These instructions apply to users who are receiving their statements via sFTP. If you elected to receive your statements via sFTP, you would first need to generate an RSA Key pair.

There are many Linux distributions and there are multiple methods to access the IBKR sFTP server. sFTP clients such as Filezilla can be used. In this article we explain how to realize the connection to the IBKR FTP server using Ubuntu Linux and Filezilla.

• How to generate an RSA Key pair

1. On your Linux machine, click on the Applications icon in the bottom left corner of you screen.

2. In the search box, type terminal and then click on the Terminal icon in the search results.

 

3. In the Terminal window, type sudo apt-get install filezilla putty-tools in order to install the required software. Enter your sudo password when requested.

4. Once the software installation is complete, type puttygen -t rsa -b 2048 -o privatekey.ppk in order to generate the RSA Key pair.

You will be asked to enter a passphrase and type it again to confirm.

PLEASE NOTE: Keeping a secure copy of this password is essential. Any loss of this password will require the whole process to be repeated.

 

5. Type puttygen -L privatekey.ppk -o public.key in order to export the public part of the Key pair to the file public.key

6. Click on the Applications icon in the bottom left corner of your screen.

 

7. In the search box, type FileZilla and then click on the FileZilla icon in the search results.

8. Click on the FileZilla top menu File -> Site Manager...

 

9. In the Site Manager window, click on the button New site to create a new connection.

 

10. In the right panel (called General):

• Select SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol as Protocol
• Enter xfer.interactivebrokers.com in the Host field
• Enter 32 in the Port field
• Select Key file as Logon Type
• Enter the username provided to you by Interactive Brokers in the User field
  

 

11. Click on Browse next to the Key file field.

 

12. Move to the folder where your Key pair was created (normally your user folder: /users/yourusername/). Select the file privatekey.ppk and click on the Open button. This will set it as the Key file in your connection parameters.

 

13. Click on Rename and select a name of your preference for this connection (e.g. IBKR sFTP). Press Enter to confirm the name.

 

14. Click on OK to save your connection parameters.

 

15. Click on the folder icon on the left hand toolbar of your Desktop. This will launch the File application.

 

16. Move to the folder where you saved your Key pair (normally your user folder: /users/yourusername/). Right click on the file public.key and select Send to...

The file will be attached to an empty email. Send the email to the Reporting Integration Team, as per IBKB3842.

Important Note: do NOT send us your private key. Send us only your public one

 

• How to connect to our sFTP Server

Once IBKR has configured the parameters for your connection on our servers, you will be notified. After that, you will be able to access your sFTP repository by using the Site connection you have created in FileZilla. In case you have not yet set up a Site connection, please follow the steps from 6. to 14. which are a prerequisite to the below steps:

1. Click on the Applications icon in the bottom left corner of you screen.

 

2. In the search box, type FileZilla and then click on the FileZilla icon in the search results.

 

3. On the FileZilla top toolbar, click the down arrow icon and select the Site connection you previously created (e.g. IBKR sFTP)

 

4. FileZilla will now establish a connection to our sFTP Server and show the files present in your repository.

 

Common issues and solutions

A. The Login Credentials Provided are Incorrect

1. Ensure the correct login details are being used to connect to the sFTP server. The username and password you are entering should match the ones you have received from the Reporting Integration Team.
2. Confirm you have configured your sFTP Client to use the Private Key file for the logon authentication (see steps 9. and 10. of the above procedure.)

B. Server Refused Our Key

1. Try accessing the sFTP server using a different Client (CyberDuck, ect.)
2. Ensure the Private Key file being used to Authenticate the server login attempt is related to the Public Key you originally sent to the Reporting Integration Team.
3. Should the above checks be unable to resolve the issue, please generate a new RSA Public/Private Key pair and send only the Public part to the Reporting Integration Team, as per IBKB3842.

C. Connection Timed Out

1. In case you have an antivirus or a security software installed on your machine, make sure it is not blocking the FTP connection attempt. Normally, security software allows to set up exceptions for specific connections in order to whitelist them.
2. Verify that the public IP Address of the machine running the sFTP client, is the same you have originally provided to the Reporting Integration Team for being whitelisted. You can discover your public IP Address by searching the Internet for “what is my IP”. If your current IP Address is not the same you provided to us, please send it to our Reporting Integration Team for being whitelisted.
3. Ask your network administrator/s to confirm that your firewall allows both incoming and outgoing traffic from/to xfer.interactivebrokers.com on port TCP 32.
4. Should the above steps be unable to resolve the issue, please generate a new RSA Public/Private Key pair and send only the new Public part to our Reporting Integration Team, as per IBKB3842.

1. Open the Windows File Explorer by either pressing Windows Key + E on the keyboard. Alternatively, you can type File Explorer into the Windows search box and click on Open

2. In the File Explorer window, type the FTP address, ftp://ftp2.interactivebrokers.com, into the file path at the top of the window and hit Enter.

3. A window prompting your for credentials will appear. Enter the FTP username and password IBKR provided you with into the correspondent fields and click Log On.

4. You now have direct access to your FTP folder. Documents and files contained in your FTP folder can now be decrypted using your PGP key, as described in IBKB4108.

Common issues and solutions

A. Could not log in to the FTP server with the username and password specified

Ensure the correct login details are being used to connect to the FTP server. The username and password you are entering should match the ones you have received from the Reporting Integration Team.

