How Long Does Interactive Brokers Take to Approve an Account?
Highlights:
• It’s easy to open a brokerage account at IBKR; only a few minutes are required.
• In many cases, Interactive Brokers requires 2 to 3 business days to review and approve an
account.
• If you open a brokerage account at IBKR through a special link, you can receive free IBKR stock.
• Awarded shares must stay at Interactive Brokers for one year.
When you open a self-directed account with Interactive Brokers through a special link, you can receive free fractional shares of the company’s stock. Here’s how to do it:
Approval Time for a U.S.-Based Interactive Brokers Account
Interactive Brokers typically requires up to 3 business days to review and approve a new brokerage application. In many cases, accounts are approved within 1 to 2 business days once all required documents have been submitted. After approval, the account becomes active and ready to receive a deposit or transfer of assets.
If the application contains missing information or documentation issues, additional time may be needed before the account can be approved. Due to regulatory requirements in the United States, Interactive Brokers must collect detailed identifying information from each applicant. These details must be verified before an account can be opened, so it is important to complete the application carefully and upload the required documents to avoid delays.
Once the account has been approved, a deposit can be initiated immediately. Interactive Brokers allows
funding through bank transfers, wire transfers, and several other supported methods. In many cases,
deposits become available for trading once the funds have arrived in the brokerage account, although
withdrawal availability may require additional settlement time depending on the funding method.
Overview of IBKR’s Promotion
Open a new self-directed account with Interactive Brokers and you’ll earn free fractional shares of
the firm’s equity, which has the ticker symbol IBKR. Specifically, you’ll get
$1 of stock for every
USD $300 you deposit. The deposit can be either cash or a transfer of assets valued at $300 or more. Pretty sweet deal.
Under this refer-a-friend special, the referring customer gets a different prize: $200 in cash under certain conditions described below. It’s really easy to do this; we’ll show you how in the next section.
Opening the IBKR Account
Simply point your browser to this IBKR referral page and look for the blue button to open an account. Click on this button to access the online application for a brokerage account. You do need to access the application through that button; otherwise, you won’t qualify for the special offer mentioned above.
On the first page of the application, you’ll need to supply an email address and password. These will create a login to the IBKR site, which is your foot in the door. There’s more you need to do, though. First, you must supply a country of residence; this field is on the very first page of the application. IBKR opens accounts for residents of many countries around the world; most likely, yours appears in the drop-down field for country.
On the next page of the application, you’ll need to choose the account registration. Under this special offer, Interactive Brokers offers these accounts:
Although other account types are available at IBKR, these are the only two that are eligible for the referral bonus. Choose the one you want and move to the bottom of the screen. Here, you’ll need to specify the province of the country you selected on the first screen. For Americans, this will be a state or a military address overseas.
Go through the other pages and supply all requested details. Such particulars may include name, date of birth, address, tax ID number, employment information, and trading experience. These are standard fields on any application for an investment account.
Once you have finished the application, click on the submit button at the very end. In many cases, Interactive Brokers will approve the application immediately. In some situations, it may need more information and/or time to process the application. In any case, you will have login credentials, which were created on the very first page of the application.
Interactive Brokers Promotion
Visit IB Website
Fine Print
Of course, there are strings attached to this deal that you need to be aware of. First and foremost, you must open your new trading account with IBKR through the referral page already mentioned in this article. If you don’t, neither the referring customer nor the new client will get any bonus.
The promotion of free stock expires 12 months after the new account is funded.
The stock awarded is Class A common stock of Interactive Brokers. A total of $1,000 in free stock can be awarded to the new account. More than $300,000 can be transferred in, although deposits above that level will receive no shares of stock.
Awarded shares must stay in the brokerage account for 12 months; they cannot be sold during that time. Withdrawing deposited assets from the new brokerage account may cause IBKR to withdraw shares of free stock it has awarded. Also, the new account must maintain an average balance of at least USD $10,000 for 12 months for the awarded shares to vest.
If the new customer deposits USD $10,000 and maintains that balance for at least 12 months, the referring client who provides the referral link gets $200 for each new account referred to the brokerage firm. There is a maximum of 15 bonuses per calendar year and 30 over the lifetime of the account.
There are all sorts of exceptions that Interactive Brokers imposes on this special deal. Residents of several countries, including Denmark, Japan, Israel, and Spain, are ineligible for this special offer. Institutional clients generally do not qualify, either. Residents of Canada can get the $200 cash payment but are ineligible for free shares of stock.
The referring and referred accounts must have different physical addresses.
Awards could be taxable, depending on the jurisdiction of the account.
Updated on 4/27/2026.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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