Losses can exceed deposits
Interactive Brokers is a forex trading services broker. They give traders access to a wide variety of instruments in several markets like currencies, indices, shares and etfs. For commodity traders, they offer a range of energies, metals and agriculturals.
To open a live account, you’ll need a minimum deposit of at least $10,000. Alternatively, Interactive Brokers offers a demo account that you can use to practice and familiarise yourself with their platform.
Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, UK (FRN: 208159), and ASIC (AFSL #453554). Interactive Brokers puts all client funds in a segregated bank account and uses tier-1 banks for this. Interactive Brokers has been established since 1977, and have a head office in United States.
Before we dive into some of the more detailed aspects of Interactive Brokers’s spreads, fees, platforms and trading features, you may want to open Interactive Brokers’s website in a new tab by clicking the button below in order to see the latest information directly from Interactive Brokers.
Full disclosure: We may receive a commission if you sign up with a broker using one of our links.
Like most brokers, Interactive Brokers takes a fee from the spread, which is the difference between the buy and sell price of an instrument.
The commisions and spreads displayed below are based on the minimum spreads listed on Interactive Brokers’s website. The colour bars show how competitive Interactive Brokers's spreads are in comparison to other popular brokers featured on BrokerNotes.
Spreads are dynamic and are for informational purposes only.
As you can see, Interactive Brokers’s minimum spread for trading EUR/USD is 0.1 pips - which is relatively low compared to average EUR/USD spread of 0.70 pips. Below is a breakdown of how much it would cost you to trade one lot of EUR/USD with Interactive Brokers vs. similar brokers.
See all SpreadsIf you were to buy one standard lot of EUR/USD (100k units) with Interactive Brokers at an exchange rate of 1.1719 and then sell it the next day at the same price you would likely pay $0. Here’s a rough breakdown of the fees and how this compares against XTB & AvaTrade .
| Interactive Brokers | XTB | AvaTrade | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spread from: | $ 0.00 | $ 2.00 | $ 7.00 |
| Commission: | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Total cost of a 100k trade: | $ 0.00 | $ 2.00 | $ 7.00 |
| $2 more | $7 more | ||
| Visit IB | Visit XTB | Visit AvaTrade |
All fees/prices are for informational purposes and are subject to change.
Interactive Brokers offers over different instruments to trade, including over 22 currency pairs. We’ve summarised all of the different types of instruments offered by Interactive Brokers below, along with the instruments offered by XTB and AvaTrade for comparison.
| FX / Currencies | IB | XTB | AvaTrade |
|---|---|---|---|
| # of forex pairs offered | 22 | 48 | 59 |
| Major forex pairs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Minor forex pairs | Yes | Yes | |
| Exotic forex pairs | Yes | Yes | |
| Cryptocurrencies | No | Yes | Yes |
| Commodity CFDs | Interactive Brokers | XTB | AvaTrade |
|---|---|---|---|
| # of commodities offered | 21 | 16 | |
| Metals | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Energies | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Agricultural | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Index & Stock CFDs | Interactive Brokers | XTB | AvaTrade |
|---|---|---|---|
| # of stocks offered | 1606 | 99 | |
| UK shares | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| US shares | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| German shares | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Japanese shares | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| See IB's Instruments | See XTB's Instruments | See AvaTrade's Instruments |
Interactive Brokers offer a user-friendly custom trading platform, available as both a downloadable program or as a browser based WebTrader. If you are looking for a MetaTrader broker, see our comparison of MT4 brokers here The combination of downloadable platforms for both Mac and Windows allows traders to trade with their device of choice.
Interactive Brokers also offer mobile apps for Android and iOS, making it easier to keep an eye on and execute your trades while you are on the move.
See IB's platforms
Interactive Brokers do not have set minimum and maximum trade requirements. They may vary depending on the account, trader and the instrument. The maximum trade requirements vary depending on the trader and the instrument. As Interactive Brokers offer ECN and STP execution, you can expect very tight spreads with more transparency over the price you’re paying to execute your trades.
As a market maker, Interactive Brokers may have lower entry requirements compared to an ECN broker who benefits from a higher volume of trades and typically has larger capital and minimum trade requirements. Market makers typically have a lower minimum deposit, smaller minimum trade requirements and no commission on trades.
As a nice bonus, Interactive Brokers are one of very few brokers that claim to have no requotes, so you don’t have to worry about slippage (your trades being ordered at a different price to what you executed them at).
As with most brokers, margin requirements do vary depending on the trader, accounts and instruments. You can see the latest margin requirements on their website.
Finally, we’ve listed some of the popular funding methods that Interactive Brokers offers its traders below.
Interactive Brokers support a wide range of languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese.
Interactive Brokers has a BrokerNotes triple AAA support rating because they offer a wide range of languages and support options.
As Interactive Brokers is regulated by Financial Conduct Authority , every new client must pass a few basic compliance checks to ensure that you understand the risks of trading and are allowed to trade. When you open an account, you’ll likely be asked for the following, so it’s good to have these handy:
You’ll also need to answer a few basic compliance questions to confirm how much trading experience you have, so it’s best to put aside at least 10 minutes or so to complete the account opening process.
While you might be able to explore Interactive Brokers’s platform straight away, it’s important to note that you won’t be able to make any trades until you pass compliance, which can take up to several days, depending on your situation.
To start the process of opening an account with Interactive Brokers you can visit their website here.
CFDs are leveraged products and can result in the loss of your capital. All trading involves risk. Only risk capital you’re prepared to lose. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
This post is for educational purposes and should not be considered as investment advice. All information collected from https://www.interactivebrokers.com/ on 01/04/2020.
