Interactive Broker Communique

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IB Customer Communiqué

Your Friends. Our Trading Platform.
No Commitment.

We're making it easier for your friends to try Interactive Brokers without making a commitment. With this new system, as soon as the applicant enters their user name, password and email address, we immediately send to them our trading platform with 15 minutes delayed prices. They can populate the screens and set up all optional fields the way they would want to in their actual account, and see all of our trading tools, analytics, research, fundamental and technicals that we can offer for free. If they ever fund the account all settings will be preserved.

In a few weeks we'll be releasing simulated trading capability, so that applicants will be able to do paper trading and try all of our order types, risk navigator, our option strategy, volatility and probability labs, portfolio builder and many other amenities. They will also be able to see all of our flexible report formats with commissions, margins and low financing charges and compare them to what they are at their current brokers.

All the advantages of coming over to Interactive Brokers will be demonstrated for free with just one exception. Since the trades will be simulated, we will not be able to demonstrate our better executions until they open and fund an actual account.

People who are not contemplating opening a real brokerage account will still be able to use this account indefinitely, for free, to follow the markets or for educational purposes.

Investors' Marketplace

In our last Communiqué, we announced Interactive Brokers' Investors' Marketplace, our groundbreaking online service where traders and investors and a wide variety of service providers can meet and do business together. In the few short months since our announcement, the Marketplace has already grown, with more service providers joining every day. The Marketplace currently has:

386 investment service providers;
- Advisors 235
- Brokers 7
- Hedge Funds 75
- Money Managers 69
155 research providers;
308 technology providers;
89 administrative service providers;
15 business development providers

Visit the Investors' Marketplace

Portfolio Builder (beta)

The new Portfolio Builder helps you create custom, research-data-driven portfolio strategies with the ability to optimize your strategies to achieve the highest return, highest Sharpe ratio or lowest variance.

Fine-tune your strategy by defining investment triggers, the portfolio composition and long/short leverages; back test and compare performance against a benchmark using up to three years' historical data. Once ready, allocate funds from your account and invest. Although still part of the same account, your custom strategies are also tracked as separate entities so that you can monitor their performance and modify their structure as needed.

To get started, use the New Window dropdown from within Mosaic and select Portfolio Builder.

Stock/ETF Benchmarker (beta)

Measure your portfolio against a user-selected benchmark index for the current day, and see the contribution and weighting of individual equity positions using IB's Stock/ETF Benchmarker.

Performance attribution analysis determines how a portfolio is performing relative to a specific benchmark, and highlights areas of your portfolio that may be over- or under-performing. Our Stock/ETF Benchmarker tool displays portfolio performance attribution values which update in real time throughout the day.

Simply select a benchmark index and see your portfolio's performance versus the benchmark, the top contributors to your portfolio, contributions by sector and performance details sorted by sector and including the weight and active contribution.

Mosaic Order Entry
Redesigned for Speed

The Mosaic Order Entry panel has been redesigned to significantly speed up the price entry process by providing one-click Bid, Mid and Ask price entry. Additionally, the price wand, an incremental price ladder with one-click entry, will display when you click the Bid, Mid or Ask price. This feature allows you to rapidly enter an order price with a single click. The Position field is also clickable and can be used to quickly enter the order quantity.

To use these features, set the Order Entry panel to "Interactive Mode." Click the wrench icon and then select "Settings" and pick the Interactive radio button.

Trader Workstation Key Enhancements

Single-line Complex Positions for Advisors

The Portfolio and Account Windows now display complex spread/combination positions on a single line as a unique entry, identified by the named strategy, for example "Calendar Call." Click the plus sign next to a spread to show the individual legs, and use the Close Selected Position command from the right-click menu to close out the entire position. You also have the option to shut off this display mode and show only the individual legs using the Hide Complex Positions setting in the Display > Ticker Row page of Global Configuration.

New IB TWS Desktop Launcher

We are pleased to announce the new TWS Desktop Launcher icon for Latest and Beta versions of TWS, which provides a faster, more convenient and more secure method for logging into TWS. This comprehensive launch package includes everything required to log into and run TWS, eliminating the need to update additional runtime software as new versions are released.

The new launcher icon is automatically installed as a desktop icon when you log into the Latest or Beta versions of TWS using the web site "Login" button. Once the icon is installed, simply double-click to log in. To change the TWS version click "Show All Fields" in the login box and use the Version dropdown selector.

In the coming weeks, this launcher icon will be required to log into Latest and Beta TWS, replacing the "Login" button on the web site. Clients who use the non-updating stable TWS version will be required to download and run TWS using the standalone software.

