Interactive Brokers Lets Clients' AI Trade 75,000 Instruments Without Per-Order Approval

Interactive Brokers announced IBKR Autonomous Trading on Oct. 21, the step after the human-approved AI links it opened to clients in June, with product pages for clients in the US, UK, Europe, Singapore and Australia.

Through the summer, an outside AI platform linked to a client’s account could only draft trade instructions, and the client approved each one before it reached the market. That approval was the control. For eligible clients it now falls away, so more of the limit sits in the rules a client writes and the money the client puts behind the AI, alongside the account restrictions and eligibility limits the broker sets.

What can the AI do on its own?

Eligible clients can authorize connected AI platforms to submit supported orders across more than 75,000 listed stocks, options and exchange-traded funds, with no sign-off on each order. Clients write their instructions in everyday language. One of the broker’s examples reads: “Each morning, trim any position above 10% of my portfolio back to 8%.” Another has the AI sell 30-day covered calls when a holding’s implied volatility reaches its 52-week 90th percentile.

The broker’s AI links now connect ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Perplexity to an account, and the client reviews each instruction in an AI Instructions tab before submitting it. Interactive Brokers did not say which platforms can use the new option.

How big is the fence?

The AI trades only inside an AI Partition, which a client funds by transferring money from the main account. No new account or outside deposit is needed, so the partition caps what the AI can reach.

Interactive Brokers said funding, account and eligibility limits apply at launch and may change, and what a client can use depends on the broker’s local affiliate and the client’s country. It did not say how large a partition can be.

How fast did the broker loosen its control?

On June 1, Interactive Brokers launched its Claude link under what it called a human-in-the-middle design, in which the client approves every trade. On June 22 it added ChatGPT and Grok and extended order instructions to options and futures. Less than five months after the first link, approval became optional.

CEO Milan Galik said the broker has used automation for decades to give investors access, efficiency and control. Autonomous Trading, he said, “builds on that approach, allowing clients to define their trading strategies and safeguards while connected AI monitors markets and executes trades within those parameters.”

What caps the money an AI agent can reach at a company before a person must approve its next move?