Interactive Brokers stands out as one of the most extensive trading platforms available on the market. It offers everything that a trader needs to be successful. The broker excels across every category, be it access to diverse markets, various investment products, trading tools, portfolio management tools, or research capabilities.
Who is it best for?
It is ideal for experienced and active traders who need access to many international markets and different asset classes, along with plenty of research, tools, and advanced features to do their trading.
| Name | Score | Visit | Disclaimer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 9.1 | Visitinteractivebrokers.com |
Investment Products
With product listings from over 150 markets across 33 countries in three regions (Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific), Interactive Brokers has one of the most comprehensive and competitive offerings on the market.
Assets Available
The range of financial instruments investors can trade or invest in using Interactive Brokers is about as wide and diverse as possible. Here’s a breakdown of the investment products listed on the platform:
International ETFs and stocks from over 90 market centers
Global options from more than 30 market centers
Commodity futures and FOPs from more than 30 global market centers.
More than 48,000 mutual funds and over 19,000 mutual funds with no transaction fees
A vast array of over one million international bonds
More than 100 currency pairs
Warrants
SSFs
Indices
Fixed Income
The ability to trade Fractional Shares is one of the most exclusive features of the Interactive Brokers platform. It allows investors to pick any eligible US or European stock or ETF and trade a part of that stock that is less than one full unit.
Derivative Products
As a well-established online broker, Interactive Brokers provides investors with a great variety of derivative products, including:
Options – Options contracts from more than 30 global market centers, with commissions from $0.15 to $0.65 per contract. Investors have access to professional trading platforms and advanced options trading tools, allowing them to achieve the best execution using the SmartRouting feature.
Futures – Future contracts from over 30 international market centers, with commissions from $0.25 to $0.85 per contract. Gives investors access to professional trading platforms, like the IMPACT trading app, order types, and trading tools, enabling them to trade futures at the lowest cost.
Market Reach
The geographical reach of Interactive Brokers is quite vast and captures more than 150 market centers from the European, North American, and Asia-Pacific regions. Although it is mainly focused on developed countries, there are some emerging markets as well.
Interactive Brokers investors can trade in markets from the following countries:
Europe – The UK, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Israel.
North America – The USA, Canada, and Mexico.
Asia-Pacific – Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan.
It’s also worth mentioning that Interactive Brokers allows investors to fund a single account in various currencies and trade assets denominated in multiple currencies, enabling them to hedge against currency fluctuations and diversify their investments across different markets.
Overall, Interactive Brokers offers a comprehensive range of investment products spanning global markets. The platform provides a plethora of tools and features that make it easy to find low-cost opportunities and buy fractional shares. Interactive Brokers also offers some of the best margin loan interest rates available on the market from just 5.83%.
Account Types
The Interactive Brokers platform has a very complex account structure because it offers a variety of account types to serve different purposes. The platform even has a guide for choosing the best account type based on the investor’s needs.
There are eleven different institutional account types suited for:
Registered investment advisors
Introducing brokers
Small businesses
Prop traders
Family offices
Money managers
Hedge Funds
Compliance officers
Fund administrators
Non-pro advisors
Hedge Fund Allocators
This review will focus on the non-institutional types of accounts offered by Interactive Brokers.
Individual
This is a standard investing account for one person, though individual account holders have the option to add additional users with a Power of Attorney. Cash, Regulation T and Portfolio Margin are available with this account type.
Joint
Joint accounts are designed for couples or two people who co-own property. Both parties can access all the account functions and add additional users with a Power of Attorney. The available margin is the same as for individual accounts.
IRA
Cash or margin Individual Retirement Accounts are available at Interactive Brokers. You can fund your IBKR IRA through contribution, rollover, direct rollover, or trustee-to-trustee transfer. Interactive Brokers caters to a variety of IRA customer types, including:
Traditional
Traditional Rollover
Traditional Inherited
Roth
Roth Inherited
Simplified Employee Pension (SEP)
Savings Investment Match Plan for Employees IRA (SIMPLE IRA)
UGMA/UTMA
If you want to open an account for a child, you can be the custodian of a UGMA/UGTA account until they come of age. You will have access to all account functions and manage assets on their behalf. However, this is a cash-only account and margin is not available.
Plans
As well as choosing a type of account, you’ll need to decide which plan is right for you. There are only two options, namely, IBKR Lite or IBKR Pro.
