Interactive Brokers Review 2023

Trust

This section will cover how the different entities of Interactive Brokers are regulated and how this impacts you as a trader. We rate regulators on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 reflecting the highest level of trust.

The following authorities regulate the various entities of Interactive Brokers:

• Interactive Brokers LLC is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). We rate SEC and CFTC as Tier 1 regulators.
• Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). We rate IIROC as a Tier 1 regulator.
• Interactive Brokers (UK) Limited (IBUK) is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), register entry number 208159. We rate FCA as a Tier 1 regulator.
• Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) reference number C423427. We rate CBI as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Interactive Brokers Central Europe Zrt. is licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Hungary (Magyar Nemzeti Bank) under no. H-EN-III-623/2020. We rate MNB as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Interactive Brokers India Pvt. Ltd. is registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Registration No. INZ000217730. We rate SEBI as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Interactive Brokers Securities Japan Inc. is a member of the Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA). We rate JSDA as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Interactive Brokers Hong Kong Limited is regulated by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). We rate SFC as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Interactive Brokers Singapore Pte. Ltd. is licensed and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), license number CMS100917. We rate MAS as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Interactive Brokers Australia Pty. Ltd. is licensed and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), AFSL number 453554. We rate ASIC as a Tier 1 regulator.

Why is it important to know where your broker subsidiary (entity) is regulated?

Different regulators provide different levels of protection. For example, clients of Interactive Brokers in the United Kingdom benefit from the oversight of the FCA. The FCA requires that clients have negative balance protection, which means they cannot lose more than their deposit.

In addition, when trading with a broker authorized by the FCA, client funds are also protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS protects investments of up to £85,000 if a firm becomes insolvent. A trader working with a broker entity regulated offshore would not necessarily have these benefits.

The tables below break down the protections and benefits by entity, regulator, and region.

Regulatory requirements are subject to change. We gathered the data listed above in March 2023.

Stability and Transparency

In our tests for the Trust category, we also cover factors relating to stability, financial strength, security, and transparency. Here, we focus on how long the broker has been in business, the company’s size, and their transparency.

Interactive Brokers has a very long operating history of 45 years. It is a publicly-traded company listed on the Nasdaq with a market cap of 33.49B at this time. As a publicly-traded company, Interactive Brokers must disclose financial reports, allowing for greater insight into the company’s stability.

In our research, Interactive Brokers showed high transparency in its regulatory status, fees, and general background information. Information and materials are readily available on the website. Interactive Brokers lists its regulatory status at the footer of each page. The Pricing menu in the horizontal navigation clearly outlines all costs, such as commissions and margin interest rates. Traders can find the Client Agreements in the accounts section of the website.

To conclude, we rate Interactive Brokers as highly trustworthy and stable due to the following factors:

• Being regulated by multiple top-tier agencies.
• Having a lengthy operating history.
• Being a publicly traded company valued at over 30 billion dollars.
• Having a high level of transparency.

Fees

Trading Fees

We tested the spreads at Interactive Brokers across different CFDs using the Trader WorkStation platform. The tests were done at 8:00 a.m. GMT and at 4:00 p.m. GMT on 24 March 2023. We made our tests at two different times to allow greater perspective. 8:00 a.m. GMT is the London open when there is a great deal of liquidity in the forex market and tighter spreads in currency pairs. 4:00 p.m. GMT is during the New York trading session.

CFD Spreads and Commissions

Swap Fees

Swap fees (the cost of holding a position overnight) were average at Interactive Brokers.

In the table below, you can see the Swap Long (the cost/credit of holding a buy position overnight) and the Swap Short (the cost/credit of maintaining a sell position overnight) for one full-sized contract. A full-sized contract is 100,000 units of the base currency (the first currency quoted in the pair). We recorded the data on 24 March 2023.

Non-Trading Fees

For individual accounts there is a $0 minimum balance and no inactivity fees.

Are Fees at Interactive Brokers Competitive?

In their own words, ‘IBKR is committed to minimizing costs to maximize returns.’ We found this to be true in our research. The spreads, commissions, and margin interest rates are among the most competitive.

