Interactive Brokers is a comprehensive broker suitable for traders who want more than just forex trading, with stockbroking, mutual funds, and a hedge fund marketplace. IBKR is a great option for investors seeking low fees across various products.
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Interactive Brokers Summary
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.
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Interactive Brokers offers two pricing options with their Standard Accounts: a commission-free IBKR Lite account and fixed/tiered pricing with IBKR Pro.
We rated IBKR’s spreads as an ‘ECN broker’ as they quote prices based on the sixteen largest exchange dealers. 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.
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 Plaform | Available With Interactive Brokers |
|---|---|
| MetaTrader 4 | No |
| MetaTrader 5 | No |
| cTrader | No |
| TradingView | No |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes |
As one of the largest forex brokers in the world, IBKR has created its own forex trading platform, the IBKR Global Trader. Trader Workstation is available as well.
The biggest advantage of the IBKR trading platform is you can trade more than just forex and CFDs. This means you don’t need a separate platform to trade futures or bonds. Features include:
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.
IBKR Mobile is available on Android mobile devices and iPhone/iPad devices to monitor and make foreign exchange trades while on the go.
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.
Yes, Interactive Brokers is a safe broker with a trust score of 76 out of 100.
IBKR is regulated by five ‘tier 1’ financial authorities, which include the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), and the National Futures Association (NFA/CFTC).
| Interactive Brokers Safety | Regulator |
|---|---|
| Tier-1 | ASIC FCA MAS CIRO NFA/CFTC |
| Tier-2 | CBI SFC JFSA |
| Tier-3 | SEBI - India |
Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, IB is a financial technology company listed on the NASDAQ, ticker symbol IBKR. Interactive Brokers holds licences from regulators in the UK, Singapore, USA, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, Ireland, and Central Europe.
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, they get searched around 450,000 times a month, with over 1.89m trades daily and 2.09m client accounts.
IB has a TrustPilot score of 3.8/5 from 2,420 reviews, which can still be considered a high score given the volume of trades they do each day.
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.
Interactive Brokers does not charge annual, account, transfer or closing fees, which is a rare feature among brokers.
Interactive Brokers has no minimum deposit requirements across both trading accounts.
Base currencies are available in HKD, EUR, SEK, MXN, HUF, CHF, CZK, NOK, DKK, CAD, AUD, JPY, GBP, NZD, SGD, and USD.
IBKR offers various funding options depending on your region. In general, here are the types of deposits available:
IBKR facilitates the following types of withdrawal requests:
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
Interactive Brokers has garnered a rating of 52/100 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.
Yes, Interactive Brokers clients can trade forex on the spot market or via CFDs (Contract for Difference). IBKR offers 105 currency pairs with extremely margin rate and low spreads.
Yes, Interactive Brokers is considered to be a safe multi-asset brokerage trading firm. The broker complies with the requirements imposed by the world’s biggest financial regulator, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
IBKR demo account gives you access to the IBKR Mobile platform and Trader Workstation (TWS). Market conditions, including commissions and fees, determine prices and account values without any risk.
Converting your free trial to a live IBKR account is an easy process. After approval and funding, your custom account settings will be transferred to your live account.
Interactive Brokers provides forex trading leverage at lower market rates. Leverage is also determined by the regulations that apply to an individual, with a maximum leverage of 30:1 for forex in the UK (FCA’s maximum leverage for retail traders).
No, Interactive Brokers is not recommended for beginner traders. Our careful view toward leverage and our industry-low CFD loss ratio might be better-suited to new traders. TWS Trader Workstation requires a steep learning curve, and the platform interface is difficult to navigate. For beginner traders, we recommend Pepperstone or IC Markets, which are better suited to accommodate the needs of the inexperienced traders.
Verdict
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Ask an Expert
How much leverage can I get in the us and what is the minimal account balance to get it?
Margin Trading For US clients when trading forex is not available for retail traders. Leveraged products available for US clients with IB include Stocks, Options, Futures, Fixed Income and Mutual Funds.