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IBKR's Bust Policy and Procedures


Limitation of Liability

IBKR WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY LIABILITY FOR RECEIPT OR PROCESSING OF ANY REQUESTS FOR A TRADE CANCELLATION ("BUST") SUBMITTED BY CUSTOMER. NOR WILL IBKR ACCEPT ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY TRADE CANCELLATION REQUEST THAT IS SUBMITTED TO AND SUBSEQUENTLY DENIED BY THE RELEVANT MARKET CENTER. MARKET CENTERS SET SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR TRADE CANCELLATION REQUESTS, WHICH INCLUDE, AMONG OTHER THINGS, SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS REGARDING THE TRADES THAT ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CANCELLATION AS WELL AS FIXED TIME LIMITS WITHIN WHICH A REQUEST FOR TRADE CANCELLATION MUST BE SUBMITTED. IBKR WILL ATTEMPT, ON A BEST EFFORTS BASIS, TO ANALYZE AND FORWARD APPROPRIATE REQUESTS FOR TRADE CANCELLATION TO THE RELEVANT MARKET CENTER. IBKR CANNOT, HOWEVER, GUARANTEE THAT EVERY REQUEST FOR A TRADE CANCELLATION WILL BE ACCEPTED, SUBMITTED TO, REVIEWED BY OR GRANTED BY THE RELEVANT MARKET CENTER. IBKR WILL NOT COMPENSATE CUSTOMER FOR ANY TRADE CANCELLATION REQUESTS THAT ARE NOT ACCEPTED BY IBKR OR THE RELEVANT MARKET CENTER.



Notification Procedures

Customers who receive an execution which they believe to be clearly erroneous1 and who wish to have IBKR petition the exchange or market center to have the trade cancelled on their behalf are strongly encouraged to submit their request using the Trade Cancellation Request tool located within Account Management. While requests received via telephone will also be processed, such requests may involve connection wait times and entail information collection on the part of IBKR which, in the aggregate, may lessen the likelihood that the petition is submitted in time. Please note that IBKR does not support free format email communications and requests sent through the Help & Contacts link on the website are not intended for matters of urgency.


Trade Cancellation/Bust Fees

Exchanges and market centers often impose a fee for trade cancellation requests in addition to fees charged by IBKR. Customers are also encouraged to familiarize themselves with all fees associated with cancellation requests prior to initiating a request.


Cancellation Requests Where IBKR Customers are on Both Sides of the Trade

As exchanges and market centers generally opt not to rule on cancellation requests involving customers of the same brokerage firm, IBKR will, when appropriate, apply the transacting venue's policy to such requests. Given the highly subjective and varied nature of these policies, IBKR has adopted the policy below in order to provide a level of certainty and predictability for our customers.

IBKR will make a determination only when the transacting exchange or market center refuses to rule on a trade and will abide by the trade cancellation policies of such organization whenever possible. Please consult the website of the respective exchange or market center for specific trade cancellation policies. Decisions involving trades not specifically defined in the respective organization's trade cancellation policy will be made on a case by case basis and if a clear policy for a specific execution in question does not exist, IBKR will evaluate a range of data including, but not necessarily limited to, the considerations outlined below. We will review all information considered to be relevant in determining the nature of a fair and orderly market and on those grounds, we will make a decision on a specific execution on a best efforts basis:

  • Timeliness of Notification: Requests for trade cancellations must be made within the time limits set by the relevant venue preferably via the Trade Cancellation Request tool.
  • Company or industry specific news/events.
  • Recent volatility of stock.
  • Change in broad market indicators at time of execution.
  • We will consider the length of time the order was live before execution. IBKR may be more inclined to break a trade if the order hits/lifts an existing bid/ask and less inclined to break if the order becomes the best bid/ask before execution.
  • Time of order submission and subsequent execution. (Pre/Post market vs. during the Trading Day).
  • Opening indication.
  • Adjacent transaction reports or indications. For example, Previous Day's Close Previous reported trade price, subsequent reported trade price Last Prints.
  • Next consecutive prints.
  • Liquidity issues.

The guidelines outlined above are designed to provide a level of protection for our customers. However, no policy can anticipate every conceivable situation. IBKR reserves the right to make determinations in the interest of maintaining a fair and orderly market.


Trade Cancellation Guidelines for Forex / Metals Trades

IBKR will generally consider cancellation or a price adjustment for any off-market Forex / Metals trade, including any execution that deviates from the pricing of a fair and orderly market. As a practical matter, trades deviating by less than 15 bps (0.15%) or whose PnL due to a mispriced execution is less than USD 100 will not be adjusted. Trades exceeding these indicative limits may or may not be canceled. The determination will be based on various conditions, including market volatility and liquidity, trade size, price deviation, and timeliness of reporting the erroneous transaction to IBKR.

Requests for trade cancellations must be received within a reasonable timeframe following execution and communicated preferably via the Trade Cancellation Request tool. IBKR will maintain sole discretion for determining the reasonableness of the reporting timeframe, taking into consideration the circumstances surrounding the trade in question. In the event that a trade meets the price guidelines for cancellation but there is a delay in reporting/requesting the cancellation, IBKR may deny the request for cancellation or may apply other algorithms to determine a price adjustment, for example, taking into account the trading range of the instrument in the time interval from execution to cancellation request.


Trade Cancellation/Adjustment Policy for Bonds

In the event that a transaction is deemed to be clearly erroneous, as determined solely by Interactive Brokers, IBKR reserves the right to modify, cancel or correct the transaction. For this purpose, a "clearly erroneous transaction" is defined as the execution of an order: (i) at a price that was substantially away from or inconsistent with, the market for that security at the time of execution, and/or (ii) on terms (e.g., symbol, quantity, or price) that would reasonably appear to be entered in error under the given circumstances.

For all such trades, a participant in the transaction ("Participant") must notify IBKR within thirty (30) minutes of the execution of the trade by using the Trade Cancellation Request tool located within Account Management. While requests received via telephone will also be processed, such requests may involve wait times which, in the aggregate, may lessen the likelihood that the petition is submitted in time. Please note that IBKR does not support email communications for this purpose and requests sent through the Help & Contacts link on the website are not intended for matters of urgency.

IBKR reserves the right to initiate a review of a transaction, regardless of whether a Participant request has been received, if IBKR determines, in its sole discretion, that circumstances warrant such a review. The guidelines outlined above are designed to provide a level of protection for our customers; however no policy can anticipate every situation. Each request will be considered on a case-by-case basis and such requests will be resolved promptly. IBKR reserves the right to make final determinations in the interest of maintaining a fair and orderly market.

Disclosures

FINRA BrokerCheck reports for Interactive Brokers and its investment professionals are available at www.finra.org/brokercheck

  1. Generally interpreted as the execution of an order at a price substantially away from the prevailing market price