Why can’t I buy this security?

Retail clients residing in the European Economic Area (EEA) are restricted from buying certain securities on their Euro Pacific Trader accounts because they do not comply with one or more of the European Union legislative acts called MiFID II, MiFIR, and PRIIPs, described below.

As a result, it is the responsibility of firms like us and our brokerage custodian, Interactive Brokers1, to enforce these regulations when serving retail investors, and unfortunately certain securities will not be available to European Economic Area residents.

Most popularly, restricted securities include US-listed exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.

In general, the objective of these EU regulations is to help consumers properly evaluate investment products and services and make more informed investment decisions. They do this by requiring manufacturers and intermediaries of trading products (such as ETF issuers) to disclose specific information on the costs, risks, and performance of those products.

What are my options?

Although Interactive Brokers allows you to apply for MiFID Professional status and trade certain restriction US securities, we are currently not offering this option. You are welcome to open an account at Interactive Brokers directly and apply for MiFID Professional status, or simply look for alternative securities on your Euro Pacific Trader account.

European Regulations

Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II)

Created in 2014 and going into effect in 2018, MiFID II replaced the original 2004 MiFID legislation and is a much wider ranging. In addition, much of the trade reporting requirements were published in a separate document called, Markets in Financial Instruments and Amending Regulation (MiFIR) that has 55 articles of its own.

Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR)

The main focus of MiFIR is related to rules and reporting requirements of executions. Although MiFIR was technically passed as its own regulation, it is nearly always referred to in connection to MiFID II. This is due to much of MiFIR’s content being an updated version of reporting rules in the original 2004 MiFID legislation.

Packaged Retail & Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs)

The PRIIPs regulation requires every products manufacturer and distributor to provide retail investors with a Key Information Document (KID). KIDs are standardised, three page documents that provide specific information such as the aggregated charges associated with a PRIIP as well a breakdown of costs, its perceived riskiness, and a variety of performance scenarios.

If no KID is available from the manufacturer, the PRIIP will be restricted from trading for EEA retail customers.

1Euro Pacific Trader is offered by Euro Pacific Securities Inc. (“Euro Pacific Securities”), as an Introducing Broker to Interactive Brokers LLC. Interactive Brokers LLC is the custodian, technology provider, and clearing broker to all transactions executed through Euro Pacific Trader and thus the rates, conditions, and examples shown on this site may be subject to change and differ from what is displayed on Euro Pacific Trader. The rates, conditions, and examples on this site are provided on a best-efforts basis and should not be taken as final.

Euro Pacific Securities will not be held responsible for pricing and conditional discrepancies that may arise in the normal course of offering Euro Pacific Trader. Customers should always review and rely on the conditions that are shown directly on Euro Pacific Trader, and it is the responsibility of all customers to carefully review the conditions of every action before approving execution on Euro Pacific Trader.

Interactive Brokers LLC is a registered Broker-Dealer, Futures Commission Merchant and Forex Dealer Member, regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA), and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and several other self-regulatory organizations. Interactive Brokers LLC does not endorse or recommend any introducing brokers, third-party financial advisors or hedge funds, including Euro Pacific Securities. Interactive Brokers LLC provides execution and clearing services to customers. None of the information contained herein constitutes a recommendation, offer, or solicitation of an offer by Interactive Brokers LLC to buy, sell or hold any security, financial product or instrument or to engage in any specific investment strategy. Interactive Brokers LLC makes no representation, and assumes no liability to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided on this website.

For more information regarding Interactive Brokers, please visit www.interactivebrokers.com.

Overview

Your Euro Pacific Trader “base currency” refers to the currency in which your account is denominated in, in terms of reports, statements, and accounting.

In other words, it’s the currency in which you view your entire account, which can be composed of international securities in different currencies. The Base Currency is also the currency used for determining margin requirements.

Please note that having a Base Currency does not mean you cannot hold other currencies. Please read our article Do I need sub-accounts in different currencies? to learn how Euro Pacific Trader’s single multi-currency account works.

Can I change my Base Currency?

Yes, if you would like to change your Base Currency, simply create a case stating your new base currency of choice for your Euro Pacific Trader account.

Base Currencies are available in AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NOK, NZD, PLN, SEK, SGD and USD.

Trading foreign securities

The most common cause of a negative cash balance is buying a security without sufficient cash in the local currency of that security.

Remember, Euro Pacific Trader does not allow you to “overdraw” your account in the traditional sense.

