Trying to open an Interactive Brokers account

I have been looking around for the right broker for the last week now and have pretty much decided that IB looks pretty good.
I'm currently a student and have no real income source, which means that I don't have that much cash or "liquid net worth".

When applying for an IB cash account I am asked about my net worth and liquid net worth. Pop-up says I need a minimum of 20,000 USD liquid net worth (and the net worth can't be smaller thatn this). I don't have this kind of money and was wondering if there's any way around this or if you guys have any alternative recommendations for a brokerage firm.

I am living in Romania if that helps btw.

 

Here are some other reputable brokers that you can consider in your country:
Saxo Bank, TastyWorks, Degiro.

 

Just fudge the questions and exaggerate your income, net worth, trading experience, etc - brokers do not confirm. Those are "Know Your Client" questions which I believe all brokers have to ask.

 

Are there no legal repercussions to that? I'm not trying to get into trouble.

 

Um, no. You're in Romania. Let them come hunt you down through the Romanian IRS if they want. Just tell them you have a 2 pound gold nugget, get the account opened, and start trading.

 

• No there will be no legal repercussions.
  
• Credit Cards are the same - if they require $60,000 yearly income then put down you make $60,000 a year. The card will be in the mail within a week.

IMO ...... COVID-19 has made the "Know Your Client" questions worthless. Your financial situation can change very quickly.

 

I wouldn't expect the answer to this question to matter unless your account ends up below zero and you get into some legal fight (so don't do the kind of options/margin trading that could end up like that). It's a fairly useless question anyway, I suspect IB aside from legal obligations is happy to scare off customers with no capital yet since those can carry a high work per income ratio for IB.

 

Don't make a misrepresentation of your new account info especially given your geography.

 

Not really legal, but if you are misrepresenting, the compliance department would be justified freezing your account and closing it. Maybe leave it in limbo for a week or five before that too. Given you don't have extra money to have frozen, open up an account somewhere else, imo.

 

You will have less than 25K so you will not be able to day trade so your commission will be less than $30 per month and then IB will charge your date fee. IB is almost perfect but not for everyone.