Interactive Broker negative account balance EUR/CHF customer group...

E

EURCHF

Hi all,

I am a Interactive Broker customer that is stuck with large negative account balance after the automatic position liquidation feature that is heralded in the margining documentation failed to liquidate my account for several days and left it 6x negative from account balance before the SNB EUR/CHF move.

I am looking to pool information and distribute information from people in a similar position. The more info we share the better we might fair if they do not end up forgiving negative balances.

Get involved and write me at :
ib.snb.eurchf@gmail.com

Here a few things that ar of interest:
- has IB contacted you yet about negative balance?
- when were you stopped or you liquidated?
- did anybody have swift auto liquidation on a EUR/CHF position on the SNB day?

anything you might want to ask. Fire away I will try to accumulate the info. I will not distribute names or even email addresses. First it is going to be only a 1 to 1 and I will distribute only with your permission and only anonymously unless otherwise agreed.

You might want to use an extra email address to protect your identity if you feel the need.
 
Just thinking about the flash crash, did IB autoliquidate or also waited (I remember a IB rep hinting the system didn't autoliquidate in that particular occasion). Accounts which recovered in a few minutes would have been destroyed during autoliquidation when there were 0.01 bids on major etfs.
Besides OP there are already a few threads about the EURCHF already, and one very similiar to yours. If you haven't done it yet you should post there as well, or pms the members in a similar situation as yours.
 
Correct. According to what I have read over the years, IB auto-liquidation is not immediate and not always auto, either. Consider this:
---------
Orange - Your margin cushion is depleted and you have a short time to enter into margin-reducing trades before IB begins to liquidate your positions. During this time you should be able to enter a trade that will decrease your margin requirement, but not increase.

Red - IB will shortly start to liquidate positions as necessary to bring your account back within the margin limits.


https://www.interactivebrokers.com/...-RealTimeActivityMonitoring.php?ib_entity=llc
---------

So IB sends you at least 2 notices and even waits a bit after the red notice. I think its fair to first notify and wait for input of the account holder and letting them deal with this first. This process should take at least several minutes.

Obviously, this delay is not made for a situation as the CHF depeg. Its suitable when an account slowly drifts into deficit.

Second, if there's a sudden change in account value, and especially if many accounts are affected, a human will first be required to look into this to avoid wrongful auto liquidation due to wrong price inputs.

I guess that at that stage, faced with the rapidly rising CHF, decided to halt liquidations until the price had stabilised.

(sorry for the bold type. after the copy paste, this boldtype continued)
 
oh that cracks me up. You want my broker to bail you out because you got on the wrong side of a trade. Where does that bailout money come from? Somebody has to pay it. My guess it would come from me, those of us traders that are still solvent. So basically, you want me to pay for your losses. Anything else I can do for you?
 
if you look at it that way, for example every cent of dividend IB pays out to its shareholders is also stolen directly from you. that's not the way it works obv.
 
Relying on a safety net which is advertised and stated in marketing material, as well as directly referred to on IB's website in the form of automatic and real time account monitoring for margin requirements, and automatic and real time liquidation of positions when excess liquidity turns negative, is not asking for a bail out. It's one of the reasons I chose IB. Buried within their terms and conditions states that it's a right, not an obligation, for IB to enforce this. IB not exercising their right to protect themselves and their clients is the basis of my argument.
It's unlikely anyone here is disputing loosing their accounts. It's the size of the negative balances, as a direct result of the failure of IB's advertised risk management algorithms that people have problems with.
 
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