- Solve real problems with our hands-on interface
- Progress from basic puts and calls to advanced strategies
Interactive Options Course
Lesson 3 of 8
Investors can use the Trade menu in IBKR’s Client Portal to trade any available products, view orders & trades, exercise options, convert currency, and close positions.
From the Trade menu, select Order Ticket. All products available to trade will be listed along the top of the screen: Stocks, Options, Futures, Future Options, Warrants, CFDs, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Commodities, Forex, or the option to Convert Currency or Close Positions. Please note that the investor will need to add trading permissions for any products and locations they wish to trade. We will discuss how to add trading permissions in a later lesson.
An Order Ticket will be displayed to the left. Investors can use the search bar to search by ticker symbol or company name. Enter the symbol, select Enter, and choose the exchange. Multiple exchanges will be listed however please note investors will only be able to submit an order for exchanges they have trading permissions configured for. Once a ticker symbol has been selected, the middle of the page will display a chart, along with the bid and ask. Additional data values will be shown below the chart, including Volume Today, Average Daily Volume, Open Price, Market Cap and more. Investors can adjust the time period of the chart by selecting from the list along the X axis of the chart. To the right of the chart, the investor can see details of their account balances, such as Net Liquidity, Unrealized P&L, cash balances, and margin requirements.
Selecting the Back button above the chart will remove the existing ticker symbol from the order ticket and display any recently searched tickers.
To submit an order through the Order Ticket, the investor will select Buy Order or Sell Order, enter the quantity (which can be entered in shares or dollars, if fractional shares are enabled), the order type, price, time in force, and indicate if they would like the order to fill Outside Regular Trading Hours. When the investor is ready to submit the order, they can select the Preview button to view a projection of their account balances post trade, or the blue Submit Order button to transmit the order.
If the investor has an existing position they would like to close, they can easily do so from the Portfolio window. The investor selects Portfolio along the top of the page and then locates the position they would like to close from the list of current holdings. In this example, the investor is looking to close out of their AT&T position so they select the ticker symbol, T. To the right of the symbol it will show “Position”. The investor selects the three dots icon at the far-right hand side of the row and from the menu selects Close. An Order Ticket will appear populated with the order to close out of the existing position. In this example, the order ticket is populated as a Sell Order with a quantity of five as the investor was long five shares of AT&T. The investor can fill in any order type, price and time-in-force details and, when ready, selects Submit to transmit the order.
In a later lesson, we will review the Client Portal options trading capabilities.
Investors can see a list of recent orders and executed trades from the Trade menu by selecting Orders & Trades. The Orders section will display a list of recent orders and their status, as well as the option to modify or cancel orders that have not yet filled. The Trades section will display any executed trades.
Investors can use the Convert Currency option to easily convert cash from one currency to another. The middle of the page will display the investor’s current cash balances. To convert a currency balance, the investor can use the “From” dropdown menu to select the currency they have and would like to convert. Next they will use the “To” dropdown menu to select the currency they would like to convert the balance to. The investor can enter the amount they would like to convert in terms of the starting currency or the ending currency and the other field will automatically populate thereafter. Please note the currency conversion will use a market order type. The investor will select Submit when ready to transmit the order.
The Close Position tool allows investors to close all or specific positions in their portfolio. The investor can choose from 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% or a Custom amount they would like to close. From the Instruments dropdown, the investor will select the product they would like to close and check off the boxes for Long or Short. Fill in the additional order details and select Close Positions when ready to submit the orders.
Note that the more advanced tools such as Basket Trader, Market Depth Trader, Risk Navigator, algo order types, and more are only accessed within the Trader Workstation (or TWS). For more information, please see our dedicated TWS courses.
Resources:
For specific platform feedback and suggestions, please submit it directly to our team using these instructions.
If you have an account-specific question or concern, please reach out to Client Services.
We encourage you to look through our FAQs before posting. Your question may already be covered!
The analysis in this material is provided for information only and is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. To the extent that this material discusses general market activity, industry or sector trends or other broad-based economic or political conditions, it should not be construed as research or investment advice. To the extent that it includes references to specific securities, commodities, currencies, or other instruments, those references do not constitute a recommendation by IBKR to buy, sell or hold such investments. This material does not and is not intended to take into account the particular financial conditions, investment objectives or requirements of individual customers. Before acting on this material, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, as necessary, seek professional advice.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Interactive Brokers, its affiliates, or its employees.
