I am very hesitant to entrust them with my life savings because their platform comes across as such an amateur job.
Is Schwab a good alternative? I just want a more professional looking broker with a reliable web interface so I can sleep without worrying whether my money is safe.
I understand your point very well. Iâm also put off by the quality of IB. And I would not mind to pay, letâs say, 100 CHF per year more in total for a better service. A while ago I asked about it and did some research, but found nothing. With Swiss Brokers you lose multiple hundreds of CHF when you invest in US stocks, due to currency conversion and stamp duty. With American brokers the problem also seems to be currency conversion. They mostly operate in USD and if you send a different currency, they will convert it automatically into USD, at a bad rate. At least thatâs what I think Schwab is doing.
I wish there was a flexible platform like IB, which allows you to pay in and out in any currency and do your own fx conversions, but that was more tailored to buy and hold investors who want to make sure their lifeâs savings are safe. I think itâs worth to pay a premium for it and not cheap out. Maybe someone does know some good service?
Seems like a total overkill. I donât want to shift hundreds of thousands (in value) of stock here and there, trade here, store there, the minimalist in me screams in agony.
Did you read the original post? The issue is not with tradingâŠ
I believe the original author of that plan wanted to move a big chunk from time to time, like 400k at a time and move it to a swiss broker for the usual reasons.
Anyway I had a look on IB to understand how much it will cost to move out but I didnât understand what I;ve read
Yes I think that web trader is more reliable. A couple of days ago, I tried to buy dome VTI shares (I already own some) but the Client Portal kept saying I had to update my permissions (which seemed to be okâŠ).
I switched to Web Trader and despite the ugly interface I could place my order without issuesâŠ
I think Iâll stick to this for trading and will use the Client Portal for information and report purposes
I do that in the âNew Orderâ window you attached as second image. I chose the âStockâ tab, set the symbol VTI, the âGoâ and it shows the Market price. You can also check on other websites (e.g. NYSE) if you want more price data because you try to optimize up to the dime.
would be nice, however as I only trade monthly it takes me only a couple of minutes and itâs the opportunity to login and have a look at the situation
I already described it once. You have two forex assets: CHF.USD and USD.CHF
buy 100 CHF.USD = buy 100 CHF for X USD
sell 100 CHF.USD = sell 100 CHF for X USD
buy 100 USD.CHF = buy 100 USD for X CHF
sell 100 USD.CHF = sell 100 USD for X CHF
In your case, you need the second option, because you know how many CHF you have, so you normally would like to sell them all.
Btw, what I donât like about WebTrader is that we work with tickers: VT, VTI. There is no confirmation that what youâre buying is what you expect. No âVanguard Total Blablaâ. So maybe if you buy it on the wrong stock exchange, then you bought âVirgin Technologiesâ by mistake
Good point. You could use the full symbol VT.VI (I think these unambiguously refer to a particular stock as these names are unique?) or check the rate on Yahoo Finance before buying and then youâd be more confident you have the right one. Unless both VT stocks have the same price, then youâre screwed.
Come on, you will rely on this when making a trade for 100k? Yahoo Finance is anyway 15 min delayed.
A ticker is unique within a stock exchange. So if you choose VT on ARCA, then youâre safe. But if you choose the default, which is SMART, then he will choose the cheapest stock exchange. I donât really know how it works in detail, thatâs why Iâm always a bit unsure before I press BUY.
well I just wrote that you can choose the exact stock exchange and then itâs for sure correct. I just donât know the american stock market in detail. They have more than one stock exchange and then IB offers also these virtual stocks exchanges, like SMART. I cannot imagine that you would somehow buy a wrong title, but my uncertainty comes from the fact that I donât know in details how it works. I would just feel more assured if the damn WebTrader would tell you what youâre buying after you put the symbol in.
I just tried with âVTIâ, and when you click âgoâ it shows a list of matching stocks with their full name. But not for VT, it just shows the symbol.
I donât see where to pick the exchange, I only have âSMARTâ in the drop down. Is yours different? Nevermind, it only shows after you click âgoâ
I am actually happy with the IBKR Client Portal. Had a problem on one day 2 weeks ago, but since then itâs been fine. I love the interface compared to TWS.
I personally would trust them as much as Sq etc.
Incidentally IBKR now has the same Market Cap (18B) as Credit Suisse. Not that that influences the trustworthiness, just surprised me when I compared.
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