Ask IBKR changes that. Launched in October 2025, it's an AI-powered natural language interface built directly into IBKR Desktop and Client Portal. You type a question in plain English — "How did my portfolio perform last month?" — and get an instant answer with charts and tables. No report configuration, no dashboard navigation.
I've been running a USDJPY momentum strategy on IB since late 2024. I use PortfolioAnalyst regularly to track performance, compare against benchmarks, and review trade activity. After several months with Ask IBKR alongside my existing workflow, here's an honest assessment of what it does well, where it falls short, and whether it's actually worth incorporating into your routine.
What Ask IBKR Actually Does
Ask IBKR is a chatbot extension of PortfolioAnalyst. It covers five query categories:
- Portfolio Metrics — Performance vs. benchmarks, valuation trends, outperformance/underperformance streaks
- Allocation Analysis — Sector weights, cross-sector returns, instrument type breakdowns
- Holdings Exploration — Top positions, geographic allocation, dividend-paying securities
- Activity Tracking — Trade history, interest and fees paid, cash inflows/outflows
- Performance Attribution — Sector contribution to returns vs. indices like the S&P 500
How to Access Ask IBKR
Ask IBKR is available in three places:
IBKR Desktop
Two access methods:
1. Sitemap → Research → Ask IBKR — Opens as a dedicated window with categories on the left, prepopulated questions in the center, and a search bar at top.
2. Search bar (top left corner) — Ask IBKR questions appear inline from any screen. This is the faster method — you don't leave your current workspace.Client Portal
Click the gradient circle icon in the upper right corner. The Ask IBKR panel opens with the same category layout and search bar.
Advisor Portal
Available for financial advisors managing client accounts. Same interface, with the ability to query across managed portfolios.
Not yet available: TWS (Trader Workstation), IBKR Mobile. If you're a TWS-only trader running algo strategies, you'll need to open IBKR Desktop or Client Portal to use Ask IBKR. This is a significant gap for systematic traders who live in TWS.What Works Well
Speed of Simple Queries
The core use case — quick portfolio questions — works exactly as advertised. Examples that deliver instant, useful answers:
- "How did my portfolio perform last month?"
- "What sectors am I overweight compared to the S&P 500?"
- "How much interest did my portfolio earn last year?"
- "What are my top 5 positions by weight?"
- "Show me my trading activity for the past 30 days"
For a forex algo trader like me, "How much did I pay in commissions last quarter?" and "Compare my performance to USD/JPY spot returns YTD" are the kinds of questions I'd normally spend 5-10 minutes pulling from PortfolioAnalyst reports. Ask IBKR returns them in seconds.
Benchmark Comparison
This is where Ask IBKR shines. Comparing your portfolio against benchmarks (S&P 500, specific ETFs, or custom benchmarks) is a multi-step process in traditional PortfolioAnalyst. Ask IBKR makes it a single question:
"How did my portfolio perform vs. the S&P 500 over the last 6 months?"
The resulting chart shows both lines with hover-over data points for specific dates. Below the chart, tables break down the period returns, max drawdown, and key divergence points.
For systematic traders, this is the most useful feature. You can quickly validate whether your strategy is actually adding alpha or just riding the broader market.
Intelligent Suggestions
The auto-complete system is better than expected. As you type, it doesn't just complete your sentence — it suggests entirely different analytical angles. Type "sector" and it might suggest questions about sector rotation, concentration risk, or attribution that you hadn't planned to explore.
This turns Ask IBKR from a Q&A tool into a lightweight discovery tool. I've found allocation biases I wouldn't have checked manually.
Where It Falls Short
No TWS Integration
This is the biggest limitation for systematic traders. If you run algos through TWS or IB Gateway (like I do with my Python-based USDJPY strategy), Ask IBKR requires switching to IBKR Desktop or Client Portal. That context switch breaks the workflow.
IB has said more platforms are "being integrated over the coming months," but as of March 2026, TWS remains unsupported.
Like what you're reading? Try it yourself — this link supports ChartedTrader at no cost to you.
Open an IB Account →Limited to PortfolioAnalyst Data
Ask IBKR originates from PortfolioAnalyst, and it shows. The tool can't answer questions about:
- Market data or fundamentals — "What's the P/E of AAPL?" doesn't work (though IB says this is coming)
- Order book or execution quality — "What was my average fill slippage last month?" isn't supported
- Strategy-specific metrics — "What's my Sharpe ratio for my USDJPY trades only?" requires PortfolioAnalyst to have that data segmented, which isn't automatic
No Custom Formulas or Derived Metrics
You can't ask computed questions like "What would my return be if I'd held 20% bonds instead of my current allocation?" or "Show me my rolling 30-day Sharpe ratio." It retrieves and visualizes existing PortfolioAnalyst data — it doesn't create new analytical views.
For a trader who's built custom reporting with IB's Python API, this is a step backward in analytical power. But for the 90% of IB users who never wrote a Flex Query, Ask IBKR is a step forward in accessibility.
Predefined Question Boundaries
Despite the "natural language" branding, Ask IBKR uses structured query matching rather than true generative AI. IB explicitly states it "uses proprietary techniques to avoid uncertainty often associated with generative AI applications." Translation: it won't hallucinate, but it also won't understand truly freeform questions.