Instead, if you have Margin Trading enabled and you have available cash in other currencies, a margin loan will be created when you buy the foreign security, which is secured by your available currency.

In other words, your negative balance is being “collateralized” by other available cash or securities in your account.

This means you can buy securities in multiple markets and accrue negative balances (or “margin loans”) in those local currencies, and accrue negative interest as a result.

How do I cover my negative balance?

Please follow these transfer instructions to cover your negative balance.

And moving forward, you may disable this feature by turning off Margin Trading. To disable Margin Trading, please create a case inside your eBanking Support Center.

All Euro Pacific Trader accounts as of August 26, 2019 have Margin Trading enabled by default.

In order to cover the negative balance inside your Euro Pacific Trader (EPT) account, you’ll first want to decide which available cash balance you want to use.

You can transfer existing cash from your bank account, or use available cash inside your EPT account. Where do you want to transfer the funds from?

Option 1: From my bank account

Please follow the standard Transfer Between Own Accounts procedure to fund your EPT account with the intended currency.

Remember, you are able to fund cross-currency, meaning that you can transfer funds from your USD bank account to your GBP brokerage account, and the system will convert it for you upon transfer.

Please read the full instructions above for more details.

Option 2: From my existing EPT balance

You cannot convert/transfer funds between balances inside your EPT account. In order to “convert” funds inside your EPT account, you must transfer the funds to your bank account first.

Please follow these steps

1. Use the Between Own Accounts transfer in the Transfer menu to transfer the funds back to your bank account.

2. Request another transfer from your newly-funded bank account to the brokerage account in the currency you’d like to fund.

Remember, you are able to fund cross-currency, meaning that you can transfer funds from your USD bank account to your GBP brokerage account, and the system will convert it for you upon transfer.

3. Please continue with the standard Transfer Between Own Accounts procedure.

If your Euro Pacific Trader is already open, you can request to enable or disable Margin Trading by creating a case inside your eBanking Support Center.

When applying for a Euro Pacific Trader account, you can choose from two account types: Cash Account vs. Margin Account. We compare the two account types below.

Cash Account

Most clients select the standard account type called a Cash Account. Cash Accounts have several limitations:

• Cannot borrow to buy stock, write uncovered options, sell stock short or maintaining certain option spreads.
• Cannot transact with unsettled funds.
• Cannot maintain short balance in any currency. The account will be required to convert funds prior to transacting in products denominated in a currency you do not hold.
• Subject to forced liquidation if insufficient cash to satisfy fees (e.g. market data or news subscription fees).

Margin Account

Margin Trading is simply borrowing cash to buy a security.

If you request to enable Margin Trading, please note that it comes with a host of risks and costs, one of them being the platform automatically creating a margin loan when buying a security denominated in a currency that you do not have available, leading to interest charges.

For most trading clients, margin obligations are calculated by a defined formula and applied to each “marginable” financial instrument. To read more about this formula, please read our Interest & Financing page.

No, as sub-accounts don’t exist on Euro Pacific Trader (EPT). Read below to find out how you can hold multiple currencies in your EPT account and use them to buy foreign securities.

Single Multi-Currency Account

Remember, your Euro Pacific Trader has a single, multi-currency cash account that you can fund and trade with. This means you do not need sub-accounts in different currencies.

Simply, fund your account with all of the currencies you’d like to hold, and those currencies will be deposited into your EPT cash account and held separately.

For example, if you would like to buy stocks on the London Stock Exchange, you can fund your EPT account with GBP. The GBP will be credited to your EPT cash balance in addition to other currencies you already own there.

How trading foreign securities works

When buying a security, please note that Euro Pacific Trader will always attempt to fund the trade using the local currency of the security. In other words, if you buy a stock on the London Stock Exchange, you can expect that your GBP cash balance will be drawn from automatically.

What happens if you don’t have a sufficient currency balance to support the trade?

If margin trading is enabled on your account

If Margin Trading is enabled on your account and you are trading a security that is denominated in a currency that you do not sufficiently own, a margin loan is created, secured by your available currency.

If you want to eliminate the margin loan, you may do so at any time by depositing new money of that currency into the account.

If margin trading is disabled on your account

Your trade will be rejected, as a margin loan collateralized by your available cash cannot be created. You would instead deposit new funds in that currency from your bank account as usual.

Please follow this procedure to update the email address on your Euro Pacific Trader account profile. Note that the the instructions are different based on your account type, Individual vs. Corporate.

• Individual Account
• Corporate Account

Step 1: Install MobileTrader

First, you will need the MobileTrader.

