I saw quite a few Reddit posts about transferring USD from E*TRADE Stock Plan accounts to Interactive Brokers, but most of them were either outdated or missing important details.

I completed the transfer today and wanted to share my experience in case it helps someone else.

A few notes:

• My E*TRADE account was a Stock Plan account.
• The transfer was a USD cash transfer to Interactive Brokers.
• I used a domestic wire transfer.
• I created the deposit notification in IBKR before initiating the transfer.
• The wire was credited to my IBKR account in roughly 30 minutes after submission.
• E*TRADE charged a $25 outgoing wire fee.

I also used ChatGPT to write these steps because mostly for next transfer may be I will follow again these steps 😄

Steps I Followed

1. Create a Deposit Notification in IBKR

• Login to IBKR.
• Go to Transfer & Pay → Transfer Funds → Make a Deposit.
• Select USD as the currency.
• Select Bank Wire as the deposit method (not ACH).
• Enter the amount you plan to transfer.
• Enter E*TRADE as the sending institution.
• Submit the deposit notification.

IBKR will generate wire instructions and a payment reference.

2. Copy the Wire Instructions from IBKR

For me, IBKR provided:

• Beneficiary: Interactive Brokers LLC
• Beneficiary Bank: JPMorgan Chase Bank
• ABA Routing Number
• Account Number
• Payment Reference in the format:

UXXXXXXXX / Your Name

The payment reference is important because it tells IBKR which account should receive the funds.

3. Initiate the Wire in E*TRADE

In E*TRADE:

• Go to Transfer → Disburse Cash.
• Select Wire Transfer.
• Choose Domestic Wire.

Fill in the beneficiary information provided by IBKR.

For the reference fields, I used:

• Additional Name: My full name
• Additional Account Number: My IBKR account number (UXXXXXXXX)
• Other Instructions: UXXXXXXXX My Full Name

4. Submit the Wire

Review all details carefully and submit the transfer.

E*TRADE charged a $25 outgoing wire fee.

5. Wait for Funds to Arrive

I expected it to take 1–2 business days based on the instructions, but in my case the funds arrived in approximately 30 minutes and were available in my IBKR account.

Key Lessons

• Use Bank Wire, not ACH.
• Create the IBKR deposit notification before initiating the transfer.
• Double-check the IBKR account number and payment reference.
• Include the IBKR account reference (UXXXXXXXX) wherever possible.
• Keep the wire confirmation number until the funds are credited.

Hopefully this saves someone a few hours of confusion and prevents mistakes when moving funds from an E*TRADE Stock Plan account to Interactive Brokers.