The selection of tools available on the IB platform is mind-blowing. It offers everything from Algo-Trading to Portfolio Management; if you want it all, Interactive Brokers is the choice for you.
Interactive Brokers (IB) is the grandfather of online discount brokers. Not only are they a long-established company, but they are also significant in terms of market capitalization and financial stability.
Interactive Brokers Review Ratings
| Interactive Brokers Rating | 4.4/5.0 |
| 💸 Trades & Commissions | ★★★★✩ |
| 📈 Trading Platform | ★★★★★ |
| 🙋♂️Customer Support | ★★★★✩ |
| 📰 Research & News | ★★★★✩ |
| 💵 Margin Costs | ★★★★★ |
Interactive Brokers Review Summary
This Interactive Brokers review finds that it is good for active investors and day traders seeking low trading costs, direct market access for fast execution, and best-in-class margin costs.
Interactive Brokers (IB) is the grandfather of online discount brokers.
Not only are they a long-established company, but it is also big. It has a complete set of services, enabling you to trade practically anything on any market—stocks, Options, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Foreign Exchange, and even futures and commodities. Usually, when a company is well established and large, it loses its competitive edge, and as you will see, this is the case for IB.
Interactive Brokers: Key Features
| ⚡ Features | Low-Cost Stock & Option Trades |
| 🏆 Unique Features | Excellent Tools, Low Margin Rates |
| 🎯 Best for | Stock Traders & Investors |
| ♲ Subscription | Monthly, Yearly |
| 💰 Cost Per Stock Trade | $0-$1 |
| 💻 Platform | Web/Mobile |
| 🌎 Region | Global |
IB Pros
- Low Commissions
- Good Platforms MT4 + VPS
- All Markets & Vehicles
- Direct Market Access (DMA)
- Large Established Broker
- Trustpilot Stars ★★★★
IB Cons
- Less than perfect Customer Satisfaction
- Min Balance for Forex is $500K
IB has a complete set of services, enabling you to trade practically anything on any market.
This includes Stocks, Options, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Foreign Exchange, and even futures and commodities; they also claim any market anytime.
Usually, when a company is well established and large, it loses its competitive edge, not so with Interactive Brokers.
One of the industry’s lowest commissions on Stock Trades at $1- (or $0 in the USA) and great commissions on Options demonstrate competitiveness. They also have the lowest margin interest rate in the review, probably in the industry.
When it comes to the trading platform, there are no additional costs, which are a breath of fresh air as Web Trader, TWS, and many more are all free.
Interactive Brokers caters to the more professional investor, or at least those with a minimum account balance of $10,000. Also, you will need to have a balance of $500,000 to trade Forex.
Another huge bonus is that IB manages to throw Zacks and Morning Star research into the package for free, including real-time news.
IB manages to span the divide between Day Traders and Long-Term investors, which is not easy. If you plan to span those worlds, also IB is a natural choice.
Round 1 – Stock Brokers Commissions Comparison
Commissions are not the be-all and end-all, but low commissions help reduce slippage, especially if you are an active investor or trader.
Some Brokers offer a flat fee regardless of how many shares are traded. Some offer an optional “per share” commission structure, benefiting smaller traders.
Trading & Commissions
When it comes to the low trading costs, Interactive Brokers does well but is not perfect. With a stock trading fee of $1 and even a per-share trading fee of $0.005, you have the flexibility and low slippage, especially if you are an active trader.
IB Trading Commissions Comparison
Interactive Brokers cannot compare to the industry leaders in terms of fees and commissions
| Commissions & Fees | Firstrade | TD Ameritrade | E*Trade | Interactive Brokers |
| Online Stock Orders | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0.005 per share or $0 for U.S. Customers |
| Online Option Orders | $0 | $0 + $0.65/Contract | $0 + $0.65/Contract | $1 + $0.25/Contract |
| Online Mutual Fund Trades | $0 | $49.99 | $49.99 | $0 |
| Broker-assisted Stock | $19.95 | $25 | $25 | $25 |
| & Options Trades | (+$0.50/contract) | (+$0.65/contract) | (+$0.65/contract) | (+$0.65/contract) |
| Minimum Initial Deposit | $0 | $0 | $500 | $10,000 |
Table 1: IB Commissions vs. Competitors
Interactive Brokers does offer commission-free ETF’s but only 28 of them. However, the commissions are all other ETFs are so low it may not matter, as they charge only $1- per trade.
IB Margin Commissions vs. Competition
The margin account interest rates are also the best, at only 2.2% to 3%. This makes IB the leader for financing and margin commissions.
