Our Verdict on Interactive Brokers
While we don’t think Interactive Brokers (IB) is the best choice for trading Forex CFDs, they do have a compelling range of investment products like shares, options and futures. What really makes IB stand out are its in-house developed trading platforms, especially Trader Workstation, which has some of the most advanced features for experienced traders to take advantage of.
Pros
- Largest range of financial products including CFDs and stockbroking
- Most regulation in most key locations across the world
- $0 Minimum Deposit requirement
Cons
- Relatively low leverage that varies based on the CFDs traded
- Not user-friendly
- Lackluster customer service
Interactive Brokers score breakdown
3/5 · Good
The overall rating is based on review by our experts
How is our rating calculated?How popular is Interactive Brokers in the United States?
Interactive Brokers ranked 2nd for search interest among the 8 brokers we review in August 2026, on 182,280 branded Google searches from the United States, behind Charles Schwab. Search interest measures attention, not quality; the score above is the review verdict.
- 182,280
- Brand searches, August 2026
- +9.9%
- vs July 2026
- 45,710
- Login searches
- 5.0%
- Share of all searches
| Market | Rank | Brand searches | vs July |
|---|---|---|---|
| the United States | 2 / 8 | 182,280 | +9.9% |
| Canada | 1 / 10 | 68,020 | +22.1% |
| Singapore | 1 / 9 | 62,410 | 0.0% |
Source: Google search volume, the United States, August 2026.
How this is measured
Google Ads reports how many times a month people in the United States searched each broker's brand terms, and the brokers are ranked on that figure alone.
A term counts for a broker only when that broker's own website holds the first organic Google result for it in the United States; bare brand words that any company could own are left out.
A month-on-month change prints only where the previous month reached 1,000 searches, because Google rounds smaller volumes.
The figures refresh on the 15th of each month with the newest month Google has published, and the first-result check repeats every quarter.
Interactive Brokers Summary
| 🗺️ Tier 1 Regulation | ASIC, FCA, MAS, CIRO, NFA, CFTC, SEC, FINRA |
|---|---|
| 🗺️ Tier 2 Regulation | CBI, SFC, JFSA |
| 🗺️ Tier 3 Regulation | SEBI |
| 💰 Trading Fees | Raw spreads plus commission (FX from 0.20 to 0.08 bps) |
| 📊 Trading Platforms | Desktop TWS, Mobile, Client Portal, WebTrader |
| 💰 Minimum Deposit | $0 |
| 🛍️ Instruments | Stocks, Futures, Options Trading, Currency, Metals, ETFs |
| 💳 Credit Card Deposit | No |
Fees
We hold no EUR/USD spread on record for Interactive Brokers, so this review carries no cost calculator. The spread and commission each account charges are in the fees table on this page.
Interactive Brokers offers two pricing options with their Standard Accounts: a commission-free IBKR Lite account and fixed/tiered pricing with IBKR Pro.
- IBKR Lite is suitable for both retail investors and financial advisors who trade on behalf of their clients
- IBKR Pro is designed for more experienced traders and features the lowest margin rates and premier trading tools (IBot, SmartRouting, robo-advisor, traders’ insight, etc.)
One caveat I always flag is that IBKR Lite is only offered to residents of the United States and Singapore. If you are trading from Canada or anywhere served by the global IB LLC entity, IBKR Pro is your only option. That means the commission-free Lite pricing simply does not apply to most traders outside the US and Singapore.
Spreads
We rated IBKR’s spreads as an ‘ECN broker’ as they quote prices based on the 17 largest FX dealing banks. This results in over 60% market share of the interbank market, leading to EUR/USD spreads as low as 0.1 pips. To clarify, spreads are not marked up, and the foreign exchange broker makes money from commissions. While the online broker doesn’t publish their average spreads (for comparison to other brokers), you can see their real-time quotes on their website that are set by the market.
