Universal Account Overview
IB's Universal Account allows you to trade multiple products around the world from a single account. You can trade equities, options, futures, and options on futures all from the same Trader Workstation screen, and your transaction history and positions are all reported in a single statement.
Trading around the world is simple, because you are not required to open accounts in multiple currencies. Deposit a single base currency in an account and when you want to trade a product denominated in a currency other than you base currency, a margin loan is created which is secured by your base currency. If you wish to eliminate the margin loan, you may do so at any time by trading currencies through our IB IDEAL network. Our currency rates are much better than any retail bank or credit card exchange rate, and they are very close to the rates offered by professionals in the Interbank Market.