Platforms and Tools

Client Portal

The web-based client portal allows traders to check quotes, place trades, and see their account balance and reports. Traders can stay on top of key account metrics such as net liquidation value, profit and loss (P&L), and buying power in real-time.

The Client Portal home page shows traders their rate of return, portfolio positions, recent transactions, notifications and messages, and available cash. Traders can also easily place orders, manage open orders, and view recent trades from any page in the Client Portal using the slide-out trade ticket. The client portal is user-friendly and intuitive, making it a good starting point for beginners and casual traders.

Trader Workstation (TWS)

Trader Workstation (TWS) provides access to trading in stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and funds on over 150 markets worldwide from a single unified platform. The default mosaic view inside TWS comprises a series of individual panels operating within a highly configurable interface.

In the upper left of the screen, you can see the order entry window, which includes the price quote for a specified financial instrument. This window lets you quickly enter a buy or sell order that you can submit to an exchange. Available order types include market, limit, stop loss, bracket, One Cancels Other (OCO), and pair hedging orders.

At the bottom left of the screen is an activity panel where you can review open orders, completed trades, and a summary of your activity. The news panel is in the lower right corner. Above it is the monitor panel where you can view your portfolio and open multiple watchlists.

The TWS platform has many preconfigured layouts based on different markets and styles of trading. The FX Trading layout allows traders to create spot and futures orders with a single click and is set up with popular fx pairs and futures. Within the same screen, traders can stay on top of economic events and forex news with event calendars and streaming news feeds. Traders can also create and save unique layouts suiting their preferences.

The TWS platform includes robust charting, over 90 technical indicators, candle sizes varying from 5 seconds to monthly, multiple drawing tools, and trading from the chart.

TWS Market Scanners search specified markets and return contracts based on the defined criteria. Traders can use custom scans they have set up themselves or work with predefined scans from a library, such as US Movers or Dividend Yield.

IBKR Mobile

The IBKR mobile app provides access to trading in CFDs, forex, stocks, options, futures, currencies, and bonds. Charting is robust, with over 90 technical indicators. Traders can use a broad range of order types, including market, stop, stop limit, market if touched, limit if touched, trail, and trail limit. The app also features watchlists, scanners, a news feed with stories from Reuters and Dow Jones, and an economic calendar.

IBKR GlobalTrader

The GlobalTrader app is a user-friendly app that is more intuitive and slightly stripped down in comparison to the IBKR mobile app. Traders can access over 90 stock markets worldwide. Beginners can trade in fractions of shares, investing as little as $1. Forex and CFD trading is also available via GlobalTrader. The app has popular features such as watchlists, scanners, and a newsfeed, allowing traders to stay on top of the markets from the palm of their hand.

Order Execution

Interactive Brokers operates the Direct Market Access (DMA) execution model. In this model, the provider hedges the CFD order immediately in the underlying physical market, and the CFD is executed at the price of the hedge.

Tradable Instruments

CFDs (Contracts for Differences) are financial derivative products that allow traders to speculate in various markets without owning the underlying assets. Tradable CFD instruments at Interactive Brokers include the following assets:

• 85 Currency Pairs. A currency pair combines two different currencies, with the value of one currency quoted against the other. For example, EUR/USD, which reflects the value of the euro measured in dollars.
• 2 Commodity CFDs. Commodities are raw products, such as gold and oil.
• 1,000+ Global Stock CFDs. A stock is a security that represents partial ownership of a corporation. Keep in mind that when trading stock CFDs, you are speculating on the price of a stock without actually taking ownership of the underlying company.
• 13 Index CFDs. An index is a basket of trading instruments used to gauge a market sector, stocks within an exchange, or a country’s economy.

In the tables below, you can see a selection highlighting the variety of CFD instruments available at Interactive Brokers:

Customer Support

Interactive Brokers provides 24-hour customer service each business day via regional Client Services Centers across America, Europe, and Asia.