Commissions
IBKR Lite offers commission-free trading for stocks and ETFs listed in the US exchanges. IBKR Lite accounts are subject to fixed pricing for non-exchange-listed US stocks, ETFs, warrants, and other non-qualifying products. Below, we show the commissions for US markets.
| Monthly Volume (shares) | IBKR Pro - Tiered | IBKR Pro - Fixed | IBKR Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| ≤ 300,000 | USD 0.0035 | USD 0.005 | USD 0.002 |
| 300,001 - 3,000,000 | USD 0.0020 | ||
| 3,000,001 - 20,000,000 | USD 0.0015 | ||
| 20,000,001 - 100,000,000 | USD 0.0010 | ||
| > 100,000,000 | USD 0.0005 |
IBKR offers low commissions that decrease with higher trading volume, providing excellent value for frequent traders. The table below shows how a high-volume forex trader can achieve a low commission multiple of just 0.08 basis points. Low Commission Example To provide an example scenario of the highest traded tier (USD >$5b), if $1,000,000 units of EUR/USD were traded, the total calculation would be $1,000,000 EUR * 0.00001 = $10 EUR. This Euro amount would then be converted to USD at the real-time value set by IBKR. At lighter monthly trading volumes, a broker like Pepperstone or IC Markets may have lower commissions, but for active traders, IBKR has low costs.
Verdict on Interactive Brokers Spreads
Since IBKR offers ECN broker spreads (market-based spreads) and the lowest commissions for high-volume traders, experienced traders are more suitable for their accounts.
Trading Platforms
| Trading Plaform | Available With Interactive Brokers |
|---|---|
| MetaTrader 4 | No |
| MetaTrader 5 | No |
| cTrader | No |
| TradingView | No |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes |
IBKR runs its own proprietary platforms rather than offering MetaTrader. For forex and CFDs I use Trader Workstation, which includes a dedicated FXTrader module built for currency trading. IBKR GlobalTrader is the simpler mobile app, and I want to be clear that it only covers stocks, ETFs and options, so it is not where you trade forex or CFDs.
FXTrader (within Trader Workstation)
FXTrader is the currency-focused interface inside Trader Workstation, and it is where the real forex tooling lives. From here I can trade spot FX and forex CFDs alongside shares, futures and bonds without switching platforms. The features below all belong to this Trader Workstation environment, not to the lighter GlobalTrader app.
- A clear price display (currency pairs have their own cell with market/order data).
- Price data with the best available bid and ask prices is displayed.
- The ability to insert any forex quote to cross-trade with Globex forex futures.
- Review functionality prior to making trades or one-click fast trading.
- The ability to make 20+ trades from trailing stop limits to one cancels all.
- Functionality to show average cost, positions and even profile & loss data.
- Extensively customisable charting from trading cell displays, layout to colour schemes used.
- Watchlist that can be synchronised across all your trading platforms.
- TWS API for automated trading strategies.
Trader Workstation
Desktop TWS is designed for active traders with the most advanced forex trading tools and algos. The Trader Workstation (TWS) includes news, risk analysis tools and technical analysis. Trading can occur across all markets using the TWS trading platform. Client Portal and WebTrader offer non-download versions of the trading platform that have reduced functionality but still have the ability to trade and monitor existing trades.
Mobile Trading Apps
IBKR Mobile is available on Android mobile devices and iPhone/iPad devices to monitor and make foreign exchange trades while on the go. IBKR also offers GlobalTrader, a stripped-back mobile app aimed at newer investors. I like it for buying stocks, ETFs and options quickly, but it does not support forex or CFDs. Active currency traders will want IBKR Mobile or Trader Workstation instead. The table below shows the range of markets, including Stocks, Options, Futures and Bonds available per medium.
| Client Portal/Web | Mobile Apps | Desktop TWS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stocks | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Options | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Futures | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Forex | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CFDs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Warrants | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bonds | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Combinations | ✘ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inter-Commodity Spreads | ✘ | ✘ | ✓ |
Trade Experience Interactive Brokers has recently joined forces with Blue Ocean, a leading financial data provider, to offer real-time streaming quotes during both regular and extended US trading hours. IBKR Overnight allows Interactive Brokers clients to trade over 10,000 US stocks and ETFs between 8 PM and 3:50 AM ET, Sunday through Friday. When it comes to trading US stocks, eligible clients can place limit orders on TWS, Client Portal, and Mobile TWS. However, to enable overnight trading, they must access the Client Portal and make the necessary adjustments to their trading permissions.
