IB: USD base currency want to trade DAX/HSI

T

trader07

I am an Interactive Brokers client USD base currency. I want to trade the DAX futures which is EUR and also the HSI which is HKD. Can I just go ahead and trade these and the currencies will be converted or do I have to convert? Anybody who has done this please reply, much appreciated. Thanks.
 
I'm not a current IB customer, but I know the answer (if you look around their website for a few minutes you'll find it). If you have a margin account, you can just place your trades without converting the currency first. If you have a cash account (or IRA "margin" account) you have to convert enough $$$ to cover the margin requirement to the local currency before making the trade.
 
You can trade contracts in any currency if you have margin feature, but if you end up with a negative balance in that currency, you will incur interest charges. So you need to manage your cash balances across currencies by buying/selling currencies as needed. You probably want to smooth out the FX vs. proceeding in lockstep to reduce transactions costs on the FX.
 
I just made a trade and made a profit of $240 HKD on the HSI futures. I looked at my Account and it says I have $240 HKD realized.

So, I clicked on close all non-base currency position and ended up with 30 USD.HKD positions on my account (?!). How do I convert this back to USD cash to realize my profit in USD?

Do I sell the 30 USD.HKD I got?
 
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