2025 Interactive Brokers Open Account Tutorial with a Bonus up to 1000 US dollars !! | IBKR Step by Step Guide

Step by Step Tutorials on Interactive Brokers Account Opening Process

Interactive Brokers, Nasdaq ticker symbol IBKR, is a global online broker which offers their customers investment and trading services. Today, we would like to share with you how to open an Interactive Brokers investment account with a bonus up to 1000 US dollars!

Please note that it’s totally free to open an IBKR account.

Here is a summary of the IBKR account opening process:

• Step 1: Prepare what you need.
• Step 2: Get a bonus from the referral code.
• Step 3: Provide your email address, and create a username and password.
• Step 4: Select the appropriate account type which aligns with your brokerage needs.
• Step 5: Complete a basic information questionnaire, including personal information, employment status, and source of wealth.
• Step 6: Verify your phone number
• Step 7: Configure your trading account (Cash or Margin), investment objectives, and choose what investment products you want to trade.
• Step 8: Review the provided information and sign an electronic contract after agreeing to the broker’s terms and conditions.
• Step 9: Verify your identity and address by scanning and uploading a proof of identity and address document, such as a government-issued ID card, driver’s license, or passport.
• Step 10: Fund your account.
• Step 11: Begin investing or trading.

IBKR does not have a minimum account balance requirement and has also eliminated account maintenance fees since 2021. In the past, the minimum deposit requirement is ten thousand US dollars. So, nowadays, it’s more friendly to retail investors.

Step 1: Prepare what you need.

The following are needed when opening an Interactive Brokers account:

• Name
• Email
• Phone number
• Address
• Social Security Numbers for Americans
• Document to prove your identity and residential address like a government-issued  ID card or driver’s license, etc

About the minimum age requirements, you have to be above 18 years old to open a Cash account and above 21 years old to open a Margin account.

Step 2: Get a bonus from the referral code.

Interactive Brokers Inclusive Account Opening Offer Link

Before opening an account, remember to use the referral link here to open your account in order to receive the offer. For every 100 US dollars deposited, you can receive 1 US dollar worth of IBKR stock, up to a maximum of 1,000 US dollars worth of IBKR stock!

I’ve opened my Interactive Brokers account since 2021, and the table shows the free IBKR stocks I got when depositing money. As you can see in the table, I’ve accumulated around 1.85 IBKR stocks. The stock price of IBKR reached an all-time high of 154 US dollars as of Oct 30, 2024, which means that the total value of my IBKR stocks is worth around 284 US dollars now.

The vesting date indicates the date upon which restrictions on transfer or sale of awarded shares expires.

We strongly recommend that investors who take their investments seriously deposit more than 10,000 US dollars within 30 days of opening the account, and buy good cheap stocks at appropriate times to hold for at least a year. As Warren Buffett said, one of the most important things about investing is to start early. Buffett bought his first stock at around the age of ten and has since accumulated wealth like a snowball, reaching his current achievements while continuously learning and growing.

Additionally, to avoid having to sell stocks due to a lack of money, it is recommended that everyone prepare extra cash equivalent to six months to a year of basic living expenses, to guard against emergency cash needs such as those arising from car accidents or serious physical injuries.

Step 3: Provide your email address, and create a username and password.

First things first, input your valid email, and define your username and password. And select your country.

Step 4: Select the appropriate account type which aligns with your brokerage needs.

Generally, we select an Individual account for general purposes since this is the most independent and flexible one.

However, if you want to manage your “mutual” funds with your spouse, you can select a “Joint” account. That’s a healthy way to strengthen a long-term relationship.

And the main benefit of a Retirement Account is its low tax advantage.

If you have kids and you want to plan their investment early on and avoid the heritage tax, you can open a Custodian Account for your children.

A Trust account serves as a way for a third party to manage your money after you die.

There is also an Advisor account where a company manages other people’s money on their behalf.

IBKR Pro vs IBKR Lite account type

Next, there are two account types to select, Lite and Pro.