Verdict on Interactive Brokers Trading Platforms
If you want to trade shares, CFDs and foreign exchange without switching platforms while having powerful features, IBKR is right for you. The only disadvantage of the IBKR platform is that existing forex traders will need to learn the unique platform.
Is Interactive Brokers Safe?
Yes, Interactive Brokers is a safe broker with a trust score of 10 out of 10.
1. Regulation
IBKR is regulated by six tier-1 financial authorities, three tier-2 regulators, and one tier-3 regulator.
| Interactive Brokers Safety | Regulator |
|---|---|
| Tier-1 | ASIC (Australia) - Australian Securities and Investments Commission FCA (United Kingdom) - Financial Conduct Authority MAS (Singapore) - Monetary Authority of Singapore CIRO (Canada) - Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization NFA (USA) - National Futures Association CFTC (USA) - Commodities Future Trading Commission SEC (USA) - Securities and Exchange Commission FINRA (USA) - Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (CRD# 36418) |
| Tier-2 | CBI (Ireland) - Central Bank of Ireland SFC (Hong Kong) - Securities Futures Commission JFSA (Japan) - Japanese Financial Services Authority |
| Tier-3 | SEBI (India) - Securities and Exchange Board of India |
Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, IB is a financial technology company listed on the NASDAQ, ticker symbol IBKR. Interactive Brokers holds licences from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA) in the United States, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) in Canada, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Securities Commission Malaysia, and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in New Zealand. Beyond the regulators themselves, client assets are backed by investor compensation schemes in several regions. US clients fall under SIPC protection and Canadian clients under the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. None of these schemes cover trading losses, but they add a layer of protection if the broker itself were to fail.
2. Reputation
Interactive Brokers was founded in Connecticut, USA, in 1978. That’s almost 50 years of presence in the industry. With those years on their backs, the broker receives approximately 823,000 Google searches each month, ranking it as the 5th most popular forex broker globally, with over 1.89m trades daily and 2.09m client accounts. According to Similarweb data from February 2026, it was the 7th most visited broker, with 8,745,000 global visits.
| Country | 2026 Monthly Searches | Rank |
|---|---|---|
 United States | 110,000 | 1st |
 Spain | 49,500 | 2nd |
 France | 33,100 | 3rd |
 Canada | 33,100 | 4th |
 United Kingdom | 27,100 | 5th |
 Germany | 27,100 | 6th |
 India | 22,200 | 7th |
 Italy | 18,100 | 8th |
 Colombia | 18,100 | 9th |
 Mexico | 18,100 | 10th |
Show all 65 countries
| Country | 2026 Monthly Searches |
|---|---|
| Switzerland | 18,100 |
| Australia | 14,800 |
| Brazil | 14,800 |
| Hong Kong | 14,800 |
| Netherlands | 12,100 |
| Singapore | 12,100 |
| Poland | 12,100 |
| United Arab Emirates | 9,900 |
| Argentina | 9,900 |
| Peru | 9,900 |
| Portugal | 8,100 |
| Bolivia | 8,100 |
| Venezuela | 6,600 |
| Indonesia | 6,600 |
| Greece | 6,600 |
| Ecuador | 6,600 |
| Turkey | 5,400 |
| Chile | 5,400 |
| Philippines | 5,400 |
| Taiwan | 4,400 |
| Japan | 4,400 |
| Thailand | 4,400 |
| Malaysia | 4,400 |
| Austria | 4,400 |
| Costa Rica | 4,400 |
| Panama | 4,400 |
| Ireland | 4,400 |
| South Africa | 3,600 |
| Saudi Arabia | 3,600 |
| Pakistan | 3,600 |
| Dominican Republic | 3,600 |
| Uruguay | 3,600 |
| Uzbekistan | 3,600 |
| Sweden | 2,900 |
| New Zealand | 2,900 |
| Vietnam | 2,400 |
| Egypt | 2,400 |
| Kenya | 2,400 |
| Morocco | 2,400 |
| Guatemala | 2,400 |
| Cyprus | 1,900 |
| Algeria | 1,000 |
| Cambodia | 1,000 |
| Honduras | 1,000 |
| Nigeria | 880 |
| Bangladesh | 880 |
| Mauritius | 880 |
| Mongolia | 880 |
| Jordan | 720 |
| Ghana | 590 |
| Uganda | 590 |
| Sri Lanka | 590 |
| Tanzania | 390 |
| Ethiopia | 210 |
| Botswana | 210 |
3. Reviews
IB has a TrustPilot score of 3.1/5 from 5,478 reviews, which Trustpilot classes as Average.
