The Available for Trading values show you the state of your account at a glance:
- Available Funds tells you if you can put on a trade.
- Excess Liquidity tells you whether you have sufficient cushion to maintain your current positions.
- Buying Power tells you how much you have at your disposal including your equity and IBKR's margin.
| Parameter | Securities Account | Commodities Account |
| Current Available Funds | Equity with Loan Value - Initial margin. This value tells what you have available for trading. | Net Liquidation Value - Initial Margin |
| Current Excess Liquidity | This value shows your margin cushion, before liquidation. Equity with Loan Value - Maintenance margin. | Net Liquidation value - Maintenance margin. |
| Post-Expiry Excess (predicted) | Provides a projected "at expiration" excess liquidity value based on the soon-to-expire contracts in your portfolio. Value displays at expiration and are highlighted in red. All other times the value is "0". The projected value in this field includes the anticipated account value including the expiring contract. To see just the projected margin and excess liquidity value for the expiring contract, double click the entry. | Provides a projected "at expiration" excess liquidity value based on the soon-to-expire contracts in your portfolio. Value displays at expiration and are highlighted in red. All other times the value is "0". The projected value in this field includes the anticipated account value including the expiring contract. To see just the projected margin and excess liquidity value for the expiring contract, double click the entry. |
| Special Memorandum Account | Line of credit created when the market value of securities in a Reg. T account increase in value. See the Knowledge Base for details. | N/A |
| Look Ahead Available Funds | This value reflects your available funds at the next margin change. The next change is displayed in the Look Ahead Next Change field. Equity with loan value - look ahead initial margin. | Net Liquidation value - Look ahead Initial margin. |
| Look Ahead Excess Liquidity | Equity with loan value - look ahead maintenance margin. | Net Liquidation value - look ahead maintenance margin. |
| Overnight Available Funds | Same as during regular trading hours. | Net Liquidation value - Overnight Maintenance margin |
| Overnight Excess Liquidity | Same as during regular trading hours. | Net Liquidation value - Overnight Maintenance margin. |
| Buying Power | Cash Account: Minimum (Equity with Loan Value, Previous Day Equity with Loan Value)-Initial Margin Standard Margin Account: Minimum (Equity with Loan Value, Previous Day Equity with Loan Value) - Initial Margin *4 | Not applicable for futures. |
| Leverage | Gross Position Value/Net Liquidation. | Same. |
| Look Ahead Next Change | Shows you when the next margin period will begin. | Same. |
| Day Trades Left | Number of day trades still available for 4-day pattern day trader period. | Not applicable for futures. |
For more information, see the TWS Users' Guide and the IBKR Knowledge Base.