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Best Options Trading Platforms

The best options brokers have a wealth of tools that help you manage risk

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Options trading has become extremely popular with retail investors since the turn of the 21st century. Our best options brokers have a wealth of tools that help you measure and manage risk as you determine which trades to place. They also include valuable education that helps you grow in sophistication as an options trader.

Best Online Brokers for Options Trading in April 2020:

• tastyworks: Best Options Trading Platform
• tastyworks: Best Broker for Advanced Options Traders
• tastyworks: Best Broker for Mobile Options Traders
• E*TRADE: Best Broker for Beginning Options Traders
• eOption: Best Broker for Low-Cost Options Trading

Best Options Trading Platform, Best for Advanced Options Trades, and Best for Mobile Options Traders: tastyworks

• AccountMinimum: $0
• Fees: $0.00 stock trades, $1.00 to open options trades $0.00 to close

Tastyworks says that more than 90% of the trades placed by its customers are derivatives, so they naturally spend their time designing a lot of tools specifically for options and futures traders. Everything is designed to help traders evaluate volatility and the probability of profit. Tastyworks’ entire platform is geared towards making decisions and taking action. Tastyworks opened its virtual doors in 2020, so it isn’t saddled with legacy systems that bog down many of the older online brokers. This has helped it tremendously in keeping the options trading experience to the essentials. Tastyworks’ executions are fast and the costs are low, with commissions capped for opening orders for options on equities and futures at $10 per leg.

Watchlists are a key component of the tastyworks platform, and they are the same on mobile, web, and download. The look and feel of the mobile platform is very similar to the desktop versions, though you’ll find price wheels and ways to define trades that minimize the possibility of making a mistake. As you build a position from a chart or from a volatility screener, a trade ticket is built for you. There’s also a video viewer embedded so you can keep an eye on the tastytrade network. Though a newcomer to options trading might be initially uncomfortable, those who understand the basic concepts will appreciate the content, features, and focus apparent throughout tastyworks’ platforms.

All of the tools you’ll need for analyzing and trading derivatives are built into the platforms.

The charting capabilities are uniquely tuned for the options trader. If you have multiple positions on a particular underlying, you can analyze the risk profiles of the combined position.

There are hours of original video from tastytrade every weekday, offering up-to-the-minute trading ideas, plus a huge library of pre-recorded videos and shows.

Newcomers to trading and investing may be overwhelmed by tastyworks at first.

There is no fixed income trading (outside of ETFs that contain bonds) for those who want to allocate some of their assets to a more conservative asset class.

Any additional portfolio analysis beyond profit and loss requires setting up a login on a separate site, The Quiet Foundation, which is also part of the tastytrade empire.

Best for Beginning Options Traders: E*TRADE

• AccountMinimum: $0
• Fees: No commission for stock/ETF trades. Options are $0.50-$0.65 per contract, depending on trading volume.

New options traders need some help in understanding how trading derivatives can help improve portfolio returns. E*TRADE’s more advanced platforms are elegantly designed and guide you along the way. When you graduate to options and derivatives, the Power E*TRADE website and mobile app can help you learn. The Power E*TRADE site and app can be set up to put the functions you use most often front and center so you don’t have to dig around for them. The platform has all the features inherited from E*TRADE’s acquisition of OptionsHouse technology, which includes a wealth of helpful educational resources for the developing options trader. Watchlists are integrated across E*TRADE’s platforms, and the full range of tradable assets is accessible on the mobile apps. The workflow is very smooth on the mobile apps. We also found that using Power E*TRADE on a tablet is quite pleasant.

Mobile apps are extremely well laid-out and easy to use and are among the most comprehensive and extensive apps tested.

Spectral Analysis on Power E*TRADE is a visually stunning tool that helps you visualize maximum profit and loss for an options strategy and understand your risk metrics

You can test strategies using the paper trading capabilities of E*TRADE Pro’s desktop platform, which uses delayed data so you won’t think you’re placing real trades.

On all platforms, you’ll find a ubiquitous trade ticket with streaming real-time data.

