Shorting on IB UK account requirements

[ipoppy]

Hi,
Is that true that to sell short via IB you got to have at least $100K on the account? I have opened paper account with IB too but even there I can't short positions because this is a "mirror account" some sort.
Is it the same with rest of UK brokerages?
Thanks

 

[Charlton]

Hi,
Is that true that to sell short via IB you got to have at least $100K on the account? I have opened paper account with IB too but even there I can't short positions because this is a "mirror account" some sort.
Is it the same with rest of UK brokerages?
Thanks

No it is not true that you need that amount. In a margin account, however, you will need sufficent funds to cover the margin requirements.

The paper account is only a mirror account to the extent that trading permissions and data feeds must be the same as the actual trading account. This is obvious really because you will not be able to use, for example, data feeds that you have not subscribed and paid for.

The link below shows the capabilities of the paper account , where you see that you start off with USD 1,000,000 and you can alter the amount via account management.

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=tws&p=p&ib_entity=llc

Charlton