B. Connection Timed Out

1. Enable the Passive (PASV) mode for FTP connections. press Windows Key + S, type Internet Options and open the panel. Move to the Advanced tab and activate the option Use Passive FTP (for firewall and DSL modem compatibility). The passive mode is more firewall-friendly then the active one, since all the connections are initiated from the Client side. If you are using a specific FTP Client, check its connection settings or advanced settings in order to find and enable the Passive (PASV) mode switch.
2. In case you have an antivirus or a security software installed on your machine, make sure it is not blocking the FTP connection attempt. Normally, security software allows to set up exceptions for specific connections in order to whitelist them.
3. Should the above steps be unable to resolve the issue, ask your network administrator/s to confirm that your firewall allows traffic from/to ftp2.interactivebrokers.com. Note: Your network administrator should consider that every time your FTP Client attempts connecting to our FTP server with Passive mode, it establishes two connections: a command channel (outbound, from random TCP port above 1024 to TCP port 21) and a data channel (outbound, from a random TCP port above 1024 to the TCP port above 1024 which was negotiated through the command channel). Both connections are initiated by the Client side. In the picture below, you can find an example of this connections schema. Please notice that the ports 2000, 3000, 4000 are examples of randomly selected ports and may very well not correspond to the ones used within your specific FTP connection attempt.

 

Requirements:

• The IBKR Mobile app must be installed and IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key) already activated on this Android device.
• For more information on the installation and activation on Android devices, please consult KB2277.

Instructions: 

1) On your Android device, open the IBKR Mobile app.

     1.a) If the app opens with the login screen (Figure 1), tap on Services on the top-left corner (red arrow) and proceed with step 2)

     1.b) If the app opens with your Home Page, Portfolio, Watchlists, or similar, tap on More on the top-left corner (Figure 2). Then tap on Two-Factor Authentication (Figure 3), followed by Add User (Figure 4) and proceed with step 3)

Figure 1                                                 Figure 2                                               Figure 3                         
    

Figure 4                                            

2) Tap on AUTHENTICATE (Figure 5) and then on Add User (Figure 6).

Figure 5                                                      Figure 6                                      
         

3) Read the instructions and then tap on SESSION ID (Figure 7).

Figure 7                                   

4) Type the alphanumeric string present below the QR code in the Session ID field (Figure 8).

Figure 8

5) Provide your PIN then tap ACTIVATE (Figure 9).

Figure 9                        

6) You will receive a message indicating the successful activation of IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key). Tap DONE to confirm (Figure 10).

Figure 10                              

Possible Issues and Solutions

• During the IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key) activation, I receive an error message "An error has occurred. Please try again."

Figure 11

This error message (Figure 11) may indicate you are attempting to activate the IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key) for a user which was already enrolled. Please try to log that user in to the Client Portal again. If you receive a notification on your smartphone once you have entered the credentials and you are able to complete the authentication once you tap on that notification, then the user was already enrolled and you no longer need to follow the steps on this article.

Alternatively, the error message may be displayed when the QR code shown in the Client Portal was already used to attempt an activation and is expired. In this case, please log out of the Client Portal and log back in to obtain a fresh QR code.

Requirements:

• The IBKR Mobile app must be installed and IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key) already activated on this Android device.
• For more information on the installation and activation on Android devices, please consult the IBKR Knowledge Base.

Instructions: 

1) On your Android device, open the IBKR Mobile app.

     1.a) If the app opens with the login screen (Figure 1), tap on Services on the top-left corner (red arrow) and proceed with step 2)

     1.b) If the app opens with your Home Page, Portfolio, Watchlists, or similar, tap on More on the top-left corner (Figure 2). Then tap on Two-Factor Authentication (Figure 3), followed by Add User (Figure 4) and proceed with step 3)

Figure 1                                                 Figure 2                                               Figure 3                         
    

Figure 4                                            

2) Tap on Authenticate (Figure 5) and then on Add User (Figure 6).

Figure 5                                                      Figure 6                                      
         

3) Read the instructions and then tap on SESSION ID (Figure 7).

Figure 7                                   

4) Tap QR CODE (Figure 8).

Figure 8                                            

5) Tap Allow if asked for permission to use the phone camera (Figure 9).

Figure 9                     

6) Point the lens of your smartphone camera towards the QR code (Figure 10). You don't need to "take a picture." When the code is in focus, it is automatically captured. If your phone does not seem to recognize the QR code try to move your phone closer or farther away to the QR code in order to gain focus. If your phone does not recognize the QR code, please see the section Possible Issues and solutions at the bottom of this article.

Figure 10

7) Provide your PIN then tap on ACTIVATE (Figure 11).

Figure 11                               

8) You will receive a message indicating the successful activation of IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key). Tap DONE to confirm (Figure 12).

Figure 12                            

Possible issues and solutions

• My smartphone did not manage to read the QR code. What should I do?

Make sure you have activated the switch "Scan QR codes" from the Camera Settings of your smartphone (Figure 13).

Figure 13

• My phone activates the front camera. How can I switch to the rear one?

Usually there is a specific button in the camera view to switch from front to rear lenses (Figure 14).

Figure 14

• During the IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key) activation, I receive an error message "An error has occurred. Please try again."

Figure 15

This error message (Figure 15) may indicate you are attempting to activate the IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key) for a user which was already enrolled. Please try to log that user in to the Client Portal again. If you receive a notification on your smartphone once you have entered the credentials and you are able to complete the authentication once you tap on that notification, then the user was already enrolled and you no longer need to follow the steps on this article.

Alternatively, the error message may be displayed when the QR code shown in the Client Portal was already used to attempt an activation and is expired. In this case, please log out of the Client Portal and log back in to obtain a fresh QR code.

References:

• See KB2260 for instruction on how to activate and operate IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key).
• See KB2748 for instructions on how to recover IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key).
• See KB3236 for instructions on how to enable notifications for the IBKR Mobile app.
• See KB3234 for troubleshooting missing IBKR Mobile notifications.
• See KB3073 for instructions on how to migrate the IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key) to a new smartphone.