IBKR Lite is perfect for casual traders and investors with its commission-free trading on US stocks and ETFs. IBKR Pro, on the other hand, is designed for sophisticated investors and active traders. It features benefits such as lower margin interest, longer trading hours, and access to IB SmartRouting.
Features
Describing Interactive Brokers as a feature-rich platform would be an understatement. Let’s highlight some standout features that set this platform apart from the competition.
Trading Platforms
Aiming to meet the needs of beginner and experienced investors alike, Interactive Brokers offers multiple trading platforms, each curated for a specific type of investor.
IBKR Trader Workstation (TWS)
TWS is Interactive Brokers’ flagship desktop platform, suited for intermediate and advanced traders. It allows trading stocks, options, futures, currencies, and bonds on more than 150 market centers from a single unified platform.
It also gives investors access to real-time monitoring, over 100 order types and algorithms, technical research and analysis tools, interactive and customizable charts, watchlists, alerts, and much, much more.
Finally, investors can also use TWS to practice their strategies in a simulated trading environment and refine their skills completely risk-free.
IBKR Mobile
IBKR Mobile is the mobile equivalent of IBKR TWS. The comprehensive Interactive Brokers mobile app allows investors to perform nearly all functions available on the primary desktop platform but allows them to do it on the go.
The app can do a lot in terms of trading all types of investment products, performing advanced analysis, and access to research and data. The app boasts nearly all the features that are found in IBKR TWS except portfolio management tools and a handful of other advanced features.
Just like the main TWS platform, IBKR Mobile is also best suited for traders with an intermediate or an advanced level of trading.
IBKR Global Trader
Specifically designed for beginner investors, IBKR Global Trader is a simple trading platform without too many advanced features. It only supports trading stocks, options, and mutual funds, and gives access to entry-level research, analysis, and trading tools.
IBKR Global Trader also allows the investor to trade risk-free in a simulated environment and allows trading in fractions, which means the investor can start trading without minimum deposit requirements.
IBKR Client Portal
The IBKR Client Portal is a web platform that eliminates the need for downloads like in TWS and can be accessed directly through a browser.
The homepage of the IBKR Client Portal offers a concise overview of your account details. With just one login, you can effortlessly access all the tools necessary to monitor and control your Interactive Brokers account.
While it offers diverse functionalities, it doesn't encompass as many features as the primary platform.
IBKR Impact
IBKR Impact is another mobile app by Interactive Brokers that focuses on trading socially and environmentally responsible investment products.
It is designed with beginners in mind and is not loaded with advanced features, allowing for easy and simple investing. IBKR Impact also provides trading in a simulated environment.
IBKR APIs
In addition to the complete platforms, Interactive Brokers also offers an array of APIs, allowing investors to automate different processes, or even build custom trading applications.
The APIs offered by the broker cater to a wide range of traders, making it accessible for beginners looking for simple automation and providing powerful resources for experienced developers who want to create highly customized trading algorithms.
Trading Tools
As mentioned, Interactive Brokers provides investors with more than enough tools and technology features to implement their trading strategies, regardless of their experience levels.
Some of the most impressive tools worth mentioning include:
Strategy Builder – Simplifies building complex multi-leg options strategies
Accumulate/Distribute Algo – A customizable algo that enhances order management
Mutual Fund/ETF Replicator – Suggests strategies to improve performance
Trade in Fractions – Allows buying fractions of shares investors can’t afford to buy in full
OptionTrader – Allows viewing and trading of options on an underlying asset
Mobile Options Trading – Allows easy trading of options from a mobile device
Exit Strategy Tool – Helps with placing exit orders
Recurring Investments – Automate predetermined investments on a schedule
Additionally, Interactive Brokers provides portfolio management tools like:
Model Portfolios – Simplifies portfolio management
Portfolio Performance Profile – Uses hypothetical positions to test out performance
Rebalance Your Portfolio – Simplifies redistribution of positions
Stock/ETF Benchmarker – Compares portfolio performance to a specific benchmark
And a plethora of futures and options management and research tools, such as:
Options Wizard – Allows simple creation of strategies based on forecasts
Option Strategy Lab – Complex multi-leg order management tool
Options Analytics – Tool for monitoring option price changes
Options Portfolio – Simplifies risk management of options portfolio
Options Liquidity Tool – Helps achieve a better price execution
Write and Rollover Options Tools – Option positions management tools
ComboTrader – Simplifies the creation of combination orders
The short of a long story is that beginners, experienced traders, and everyone in between will definitely find the right tools for their investing and trading needs on the Interactive Brokers platform.
