Interest on your Interactive Brokers (IBKR) account is handled as follows:
- Calculation and Accrual:
- Interest is calculated and accrued daily based on end-of-day settled cash balances for each currency in your account.
- Calculations are made on a one-business-day lag.
- Interest accruals are reflected in your account's Net Asset Value (NAV) and can be viewed in the 'Interest Accruals' section of your activity statement.
- Posting and Crediting:
- IBKR posts interest payments monthly, typically on the third business day of the following month.
- At this time, the daily accruals for the previous month are reversed, and the actual interest for the month is posted.
- Interest is adjusted against individual currency balances in your account.
- Minimum Threshold for Posting:
- If the accrual is less than $1.00 (or the minimum unit for the currency type held), it will accumulate with subsequent accruals until reaching the threshold before being posted to your account.
- Viewing Interest:
- You can view interest calculations in the Interest and Broker Fees sections of your Activity Statement.
- To access a detailed view of daily interest accruals, use the custom 'Interest Details' report available in the Client Portal.
- Interest Charges:
- Interest charges may occur if you have a negative cash balance in any currency, typically in margin accounts.
- These charges are also calculated daily and posted monthly following the same process as interest credits.
- Factors Affecting Interest:
- Interest rates depend on your account's Net Asset Value (NAV) and are subject to change without prior notice.
- Accounts with a NAV of $100,000 or more typically receive the full eligible interest rate, while accounts with less may receive proportional rates.
- Cash balances below $10,000 generally do not earn interest.
Note
- The requirements and rates may change, so for the most up-to-date information on interest rates, tiers, and eligibility for specific currencies, please check the IBKR website.