Hey thanks again for the info everyone! I went away from the message board for a few hours because I didn't want to clutter it with my posts. I appreciate the excellent advice. I think my account is a cash account. Also thanks for the note about the public holiday in the US--that saved me from a brain aneurysm--my orders say "PreSubmitted" and I assume they will not be filled until roughly 11 PM or so local time (Hong Kong time) on Tuesday. When I logged out of IB after making my initial (I think) successful buy requests, the screen said "you have been logged in without trading privileges," which was weird (!) and made me think I am indeed going to have to call IB on the phone to sort things out, as has been suggested. In any case, this thread has been so helpful for me, because it's good to know that I've tried to sort things out on my end (dealing with basic mistakes like the HKD-to-USD conversion issue) before I call them. But maybe the buy orders will be fulfilled tomorrow night. I hope so.