Market Research
Interactive Brokers has plenty to offer when it comes to market research as well. The platform relies on both in-house expert-curated articles and third-party research resources. It provides investors with plenty of free research and allows them to access plenty of premium research with advanced analysis for a cost.
There are also tools and features that investors can use to conduct research by themselves, like:
Discover – Third-party content curated to improve investors’ success in trading
News & Research – News articles selected for the investor’s areas of interest
Fundamentals Explorer – A comprehensive research tool
IBKR GlobalAnalyst – Helps investors identify undervalued stock
Impact Dashboard – Helps investors identify companies with high ESG scores
Mutual Funds Search Tool – Helps investors find the right funds for their strategy
Bond Search Tool – Used to compare available yields of over 1 million bonds globally
TradingView – A charting platform that allows investors to spot opportunities and trade ideas
Educational Materials
Traders who are just getting started, or want to up their trading game, can find plenty of educational materials on the Interactive Brokers platform.
The broker has a whole section called the Traders Academy, where users can find all kinds of courses on trading and quizzes to test their newfound knowledge. From introductory lessons to advanced classes on how to use some of the more complex techniques and tools the platform provides, the academy covers a lot.
Moreover, the Student Trading Lab is another educational section the Interactive Brokers platform offers, completely separate from the Traders Academy, where investors can find more educational materials.
Finally, the IBKR Forum is another section where investors may learn from the experience of other investors who use the Interactive Brokers platform. They can also use the forum to ask questions, share ideas and observations, and get constructive criticism or support from other forum users.
Fees
The Interactive Brokers’ fee structure is one of the most complex ones on the market, but when everything is worked out, the broker also turns out to be one of the cheapest options.
Interactive Brokers Trading Fees
These fees depend on which plan you are on, and in some cases, whether IBKR Pro users are on fixed or tiered pricing.
Stocks/ETFs
With the fixed pricing model, the only third-party fees that apply are regulatory fees, while tiered prices will also have exchange, clearing, and pass-through fees added.
Interactive Brokers offers over 150 ETFs with no transaction fees. For trading any other stocks and ETFs, the following commissions apply.
IBKR Lite – No commission on US exchange-listed stocks and ETFs.
IBKR Pro (fixed) – $0.005.
IBKR Pro (tiered) – $0.0005 to $0.0035, depending on monthly trading volume.
These trading fees come with no added spreads, ticket charges, platform fees, or account minimums. The various third-party fees that apply are:
SEC transaction fee (regulatory): $0.000008 x value of aggregate sales
FINRA trading activity fee (regulatory): $0.000145 x quantity sold
NSCC, DTC Fees (clearing): $0.0002 per share
NYSE Pass Through Fees: Commissions x 0.000175
FINRA Pass Through Fees: Commissions x 0.00056
Exchange fees: vary by exchange
Options
For trading options, IBKR Lite clients get a fixed commission, while IBKR Pro commissions are tiered. They both pay clearing, regulatory, and transaction fees to third parties, but Pro clients also pay exchange fees, while Lite clients instead pay surcharge fees.
IBKR Lite – A fixed commission of $0.65 per contract.
IBKR Pro – $0.15 to $0.25 per contract, depending on monthly trading volume.
Just like with the stocks, the options trading fees come with no added spreads, ticket charges, platform fees, or account minimums.
Futures
There are both fixed and tiered commissions available for futures trading. IBKR Lite commissions will always be fixed, while IBKR Pro users can choose between fixed or tiered.
Fixed – $0.85 per contract.
Tiered – $0.25 to $0.85 per contract, depending on monthly volume.
These commissions do vary for certain types of futures and FOPs, however. For example:
E-micro futures: Fixed commission of $0.25 or tiered commission of $0.10 to $0.25.
CME crypto futures: Varies by instrument, with fixed and tiered commissions of up to $5.
E-mini FX futures: Fixed commission of $0.50 or tiered commission of $0.15 to $0.50.
E-micro FX futures: Fixed commission of $0.15 or tiered commission of $0.5 to $0.15.
Small exchange futures: Fixed commission of $0.08 only.
Bonds
Bond trading commissions have two tiers for both Lite and Pro users, and the amount depends on the type.
