Interactive Brokers Buying Power Issue

[Dr Matt 1]

Hi All,

I opened an IB account here in the UK a few weeks back with £500. I'm now (hopefully) ready to go live, deposit a further £21k and start trading. Looking at my IB account today ahead of making the deposit I noticed that although my account type is 'Margin' (I took the test on application to secure this) my buying power is listed as £500 (my cash balance) not the £2000 (with 4:1 margin) I would have expected? Any ideas why this might be?

Thanks,

 

Matt.

[Abiel 475]

Hi Matt, according to this IB webpage "To trade a margin account you must maintain at least USD 2,000 or non-USD equivalent. For details on margin requirements, see the Margin page". Better to ask IB UK about minimum to get margin.

[Dr Matt 1]

Hi Abiel,

Thanks for the reply,  yes that would definitely explain it if there's a UK equivalent. I've sent them an email but hopefully if I deposit more funds the problem should be sorted...