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finder.com’s rating: 4.1 / 5.0
★★★★★
Earn interest on your cash balance and access to competitive brokerage fees.
Interactive Brokers offers an impressive range of tools and low fees for active or professional investors. In late 2019, it introduced IBKR Lite, a platform aimed at casual investors that charges no commissions on stocks and ETFs listed on US exchanges .$0
Stock trade fee
0%
Annual fee
$0
Minimum deposit to open
| Available asset types | Stocks,Bonds,Options,Mutual funds,Index funds,ETFs,Forex,Futures,Cash |
|---|---|
| Available asset classes | Emerging market stocks,Emerging market bonds,Foreign developed stocks,US total stock market,US stocks |
| Account types | Brokerage,Retirement,Robo-Advisor,Individual,Joint,Trust |
Review by
Shannon Terrell is a writer for Finder who studied communications and English literature at the University of Toronto. On any given day, you can find her researching everything from equine financing and business loans to student debt refinancing and how to start a trust. She loves hot coffee, the smell of fresh books and discovering new ways to save her pennies.
Interactive Brokers offers an extensive list of tradable securities, multiple platforms, comprehensive news coverage and robust research offerings, making it well-positioned to serve professional traders. Its Portfolio Builder tool can help you adjust ongoing investments, and you can test new strategies risk free with its paper trading feature. The platform is equipped with just about everything you need to execute swift, well-informed trades.
That said, its fee structure is more complex than most, and you’ll need a net worth of at least $20,000 to be eligible for an account — though IBKR may waive this requirement if you’re between 18 and 21. Be prepared to invest some time learning the software, as users report a high learning curve.
Interactive Brokers has the potential to suit a wide range of investors thanks to its two distinct services: IBKR Pro and IBKR Lite. Experienced traders will enjoy IBKR’s low brokerage fees, access to extensive investment vehicles, portfolio tracking, live updates and company notifications. And beginners can use IBKR Lite — a simplified version of Interactive Brokers’ software aimed at casual investors.
Amid a sea change of online brokers slashing commissions, Interactive Brokers launched IBKR Lite, a simplified trading platform for casual investors. The platform offers unlimited trades with no commissions on stocks and ETFs listed on US exchanges. You can trade mutual funds, options, futures, fixed income and other such investments for a fee.
The company rebranded its platform for experienced traders as IBKR Pro. You can take advantage of tools such as advanced charting, an options strategy lab and heat maps of stock performance. Fixed fees are $0.005 per share for stocks and ETFs, with a $1 minimum commission and maximum of 1% of total trade value. High-volume traders may be eligible for lower fees on IBKR’s tiered fee structure.
Interactive Brokers allows convenient online trading on desktop or mobile. A bevy of other benefits separate the platform from others:
Portfolio Builder is an application that allows you to:
Interactive Brokers has no shortage of trading platforms available, including in-house platforms and third-party integrations.
Interactive Brokers offers six unique in-house platforms designed to cater to a variety of investor needs:
Interactive Brokers integrates with a variety of portfolio management, order management, post-trade allocation and compliance software. Among the integrations is DAS Trader, one of the most popular day-trading platforms, with basic packages starting at $100 monthly. Sterling is also available, but only for institutional clients.
Interactive Advisors is IB’s robo-advisor service. With a minimum deposit of $100, you can leverage dozens of automated portfolios tailored to your investment goals. Annual management fees range from 0.08% to 1.5% and investments are automatically rebalanced every quarter.
The Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation offers a comprehensive suite of research and analytics tools:
While Interactive Brokers offers powerful trading platforms, carefully consider its weaknesses before opening an account.
Interactive Brokers is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). However, it earns an A- rating based on internal BBB criteria that includes the company’s response to more than 20 customer complaints.
Interactive Brokers earns a 3.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot as of September 2020. Many clients complain that customer support is slow to resolve issues and the platform often runs into technical problems.
Interactive Brokers markets itself as the lowest-cost trading platform on the market. That may be true, but watch for pricing loopholes for stocks, ETFs and warrants.
Trades for options, futures, forex, fixed income and more come with their own fee structures.
For IBKR Lite, commissions you pay include exchange and regulatory fees.
| Minimum per order | Maximum per order | |
|---|---|---|
| US exchange-listed stocks and ETFs | $0 | $0 |
If you open an IBKR Pro account, you can choose between fixed and tiered pricing structures.
Commissions you pay include exchange and regulatory fees.
| Cost per share | Minimum per order | Maximum per order | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No-transaction-fee ETFs | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Stocks | $0.005 | $1 | 1% of trade value |
Available only for IBKR Pro, tiered pricing means your brokerage fee decreases the more you trade per month.
Fees vary based on what and where you’re trading, with different fee schedules for different countries and options. Additional clearing and exchange fees depend on which exchange the security is listed on.With IBKR Pro tiered pricing, you’ll pay exchange, regulatory and clearing fees.
| Monthly trade value | Cost per share | Minimum per order | Maximum per order |
|---|---|---|---|
| First 300,000 shares | $0.0035 | $0.35 | 1% of trade value |
| 300,000–3,000,000 shares | $0.002 | $0.35 | 1% of trade value |
| 3,000,001–20,000,000 shares | $0.0015 | $0.35 | 1% of trade value |
| 20,000,001–100,000,000 shares | $0.001 | $0.35 | 1% of trade value |
| 100,000,000+ shares | $0.0005 | $0.35 | 1% of trade value |
Other fees to be aware of include:
It’s relatively simple to open an Interactive Broker account, but with a few interesting eligibility requirements.
Contact Interactive Brokers in three ways:
If you’re an experienced trader looking for a platform that offers low fees for high-volume trades, IBKR might fit the bill. But beginners to trading may want to compare other trading platforms.
★★★★★ 5/5 — Excellent
★★★★★ 4/5 — Good
★★★★★ 3/5 — Average
★★★★★ 2/5 — Subpar
★★★★★ 1/5 — Poor
We analyze top online trading platforms and rate them one to five stars based on factors that are most important to you. These factors include fees, securities available for trade, customer support, customer feedback, platform resources and overall reliability.
For a complete breakdown of how we score each category, read the full methodology of how we rate trading platforms.
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