IBKR Lite offers $0 commissions on trading US-listed stocks and ETFs for retail clients. However, it’s Only for US residents. This is also Interactive Broker’s strategy to compete with other free-commissions competitors.

IBKR Pro is the plan for experienced investors and active traders. Pro account offers enhanced price execution with low costs, lower rates on margin loans, and higher interest paid on idle cash.

Open your email to confirm your email.

Click the confirmation link, you will see that your email is confirmed.

Step 5: Complete a basic information questionnaire, including personal information, employment status, and source of wealth.

Fill in your personal information with honesty.

Input your social security number if you are an American. If you are from other countries, you will have to key in your government-issued ID.

Fill in the information about your employment.

As required by regulations, select all categories that contribute to your net worth.

Define 3 of your securities questions. Make it simple and write it down somewhere. It serves as a secondary method to verify yourself online or when speaking with client services.

Step 6: Verify your phone number

Next, verify your phone number by entering the confirmation code that is sent to your mobile number. This is important because you can not proceed with the application without verifying your phone number.

Step 7: Configure your trading account (Cash or Margin), investment objectives, and choose what investment products you want to trade.

There are 3 account types to select, Cash, Margin, or Portfolio Margin.

If you plan not to trade with leverage or sophisticated products like Options, but buy simple stocks or ETFs, just go for a Cash account.

If you are willing to lose more for higher returns, have a high-risk tolerance, and trade actively with leverage, futures and options, etc, choose the Margin account.

What are the requirements of margin accounts?

In effect, you can apply for a margin account without a minimum deposit requirement. However, there is some restrictions when you start to actually trade with margins.

All long transactions in margin accounts are subject to a minimum initial margin requirement of 2,000 US dollars or 100% of the purchase price, whichever is less. All short transactions in margin accounts are subject to a minimum initial margin requirement of 2,000 US dollars.

And margin requirements quoted in US or CA dollars may be satisfied with the equivalent amount in another currency.

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Lastly, there is the Portfolio Margin account. The advantage of a Portfolio Margin account is that your margin would be much less when your stocks positions and options positions is delta neutral in some degree, making your capital more efficient.

However, your Portfolio Margin account must have at least 110,000 US dollars or equivalent in Net Liquidation Value to be eligible.

In terms of your annual net income, net worth and liquid net worth, basically, you need to input a higher number to be able to invest in more kinds of assets. However, if your financial information is way higher than your actual situation according to your age and employment history, Interactive Brokers may ask you to prove it.

The Net Worth is the total value of all assets you own, less what you owe, including all mortgages and debts. Your Net Worth cannot be less than your Liquid Net Worth. Liquid net worth is the total value of any assets you own that can be quickly converted into cash.

In conclusion, net worth should be greater than liquid net worth, and liquid net worth should be greater than annual net income.

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With respect to investment objectives and intended purpose of trading, if you want to trade actively, we suggest you select Growth, Hedging and Profits from Active Trading and Speculation.

Basically, you have to select items which align with a high-risk appetite to be able to trade with leverages and options.

The advantage of this is that even if you are not familiar with investment methods such as margins or options now, you can directly trade in the future when you are ready, without having to change your account settings again.

Next, let’s select the investment products you want to engage, and share your investment experience in each category.

Basically, I select all investment products that are applicable, and make my experience more professional.

Remember to select the “Global (Trade in Fractions)” item in the Stocks section.

Noted how many countries you can buy stocks from, even Taiwan.

Select the Global (Trade in Fractions).

Select the level of Options trading you wish to engage in.

As you learn more about options, you will know things like greeks, delta, gamma, the importance of implied volatility and delta neutral, etc.

Define your bonds category and experience.

There are multiple countries where you can invest in bonds.

And there are warrants and futures.

For traders who opt in professional futures and options trade, you may have to take a quiz to get qualified, we show you the right answers.

Question 1

A futures contract is a standardized agreement traded on an organized exchange to buy or sell underlying assets, especially commodities or shares or indexes, at a fixed price determined at trade time but with the asset to be delivered in the future.

