Interactive Brokers and U.S. Treasury Bills

Morning Attack · May 31, 2012

I live in Spain and seeing how things are going I have decided to put my money in a safer place. Part of this money is in USD and is already in my Interactive Brokers account and I intend to by US Treasuries with it.

Question: If I buy T-bills through IB, is this money backed by the U.S. Treasury, so even if IB went bankrupt I would still get my money?

Also, I intend to deposit Euros to IB. Does anyone have a suggestion for what to do with them? I want an investment that is safe and doesn't require supervision. Thank you very much.

bmatthews · Jun 2, 2012

What happens if your broker goes bankrupt?

http://www.finra.org/investors/protectyourself/investoralerts/p116996

You will most probably be just fine.

With regards to buying US T-bills?

Seems "safe" enough, if your worry is protecting your capital and not preventing losses.

rubibond007 · Jun 3, 2012

You should use www.treasurydirect.gov if you want to buy cash. This way you can purchase Treasury securities directly from the U.S. government with no broker involved. Minimium is $1000 dollars and you can buy and sell cash.

Swan Noir · Jun 3, 2012

But his funds are in Euros.

Quote from rubibond007:

You should use www.treasurydirect.gov if you want to buy cash. This way you can purchase Treasury securities directly from the U.S. government with no broker involved. Minimium is $1000 dollars and you can buy and sell cash.

1245 · Jun 3, 2012

Quote from Morning Attack:

I live in Spain and seeing how things are going I have decided to put my money in a safer place. Part of this money is in USD and is already in my Interactive Brokers account and I intend to by US Treasuries with it.

Question: If I buy T-bills through IB, is this money backed by the U.S. Treasury, so even if IB went bankrupt I would still get my money?

Also, I intend to deposit Euros to IB. Does anyone have a suggestion for what to do with them? I want an investment that is safe and doesn't require supervision. Thank you very much.

T-bills are treated like another security by SIPC. Securities are better in a SIPC account than cash. t-bills don't offer better protection than other securities. 95% of the value of the T-bill are marginable.

rubibond007 · Jun 4, 2012

Quote from Swan Noir:

But his funds are in Euros.

Hi swan.

He said that part of his fund are in US dollars and he want to invest some of those dollars in us treasury.

regards

Swan Noir · Jun 4, 2012

I now see that. Thanks.

Quote from rubibond007:

Hi swan.

He said that part of his fund are in US dollars and he want to invest some of those dollars in us treasury.

regards

velosoandre · Jun 6, 2012

Quote from rubibond007:

You should use www.treasurydirect.gov if you want to buy cash. This way you can purchase Treasury securities directly from the U.S. government with no broker involved. Minimium is $1000 dollars and you can buy and sell cash.

treasurydirect is not available for foreign individuals.

rubibond007 · Jun 6, 2012

Quote from velosoandre:

treasurydirect is not available for foreign individuals.

Hi Veloso.

I think that you can have access to them if you use a broker like Fidelty, Schwabs or Vanguard. brokers like Fidelity and Vanguard permit let you do all the T-Bill and T-Note investing you want do on TreasuryDirect at little or no cost. Brokers like Fidelity and Vanguard also permit the purchase of Treasuries in the secondary market, something unavailable on TreasuryDirect. You can place an online order any trading day, and, again, thereâs no commission (although there may be a markup). Also brokerage accounts enable you to sell Treasuries if need be (treasuryDirect closed the Directsell feature).

Anyway, I found this.

"If you are not a United States citizen, please attach an IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8ECI, as appropriate."

See:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sec5381.pdf
under 3. TAXPAYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

http://www.treasurydirect.gov

regards

velosoandre · Jun 6, 2012

Quote from rubibond007:

Hi Veloso.

I think that you can have access to them if you use a broker like Fidelty, Schwabs or Vanguard. brokers like Fidelity and Vanguard permit let you do all the T-Bill and T-Note investing you want do on TreasuryDirect at little or no cost. Brokers like Fidelity and Vanguard also permit the purchase of Treasuries in the secondary market, something unavailable on TreasuryDirect. You can place an online order any trading day, and, again, thereâs no commission (although there may be a markup). Also brokerage accounts enable you to sell Treasuries if need be (treasuryDirect closed the Directsell feature).

Anyway, I found this.

"If you are not a United States citizen, please attach an IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8ECI, as appropriate."

See:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sec5381.pdf
under 3. TAXPAYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

http://www.treasurydirect.gov

regards

Very interesting, thanks
So apparently maybe you can't open a treasury direct account with the online process but probably you can contact them directly and start the process. Many US brokers also seem to do the same
Regards