Online Options orders have zero commission, while the significant competitors still charge $0.65 per contract. Firstrade also has the largest selection of free to trade ETFs and Mutual Funds.
| Margin Balance | Firstrade | TD Ameritrade | Fidelity | E*Trade | Interactive Brokers |
| $1,000,000 + | 5.00% | 7.75% | 5.00% | 7.00% | 4.35% |
| $500,000 ~ $999,999 | 5.60% | 8.25% | 5.25% | 8.00% | 4.35% |
| $250,000 ~ $499,999 | 7.50% | 8.25% | 7.58% | 8.50% | 4.35% |
| $100,000 ~ $249,999 | 7.75% | 8.50% | 7.83% | 9.00% | 4.35% |
| $50,000 ~ $99,999 | 8.25% | 8.75% | 7.88% | 9.50% | 4.35% |
| $25,000 ~ $49,999 | 8.75% | 9.75% | 8.83% | 10.00% | 4.35% |
| $10,000 ~ $24,999 | 9.00% | 10.00% | 9.33% | 10.25% | 4.35% |
| $0 ~ $9,999 | 9.25% | 10.25% | 9.33% | 10.50% | 4.35% |
The icing on the cake is that you will also get paid on your account cash balance up to 1.4% with IB. Most other Brokers offer 0% and a maximum of 0.25%. So if you maintain ample cash holding, Interactive Brokers makes a lot of sense.
IB Options Fees Comparison
Interactive Brokers vs. Firstrade vs. Fidelity vs. TDA vs. E-Trade vs. Schwab
| Commissions | Firstrade | Interactive Brokers | Fidelity | TD Ameritrade | E*Trade | Charles Schwab |
| Online Stock Orders | $0 | $0 | $4.95 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Online Option Orders | $0 | $1 + $0.25/Contract | $0 + $0.65/Contract | $0 + $0.65/Contract | $0 + $0.65/Contract | $0 + $0.65/Contract |
Table 2: Stock Trades & Options Trade Fees
As you can see, when it comes to commissions and fees, Firstrade is an industry leader.
Is Interactive Brokers Worth It?
This Interactive Brokers review suggests it is worth registering if you value low-cost international stock and option trades. IB also has the lowest margin rates in the industry, so if you want to trade on margin, it is definitely worth it.
IB Trading Platform Comparison
How do you find the in-play stocks with high volatility and a strong trend? This is the job of the trading platform. You need your trading platform to be fast, intuitive, and powerful. In this section, we rate the brokers on their choice of a trading platform.
Interactive Brokers has a genuinely unique trading platform based on Trader Workstation (TWS). It is free to download and use as a client, and it is the single place to trade any and every one of the vehicles on offer from IB. It caters to everything Stocks, Options, Futures, Forex, Bonds, Mutual Funds & ETFs.
Not only that, there are a vast number of advanced add-on tools that plug into TWS, such as:
- ChartTrader – for trading directly from charts.
- Continuous Futures – for commodity futures scanning and analysis.
- DepthTrader – for in-depth analysis of market liquidity
- OptionTrader – more in-depth Options Analysis with specific Options strategies
- ProbabilityLab – to test the Probability Distribution of a particular trade
In total, there are 27 different advanced trading tools to suit every possible approach to the market.
Video: IB Trader Workstation
Customer Support & Research Comparison
In this round, we compare:
- Customer Support – We want to see all three options: Email, Messaging, and Phone.
- Customer Satisfaction Score – how many complaints or bad reviews within the last year on Twitter or TrustPilot (jump to methodology)
- Research & Ideas – what services are provided free of charge to help you research a particular stock or sector. Stand-alone research services can be costly, so free with an account is a big bonus.
- News – Is a real-time news service available for free or an additionally paid to upgrade
The table is results are sorted in order of:
- Customer Satisfaction Rating: ★★★★★ People actively praising the broker & Zero Negative Reviews. ★★★★ 4 is Zero Negative Reviews
- Research & Trade Ideas: Quality of the integrated and Zero Cost Research Sources
Customer Support & Research Winner
Interactive Brokers offers by far the best free services in the area of research. Here is a snapshot of some of the services you will get for free.
- IB Market Signals
- IB Traders Insight
- Morningstar equity ownership
- Thomson Reuters (in 10 languages), stock reports, news, fundamentals
- Zacks Investment Research
- Real-time News Streaming
In terms of customer service, they offer the full telephone, chat & email contact package, so there are no issues there.
We could not find any evidence of negative tweets or reviews, so IB has a very good customer satisfaction score, particularly since they have by far the largest Twitter following of 233,000 people.
They are lower on the list of winners because they do not have a history of people raving about their services. Perhaps the more professional investors trading with IB are not focussing on praising them on Twitter but traders making profits in the markets.
In any case, IB is a very high-quality company with the very best research included for free in your account.
Brokerage Regulation & Account Minimum
Is the company well established, well funded, and well regulated? This is the main object of this round of comparisons.
Any US-based Broker should be a member of the following institutions.
Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA) Membership.
FINRA is a nonprofit organization established to protect investors and ensure that the members comply with the law and the Securities and Exchange Commission rules. They audit all members regularly.
Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) Membership.
The SIPC is there to protect and hopefully recover any money lost if a Brokerage firm fails. Although Broker failure is rare, it can happen, and SIPC membership ensures that your account is protected up to $500,000.
