IBKR's website is... very buggy. I don't trust them with my money. Is Schwab a good alternative?

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 didn’t 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.

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I understand your point very well. I’m also put off by the quality of IB. And I would not mind to pay, let’s 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 that’s 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 life’s savings are safe. I think it’s worth to pay a premium for it and not cheap out. Maybe someone does know some good service?

TWS is extremely stable, but maybe not as beginner friendly as web ui

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=14099

I’m talking about Client Portal and Customer Support. I can live with the crappy Web Trader, it’s actually quite reliable in comparison.

Just use the app


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Has anyone tried to move etfs from IB to Postfinance? I think someone wanted to do that for a bit of security. Buy on IB, store on Postfinance.

PF should cost 90chf per year + X to move from IB to PF?

It might be interesting to do the same thing from IB to Swissquote.

Seems like a total overkill. I don’t 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 trading


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 didn’t understand what I;ve read :frowning:

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 ok
).
I switched to Web Trader and despite the ugly interface I could place my order without issues
 :wink:
I think I’ll stick to this for trading and will use the Client Portal for information and report purposes

I’ll take dependable and functional over shiny any day. Is this how you place a trade for VT at whatever the current cost is?

And is this how to sell CHF to buy USD?

How about having a rule like “I’ll send X CHF every month, use it to buy however much VT that gets me automatically”?

I do that in the ‘New Order’ window you attached as second image. I chose the ‘Stock’ tab, set the symbol VTI, the ‘Go’ 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 it’s 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 don’t like about WebTrader is that we work with tickers: VT, VTI. There is no confirmation that what you’re buying is what you expect. No “Vanguard Total Blabla”. So maybe if you buy it on the wrong stock exchange, then you bought “Virgin Technologies” by mistake :smiley:

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 you’d be more confident you have the right one. Unless both VT stocks have the same price, then you’re screwed.

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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 you’re safe. But if you choose the default, which is SMART, then he will choose the cheapest stock exchange. I don’t really know how it works in detail, that’s why I’m always a bit unsure before I press BUY.

So then you’re never 100% sure you’re buying the stock you want? Is there no way to refer to a particular stock unambiguously?

well I just wrote that you can choose the exact stock exchange and then it’s for sure correct. I just don’t 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 don’t know in details how it works. I would just feel more assured if the damn WebTrader would tell you what you’re buying after you put the symbol in.

I just tried with “VTI”, and when you click “go” it shows a list of matching stocks with their full name. But not for VT, it just shows the symbol.

I don’t see where to pick the exchange, I only have “SMART” in the drop down. Is yours different? Nevermind, it only shows after you click “go”

I tried once using the web interface and I was put off. I am very happy with the mobile app though.

Note that they have a Contract and Symbol database.

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I am actually happy with the IBKR Client Portal. Had a problem on one day 2 weeks ago, but since then it’s 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.