Tiered commission schedule for options trades, charging $0.65 per contract for less frequent traders and $0.50 for those who place more than 30 options trades per quarter.

Investors who would like direct access to international markets or to trade foreign currencies should look elsewhere.

You cannot consolidate your externally-held accounts to form a complete picture of your net worth on E*TRADE.

Best for Low-Cost Options Trading: eOption

• Account Minimum: $0
• Fees: $0 per stock/ETF trade, $1.99 base per leg plus $0.10 per contract for options trades

eOption charges $1.99 per leg for options trades, but the per-contract fee is significantly lower than its competitors, making it great for heavy options traders. eOption also offers commission-free stock and ETF trading so those who are options-oriented traders but also want access to other assets at a low cost will have no issues here. Clearing and exchange fees, typically a fraction of a penny per share, are spelled out on the order confirmation screen and are passed through to customers. eOption also scored highly for its relatively low margin rates.

eOption offers great value for frequent options traders.

The browser-based eOption Trader platform is easy to use.

Newsletter subscribers can auto-trade their alerts.

Limited education offerings.

News feeds are limited.

Any OTCBB (penny stock) trades must be made with a live broker.

Other Options Considerations

The commission structure for options trades tends to be more complicated than its equivalent for stock trades. Until the commission cuts that swept the industry in the fall of 2020, most brokers charged a fee for each leg of an options spread plus a commission per contract being traded. The per-leg fees, which made 2- and 4-legged spreads expensive, have been eliminated industry-wide, for the most part. We are also seeing some brokers place caps on commissions charged for certain trading scenarios.

Investors with fairly large portfolios can also take advantage of portfolio margining at some brokers. This is a practice that assesses the total risk inherent in a portfolio that contains stocks and derivatives. Investors with large portfolios can use portfolio margining to reduce the size of the margin loan.

What Kind of Options Trader Are You?

The first and most important piece of information to consider before selecting an options trading account is what kind of trader you are. What is your trading style and risk appetite? Which tools would you like to have handy?

Options are complex products to understand and trade. All of the brokers listed above allow customers to build complex options positions as a single order. Some brokers, such as Vanguard, only allow one position per order, leaving it to the individual trader to place multiple orders one at a time to create a combination position. Merrill Edge lets you place two-legged spreads, but anything more complex will require an additional order.

If you’re just getting started with options trading, the quality of education and help offered by your broker is important. Frequent traders and those who trade a large number of contracts will be more sensitive to commissions and fees, so check out your prospective broker’s charges and make sure you understand them.

Methodology

Investopedia is dedicated to providing investors with unbiased, comprehensive reviews and ratings of online brokers. Our reviews are the result of months of evaluating all aspects of an online broker’s platform, including the user experience, the quality of trade executions, the products available on its platforms, costs and fees, security, the mobile experience and customer service. We established a rating scale based on our criteria, collecting thousands of data points that we weighed into our star-scoring system.

In addition, every broker we surveyed was required to fill out an extensive survey about all aspects of its platform that we used in our testing. Many of the online brokers we evaluated provided us with in-person demonstrations of its platforms at our offices.

Our best options brokers have a wealth of tools that help you measure and manage risk as you determine which trades to place. These brokers include valuable education that helps you grow in sophistication as an options trader. Investors with fairly large portfolios can take advantage of portfolio margining at certain brokers, a practice that assesses the total risk inherent in a portfolio that contains stocks and derivatives, and can reduce the size of your margin loan.

Our team of industry experts, led by Theresa W. Carey, conducted our reviews and developed this best-in-industry methodology for ranking online investing platforms for users at all levels. Click here to read our full methodology.

Interactive Brokers Review 2020

Summary

Recommended for traders looking for low fees and a professional trading environment

Interactive Brokers was founded in 1978 and is one of the biggest US-based discount brokers. The broker is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including top-tier ones like the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As it has licenses from multiple top-tier regulators, the broker is considered safe. Also, having a long track record and publicly disclosed financials while being listed on a stock exchange are also great signs for its safety.