Question 2

The “specifications” of a standardized futures contract describe the commodity or other asset covered by the contract and the amount of such commodity or asset to be delivered by the seller at expiration. The specifications can always be found at the websites of the exchange or clearing house.

Question 3

Speculators don’t need a special license.

Question 4

When an importer of Japanese cars buys yen futures against its yen liability, it is initiating a hedge.

Question 5

The buyer of a futures contract is said to have a long position in futures and the seller of a futures contract is said to have a short position in futures.

Question 6

The clearing house ultimately guarantees that the obligations of buyers and sellers under a futures contract will be fulfilled.

Question 7

When you buy or sell a futures contract, you will put “margin” (a security deposit) with the broker. The amount of the margin will be adjusted at least daily.

Question 8

The futures settlement price is the price, set at the end of each trading day, that is used to mark futures contracts to the market and therefore determine the amount of margin to be paid and collected by buyers and sellers.

Question 9

Futures contracts can be settled either by delivery or cash settlement.

Question 10

Your futures broker is not entitled to a small percentage of the profits of your futures trades.

Question 11

None of the above is true.

Question 12

When you trade futures, you may lose more than you deposit with your broker.

Congratulations! You have finished the exam.

Select the countries where you want to trade futures options.

 

There are also Metals, Mutual Funds, and NextShares.

Also cryptocurrencies.

Next, it is required to state if you are the management or decision maker who controls a publicly traded company, especially if you own more than a 10% stake in the company.

The management or big shareholders of publicly-traded companies may be monitored to prevent insider trading.

We suggest you enroll in the stock yield enhancement program because you can earn 50% of the interest Interactive Brokers collects when you lend your shares for other traders to short sell.

Next, confirm your tax residence.

 

If you are an American, check the two to be qualified for Australian and Canadian treaty benefits.

Check your tax information and sign the contract electronically.

Step 8: Review the provided information and sign an electronic contract after agreeing to the broker’s terms and conditions.

 

 

Some agreements must be reviewed in full by downloading and opening the file.

 

 

Sign your name.

Step 9: Verify your identity and address by scanning and uploading a proof of identity and address document, such as a government-issued ID card, driver’s license, or passport.

Most financial institutions have an obligation to perform a Know Your Customer (KYC) check on new customers. This will typically involve validating your identity via some Government-issued ID and validating your address via a bank statement or similar.

When it comes to validating your identity and address, it is most efficient to submit a high-quality document that provides both Proof of Identity and Proof of Residential Address.

For instance, a government-issued ID or a driver’s license can validate your name, birth date, and address simultaneously.

The address on the document must be the same as the address you enter in your account application.

IB isn’t trying to be difficult, they are simply fulfilling their legal obligations.

For US Residents, Interactive Brokers generally verifies the names and addresses of its US-resident applicants electronically, usually even without the need to upload a copy of your government-issued documents.

Basically, for Americans, you just need to provide your social security number and address to verify yourself.

If Interactive Brokers is unable to verify your identity electronically, you will be asked to provide additional documents.

And I personally find it difficult to verify my identity and address using their mobile way to detect my location while taking a picture with a smartphone. I just give up the mobile way and simply upload my document, which is faster.

Remember not to upload a document which is already expired.

If you follow the steps correctly, you will be notified by email within several days, in my case 4 days, that your account is approved.

If you are an American with a valid social security number and follow the steps correctly, your account may be opened instantly within the same day.

Sometimes if the Interactive Brokers’ new account team is having high demand while you are waiting, you may want to create a notification of an intent to fund the account to speed up the account opening process.

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If you’ve learned something from our productions, please check out the Interactive Brokers webpage and click the inclusive link down below to open an account for free. Your actions means a world to us!

Interactive Brokers Exclusive Account Opening Offer Link

When you open an account through the referral link above, you will receive 1 IBKR stock worth $1 USD for every $100 deposited, with a maximum value of $1,000 in IBKR stocks.

What’s your idea? please leave a comment below! We would like to learn something from you as well!