Time and Sales Enhancements

New Multi-Contract Time & Sales - View Time & Sales for multiple contracts versus just a single contract with the new multi-contract display option. See the IB TWS Version 951 Release Notes for more information.
Exchanges and Conditions Fields - Two new columns, Exchange and Condition, have been added to the Time & Sales window. See the IB TWS Version 950 Release Notes for more information.
Shares Display - Beginning in beta 954, the window now displays data in shares instead of in lots. See the IB TWS Beta Notes for more information.

Additional Enhancements

Option Selector Enhancements - The Option Selector, used to choose options contracts to add to a trading page or watchlist, has been significantly improved. See the IB TWS Version 953 Release Notes for more information.
New IB Algos and Pegged to Volatility Orders - We've recently added four new Pegged to Volatility orders for options. Instead of pegging the order to a price, these orders peg to the implied volatility.
Implied Volatility Viewer - For all stocks, indices and futures that have option contracts, use the Implied Volatility Viewer to see option volatility plotted against a range of user-specified strike prices for a user-defined expiry list. See the IB TWS Version 951 Release Notes for more information.
Bond Ratings and Scanner - Along with our Moody's bond ratings, we've added support for S&P and Fitch ratings. To subscribe, log into Account Management and select Manage Account > Trade Configuration > Market Data. Select "Bond Ratings" in the fixed income area of the North America Market Data page. In other Bond news, we've also added a US Municipal Bond scanner to our suite of Advanced Market Scanners, which are accessible from the New Window drop down in Mosaic, and a US Corporate Bonds predefined watch list accessible from the Mosaic Watchlist window.
Chart Indicators - The addition of seven new indicators brings our total to over 120 indicators and overlays. We added the Fisher Transform, Balance of Power and Relative Momentum indicators. See the IB TWS Version 950 Release Notes for more information.
Quick Entry for Futures - In addition to being able to add futures contracts quickly using just the symbol, you can now also add futures calendar spreads by entering the two symbols separated by a dash (-). See the IB TWS Version 951 Release Notes for more information.
New Jefferies and CSFB Algos - Many new Jefferies and CSFB algos have been added to IB TWS. To see the complete list, visit the IB TWS 951 Release Notes.
ETF NAV Field - We have added seven new NAV columns in a new "ETF" section of Layout Configuration. See the IB TWS Version 950 Release Notes for more information.
New IBAlgos for Stocks - We have added four new IB Algos for US stocks including: Time Variant Percent of Volume, Size Variant Percent of Volume, Price Variant Percent of Volume and Close Size. See the IB TWS Version 950 Release Notes for details.
Historical Price Columns - Five new columns have been added in the High/Low/Volume/History category. See the IB TWS Version 950 Release Notes for details.
Group Positions by Recent Trade Date - Positions in your portfolio can be grouped by security type, expiry, sector, industry and underlying and now, by recent trade date. See the IB TWS Version 953 Release Notes for details.
Read- Only TWS - Users with two-factor authentication now have the option to log into Trader Workstation using only their username/password credentials to view data and account information in read-only mode. See the IB TWS Version 950 Release Notes for details.
Issuer Country for Stock - A new field and filter shows you the issuer country for stocks. See the IB TWS Version Beta Notes for details.

Mobile Updates

Choose Exchange for Options and Option Combos - mobileTWS lets you select an exchange for options and option combo order routing. Simply use the Exchange drop-down selector when entering option and option combination orders using the Contract Selector or the Option Chain combo builder.

Greater Precision for Forex Trading
You can now both see and trade on Forex quotes with higher precision, up to 1/10 of a price interest point (pip). To activate this feature, check "Allow Forex trading in 1/10 pips" in configuration.

Resources for Advisors
We've recently added some important resources for
Registered Investment Advisors:

Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)

Our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system lets advisors manage their entire customer relationship life cycle in one place at no extra cost. Advisors can easily store and view information about contacts, prospects and clients, as well as create and store emails, add notes and tasks, and schedule events for each contact, prospect and client. For only $1 per month, you can integrate your own email address with CRM and receive 25 GB of storage space on Rackspace's independent, secure servers, as well as send bulk email to all of your contacts or groups of contacts at once.

CRM is fully integrated into Account Management and is also available to broker/dealers and introducing brokers.

Expanded RIA Compliance Center

Do you need help meeting your RIA compliance needs? Or are you looking to become a Registered Investment Advisor?

Visit our expanded RIA Compliance Center, which can help you with the registration and compliance obligations associated with starting and registering your own advisory firm. This important resource for advisors includes webinars, in-depth Spotlights, a Transition Guide for new advisors, Due Diligence supporting materials, a tool advisors can use to submit general questions about RIA Compliance issues or the IB platform, and a wealth of information about compliance service providers and key regulatory and industry associations.