We selected Interactive Brokers as Best online broker, Best broker for day trading and Best broker for futures for 2020, based on an in-depth analysis of 57 online brokers that included testing their live accounts. Check out the complete list of winners.

Interactive Brokers pros and cons

Interactive Brokers has the widest selection of markets and products among online brokers, with a lot of great research tools, and it is regulated by a lot of financial authorities.

On the other hand, most users can only make deposits and withdrawals via bank transfer. We recommend this broker for advanced traders, as the account opening process is complicated and the desktop trading platform is not user-friendly.

Pros	Cons
• Wide range of products	• Extremely complex desktop trading platform
• Many great research tools	• Complicated account opening process
• Regulated by several authorities	• High inactivity fee

Interactive Brokers main features and highlights

��️ Country of regulation	UK, USA, India, Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong
�� Trading fees class	Low
�� Inactivity fee charged	Yes
�� Withdrawal fee amount	$0
�� Minimum deposit	$0
�� Time to open an account	1-3 days
�� Deposit with credit card	Not available
�� Depositing with electronic wallet	Not available
�� Number of base currencies supported	19
�� Demo account provided	Yes
��️ Products offered	Stock, ETF, Forex, Fund, Bond, Options, Futures, CFD, Crypto, Warrants, Structured Products, Indices, Metals

Gergely Korpos

Author of this review

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology

Interactive Brokers review
Fees

Interactive Brokers has low trading fees and for US clients, stock and ETF trading is free. On the negative side, there is a high inactivity fee for non-US clients.

Pros	Cons
• Low trading fees	• Inactivity fee
• Low stock and ETF fees
• Low financing rate
• Free stock and ETF trading for US clients

Interactive Brokers fees snapshot

Assets	Fee level	Fee terms
US stock	Low	$0.005 per share, min. $1, max. 1% of trade value. Free for US clients choosing IBKR Lite plan.
EURUSD	Average	Trade value less than $1,000 million: 0.2 bps * trade value with $2 min.
Mutual fund	Average	$14.95 per transaction or 3% of trade value, whichever is lower
Inactivity fee	High	$20 per month if you have less than $2,000 account balance and if you don’t generate minimum $20 in commissions. $10 for accounts having at least $2,000 account balance, while no inactivity fee for US clients choosing IBKR Lite plan.

We ranked Interactive Brokers’ fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

To get things rolling, let’s go over some lingo related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates or conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of Interactive Brokers for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing commissions are the most important fees.

We also compared Interactive Brokers’s fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Saxo Bank and Degiro. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of Interactive Brokers alternatives.

To have a clear overview of Interactive Brokers, let’s start with the trading fees.

Interactive Brokers trading fees

Interactive Brokers’s trading fees are low. Because of this, it is also recommended if you a lot of trades frequently.

You can choose between Interactive Brokers’s fixed rate and tiered price plans:

• The fixed rate price plan typically charges a fixed rate per contract or share. This charge covers all commissions and exchange fees.
• The tiered price plan charges fees based on your monthly trading volume. The more you trade, the lower the commissions are. However, exchange, regulatory and clearing fees may be charged additionally.

Since the end of 2020, clients from the US can choose a new service plan, called IBKR LITE. With this service plan, you can trade US-listed stocks and ETFs commission-free without any inactivity fees.

In this review, we tested the fixed rate plan.

Stock fees and ETF fees

Interactive Brokers has generally low stock and ETF commissions.

Stock and ETF commission of a $2,000 trade

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
US stock	$1.0	$10.0	$0.6
UK stock	$7.2	$9.6	$2.4
German stock	$4.4	$11.0	$5.4

The Interactive Brokers stock trading fee is volume-based: either per share or a percentage of the trade value, with a minimum and maximum. ETF fees are the same as stock fees.

