In Interactive Brokers, having an open account isn’t enough: each product family —stocks from certain countries, futures, options— needs its own permission. And if you don’t have it, the button simply isn’t there. Here’s where to see what you have activated, what green and grey mean and what the broker will ask you for to give you what’s missing.
What trading permissions are
It’s one of the most specific things about Interactive Brokers. To trade certain products —somewhat foreign or exotic stocks, futures, options, whatever— you need the corresponding permission activated, and to activate it you have to fill in whatever the broker asks for that product.
When you don’t have the permission for a product, the option to trade it simply doesn’t appear. Before looking for the fault elsewhere, check here whether you have it activated.
Where the permissions are
Log in to the Client Portal; if you don’t know how, we explain it in the article on how to log in to the Client Portal. Once inside, at the top right, where your name appears, click Settings. At the top you’ll see “Trading Permissions”: when you click it, all the products you can trade with Interactive Brokers appear.
Green and grey: what you have activated
Reading it is simple: if a product appears in green, you have it activated; if it appears greyish, you don’t.
How to read the product grid
Green — the permission is activated
Grey — the permission is not activated yet
If you’re going to trade options, look for that product in the grid and check that it appears in green before you go to trade.
What you’ll be asked for to activate a permission
Depending on the type of product, Interactive Brokers will most likely ask you for two things.
Knowledge and trading experience tests
For certain products you’ll have to take some tests, on knowledge and on trading experience. It’s worth keeping in mind before you start, because they aren’t requested equally for all products.
The financial profile
Also depending on the product, they’ll ask you for what they call a financial profile, which may differ from the one you have on file. To trade certain types of product you need net worth, income and liquid net worth in line with the type of risk Interactive Brokers considers for that product. That’s why you may have to fill in or update your financial profile to be able to add it.
The net worth, income and liquid net worth requirements depend on the risk Interactive Brokers assigns to each product. If you’re going to request a new one, first check whether your financial profile is still up to date.
How to request a permission, country by country
So you can see how it looks inside: if you click Stocks, you’ll see they’re usually classified by country. You tick everything you want to trade —whatever Interactive Brokers offers— and click Continue. If you’ve already completed the tests and the financial profile, the permissions can come out validated straight away; otherwise, it normally takes 24 or 48 hours to validate, and a notice will appear to let you know.
Requesting a permission, step by step
Go into the product you want to add (for example, Stocks)
Tick the countries you want to trade
Click Continue and complete the tests or the financial profile if they ask for them
Wait for validation: it can be immediate or take 24-48 hours, and you’ll be notified
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, remember that 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 change currency, how to deposit money and how to withdraw it.
Conclusion
Trading permissions are the first thing to check when you can’t trade something in Interactive Brokers: Settings, Trading Permissions, green if you have it and grey if you don’t; and, if it’s missing, knowledge tests, financial profile and 24 to 48 hours of validation. Checking them before you need them saves you surprises the day you want to trade.
