If you buy stocks or ETFs in dollars with a euro account, sooner or later you have to change currency. In Interactive Brokers that option isn’t where you’d look for it: it’s inside the Cash Report, and from there a converter opens that looks like the one on any currency exchange website. Here’s the whole route, from the menu to the submit button.
Why it’s done from the Client Portal
You can also change currency from TWS, but the steps are somewhat different and more complex, so that route is left for another video. From the Client Portal —the account management interface— it’s simpler, because it’s a web environment you already know. If you don’t know how to log in, we explain it in the article on how to log in to the Client Portal.
Where it is: the Cash Report
From the main page, click Account or Portfolio and, inside, Cash Report. There you’ll see the different currencies you hold in the account.
Two routes from the Cash Report
- Convert Currency — to change an amount from one currency into another, for example from euros to dollars
- Convert everything to euros — if you already hold all your currencies in dollars or in other currencies, you can switch it all to euros in one go
The second option comes in handy, for example, to withdraw all your funds. If you’ve read the article on how to withdraw money from Interactive Brokers, you’ll remember that the currency you want to withdraw has to be available in your portfolio: converting it here is how you get it ready.
The converter, step by step
When you click Convert Currency you choose the account and a converter of the classic kind opens. In the currency you have, enter euros and, in the currency you want, dollars (USD); once you pick them, the euro-dollar chart appears. Then you enter the amount you want to convert and, from there, there isn’t much more to do: click Submit.
What you fill in on the converter
The account where you make the exchange
Currency I have — euros, in the example
Currency I want — dollars (USD), in the example
The pair’s chart (euro-dollar), which appears when you choose the currencies
The amount you want to convert
After you submit
When you click Submit, it’s usual to get at least three or four windows when you accept the order. Once it’s sent, you see it straight away in the Cash Report: the euros you had now show up converted into dollars.
What you’re confirming is a currency exchange order. Use those windows to check the account, the two currencies and the amount before going on.
Change before buying, or let the broker finance it with a negative balance?
The question the video leaves is a very practical one: if you buy stocks or ETFs in dollars with a euro account, do you change the currency before buying or do you let the broker finance it for you with a negative balance? It’s a decision you make yourself, so it’s worth having it clear before you trade and checking in the Cash Report how the balance of each currency looks.
The Client Portal screens shown in the video are from the September 2026 recording. Interactive Brokers changes its design every so often: the menu path is the same, but the buttons may not be where you see them here.
If you trade from ProRealTime with your Interactive Brokers account linked, you stay on the same account, with the same username and password and with full access to the Client Portal — we explain it in this article. And in this same series you’ll also find how to deposit money and trading permissions.
Conclusion
Changing currency in Interactive Brokers is a short process once you know where it is: Client Portal, Account or Portfolio, Cash Report and Convert Currency; you choose the account, the currency you have, the one you want and the amount, and click Submit. Then check in the Cash Report that the exchange went through — and be clear, before buying in another currency, about how you’ll manage that balance.
