Interactive Brokers Review 2025 Fees, Pros, Cons

Interactive Brokers offers features like paper trading, stock lending and fractional shares, which attract a diverse group of traders. These options allow users to practice trading without financial risk, earn passive income, or invest small amounts into high-priced stocks, all aimed at optimizing investment efficiency. Novice forex traders may not find as much information specific to forex or CFD trading and the IBKR platform suite has a steep learning curve. Interactive Brokers offers a range of state-of-the-art platforms, from the web-based client portal to the advanced Trader WorkStation (TWS) platform and two proprietary mobile apps.

STOCK TRAINING DONE RIGHT

With paper trading, you can explore different asset classes, order types and trading tools in a risk-free environment, helping you gain confidence and refine your approach before committing real capital. Interactive Brokers enables traders to access global stocks, ETFs, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and mutual funds from the same platform. I judged the broker to be ideal for experienced traders looking for rock-bottom fees, advanced trading software, and a wide range of markets to work with. Meanwhile, because it targets professional and institutional investors, IBKR Pro charges commissions, offering both fixed and tiered pricing options. Under the fixed pricing system, you owe $0.005 per share for stock trades, with a minimum fee of $1 and maximum of 1% of the total trade value. Those making a large volume of trades per month could switch to the firm’s tiered pricing system, where the fee decreases as your total trading volume gets larger.

SoFi reserves the right to change or terminate this benefit at any time with or without notice. Advisory services are offered by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Information about SoFi Wealth’s advisory operations, services, and fees is set forth in SoFi Wealth’s current Form ADV Part 2 (Brochure), a copy of which is available upon request and at On the whole, our verdict is that IBKR is a solid option for professional traders and skilled, active traders who wish to use a robust array of tools and worldwide access to a diverse selection of assets.

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Please note, some markets may only be available via CFDs or other derivatives. You should also expect standard wait times on live chat – available from within the trading platform or website – with occasional outages. If you don’t want to wait for a live agent, you can try your luck with an automated ‘iBot’.

Trader Workstation offers a first-rate charting package with loads of indicators and technical studies, even if the interface isn’t the slickest. Being able to customise the market scanner is also helpful for finding potential opportunities. The inclusion of Interactive Brokers’ (IBKR) name, logo or weblinks is present pursuant to an advertising arrangement only.

Is Interactive Brokers good for beginners?

Active traders may also access discounted tiered pricing based on trading volume. Although Interactive Brokers is geared toward active traders, passive investors can use the Interactive Brokers Lite pricing plan or the platform’s robo-advisor to trade unlimited free stocks and ETFs. Business Insider’s personal finance team compared Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers to the best online brokerages. Considering the fact that you can trade multiple different assets from a single integrated account is something that many brokers don’t offer.

• Not to mention that the firm has over $6.2 billion in excess of regulatory requirements.
• In this Interactive Brokers review, we have customized the TWS Mosaic.
• Interactive Brokers provides a comprehensive suite of research tools, with tools useful to both casual investors and seasoned traders.
• TradeStation excels in offering advanced trading tools and is particularly strong in catering to active traders focusing on U.S. markets.
• At FXEmpire, we strive to provide unbiased, thorough and accurate broker reviews by industry experts to help our users make smarter financial decisions.
• Higher fees may be worth it for traders interested in international trades and more advanced trading features.

Platforms & Tools

For beginners who are unfamiliar with managing a margin account, opting for a cash account is advisable. Unlike margin accounts, cash accounts do not entail margin calls, and you are permitted only a brief period of time in margin violation before positions are liquidated. In this review of Interactive Brokers (IBKR), we provide an in-depth analysis of the broker’s features, strengths and weaknesses, to help you make informed decisions for your trading journey. Due to its advanced features, the app can be overwhelming for new users and mastering them might take some time. For additional trading support, Interactive Brokers offers an AI tool called IBot that can answer questions or execute certain tasks. It also uses a predictive algorithm to suggest natural next steps, like asking if you want to make a trade after your initial question.

Interactive Brokers Trading Fees

Interactive Broker is good for beginner investors, especially with Interactive Brokers Lite, but a $100 minimum requirement exists. It offers unlimited, commission-free trading of US stocks and ETFs while still getting access to global markets. Interactive Brokers and Fidelity Brokerage both offer commission-free trades on multiple investment types. They also share a $0 minimum requirement for self-directed brokerage accounts, but fees vary for different account types. The former, IBKR Lite, offers retail customers zero commissions on transactions on publicly traded stocks and ETFs in the United States, no account minimums, and no inactivity fees. Investors who are just getting started with trading will find IBKR Lite suitable as a pricing plan to begin with.

Interactive Brokers Review Fees, Pros, Cons

An industry veteran, Joey obtains and verifies data, conducts research, and analyzes and validates our content. 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.

• The platform claims to “take your investing to the next level,” it does this by enabling customers from all over the world the opportunity to invest at the most competitive rates.
• Jeff Anberg is a Senior Editor at BrokerNotes.co and ForexBrokers.com.
• Interactive Brokers is known for having some of the lowest fees and commissions in the industry with a fixed and tiered fee structure.
• Interactive Brokers provides 24/5 customer service each business day via regional Client Service Centers across America, Europe, and Asia.
• So that you know, no margin is available on FX unless your account is 1 million.
• A regular brokerage account with Interactive Brokers doesn’t require any minimum to open an account.
• Next, on the top right, you’ll see “Layout Locked.” Click this, and you can re-arrange as you see fit.

The platform looks completely outdated, the amount of information on-screen is intimidating, and the frequent pop-up windows create an overwhelming feeling. While its forex and CFD selection may not be as expansive as some competitors, the availability of products varies depending on the IBKR affiliate and your country of residence. The first withdrawal of each calendar month incurs no charges, but subsequent withdrawals are subject to platform withdrawal fees, which currently amount to around $10, depending on your location. Let’s take a closer look at how Interactive Brokers compares to some of its main competitors in the industry. Here’s how IBKR stacks up against Charles Schwab, TradeStation, NinjaTrader, Fidelity and tastytrade. To get the best possible experience please use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge to view this website.

Next, on the top right, you’ll see “Layout Locked.” Click this, and you can re-arrange as you see fit. From day one, we were impressed with its simple yet alien-looking layout. However, while we continue to use and enjoy TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform, there are some stark differences between the platforms. A nominal fee is charged for currency conversion, significant for accounts with different base and trading currencies.

Interactive Brokers provides an attractive proposition for active traders with competitive and variable trading fees, determined by trading volume. For detailed information on fees related interactive brokers review to stocks, options, futures, and other instruments, please refer to the official website. Interactive Brokers is a global online brokerage that offers access to various assets, including stocks, options, futures, forex and more. Interactive Brokers provides competitive pricing for spot currency trading.

Notably, IBKR is listed on the Nasdaq, one of the biggest stock exchanges around the world. In addition, the broker has over $10 billion in equity capital with 76.5% privately held. Not to mention that the firm has over $6.2 billion in excess of regulatory requirements.