Any discussion or mention of an ETF is not to be construed as recommendation, promotion or solicitation. All investors should review and consider associated investment risks, charges and expenses of the investment company or fund prior to investing. Before acting on this material, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, as necessary, seek professional advice.
There is a substantial risk of loss in foreign exchange trading. The settlement date of foreign exchange trades can vary due to time zone differences and bank holidays. When trading across foreign exchange markets, this may necessitate borrowing funds to settle foreign exchange trades. The interest rate on borrowed funds must be considered when computing the cost of trades across multiple markets.
Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. For information on the uses and risks of options, you can obtain a copy of the Options Clearing Corporation risk disclosure document titled Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options by going to the following link ibkr.com/occ. Multiple leg strategies, including spreads, will incur multiple transaction costs.
Futures are not suitable for all investors. The amount you may lose may be greater than your initial investment. Before trading futures, please read the CFTC Risk Disclosure. A copy and additional information are available at ibkr.com.
Hello there, I am trying to find informtion about the trading presets under settings, stocks, presets in IBKR client portal. There is nothing obvious in the IBKRuserguide.com site. I am trying to set presets, but find they keep buying back in and if I switch off what looks like limit price, there are errors. can you share any adice please?
Hello Andrew, thank you for reaching out. It is only possible to set order presets in TWS. Please review this link for more information about our available presets: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/?f=%2Fen%2Ftrading%2Ftws-order-presets.php
Please reach back out with any more questions. We are here to help!
How do I close a position in a Micro-Cap?
Hello, thank you for reaching out. Please view this FAQ for instructions: https://www.ibkr.com/faq?id=28215125
We hope this helps!
chaloemkhompitoon
Bonsoir, ja’acheté des actions mais je n’avais pas mis de stop loss . Comment faire pour les rajouter? Merci
Bonjour, merci de votre question. Vous pouvez ajouter un stop loss en suivant les instructions fournies dans cette FAQ : https://www.interactivebrokers.com/faq?id=35807564
hello! Im having trouble buying btc(paxos), i have already set de crypto plus account, and deposited a small amount in dollars just for a first test, but i haven’t been able to buy. It says i have toy fund the account, but it has money. Thank you!
Hello, thank you for contacting us on IBKR Campus. To address your concern/inquiry, we need a few more details about the situation and your account; unfortunately, social media is not a secure channel to share this information. We kindly ask that you contact our Client Services team for further assistance via web ticket, live chat, or phone call using the link below. We appreciate your understanding. https://spr.ly/IBKR_ClientServicesCampus
Hello, I am using the Client Portal. How do I enter a connected pair of orders such as this. Sell 100 shares of XYZ @ $10.00 limit, order triggers order, Sell 100 shares of XYZ @ $1.00 trailstop The idea is that if the limit order is filled then, and not until then the trailstop becomes active. Thank you.
Hello, thank you for reaching out. After logging in, click Trade and enter your desired ticker. Then create the order and click “Attach Orders”. Then you can configure the trailing amount and trailing type. We hope this information is helpful!
Cześć, mam problem z kupnem akcji na kredyt choć posiadam konto margin. Przy próbie kupna dostaję komunikat (sufficient to cover the change), ponadto mam więcej gotówki niż 2000 dol.
Witaj, dziękujemy za pytanie. Zapoznaj się z FAQ, aby rozwiązać problemy: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/faq?id=32658064
Mamy nadzieję, że to pomoże!
Hello, when I click on Buy and continue there is a pop up message saying the no Market Data were selected. Where and how can I make this selection?
Hello Nikos, thank you for reaching out. For instructions to request market data, please view this FAQ: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/faq?id=28239718
We hope this helps!
Is it possible to place order with condition trigger such as volume and price via the client portal? I can find it in mobile app but seems not in client portal
Hi, thank you for asking. No, this is not possible at this time. New features and order types are being added to Client Portal with each new release. At this time, however, you cannot attach a condition to an order created in Client Portal. Conditional orders are supported in TWS only at the moment. Please view this FAQ for more details: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/faq?id=64163184
We hope this helps!