Interactive Brokers stock fees

Belgium, France, Xetra, Italy, Netherlands

Market	Commission	Min	Max
North America
$0.005 / share	$1	1% of the trade value
CAD 0.01 / share	CAD 1	0.5% of the trade value
0.1 % of the trade value	MXN 60	No
Europe
UK up to £50,000 trade volume	£6.00	£6	£6
UK more than £50,000 trade volume	£6.00 + 0.05% of trade value	£6	£29
0.1% of the trade value	€4	€29
Switzerland	0.1% of the trade value	CHF 10	No
Spain	0.1% of the trade value	€4	No
Austria	0.1% of the trade value	€4	€120
Poland	0.1% of the trade value	PLN 15	No
0.05% of the trade value	NOK/SEK 49	No
0.15% of the trade value	€6	No
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania	0.2% of the trade value	€10	No
Hungary	0.1% of the trade value	HUF 200	No
Asia-Pacific
0.08% of the trade value	AUD 6	No
0.08% of the trade value	HKD 18	No
0.08% of the trade value	JPY 80	No
0.08% of the trade value	SGD 2.5	No
India	0,01% of the trade value	INR 6	INR 20

If you prefer stock trading on a margin or short sale, you should check Interactive Brokers’s financing rates.

What is the financing rate? Financing rates or margin rates are charged when you trade on margin or short a stock. This basically means that you borrow money or stocks from your broker to trade, for which you have to pay interest. This is the financing rate, and it can be a significant proportion of your trading costs.

Interactive Brokers financing rates are low. The financing rates vary based on your account base currency and the amount you borrow.

Interactive Brokers annual financing rates for stocks, futures and options

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
USD margin rate	2.6%	–	3.1%
GBP margin rate	2.0%	–	1.9%
EUR margin rate	1.5%	–	0.8%

As of March 2020, the rates for different debit balances in USD ranged between 2.15-3.35%.

Interactive Brokers annual financing rates, USD

Debit balance	Rate%
$200,000,000.01 –	1.39%
$3,000,000.01 – $200,000,000	1.39%
$1,000,000.01 – $3,000,000	1.59%
$100,000.01 – $1,000,000	2.09%
Under $100,000	2.59%

Forex fees

Interactive Brokers’s forex fees are average, with higher fees for the most-traded EURUSD.

To have a clear picture of forex fees we calculated a forex benchmark fee for major currency pairs. This catch-all benchmark includes commissions, spreads and financing costs for all brokers.

Forex benchmark fee of a $20,000 30:1 long position held for one week

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
EURUSD benchmark fee	$17.9	$15.5	–
GBPUSD benchmark fee	$13.6	$12.8	–
AUDUSD benchmark fee	$12.0	$13.7	–
EURCHF benchmark fee	$7.1	$4.6	–
EURGBP benchmark fee	$13.0	$10.2	–

When you trade forex, IB charges a volume-based commission. The higher the volume of your trades, the lower commission you pay.

Interactive Brokers forex commissions

Monthly traded amount	Commission	Min
USD ≤ 1,000,000,000	0.20 basis point of the trade value	$2.00
USD 1,000,000,001 – 2,000,000,000	0.15 basis point of the trade value	$1.50
USD 2,000,000,001 – 5,000,000,000	0.10 basis point of the trade value	$1.25
USD > 5,000,000,000	0.08 basis point of the trade value	$1.00

Fund fees

Interactive Brokers’s mutual fund fees are average. We calculated the fees for US mutual funds.

Interactive Brokers commission for a $2,000 fund purchase

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	Degiro
Mutual fund	$15.0	$0.0	$10.3

The mutual fund fees are different among ranges. The fee structure is percentage based and can have a minimum and a maximum.

Interactive Brokers fund fees

Country	Commission	Min	Max
US	3% of the trade value or $14.95, whichever is lower	–	–
US funds with no transaction fees	0%	$0	$0.00
Europe	0.1% of the trade value	€4	€29.00
Global	3% of the trade value or $14.95, whichever is lower	–	–

Bond fees

Interactive Brokers has generally low bond fees.

Commission of a $10,000 government bond trade

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
US Treasury bond	$5.0	$88.0	–
EU government bond	$10.0	$88.0	$10.5

Interactive Brokers charges a volume-based commission with a minimum amount.