MobileTrader is both a trading platform and dedicated Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) application. When you open the MobileTrader, you will notice both a trading login and 2FA button.

Click here to download either one now on iOS or Android. After installing, you will be asked to enter your EPT username and password to create a PIN.

Step 2: Login to your Euro Pacific Trader

1. Access your Euro Pacific Trader Client Portal.

2. Go to Menu > Settings > User Settings > Communication > Email Address, and click the gear icon. Enter your new email address, confirm, and Continue.

Note: If you are prompted to confirm if you have access to the existing email address, please select YES. If the email address on file is Euro Pacific Securities, Inc’s email, please also select YES and call our Client Services team immediately so they can provide you the code that will arrive in our inbox.

4. Enter your Username and Password.

 

 

Step 3: Open your MobileTrader

After the app has been installed, enter the Challenge Code from your Client Portal screen, into your app.

Your app will generate a “Response String”. Enter the Response String into the Passcode field of your Client Portal.

Click Continue in your Client Portal and you will receive confirmation that you email address has been officially changed in Euro Pacific Trader.

Step 1: Install MobileTrader

First, you will need the MobileTrader.

MobileTrader is both a trading platform and dedicated Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) application. When you open the MobileTrader, you will notice both a trading login and 2FA button.

Click here to download either one now on iOS or Android. After installing, you will be asked to enter your EPT username and password to create a PIN.

Step 2: Login to your Euro Pacific Trader

1. Access your Euro Pacific Trader Client Portal. Then, go to Manage Account > Security > Change Email Address and click OK when you see the popup.

Note: If you are prompted to confirm if you have access to the existing email address, please select YES. If the email address on file is Euro Pacific Securities, Inc’s email, please also select YES and call our Client Services team immediately so they can provide you the code that will arrive in our inbox.

2. Enter your new email address, confirm, and Continue. Re-enter your Euro Pacific Trader username and password.

3. You will be presented with a Challenge Code, which will need to be entered into your HandyKey application.

 

 

Step 3: Open your MobileTrader

After the app has been installed, enter the Challenge Code from your Client Portal screen, into your app.

Your app will generate a “Response String”. Enter the Response String into the Passcode field of your Client Portal.

Click Continue in your Client Portal and you will receive confirmation that you email address has been officially changed in Euro Pacific Trader.

SmartRouting

Euro Pacific Trader (EPT) offers a feature called SmartRouting, short for “smart order routing”.

SmartRouting software continually scans competing markets and automatically routes orders directly to the best electronic communications network (ECN) or market center, based on price and with the goal of cost savings for you the trader. It also takes into account factors such as the availability of automatic order execution.

To use SmartRouting on your order, select SMART in the Destination field of your order ticket.

Direct Routing

Each ECN and market center administers its own set of trading rules.

If you do not select SmartRouting, you may “direct route” your order. Please familiarize yourself with the various trading and order handling rules of those market venues.

1Disclaimers:

Euro Pacific Trader is offered by Euro Pacific Securities Inc. (“Euro Pacific Securities”), as an Introducing Broker to Interactive Brokers LLC. Interactive Brokers LLC is the custodian, technology provider, and clearing broker to all transactions executed through Euro Pacific Trader and thus the rates, conditions, and examples shown on this site may be subject to change and differ from what is displayed on Euro Pacific Trader. The rates, conditions, and examples on this site are provided on a best-efforts basis and should not be taken as final.

Euro Pacific Securities will not be held responsible for pricing and conditional discrepancies that may arise in the normal course of offering Euro Pacific Trader. Customers should always review and rely on the conditions that are shown directly on Euro Pacific Trader, and it is the responsibility of all customers to carefully review the conditions of every action before approving execution on Euro Pacific Trader.

Interactive Brokers LLC is a registered Broker-Dealer, Futures Commission Merchant and Forex Dealer Member, regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA), and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and several other self-regulatory organizations. Interactive Brokers LLC does not endorse or recommend any introducing brokers, third-party financial advisors or hedge funds, including Euro Pacific Securities. Interactive Brokers LLC provides execution and clearing services to customers. None of the information contained herein constitutes a recommendation, offer, or solicitation of an offer by Interactive Brokers LLC to buy, sell or hold any security, financial product or instrument or to engage in any specific investment strategy. Interactive Brokers LLC makes no representation, and assumes no liability to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided on this website.

For more information regarding Interactive Brokers, please visit www.interactivebrokers.com.