IBKR Cash Account showing $25 margin deficiency during ACATS transfer from Alpaca — why?
Hi everyone,
I’m transferring my US stocks from Alpaca (through INDmoney) to Interactive Brokers (IBKR) via ACATS.
My IBKR account is specifically a Cash Account, not a Margin Account.
All the positions are currently showing as Pending in IBKR.
I received a notification from IBKR saying that once the transfer is processed, it may result in a $25 margin/account deficit, and that I should add $25 or reduce positions before October 7 to avoid possible liquidation.
What I don't understand is:
Why would there be a margin deficiency when my IBKR account is a Cash Account?
I also intentionally kept $150 cash in my Alpaca/INDmoney account to cover any transfer-related charges.
From what I understand, IBKR's message says that for a cash account this type of deficit can occur if the delivering broker charges a transfer fee.
So my questions are:
Is the $25 actually a transfer fee/charge rather than a margin requirement?
If Alpaca charges an ACATS fee, will it be deducted from the $150 cash I left at Alpaca?
Do I need to deposit another $25 into IBKR even though I already have $150 at Alpaca?
Could this cause IBKR to liquidate my transferred stocks?
Has anyone recently transferred positions from Alpaca to IBKR via ACATS and received a similar $25 deficiency notice?
I'd really appreciate clarification from anyone who has gone through this recently.
Thanks!