Interactive Brokers bond fees

Bonds	Volume	Commission	Min	Max
US Corporate	Face value ≤ 10,000	0.10% * face value	$1	$250 or 1% of trade value, whichever is lower
US Treasuries	Face value ≤ 1,000,000	0.02% * face value	$5	No
Europe	Trade value ≤ 50,000	0.10% * trade value	€2	No
Hong Kong Government	Trade value ≤ 15,000,000	0.08% * trade value	HKD 18	No

Options fees

The options fees at Interactive Brokers are generally low.

Stock index options commission of 10 contracts

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
US stock index options	$7.0	$40.0	$5.0
UK stock index options	$20.4	$36.0	–
German stock index options	$12.1	$44.0	$9.9

You pay options fees depending on the number of contracts you trade.

Interactive Brokers options fees for stock index options

Market	Commission	Min
North America – all options
US, monthly contracts Stock index futures commission of 10 contracts
Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
US stock index futures	$8.5	$40.0	$5.0
UK stock index futures	$20.4	$36.0	$27.5
German stock index futures	$22.0	$44.0	$8.3

Similarly to options, you pay a commission based on the number of contracts you trade.

Interactive Brokers futures fees for stock index futures

Futures	Commission
North America
US	$0.85 / contract
Canada	CAD 2.4 / contract (min CAD 2.4)
Mexico	MXN 20 / contract (min MXN 20)
Europe
Belgium	€4.5 / contract (min €4.5)
France, Germany	€2 / contract (min €2)
Italy, Netherlands, Spain	€3 / contract (min €3)
Switzerland	CHF 4 / contract (min €4)
UK	GBP 1.7 / contract (min GPB 1.7)
Asia-Pacific
Australia	AUD 6.25 / contract (min AUD 6.25)
Hong Kong	HKD 30 / contract (min HKD 30)
Japan	JPY 500 / contract (min JPY 500)
Singapore	SGD 4 / contract (min SGD 4)

CFD fees

Interactive Brokers charges low CFD trading fees.

To have a clear understanding of CFD fees we calculated a CFD benchmark fee for the selected products. This catch-all benchmark includes commissions, spreads and financing costs for all brokers.

CFD benchmark fees, for a $2,000 long position held for one week

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
S&P 500 index CFD fee	$3.6	$2.2	–
Europe 50 index CFD fee	$2.9	$2.1	–
Apple CFD fee	$3.5	$22.2	–
Vodafone CFD fee	$8.2	$21.3	–

We calculated with 20:1 leverage for stock index CFDs and 5:1 leverage for single stock CFDs.

In the case of stock index CFDs, all fees are incorporated into the spreads. When you trade stock CFDs, you pay a volume-tiered commission.

Interactive Brokers stock CFD fees

CFDs	Monthly traded amount	Commission	Min
US share CFDs	≤ $300,000	$0.005 per share	$1.0
European share CFDs	≤ €10,000,000	0.05%	€3.0
Australian share CFDs	≤ AUD 10,000,000	0.05%	AUD 5.0
Hong Kong Share CFDs	≤ HKD 300,000,000	0.05%	HKD 12.0
Japanese Share CFDs	≤ 9,000,000,000	0.03%	JPY 100.0
US 500 index CFD	–	0.005%	$1.0
UK 100 index CFD	–	0.005%	GBP 1.0
Japan 225 index CFD	–	0.01%	JPY 40.0
Forex CFD	≤ 1,000,000,000	0.20 basis points * trade value	$2.0

Crypto fees

You can trade cryptocurrencies through futures and ETNs (exchange-traded notes).

• You can trade with Bitcoin futures on the CME Group and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). The commission on one Bitcoin futures contract is $10 at the CME and $5 at the CBOE.
• Bitcoin and Ether ETNs are available on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. IB charges a 0.05% fee when you trade on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and the minimum amount is SEK 49.

If you want to learn more about crypto trading, check out our crypto blogpost.

