Investment trusts are "Complex or Leveraged Exchange Traded Products"

[Pendrainllwyn]

At least according to Interactive Brokers (IBKR). A few days ago they restricted, without warning, trading on 15 of my 18 investment trust holdings, including trusts such as JGGI, HEFT, FGT &c.. I can no longer add to my holdings. In fact, the only option I have is to sell the entire holding.

Hello Oswulf. That is annoying. I use IBKR and have a small position in FGT (and other Investment Trusts) and to the best of my knowledge haven't been notified of any restriction. IBKR periodically require clients to disclose how much experience they have of trading certain products. Maybe your disclosures are stale. If you can legitimately change those elections (e.g., state I have experience of investing in Equities for X+Y years rather than X years) then that might help. I forget the time buckets you can select from.

Best of luck,
Pendrainllwyn

[Newroad]

Hi All.

Just to note that if you think like IBKR is currently thinking, there is a "workaround" of sorts.

Personally, I don't regard Investment Trusts as CLP's (Complex and Leveraged Products). Hence, when faced with the current situation at IBKR when I answered the experience question on that topic, I initially answered in that light. However, IBKR does regard Investment Trusts as CLP's, so when applying for CLP Trading Permissions and answering their related questions, one should frame answers is that light (in my case, >10 years experience and 26-50 trades a year). You may find, depending on the rest of your personal circumstances and other answers, this gives you permission to trade Investment Trusts on IBKR again.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am not in any way advocating dishonesty, simply answering honestly according to IBKR's own definitions!

As it happens, for me , this has given me permission again to trade all the Investment Trusts I am interesting in with the exception of MNP - the latter which I can't explain.

The "proper" solution, of course, is for IBKR to realise that the vast majority of Investment Trusts, perhaps all, are not CLP's. I wish the AITC success with that endeavour.

Regards, Newroad