New - State Governor's Primary Contracts
Take a position on key elections, indicators, and trading events with IBKR ForecastTrader. Users can trade yes-or-no predictions in different categories, including politics,1 economics, finance and climate indicators. Trading is available around the clock, six days a week.
You will also earn 3.83% APY on your investment with an interest-like incentive coupon. Plus, you will receive USD 3.00 you can use to trade Forecast Contracts.
Already have an IBKR account? Log in
Live Stream with IBKR Senior Economist Jose Torres
Forecast Contracts on US elections are only available to eligible US residents.
The displayed future outcome probabilities and prices are hypothetical and only intended as an example. They do not reflect current market sentiment, expected outcomes, or the opinions of IBKR.
Forecast Contracts let you invest in political, economic, finance and climate trend predictions while limiting your risk. The maximum loss per contract is limited to the amount you initially paid.
For each Forecast Contract you hold that expires “in the money” regarding the underlying settlement value, you receive a fixed payout of USD 1.00. Your max profit per contract is USD 1.00 minus the contract cost, fees and commissions. Forecast Contracts are priced between USD 0.02 to USD 0.99 per contract and quoted in USD 0.01 increments.
You can close open positions by buying the opposite side. For example: if you own a YES contract, you can close the position by buying a NO contract on the same underlying question.
Forecast Contracts are offered at zero-commission at Interactive Brokers.
Forecast Contracts pay an interest-like incentive coupon based on the closing market value of the positions. The incentive coupon accrues daily and is paid monthly. Incentive coupons are currently paid at a rate of 3.83% APY.
Example: If you purchase a position at USD 0.50 and the market closes at USD 0.50, the daily incentive coupon will be based on USD 0.50. If, on the following day, the market for the same contract closes at USD 0.70, the daily incentive coupon will be based on USD 0.70.
When your account receives permissions for Forecast Contracts, you'll receive $3.00 you can use to try them out.
Event Contracts provide exposure to key futures markets while limiting your risk because the most you can lose on each contract is the price you pay for the contract.
For each Event Contract you hold that expires “in the money”, in reference to the underlying futures settlement price, you receive a fixed payout of USD 100.00. Your max profit per contract is USD 100.00 minus the contract cost, fees and commissions. Event Contracts are priced between USD 1.00 to USD 99.00 per contract and quoted in USD 1.00 increments.
Interactive Brokers offers a low, transparent commission of just USD 0.10 per Event Contract.
Use our desktop, mobile and online trading platforms to monitor your existing positions or search for new Forecast Contracts.
Enter search terms such as 'US Presidential Election,' 'US Real GDP,' or 'Fed Funds Target' to return relevant contracts, and then select the forecast contract you wish to trade.
Toggling between trading platforms is seamless, and you do not need to log in or out as you move between them.
For detailed info on accessing Forecast Contracts on TWS, IBKR Mobile and Client Portal, see below under Already an Interactive Brokers Client.
Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR) is an automated global electronic broker that serves individual investors, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, registered investment advisors and introducing brokers.
Our four-decade focus on technology and automation allows us to provide our clients with a uniquely sophisticated, low-cost global platform for managing investments.
Our clients enjoy low-cost access to stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds from a single unified platform.
Request trading permissions if you don't have Forecast/Event Contract trading permissions but would like to trade Forecast Contracts.
Trading permissions are usually approved immediately.
Forecast Contract positions are available for review from any of our trading platforms.
You can also seamlessly access IBKR ForecastTrader from our other trading platforms. Click a trading platform to learn how.
Select the Trading Tools or New Window menu items and select IBKR ForecastTrader.
To search Forecast Contracts, enter a description for product (e.g., "Consumer Price") into the Watch List field or Help/Ticker Lookup field, and then select the product and Event & Forecast Contract.
Please note that TWS now supports the use of ScaleTrader, Accumulate/Distribute, and IBALGO+Accumulate/Distribute for Forecast Contracts.
Select the Trade button , select Search, enter description for product (e.g., "temperature") and press Return > Event & Forecast Contracts. To navigate back to IBKR Mobile, select the User ("head/shoulders" icon ) > IBKR Mobile menu item.
Enter a product description (e.g., "unemployment") in the Search field and select the Product > Event & Forecast Contracts menu item. To navigate back to Client Portal, select the User ("head/shoulders" icon) > Client Portal menu item.
The TWS API now supports the trading of Forecast Contracts. Please view our documentation for more details.
Forecast Contracts are only available to eligible clients of Interactive Brokers LLC, Interactive Brokers Canada Inc., Interactive Brokers Hong Kong Limited, Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited and Interactive Brokers Singapore Pte. Ltd.