Asset management service

Interactive Brokers provides an asset management service, called Interactive Advisors. It is a mix of mutual funds and a robo-advisor. It’s suitable for you if you don’t want to manage your investments on your own or just need a bit more confidence in investing.

Besides the usual brokerage commissions, there is an annual management fee ranging from 0.08% to 1.50%, depending on the amount you invest. The required minimum investment amount is $5,000.

There are two ways to invest with Interactive Advisor:

1. Answer a couple of questions, based on which Interactive Advisor will compile a portfolio that is automatically rebalanced.
2. Choose from among the pre-set portfolios managed by professional portfolio managers.

Non-trading fees

Interactive Brokers has average non-trading fees. There is no account or deposit fee. The first withdrawal each month is also free of charge, while subsequent withdrawals carry a fee.

On the negative side, the inactivity fee is high. The amount of inactivity fee depends on many factors.

Interactive Brokers non-trading fees

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Account fee	No	No	No
Inactivity fee	Yes	Yes	No
Deposit fee	$0	$0	$0
Withdrawal fee	$0	$0	$0

The inactivity fee depends on your account balance, your age, and there are waivers which might apply:

Interactive Brokers’ inactivity fee

1) First three calendar month it’s waived

2) Total assets’ value is more than $100,000

1) First three calendar month it’s waived

2) Total assets’ value is more than $100,000

*If you generate a commission in the calendar month, then it’ll be the difference between the commission you generated and the inactivity fee. For example, if you generate a $15 commission and have an account balance of less than $2,000, then the monthly inactivity fee is $5.

Interactive Brokers review
Account opening

IB’s account opening process is fully digital and the required minimum deposit is low. On the negative side, the online registration is complicated and account verification takes around 2 business days.

Account balance less than $2,000	Account balance above $2,000	Account owner is younger than 25 years old
Monthly inactivity fee	$20*	$10*	$3*
Potential waivers	Not applicable

Pros	Cons
• Fully digital	• Not user-friendly
• No minimum deposit for most accounts types	• Confusing messages throughout the process

Can you open an account?

Interactive Brokers is present on every continent, so you can most likely open an account. Only countries with highly unstable political or economic backgrounds are excluded, such as North Korea.

What is the minimum deposit at Interactive Brokers?

The required Interactive Brokers minimum deposit is $0 . However, there is a $2,000 minimum if you would like to trade on margin or short sale. Trading on margin means that you are trading with borrowed money, also known as leverage.

Account types

Interactive Brokers offers many account types, which fall into two big groups:

• accounts for individual traders and investors
• accounts for institutions

As an individual trader or investor, you can open many account types. A few of them, like an IRA account, are available only for US clients.

Interactive Brokers account types

Account types	Short description
Individuals	Account is owned and used by a single individual
Joint	Account is owned and used by two individuals
Trust	Account is held by a Trustee (separate legal entity) for your benefit
IRA	Individual retirement account, which is only available for US clients
UGMA/UTMA	Account for clients who are minors, which is only available for US clients
Friends and Family	Account for a client group of up to 15 members
Family Office	Account for an individual who is a Family Office Manager
Small Business	Account for small corporations
Advisor	Account for an individual who manages both client administration and the client’s money
Money Manager	Account for an individual who is hired on behalf of another advisor.

Besides the various account types, you can choose from the IBKR PRO and IBKR LITE service plans if you are a US resident. They differ in pricing and available trading platforms.

Comparison of IBKR LITE and IBKR PRO

Features	IBKR LITE	IBKR PRO
Commission	US exchange-listed stocks and ETFs are commission-free, while other products have fixed or tiered pricing	Fixed or tiered pricing for all products
Account fee	No account fee	Up to $10 account fee per month
Trading features	Client Portal, IBKR Mobile and IBot are available, but the desktop trading platform is not	All platforms are available, including the desktop trading platform

Integrated Investment Management

Interactive Brokers has expanded the account features for US residents with the introduction of the Interactive Brokers debit card, and the Integrated Investment Management program. Such new features include:

• Direct debit card deposits
• Borrowing
• Paying bills without checks through Bill Pay

All US cash and margin accounts are eligible for application. To apply, go to your Client Portal – Transfer & Pay, then Debit Card menu.