Visit the RIA Compliance Center

RIA Forums

The latest addition to our advisor resources, the RIA Forums serve as an online community where advisors can communicate with others in their field by participating in online discussions. The RIA Forums allow advisors to create and post comments, search for specific posts and users and view a list of all forum users, and more. RIA Forums are located in a secure area of our website, available from the Support menu in Account Management.

Short Videos
Enrich your trading knowledge
on demand ... faster ... now!!!

If you're looking for help on a feature in Trader Workstation or Account Management but don't have time to sit through a webinar, then our short videos are for you. Part of Traders' University, our one-stop education resource, short videos cover everything from order types and trading tools to statements and PortfolioAnalyst, and most videos are between two and five minutes long. Currently there are over 100 short videos, including over 40 foreign-language short videos.

Browse Our Short Videos

Reinvest Your Stock Dividends

Our new Dividend Reinvestment Plan lets you immediately reinvest your stock dividends. Once you sign up, cash dividends will be automatically reinvested by purchasing shares in those stocks paying the dividend. Any leftover cash dividend amount will remain in your account. Sign up for dividend reinvestment from the Account Details page in Account Management.

New Products

Osaka Exchange Fee Discount Programs
The Osaka Exchange, Inc. (OSE) is discounting transactions of JPX Nikkei Index 400 futures in both day and night sessions by 7 JPY, through December 2015. OSE has also extended its discount fee program for N225 Weekly Options (JPY 15/contract) to the end of December 2015.

We've added the following products and commission updates:

New Products

Malaysia Index futures (MXMY) on SGX
MXEA and MXEF options on CBOE
MSCI Russia Index futures (MXRU) on DTB
Expansion of IB CFDs: HK, Australia, Singapore*

New Mutual Fund Families
As part of our ongoing product expansion we continue to increase the number of available mutual funds to investors. Clients can select from any of our 78 fund families offering over 4,800 funds including 1,436 funds bearing No Transaction Fees. In addition to Dreyfus, Fidelity, PIMCO, and Vanguard, advisors and investors may now choose from recently added fund families including:

American Funds
Eaton Vance
Guggenheim
Legg Mason
MFS

View All Mutual Funds

New Trading Venues

Aequitas NEO Lit
Aequitas NEO

Commission Changes

No Cancel/Modify fees for all Smart US Option orders and Trader Workstation Directed US Option orders. Cancel/Modify fees for API/CTCI Directed US Option orders still apply but have been reduced.
US SSF pricing changed from a flat, per-contract model to one based on the value of the contract traded.
Tiered pricing is now available for Australian stocks.

Limited Option Trading
Even if you do not qualify to trade options, you can now sign up for limited option trading permissions. Limited option trading lets you trade only the following option strategies:

Long Call or Put
Covered Calls
Short Naked Put: Only if covered by cash
Call Spread: Only European style cash settled
Put Spread: Only European style cash settled
Long Butterfly: Only European style cash settled
Iron Condor: Only European style cash settled
Long Call and Put

New Research Providers

Our comprehensive, multi-disciplinary slate of independent research continues to grow with the addition of nine new providers:

New Constructs Research
OTR Global
Recognia
Guosen
StreetAccount
ValuEngine
McAlinden (Joe Mac's Market Viewpoint)
Estimize
AltaVista

Subscribe to research in Account Management under Manage Account > Trade Configuration > Research. For complete pricing information on all of our research subscriptions, click below.

IB Traders' Insight Update

In today's dynamic markets, traders are always looking for an edge. IB Traders' Insight can help give you that edge with daily global market commentary written by industry contributors. You can now sign up for free email or text alerts to receive our daily IB Traders' Insight roundup in your email inbox or on your mobile device.

Visit IB Traders' Insight

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Awards

Low cost, breadth of product, and technology innovation consistently drive our progress at IB, and we continue to be recognized for the unique advantages we provide to our clients.

Interactive Brokers was voted the winner of the 2015 FX Week Best Retail FX Trading Platform category.

Interactive Brokers was voted the winner of the 2015 CTA Intelligence US CTA Services Awards Best FCM – Innovation category.

Interactive Brokers was voted the winner of the 2015 Wall Street Letter Institutional Trading Award for Best Cross-Asset Trading Solution category.

View all our Awards

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Interactive Brokers LLC - member NYSE, FINRA, SIPC
Any trading symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to portray recommendations.
No offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities or investment products of any kind, and no recommendation or advice is made, given or in any manner endorsed by Interactive Brokers LLC ("Interactive Brokers") or any of its affiliates.
Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. For more information read the "Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options". For a copy, call 312 542-6901.
* Not available in all jurisdictions.

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