For phone and chat, users must navigate numerous questions before reaching an operator, which can take time and effort. We tested support with many questions, from easy to hard. For example, whether one-click trading is available in the TWS platform and how to calculate overnight swap fees. In some instances, we received support from highly knowledgeable industry professionals, but the experience sometimes felt more like a call center.

Deposits & Withdrawals

In the tables below we break down the fees and processing times for each deposit and withdrawal method.

Deposits

Withdrawals

Account Types and Terms

The application process at Interactive Brokers is straightforward, and can traders can complete the process within 15 minutes. Many account types are available, catering to different profiles.

There is no minimum required deposit to open a cash account at Interactive Brokers. A range of account types can cater to individual traders and other trading industry professionals.

A wide variety of base currencies (the currency in which your account is denominated) are available at Interactive Brokers.

Account Application

To open an individual account at Interactive Brokers UK, prospective clients must answer the following questions.

• Name.
• Address.
• Citizenship.
• Country of birth.
• Phone.
• Date of Birth.
• Marital status.
• Number of dependents.
• Tax residency.
• Social security number.
• Proof of identification (passport, driver’s license, national identity card, alien identification card).
• Employment status.
• Source of wealth.

Demo Accounts

Interactive Brokers offers a free simulated account with a balance of $1M, which traders can use across all platforms: Web Portal, Trader WorkStation, IBKR Mobile, and the GlobalTrader app. Once users have gotten up to speed on a demo account, they can easily switch to a live version.

Islamic Accounts

Interactive Brokers does not offer a swap-free Islamic account.

Leverage

One of the reasons that traders are attracted to the forex and CFD markets is the high degree of available leverage. Leverage is the use of borrowed funds to increase the size of your trading positions beyond what would be possible using only the cash in your account. CFD traders at Interactive Brokers UK can use leverage of up to 1:30. This means that with an account balance of $1,000, a trader can take on positions of up to $30,000 in the market.

Leverage is often described as a ‘double-edged sword’ because it can amplify your profits and losses. Leveraged trading comes with a high level of risk and can often result in significant losses.

Supported Countries

Interactive Brokers is available in most countries worldwide, except for FATF Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklist countries such as North Korea, Iran, and Myanmar. FATF is an intergovernmental organization seeking to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

Research

Content in the Traders’ Insight section is in both written and video format. Topics are broken down by various markets (stocks, commodities, forex, crypto) and the style of analysis (macro, technical analysis). The material is in-depth, well-crafted, and primarily geared toward experienced traders.

Traders can learn about the general market outlook for the day, get up to speed with upcoming economic releases, and browse technical trade ideas from various contributors. We judged the research materials to be better than average for the brokerage industry.

Education

Lessons are in video format and cover a broad range of topics, such as the basics of various markets, technical and fundamental analysis, and platform tutorials. Each subject is broken down into a series of easily digestible video lessons of less than ten minutes. The courses include contributions from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Options Industry Council (OIC).

Several live webinars each month complement the educational courses. Traders can watch, listen and ask questions in live events on trading, world finance, and market trends. Interactive Brokers also offers weekly educational podcasts covering various trading industry-related themes and expert interviews.

Overall we rated educational materials as better than average for the industry and containing valuable content for beginners and advanced traders.

The Bottom Line

With outstanding fees, robust trading platforms, and a massive range of tradable instruments, Interactive Brokers has established itself as one of the best brokers for advanced and professional traders. Our tests found it to live up to its reputation, with an impressive all-around offering. There is room for improvement in customer service, especially with the time it takes to reach a live agent. While the overall number of assets to trade is very high, the range of CFD instruments is lower than leading CFD brokers in some areas, such as commodities.

The TWS platform presents a steeper-than-average learning curve, but with its professional-grade features, that is to be expected. Importantly, forex and CFD traders at Interactive Brokers do not have to worry about widening spreads in volatile markets and the possibility of re-quotes, as they benefit from direct market access (DMA) and superior order execution. In terms of commissions and spreads for a forex pair such as EUR/USD, Interactive Brokers stands among the most competitive brokers we have reviewed.

FAQ