Corporate and CDs:
0.1% x trade value (10 bps) for the first $10,000 worth of trade value.
0.025% x trade value (2.5 bps) for any additional trade value over $10,000.
Municipal bonds
0.05% x trade value (5 bps) for the first $10,000 worth of trade value.
0.0125% x trade value (1.25 bps) for any additional trade value over $10,000.
Treasuries (bills, notes, bonds)
0.002% x trade value (0.2 bps) for the first $1 million worth of trade value.
0.0001% x trade value (0.01 bps) for any additional trade value over $1 million.
Mutual Funds
Interactive Brokers gives investors access to over 19,000 mutual funds with no transaction fees. For other mutual funds, the fee is the lesser of $14.95 or 3% of the trade value. Regulatory and exchange fees are included in this fee.
Interactive Brokers Spreads
Unlike many other trading platforms, Interactive Brokers doesn’t add spreads to options or futures trades. You will, however, encounter spreads if you wish to trade forex on Interactive Brokers, but these spreads are as tight as 0.1 PIP.
Interactive Brokers Non-Trading Fees
Interactive Brokers doesn’t charge a platform or a subscription fee, and in most cases, it doesn’t charge an inactivity fee. However, if you want to access any of the many third-party services provided through IBKR for market data, research and news, they are all priced individually.
There are only a handful of other charges from Interactive Brokers. For example, you’ll pay $30 per order if you wish to close positions over the phone.
Apart from that, the main cost you might encounter is the withdrawal fee. You’ll get one free withdrawal request per calendar month, but any additional withdrawals will be charged as follows:
Bank wire-transfer: $10
Checks: $4
BACS/GIRO/ACH/EFT/SEPA: $1
Usability
Regarding usability, Interactive Brokers certainly deserves a high grade and praise, particularly because the broker provides multiple platforms and APIs suitable for investors with different levels of expertise.
Interactive Brokers Web Trading Platform Review
On the desktop, investors can access Interactive Brokers from two platforms, the main IBKR Trader Workstation, and the IBKR Client Portal web platform. The TWS is the more comprehensive of the two, though the Client Portal should be more than enough to meet the criteria of most traders, except for the most sophisticated ones.
Both platforms give investors access to investment products from different asset classes spread across more than 150 global market centers. They also provide investors with tons of data, research, charting, analysis, trading tools, resources for beginners, and anything else that might be expected from such platforms.
Experienced investors will certainly appreciate the wide range of features included in the TWS platform. Being able to quickly place orders using hotkeys, make trades directly from charts, set up orders that will be executed later, and several other quality-of-life elements make for excellent usability and a holistic trading experience.
The desktop TWS and the web-based Client Portal platforms are far from being beginner-friendly. These workspaces have so many things to look at they would most likely overwhelm beginner traders.
However, the IBKR Global Trader and IBKR Impact platforms are an entirely different story. They are much more lightweight and can be considered beginner-friendly, though there are easier-to-use alternatives on the market.
Interactive Brokers Design and Navigation
Given the extensive range of services, features, options, and offerings provided by Interactive Brokers a simplistic design for the platform is not feasible.
The broker tried its best to design a smooth navigation, though there’s a learning curve for even the most experienced investors on the TWS platform. Thankfully, the Traders Academy can make the onboarding process easier.
Login and Security Features
Interactive Brokers employs multiple security measures to protect investor accounts, including:
Two-factor authentication
Secure socket layer
2048-bit EV Certificates
TLS 128-bit or higher encryption
IP restrictions for limiting access
Automated logoff
Search Functionality
Users can navigate to IBKR’s official website and use the search functionality for immediate access to contract details and various other resources including technical articles, videos, user guides, and much more. The search results can be further refined based on a particular format or account type.
Additionally, there are search functionalities for specific asset classes, like the Bond Search Tool and the Mutual Fund Tool, that provide extra searching capabilities through filters like maturity dates, coupon rates, industries, regions, fund types, etc.
Alerts and Notifications
Investors can use the Interactive Brokers platform to set up alerts based on price, trade executions and margin, and get notifications via emails.
Portfolio Management
The Interactive Brokers desktop platforms allow investors to create, manage, and rebalance their portfolios using several tools and features, including Model Portfolios, Portfolio Performance Profile, Rebalance Your Portfolio, and Stock/ETF Benchmarker.