How to open your account

The account opening process is fully digital but overly complicated. After your online registration, the account verification takes around 2 business days, which is a bit slower than the usual account verification time for most brokers.

At first, you have to go through a 5-step registration process, which takes roughly an hour. We experienced a few bugs and errors throughout the process, such as disappearing information and various error messages. It was complicated, with confusing and unclear messages.

During the account opening process, you have to provide some personal information and there are also questions about your trading experience.

In the end, you have to verify your identity and residency by uploading the required documents:

• Verification of identity: passport / national ID / driver’s license
• Verification of residency: bank statement / utility bill / driver’s license / credit card statement / other document

This is a standard process, which in financial lingo is called a KYC (know-your-customer) process. This is required to make sure you are truly identifiable.

Interactive Brokers review
Deposit and withdrawal

Interactive Brokers offers many account base currency options and one free withdrawal per month. The main drawbacks are that you can only use bank transfer and the process is not user-friendly.

Pros	Cons
• No deposit fee	• Credit/Debit card not available
• Several account base currencies	• Not user-friendly
• First withdrawal each month free

Account base currencies

Interactive Brokers provides a lot of account base currencies, which is great if you trade with assets in various currencies.

Interactive Brokers account base currencies

Australian Dollar	British Pound	Canadian Dollar	Chinese Yuan
Czech Koruna	Danish Krone	Euro	Hong Kong Dollar
Hungarian Forint	Israeli Shekel	Japanese Yen	Mexican Peso
New Zealand Dollar	Norwegian Krone	Russian Rouble	Singapore Dollar
Swedish Krona	Swiss Franc	US Dollar

Compared to its competitors, you can see that IB’s selection is similar to that of Saxo Bank, while Degiro offers less base currencies.

Base currencies at Interactive Brokers compared to similar brokers

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Number of base currencies	19	19	9

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your account base currency, you don’t have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on the currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. Revolut or Transferwise both offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Deposit fees and options

Interactive Brokers deposits are free of charge. However, deposit options are limited, as neither credit/debit cards nor electronic wallets can be used.

If you reside in the US, however, you have multiple extra options, such as:

• ACH (Automated Clearing House)
• Check
• Online bill payment
• Direct Rollover (IRA accounts only)
• Trustee-to-Trustee (IRA accounts only)

Also, since early 2020 Interactive Brokers introduced direct debit card deposits as part of their Integrated Investment Management account. This is only available for US residents.

Australian clients can also use BPAY as a deposit method.

Interactive Brokers deposit options

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Bank transfer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Credit/Debit card	No	Yes	No
Electronic wallets	No	No	Yes

A bank transfer can take 2-3 business days to arrive. You can only deposit money from sources that are in your name.

Interactive Brokers withdrawal fees and options

The first withdrawal each month is free of charge, while subsequent withdrawals have a fee.

Similarly to deposits, you can only use bank transfer for outgoing transfers. US residents can also withdraw via ACH or check.

Interactive Brokers withdrawal fees and options

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Bank Transfer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Credit/Debit card	No	No	No
Electronic wallets	No	No	No
Withdrawal fee	$0	$0	$0

The fee for subsequent withdrawals after the first free one depends on the currency and the method you use for withdrawal.

Interactive Brokers withdrawal fee

Withdrawal’s currency	Wire	BACS/GIRO/ACH/EFT/SEPA
USD*	10	1
EUR	8	1
GBP	7	1
CAD	12	2
CNH	60	7
HKD	95	8
NZD, SGD	15	1
AUD	15	N/A
CHF	11	N/A
CZK	300	N/A
DKK	30	N/A
HUF	6,000	N/A
ILS	30	N/A
JPY	1,600	N/A
NOK, SEK	50	N/A
MXN	100	N/A
PLN	40	N/A
RUB	330	N/A
ZAR	200	N/A

*Check payments are also available in USD and they carry a $4 fee.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Interactive Brokers? We tested it and it took 2 business days. While you wait, a new feature since early 2020 lets you track your withdrawal in real-time on the Client Portal.

