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Broker guide

Interactive Brokers trading journal

Connect once with a Query ID and token, or export a Flex Query or an Activity statement and drop the file in. Either way, read your IBKR trading back as an equity curve, a calendar and your own written notes.

In short

Connect Interactive Brokers with a Query ID and token, a four-step setup you do once, and your fills refresh daily. Or export a Flex Query or Activity statement as CSV and drop it onto Import & Export. Either way your IBKR fills become positions with an equity curve, calendar P&L and your notes, free forever.

How do I import Interactive Brokers trades into a journal?

Connect with a Query ID and token, or export a Flex Query or Activity statement as a CSV, open Import & Export in sizeforzero, choose the account, drop the file and press Import trades. Buys and sells are paired into positions, and every fill keeps the currency it traded in.

Connect Interactive Brokers

  1. Sign in to IBKR Client Portal and open Performance & Reports → Third-Party Reports.
  2. Click the gear next to Third-Party Services and switch on the connection service sizeforzero names in the app.
  3. IBKR shows a Query ID (6 to 7 digits) and a token (24 digits). Keep that page open.
  4. Come back, press Connect, and paste both into the secure connect screen.
  5. Your fills arrive and then refresh every day. The link is read-only.

It is four steps rather than one click because IBKR hands out a Query ID and a token instead of a password sign-in. You do it once.

Import a Flex Query CSV

  1. In IBKR Client Portal, open Performance & Reports, then Flex Queries.
  2. Create or open an Activity Flex Query for Trades. Include the trade date and time, symbol, buy/sell, quantity, trade price, IB commission and currency. For options, also include the underlying symbol, put/call, strike and expiry.
  3. Run the query with CSV as the output format and save the file.
  4. In sizeforzero, open Import & Export and choose the account to import into.
  5. Drop the file. Exported from is picked from the file’s columns when sizeforzero can tell; check that it says Interactive Brokers (Flex).
  6. Press Import trades. You are told how many fills landed, how many were skipped as already imported, and anything that needs a second look.

IBKR rearranges its portal from time to time. If the wording has moved, you are looking for a Flex Query that returns your executions as CSV with the fields above.

Import an Activity statement CSV

  1. In IBKR Client Portal, open Performance & Reports, then Statements.
  2. Run an Activity statement for the period you want and download it as CSV.
  3. In sizeforzero, open Import & Export and choose the account to import into.
  4. Drop the file and check that Exported from says Interactive Brokers (Activity statement).
  5. Press Import trades.

The Activity statement is one file made of several sections. Fills are read from its Trades section and its Dividends section is recorded as income. The same fill can appear as an order row and as one or more trade rows, so only the order rows are kept and nothing is counted twice.

Flex Query or Activity statement: which one?

Use the Flex Query when you want control over the columns and a file that holds trades only. Use the Activity statement when you already download it for your records. The Flex Query import reads trades; the Activity statement import also records dividends as income.

If you are not sure which file you have, drop it in. sizeforzero reads the columns and picks the matching Exported from choice for you when it can tell.

CAD, USD and other currencies

Interactive Brokers accounts often hold more than one currency. Both CSV imports read the currency on every row, so a US-dollar fill stays in US dollars and a Canadian-dollar fill stays in Canadian dollars. Positions can be held in USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, AUD, JPY or CHF. A fill in any other currency is refused with a plain message rather than guessed at.

The connection brings in multi-currency positions and executions the same way. Create the journal account in the currency you think in; a US-dollar position inside a Canadian-dollar account keeps its own currency instead of being flattened into the account’s.

Accounts and registered accounts

Make one journal account per IBKR account and import each file into its own. When you connect, each IBKR account arrives as its own journal account. Under Show more you can mark an account’s type: TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP, LIRA, margin or cash. Every screen reads per account or across all of them.

What the Interactive Brokers import leaves out

Futures, forex and crypto rows are skipped, because the journal models stocks and single-leg options. In an Activity statement, forex rows are flagged for review with a note that currency conversion does not affect your trade P&L, and they are not imported. Multi-leg option strategies are not tracked as one position.

A CSV cannot tell opening a short from closing a long, because an IBKR file carries only the sign of the quantity. A short sale opened at Interactive Brokers belongs on the connection, not in a file.

sizeforzero never places an order and never moves money. It reads what already happened.

Does sizeforzero sync with Interactive Brokers automatically?

Yes. Connect with a Query ID and token and your fills refresh daily, read-only. Setup is four steps, done once, because IBKR issues a Query ID and token rather than a password sign-in.

Is connecting Interactive Brokers a one-click job?

No, and we would rather say so. In IBKR you open Third-Party Reports, switch on the connection service sizeforzero names in the app, copy the Query ID and token, and paste both into the secure connect screen. You only do it once.

Should I upload a Flex Query or an Activity statement?

Either works. A Flex Query gives you a clean, trades-only file with the columns you choose. An Activity statement is the report most traders already download, and it also brings in dividends as income. Both are supported presets.

What does the IBKR Flex Query CSV need to contain?

The trade date and time, symbol, buy/sell, quantity, trade price, IB commission and currency. For options, add the underlying symbol, put/call, strike and expiry. Columns are read by the names IBKR writes, so nothing needs reshaping once those fields are in the query.

What happens to dividends and forex rows in an IBKR statement?

In an Activity statement, dividends are recorded as income rather than counted as trades. Forex rows are flagged for review with a note that currency conversion does not affect trade P&L, and they are not imported. The Flex Query import reads trades only.

Can I keep CAD and USD trades from the same IBKR account?

Yes. Every row carries its own currency, so a Canadian-dollar fill and a US-dollar fill sit side by side in the same account, each in the currency it traded in. Supported currencies are USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, AUD, JPY and CHF.

Can I journal IBKR short sales from a CSV?

Not reliably. An IBKR file marks direction only by the sign of the quantity, which cannot separate opening a short from closing a long. A short opened at Interactive Brokers needs the connection to reach the journal correctly.

Does it handle options, futures and crypto?

Stocks and single-leg options are supported, with strike, expiration and right on every contract. Multi-leg strategies, futures and crypto are not supported, and those rows are skipped on import.

What happens if I import the same IBKR file twice?

Nothing is written twice. Every upload is fingerprinted, so re-importing an IBKR statement adds no trades and says so plainly. Statements for overlapping periods are common, so set the import window to the period you want. Recent imports keep a one-click undo for 24 hours.

Can sizeforzero place trades or move money at Interactive Brokers?

No. It is a journal, not a broker. The Interactive Brokers connection is read-only, and sizeforzero never places an order, holds funds or gives investment advice.

What does an Interactive Brokers trading journal cost?

Connecting Interactive Brokers and importing its files are both part of the free journal. The journal is free forever: unlimited trades, every account, broker connections, CSV in and out, full analytics, the equity curve and calendar P&L, with no credit card. Pro turns the AI always on after a 30-day free trial. The pricing page has the current plans.

Once the trades are in

More on registered accounts, CAD and USD side by side, and Canadian tax record-keeping on the trading journal for Canadian traders page. Terms like expectancy, R multiple and profit factor each have a plain-English entry in the glossary. The full plan breakdown is on the pricing page.

Keep reading

Bring in your first Interactive Brokers trades and see the equity curve behind them. Free, no card.

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The fine print

sizeforzero is an independent trading journal. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with Interactive Brokers LLC. Interactive Brokers is a trademark of its owner, referenced here only to describe whose account data this journal can read, by CSV or by a read-only connection.

For informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.