Interactive Brokers App Review
Interactive Brokers can be accessed via three different platforms on mobile – the IBKR Mobile, IBKR Global Trader, and IBKR Impact apps.
The IBKR Mobile app is the closest to the TWS with respect to features and capabilities, although it’s also the hardest to navigate. The IBKR Global Trader and the IBKR Impact apps are considerably more specialized and less comprehensive, so they are much more beginner-friendly.
Besides being great for investing and trading on the go, the apps are also very secure and guarded by the same protection measures mentioned earlier in this article.
Customer Satisfaction & Reputation
Now, let’s shift our focus to Interactive Brokers’ reputation and how it compares with other online trading platforms worldwide.
Interactive Brokers Background
Founded in 1977, Interactive Brokers is an American brokerage firm with a long history. It established itself as a respectable broker/dealer throughout the decade and went public on 3 May 2007.
As of 20 October 2023, Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is listed on the NASDAQ and has over $12.7 billion of equity capital and $9.4 billion of excess regulatory capital.
The broker manages over 2.29 million clients and averages $1.87 million daily trade revenue. It is widely considered one of the best brokerage firms in the world, with numerous awards in its name.
Is Interactive Brokers Regulated?
Interactive Brokers LLC is a member of and regulated by the National Futures Association (NFA).
Is Interactive Brokers Safe?
As a leader in the online brokerage industry, Interactive Brokers can be considered safe and secure. Indications of this include the broker’s conservative balance sheet, strong capital position, and automated risk controls.
Beyond the technological security measures mentioned earlier, Interactive Brokers has additional measures in place, in case something goes wrong.
At Interactive Brokers, the client securities accounts are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) for a maximum coverage of $500,000 (with up to $250,000 in cash).
Additionally, Interactive Brokers has extra protection from certain insurers at Lloyd's of London. This extends the coverage for each account by an extra $30 million, with up to $900,000 in cash, but there's a limit of $150 million for all accounts combined.
Customer Reviews
Let’s have a quick look at the overall Interactive Brokers customer sentiment expressed on three of the largest reviewing platforms.
Interactive Brokers Reviews From Trustpilot
The average rating of Interactive Brokers on Trustpilot is 3.8 stars while most customers give four and five-star ratings to the broker. Please note that there is a small number of IBKR reviews on the Trustpilot website, (2,362 at the time of writing), so this may not represent the accurate sentiment.
Reviewers praised the low costs and interest on cash balances offered by the broker. The rare negative reviews mostly criticized the long response times of customer service.
Interactive Brokers Google Play Reviews
The IBKR Mobile app has a much better reputation on Google Play, with a 4.5-star rating from more than 19,000 reviews at the time of writing. The overwhelming majority of reviews are positive, and rate the app with five stars on both smartphones and tablets. Android users mostly found the app professional and intuitive, though some also complained of bugs that slowed down the authentication process.
Interactive Brokers App Store Reviews
The reviews on the App Store show that iOS users are also quite positive. The IBKR Mobile app’s average rating is 4.3 stars, though it comes from a significantly lower number of reviewers, or 4,800 reviews at the time of writing. Apple users enjoyed the service and trading features but many found the app interface to be complex and poorly designed when compared to the desktop version.
Customer Service
Investors who might want to contact the Interactive Brokers customer support team can do so through live chat, email, and phone. Additionally, the IBKR website has plenty of helpful information, including an extensive FAQ page.
The primary revenue driver for Interactive Brokers is linked with the number of active trading accounts on their platform. As trading activities increase, the platform’s opportunity for making money through trading commissions, payment for order flow, and net interest income also increases.
Should You Invest With Interactive Brokers?
If you are looking for the most comprehensive platform, that will provide you with:
the largest pool of financial products of all asset classes,
a vast array of charting and analysis tools,
more research than you would ever expect,
Then Interactive Brokers could be the ideal platform for you. The main areas where the platform falls short are its complexity, customer service, and mobile experience. If these are major concerns for you, you may wish to consider the alternatives listed below.
Interactive Brokers Alternatives to Consider
If you are a beginner and feel daunted by the extensive offerings of Interactive Brokers, consider exploring these alternative options:
Platform | Benefits | Get started |
|---|---|---|
eToro | Easier to use | |
Freetrade | Smoother mobile experience | |
Hargreaves Lansdown | Superior customer service |
All of the above are great choices for traders with no or less experience, reasonably priced, and perfectly capable of providing you with the necessary tools to be a successful investor.
