Why does my portfolio show a negative currency balance?

IBviz uses double-entry accounting to compute performance metrics: every asset purchase is matched with a cash outflow, and every sale with a cash inflow. The very first transaction in a portfolio should be a deposit. A negative currency balance can occur for one of three reasons.

1. Leverage

If your purchases are financed with borrowed money — trading on margin — your cash balance will go negative by the borrowed amount. For example, holding $200,000 cash and buying $250,000 of an ETF on margin leaves a cash balance of -$50,000.

2. Futures and derivatives

Futures carry embedded leverage: the margin required is smaller than the contract's notional value. IBviz tracks the full economic exposure (notional), so the cash balance shown will differ from the cash balance on your IBKR statement.

3. No initial deposit recorded

An initial deposit dated before your first asset purchase is required for accurate performance and contribution analytics. Without one, your currency balance can appear negative. This can also happen if your linked IBKR account doesn't provide data covering your full transaction history — see Why isn't my full transaction history imported?