Interactive Brokers has all the protection required in the U.S.A, they are fully registered in the FINRA Database and have SIPC insurance.
Account minimums with Interactive Brokers are higher than with their competitors, as they are squarely going after clients with larger investment portfolios, higher net worth individuals, or professional money managers. The account minimum of $10,000 for regular trading and $100,000 for Foreign Exchange Trading will be a barrier to new investors.
IB Review Summary
This Interactive Brokers review finds that it is good for active investors and day traders seeking low trading costs, direct market access for fast execution, and best-in-class margin costs. Not only are they a long-established company, but it is also big. It has a complete set of services, enabling you to trade practically anything on any market—stocks, Options, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Foreign Exchange, and even futures and commodities. Usually, when a company is well established and large, it loses its competitive edge, and as you will see, this is the case for IB.
Interactive Brokers Stock Broker Master Table (Searchable)
Here you can find the table containing all the data in one place. Use the search box to filter on a particular item you want to compare. For example, type “forex” or “margin,” and you will get only the relevant rows to compare.
| Brokerage | |
|---|---|
| Result | Review Winner |
| Great for: | Active Investors & Day Traders seeking lowest commissions |
| Likes | ★ Industry Leading Low Commissions ★ Great Trading Platform ★ Direct Market Access ★ All Markets & Vehicles ★ Lowest Margin Rates |
| Dislike | ✘ Less than perfect Customer Satisfaction |
| Trades & Commissions | |
| Direct Market Access DMA | ✔ |
| Stock Trading | ✔ |
| Stock Trading Fees | $1.00 |
| Per Share Trading Fees | $0.005 |
| Stock Trading Fees (Max) | 1% of Trade |
| Options | ✔ |
| Options Trading Fees | $1.00 |
| Leverage Available | ✔ |
| ETF Trades | ✔ |
| Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) | $1.00 |
| Number of Commission Free ETF's | 28 |
| Futures | $0.85 |
| Mutual Funds | $1.00 |
| Bond Purchase | ✔ |
| Bonds | $1 + Net Yield |
| Forex Trading | ✔ |
| Foreign Exchange (fx) Commission $ per 1,000 | $2.00 |
| Margin Account Interest Charges | 2.2% to 3% |
| Margin Costs Rating | ★★★★★ |
| Trades & Commissions Score | ★★★★★ |
| Trading Platform | |
| Software Provider | Interactive Brokers |
| Trading Platform Cost | Free |
| Web Software | WebTrader Free |
| Desktop Software | Desktop TWS - Free |
| Mobile Software | Free |
| LII Quotes | ✔ |
| Indicators / Studies | ✔ |
| Streaming Charts | ✔ |
| Watchlists | ✔ |
| Profit / Loss Graphs | ✔ |
| Probability Calculators | ✔ |
| Options Chains | ✔ |
| Trading Platform Score | ★★★★★ |
| Customer Support & Research | |
| Customer Support (Phone & Live Chat) | ✔ |
| Customer Satisfaction Score* | ★★★★ |
| Research & Trade Ideas | ✔Zacks + MorningStar Free |
| News | Real-Time |
| Customer Support & Research Score | ★★★★ |
| Account & Company Details | |
| Available for U.S. Citizens | ✔ |
| Account Minimum | $10,000 |
| FINRA Member | ✔ |
| SIPC Insurance - Assets | ✔ |
| Regulated By | SEC |
Do you want more Stock Broker Reviews?
Read our Review of the Best US Online Stock Brokers Comparison, or our Best Penny Stock Brokers or Best Brokers In-Depth Review
- Ally Invest Broker Review
- SpeedTrader Broker Review
- TC2000 Brokerage Broker Review
- Firstrade Broker Review
Notes on the Review
Customer Satisfaction Score (Star Ratings)
The customer satisfaction score was compiled using the following methodology.
The Twitter Accounts of the Brokers were scanned back for one year for any negative feedback from customers. Also, TrustPilot UK and USA were reviewed, and any negative comments counted against the broker. These two sources of information were combined to provide the star rating you see below.
★★★★★ – No Complaints & Positive Recommendations (1 year)
★★★★ – No Complaints (1 year)
★★★ – < 10 Complaints (1 year)
★★ – 10 to 20 Complaints (1 year)
★ – > 20 Complaints (1 year)
Review Methodology
Over 200 data points were collected during this review. Brokers change services, terms, and commissions regularly. If you represent a Brokerage House or are a client and you spot an inaccuracy, please leave a comment or contact us here, and we will endeavor to correct it.
Interactive Brokers Review: Is IB Worth It?
This Interactive Brokers review suggests that it is worth registering if you value low-cost international stock and option trades. IB also has the lowest margin rates in the industry, so if you want to trade on margin it is definitely worth it.
Product SKU: NA
Product Brand: Interactive Brokers
Product Currency: USD
Product Price: 1.00
Price Valid Until: 2025-02-10
Product In-Stock: InStock
4.4