What other review sites say about Interactive Brokers
These are ratings of Interactive Brokers from other platforms, read on the date shown and expressed on each platform's scale, so you can weigh them against our own score.
| Platform | Rating | Volume | Read on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot | 3.1 / 5 | 5,490 | Sep 10, 2026 |
| TradingView | 4.2 / 5 | 39,080 | Sep 10, 2026 |
| App Store (United States) | 4.5 / 5 | 11,446 | Sep 10, 2026 |
| Google Play | 4.5 / 5 | 75.2K | Sep 10, 2026 |
Interactive Brokers holds a Trustpilot rating of 3.1 out of 5 from 5,490 reviews, checked Sep 10, 2026.
On TradingView, Interactive Brokers is rated 4.2 out of 5 from 39,080 ratings, checked Sep 10, 2026. 390K traders connect a Interactive Brokers account through TradingView. TradingView shows the Best 2025 badge on the profile.
Interactive Brokers's app IBKR Mobile - Invest Worldwide is rated 4.5 out of 5 from 11,446 ratings on the United States App Store, checked Sep 10, 2026.
IBKR Mobile is rated 4.5 out of 5 on Google Play (United States store) from 75.2K reviews shown worldwide, checked Sep 10, 2026.
Our score is based on published criteria and is not influenced by these third-party ratings.
Our score for Interactive Brokers is set against every other broker on broker reviews.
App Store and Google Play ratings
Interactive Brokers publishes two apps. The main IBKR app is rated 4.5 out of 5 from 4.7k ratings on the US App Store and 4.6 out of 5 from 72.9k ratings on the US Google Play store. IBKR GlobalTrader is rated 3.7 out of 5 from 60 ratings on the US App Store and 4.2 out of 5 from 2.61k ratings on the US Google Play store. All four figures were captured in September 2026. Google Play reports the star rating per country and the review total globally, so each US Play score sits beside a worldwide count.
Verdict on Interactive Brokers’ Trustworthiness
Interactive Brokers has positioned itself as a reliable broker with their high trust score, regulation from several tier-1 authorities, and years of experience in the industry.
Deposit And Withdrawal
Interactive Brokers does not charge annual, account, transfer or closing fees, which is a rare feature among brokers.
What is the minimum deposit at Interactive Brokers?
Interactive Brokers has no minimum deposit requirements across both trading accounts.
Account Base Currencies
Base currencies are available in HKD, EUR, SEK, MXN, HUF, CHF, CZK, NOK, DKK, CAD, AUD, JPY, GBP, NZD, SGD, and USD.
Deposit Options And Fees
IBKR offers various funding options depending on your region. In general, here are the types of deposits available:
- Bank wire
- Check
- Online bill payment
- Canadian bill payment
- Trustee-to-Trustee (IRA)
- Direct Rollover (IRA)
- Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer initiated at your bank
- ACH transfer initiated by IBKR
- Canadian EFT transfer prompted by IBKR
- Transfer from a Wise balance
- Stablecoin funding (US accounts only, available 24/7, fee up to 0.25%, minimum USD 100)
Withdrawal Options And Fees
IBKR facilitates the following types of withdrawal requests:
- Bank wire
- Check
- Canadian EFT transfer
- Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiated at IB
- Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer initiated at IB
Ease To Open An Account
Opening an account with IB seemed a little complicated and it took some time to verify our account. It’s not the most user-friendly among all the other trading apps we’ve tried, yet the GlobalTrader app offers a better experience. The upside is there is no minimum deposit required.
