IB auto liquidate certain futures contracts

T

trader99

Hey guys,

I noticed this morning that IB autoliquidated my NG Sept '18 contract since today is last trading date.

However, I thought they would wait til the close to do that. They just autoliquidated. Had they let me handle til the close of the market I would be up nicely. Instead I didn't have control so took a small loss.

is there any recourse? Or I should liquidate the day before the last trading date(??? what's the point of the last trading date if you can't get out yourself??)

https://misc.interactivebrokers.com...te=IB&conid=70558079&detlev=2&sess=1535569893
 
trader99 said:
Hey guys,

I noticed this morning that IB autoliquidated my NG Sept '18 contract since today is last trading date.

However, I thought they would wait til the close to do that. They just autoliquidated. Had they let me handle til the close of the market I would be up nicely. Instead I didn't have control so took a small loss.

is there any recourse? Or I should liquidate the day before the last trading date(??? what's the point of the last trading date if you can't get out yourself??)

https://misc.interactivebrokers.com...te=IB&conid=70558079&detlev=2&sess=1535569893
More...

Could be a margin issue. IB changes margin policies all the time and without warning at times. It is very annoying. Ask them.
 
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trader99 said:
Hey guys,

I noticed this morning that IB autoliquidated my NG Sept '18 contract since today is last trading date.

However, I thought they would wait til the close to do that. They just autoliquidated. Had they let me handle til the close of the market I would be up nicely. Instead I didn't have control so took a small loss.

is there any recourse? Or I should liquidate the day before the last trading date(??? what's the point of the last trading date if you can't get out yourself??)

https://misc.interactivebrokers.com...te=IB&conid=70558079&detlev=2&sess=1535569893
More...
They do this for any contract when taking delivery would exceed your margin, same thing with options the result in delivery of stock. The best solution is to go to any broker besides IB. Alternately just limit yourself to cash settled futures and options or sell the day before. Note that I had positions liquidated even earlier than the day of expiration with no other margin violation or reason and the "customer service" people can only parrot "its the algorithm, it's the algorithm", so be careful and don't expect any recourse.
 
Sig said:
They do this for any contract when taking delivery would exceed your margin, same thing with options the result in delivery of stock. The best solution is to go to any broker besides IB. Alternately just limit yourself to cash settled futures and options or sell the day before. Note that I had positions liquidated even earlier than the day of expiration with no other margin violation or reason and the "customer service" people can only parrot "its the algorithm, it's the algorithm", so be careful and don't expect any recourse.
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I know NG is physically settled. But I'm still surprised that they would just autoliquidated me. I figure if today was the last trading date then fine. At least let the trading day ends before autoliquidating me?! Luckily it was a small loss. But still annoying...
 
trader99 said:
it could be. But not likely given NG margins are pretty low.
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But like @Sig said above, could be cuz you don't have enough if you got assigned and has to take physical delivery. So it could still be a margin issue.
 
Last edited:
trader99 said:
I know NG is physically settled. But I'm still surprised that they would just autoliquidated me. I figure if today was the last trading date then fine. At least let the trading day ends before autoliquidating me?! Luckily it was a small loss. But still annoying...
More...

They don't take chances and they don't care. If they see you are not out by certain time and they told me it's about 20-40 min. before the stop of trading time, they auto-liquidate. I got auto-liq'ed by them once it was awful!! They took my position out at the worst price with the highest commission because they did it with a market order, so I had to pay the highest exchange fee since it's considered a liquidity-taking order.

Take @Sig's advice, go with another broker or go with cash-settled instruments. I am with TDA and they call you beforehand.
 
trader99 said:
Hey guys,

I noticed this morning that IB autoliquidated my NG Sept '18 contract since today is last trading date.

However, I thought they would wait til the close to do that. They just autoliquidated. Had they let me handle til the close of the market I would be up nicely. Instead I didn't have control so took a small loss.

is there any recourse? Or I should liquidate the day before the last trading date(??? what's the point of the last trading date if you can't get out yourself??)

https://misc.interactivebrokers.com...te=IB&conid=70558079&detlev=2&sess=1535569893
More...

At what time today was the liquidation?
 
Hmm, I was wondering if it was around 11:30 AM PST, that would at least have linked it to something with the settlement price. But 7 AM? *shrugs*

To answer your question, no, there is no recourse. The auto-liquidation clause is in your account agreement.

Sig gave the best advice above. But I don't see any reason to avoid trading physical commodities if you just employ a little more prudence. From what I can tell, IB has been more pain than pleasure for many ETers here. Feel out some other brokers, see if they would be more of a fit for you.
 
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