Why cant IB allow shorting of BTC futures with a margin requirement of 500-1000%?

Interactive Brokers - Bitcoin
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=25379

On this page there is a link to a "knowledge base" article
https://ibkr.info/article/3049

"Due to the extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies, clients will be unable to assume a short position including as part of a spread. The only time a short order will be allowed will be in the case of a roll trade that results in a long position. In addition, market orders will not be accepted."

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JayS said:
I also clear with Wedbush and they have a few hurdles if you want to trade bitcoin.
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Minimum account size to trade CBOE bitcoin contracts is $10,000.
Minimum account size to trade CME bitcoin contracts is $50,000.
All accounts smaller than $1 million dollars will be double margined for CBOE bitcoin contracts.
All accounts smaller than $5 million dollars will be double margined for CME bitcoin contracts.

Seems reasonable considering the size if the contract and the unknown liquidity.
 
truetype said:
As mentioned on another thread, CBOE sources say TradeStation, Advantage, RJO are offering the product to retail investors. (Assuming you actually want to trade, rather than just b¡tch.)
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Which other thread mentions Advantage and RJO?
 
lovethetrade said:
The terms bull and bear markets are typically used to describe the long-term direction (i.e. using a monthly time-frame) of the stock market. Bitcoin has had one bear market in 2014.
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Even using your definition bitcoin still had 3 bear markets and I made a special thread about it for guys like you.
 
JigsawTrading said:
I'm confused.

It's a bit odd to use the word "shorting" for futures contracts in my experience. They aren't 'borrowed' - the contracts simply get created/destroyed as people trade...

Anyway... presuming that by "shorting" they mean initiating a position by selling contracts... If that isn't allowed by lots of brokers, then who exactly are we going to be buying them from?

Creating a one sided market will surely lead to more issues than preventing two-sided trade.
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Well. brokerage firms and exchanges do set 'strange' restrictions for valid or stupid reasons.
Nothing much we can do. we either take it or leave it or make adaptation.

IB disallow shorting of BTC and market order.
so we can only buy first sell later.
at least it allows stop order.

wait till you hear more.

Hong Kong HKEX disallow market order and stop order.
I can't even enter stop loss level!
I have to glue my backside to the chair and my eye to the monitor when
trading HKEX futures.

there are some brokerage firms / exchanges which disallow you to change stop order !!!
you have to cancel the stop order, then reenter with new stop level again!
damn foolish or rather stupid system.

I am sure there are many more very 'strange' or perhaps stupid restrictions.
 
Last edited:
maxinger said:
Well. brokerage firms and exchanges do set 'strange' restrictions for valid or stupid reasons.

wait till you hear more.

Hong Kong HKEX disallow market order and stop order.
I can't even enter stop loss level!
I have to glue my backside to the chair and my eye to the monitor when
trading HKEX futures.

there are some brokerage firms / exchanges which disallow you to change stop order !!!
you have to cancel the stop order, then reenter with new stop level again!
damn foolish or rather stupid system.

I am sure there are many more very 'strange' or perhaps stupid restrictions.
More...

You are wrong about HKEX not "allowing" a market or stop order. The correct statement would be that they do not "support" stop or market orders. You can get around this by
a: sending in an order several ticks or points through the offer
b: using a brokerage that will do this for you and if a fill is missed, resend until it is fill.

dito for stops IB and a number of other brokers do that in Hong Kong.

As for other exchanges not allowing one to "change" a stop order. It certainly would have to do with the software system they use on the exchange and how the priorities get set on the order book but again I think your statement is wrong. They may not support the modification of a stop order but brokers or front ends that have any bit of sophistication (or even any individual who has the ability to do a simple macro) could write a cancel replace.
 
eastern_warrior said:
You are wrong about HKEX not "allowing" a market or stop order. The correct statement would be that they do not "support" stop or market orders. You can get around this by
a: sending in an order several ticks or points through the offer
b: using a brokerage that will do this for you and if a fill is missed, resend until it is fill.

dito for stops IB and a number of other brokers do that in Hong Kong.

As for other exchanges not allowing one to "change" a stop order. It certainly would have to do with the software system they use on the exchange and how the priorities get set on the order book but again I think your statement is wrong. They may not support the modification of a stop order but brokers or front ends that have any bit of sophistication (or even any individual who has the ability to do a simple macro) could write a cancel replace.
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you must be lawyer by profession with deep understanding of english.

wrt not allowing to change stop order, this is interesting.
when I raised the issue to the broker, they pointed finger at the exchange.
when I clarified the matter with the exchange, they pointed finger the other way round.
anyway, just have to adapt.
 
Looks like IB read my thread

"
What is the Margin Requirement?
Outright Margin: The margin requirement for outright long positions will be set at 50% of the prior day's lead month settlement price. In the case of outright short positions, the margin rate for the CFE contracts is currently set at USD 40,000 per contract and the CME contract, which is 5x larger, is projected to have a requirement of USD 200,000 when trading commences.
"

Nice move IB
https://ibkr.info/article/3049
 
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