Verdict on Interactive Brokers Funding
IB provides several funding options, with no minimum deposit and charges, which makes this broker a winner in our book.
Product Range
Interactive Brokers offers over 48,000 mutual funds, with nearly 19,000 available with no transaction fees, making it the broker with the largest selection of asset classes.
CFDs
- FX Trading is available across 24 currencies from USD, EUR, and AUD to JPY, on over 100 trading pairs.
- Stockbroking services across 170+ global markets with unique order types and trading tools. Gain access to the largest stock exchanges worldwide (NASDAQ, NYSE, LSE, etc.)
- Options trading with a fixed flat rate or tiered active trader model for high-volume rebates
- Futures trading across 30 financial markets with the ability to hedge positions
- IB Spot Gold/Silver trading for pairs such as XAU/USD (not available for residents in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan or the U.S.)
- ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) across both bond and equity indices on 28 exchanges across 14 countries
Verdict on Interactive Brokers Trading Products
IBKR is the ideal choice for active traders and professionals who want to trade multiple markets worldwide with a single interface.
Customer Service
Interactive Brokers customer support is available 24/5 via live chat, email, and messenger. Customers can find answers throughout the website and trading platforms with IBot, which operates by responding in plain English.
IBKR Customer service includes the following:
- Online chat with a human agent
- Secure messaging
- Toll-free phone support
In addition, you can find their FAQ page to be valuable as it contains several topics and issues that most traders encounter.
Verdict on Interactive Brokers Customer Support
IBKR’s IBot feature proved helpful in answering concerns and chat correspondence was fast. Overall, this broker’s customer service is top-notch.
Research and Education
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) offers a diverse range of investor education programs and research tool that cater to both its customers and the general public.
Tutorials
The brief videos are perfect for learning about TWS and the Client Portal in small, easily digestible pieces. The platform offers multi-language tutorials to assist international investors in understanding how to use it effectively.
Traders Academy
Traders Academy is an online resource designed for financial professionals, investors, educators, and students who want to learn about asset classes, markets, currencies, and functionality available on IBKR’s trading platforms. It offers a structured and rigorous curriculum, available on demand. Their courses cover asset classes such as options, futures, forex, international trading, and bonds, as well as margin use.
Webinars
IBKR provides daily webinars in collaboration with industry experts. These events cover a variety of topics, including how-to guides for platforms and tools, educational resources for options trading, and international product trading.
Research
Fundamentals Explorer
Fundamentals Explorer is a service that offers extensive and global fundamental data to all IBKR clients, completely free of charge. Explore hundreds of data points, including historical trends, industry comparisons, key ratios, forecasts, ratings, and ownership. Get trade ideas, evaluate your portfolio and gauge short sentiment using daily short sale data on thousands of global securities.
Fundamental Analytics on Interactive Brokers
Fundamental Analytics is an interactive website where commodity traders can research price behaviour and the essential data that affect prices. Subscribers can easily analyse price data and related supply/demand information with graphs and tables.
Final Verdict on Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers has garnered a rating of 62.3/100 in our review. Although they performed well in most areas, their unique trading platform was a drawback.
With regulation across the globe, Interactive Brokers can offer most individuals the trading solution to meet their needs overall. Even beginner traders can learn about trading through Interactive Brokers Traders’ Academy, which provides webinars and educational videos on a range of topics, including trading concepts, IBKR’s financial offerings, platform tutorials, and so much more.
Interactive Brokers’ US entity has its own fee schedule and regulatory framework, which our Interactive Brokers Review for US Traders examines in detail.