If your question doesn't match a supported pattern, you'll get suggested alternatives rather than an attempted answer. This is a reasonable trade-off — I'd rather get "I can't answer that" than a hallucinated portfolio stat — but it means the tool feels more like a smart search engine than an AI conversation partner.
Ask IBKR vs. Traditional PortfolioAnalyst
Here's the honest comparison for common tasks:
Quick performance check — Ask IBKR wins decisively. One question vs. navigating to PortfolioAnalyst, selecting dates, generating a report. Deep allocation analysis — Roughly equal. Ask IBKR gets you the headline numbers faster, but PortfolioAnalyst's full report view is better for detailed drilling. Multi-period comparison — PortfolioAnalyst wins. Comparing MTD vs. YTD vs. 1Y in a single view is easier in the traditional interface. Ask IBKR handles one timeframe per question. Tax lot and cost basis review — PortfolioAnalyst wins for now. Ask IBKR has announced this capability is coming, but it's not live yet. Daily monitoring workflow — Ask IBKR wins. For the "how are things looking today?" check, typing a question is faster than any dashboard.Who Should Use Ask IBKR
Use it if you:- Hold a diversified portfolio and want quick allocation/performance checks
- Manage multiple IB accounts and need to compare across them
- Use Client Portal or IBKR Desktop as your primary interface
- Want benchmark comparisons without configuring PortfolioAnalyst reports
- Are newer to IB and find the platform's depth overwhelming
- Run everything through TWS or IB Gateway
- Need trade-level analytics (slippage, fill quality, per-strategy metrics)
- Already have automated reporting via Flex Queries and Python
- Want hypothetical scenario analysis or custom risk metrics
The Bottom Line
Ask IBKR is a genuine time-saver for portfolio-level questions. It doesn't replace PortfolioAnalyst or custom reporting — it puts a fast, natural-language front end on data you already have access to. The benchmark comparison alone is worth trying.
The main frustration is the TWS gap. For systematic traders who live in Trader Workstation, Ask IBKR feels like it was built for a different user — the self-directed investor who logs into Client Portal once a week to check how things are going. And for that user, it's excellent.
IB has committed to expanding Ask IBKR into fundamentals data, tax lot details, corporate actions, and statements. If those features land and TWS support follows, this could become the fastest way to interact with your IB account. For now, it's a useful addition to your toolkit — not a replacement for the tools you already use.
If you don't have an Interactive Brokers account yet, you can open one here — they offer some of the lowest commissions in the industry, plus access to 160+ markets worldwide.
FAQ
Is Ask IBKR free?
Yes. Ask IBKR is included at no extra cost for all Interactive Brokers individual clients, advisor clients, and IBKR Desktop users. It's built on top of PortfolioAnalyst, which is also free.
Does Ask IBKR use ChatGPT or generative AI?
No. IB explicitly states that Ask IBKR "uses proprietary techniques to avoid uncertainty often associated with generative AI applications." It uses structured query matching with intelligent auto-complete, not a large language model. This means no hallucinated data — but also no truly freeform conversation.
Can I use Ask IBKR on my phone?
Not yet. As of March 2026, Ask IBKR is available in Client Portal (web browser), IBKR Desktop, and Advisor Portal. Mobile support has not been announced but is expected given IB's pattern of rolling features across platforms.
What questions can I ask?
Ask IBKR supports five categories: Portfolio Metrics, Allocation Analysis, Holdings Exploration, Activity Tracking, and Performance Attribution. You can ask things like "How did my portfolio perform vs. the S&P 500 last year?" or "What are my top positions by sector?" The tool suggests questions as you type, so start typing and explore what's available.
Can Ask IBKR place trades for me?
No. Ask IBKR is read-only — it provides portfolio insights and analytics only. It cannot execute trades, modify orders, or change account settings. For automated trading on IB, check our IB Python API guide.
Practical Workflow: Ask IBKR for Algo Traders
Even with the TWS limitation, I've found a workflow that makes Ask IBKR useful alongside my automated USDJPY strategy. Here's how I use it:
Morning check (2 minutes): Open IBKR Desktop, hit the search bar, type "How did my portfolio perform yesterday?" Quick visual confirmation that nothing went sideways overnight. Follow up with "What trades executed yesterday?" to cross-reference against my strategy's expected signals. Weekly review (5 minutes): "Compare my performance to USD index over the past week." Then "Show me my commission costs for the past 7 days." This catches drift between expected and actual trading costs — important for a momentum strategy where commissions eat into small edges. Monthly deep dive (still use PortfolioAnalyst): For my monthly strategy review, I still pull a full PortfolioAnalyst report. Ask IBKR can't generate exportable PDFs, create custom date ranges beyond the preset options, or segment performance by individual strategy. The monthly review needs all of that.The key insight: Ask IBKR is best as a daily and weekly monitoring tool, not a replacement for periodic deep analysis. It catches the "is everything normal?" questions faster than anything else in the IB ecosystem.
How Ask IBKR Compares to Other Broker AI Tools
Ask IBKR isn't the only broker experimenting with AI-powered portfolio insights. Here's how it stacks up:
- Schwab Intelligent Portfolios — Automated portfolio management with some AI-driven rebalancing, but no natural language query interface. Different use case entirely.
- Fidelity's AI assistant — More focused on customer service and account questions than portfolio analytics. Ask IBKR is far more analytically capable.
- Robinhood's AI features — Geared toward beginner investors with simplified insights. Ask IBKR targets serious, data-oriented traders and investors.