How do you withdraw money from Interactive Brokers?

• First, log into the Client Portal then click on ‘Transfer & Pay’ and ‘Transfer funds.’
• Select the account you want to use for the transaction.
• At the top of the page, click on the ‘Withdraw Funds’ tab.
• Select the currency of your withdrawal, then the withdrawal method.
• Fill out the required information.
• Submit your withdrawal request.
• You can see the status of your request in ‘View Transaction History.’

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Interactive Brokers review
Web trading platform

Interactive Brokers’s web platform is simple and easy to use even for beginners. On the negative side, it is not customizable.

Pros	Cons
• User-friendly	• Limited customizability (for charts, workspace)
• Clear fee report
• Two-step (safer) login

Interactive Brokers platforms to choose from

Trading platform	Score	Available
Web	4.3 / 5 stars	Yes
Mobile	3.5 / 5 stars	Yes
Desktop	3.0 / 5 stars	Yes

When you trade online at IB, you can choose between two web platforms: the Client Portal and Webtrader. In this review, we tested the Client Portal since it is more user-friendly and easier to use than Webtrader. For IBKR Lite users, only the Client Portal is available.

The Client Portal is available in multiple languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovakian, Spanish, Traditional Chinese.

Look and feel

The Client Portal platform is particularly user-friendly and intuitive. You will easily find every feature even if you have just started trading. On the negative side, it is not customizable at all.

Login and security

Interactive Brokers provides several options for safe logins:

1. You can use two-step authentication through SMS messaging.
2. IB Key is a two-step authentication feature available through IBKR Mobile.
3. A bit old-fashioned way is the Secure Login System, where you get a plastic code card.

Search functions

The search function is easy-to-use and works better than on the desktop platform.

All you have to do is type in the preferred asset’s name, and you can see a list of exchanges and products. The search bar can be found in the upper right corner.

Placing orders

Client Portal offers many order types. If you prefer more sophisticated orders, you should use the desktop trading platform. Available order types are:

• Limit
• Market
• Stop
• Stop Limit
• Limit-on-Close
• Market-on-Close
• Trailing Stop
• Trailing Stop Limit

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

You can also use a lot of order time limits:

• Day
• Good-til-Canceled (GTC)
• Immediate or Cancel
• Market-on-Open
• Limit-on-Open

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications, but only through the built-in chat. We think that it would be better if users could set alarms when they set up their order.

Portfolio and fee reports

Portfolio and fee reports are transparent. The portfolio tab gives a clear overview of your performance, including historical profit/loss balance and the fees you paid.

Interactive Brokers review
Mobile trading platform

The Interactive Brokers mobile trading platform has a lot of functions and a useful chatbot, but its user interface could be better.

Pros	Cons
• Two-step (safer) login	• User interface is a bit complex
• Good search function
• Good variety of order types

IBKR Mobile, Interactive Brokers’s mobile trading platform, is available both for iOS and Android. In this review, we tested it on Android.

The number of available languages is almost the same as at the web trading platform, only Slovakian is not supported.

Look and feel

The mobile trading app is handier compared to the web platform. On the other hand, its overall look and user-friendliness lags behind the competitors’ mobile platforms.

Login and security

You can use a two-step login, which is safer than a simple login. Furthermore, if your device has a fingerprint sensor, you can also use biometric authentication for convenience.

Search functions

The search function works well, just like at the web trading platform. You can access the search button easily from any menu.

When you type in the asset you are looking for, the app lists all asset types. For example, if you search for Apple, you can choose between Apple stock, futures, options, warrants, as well as CFDs.

After you have chosen the product are you interested in, you will be greeted by an information and trading window, which shows:

• Asset market information
• An interactive chart with technical indicators
• Related news
• Some fundamental data
• Summary of the latest analyst report
• The buy and sell buttons that transfer you to the order panel.

Placing orders

IBKR Mobile has the same order types as the web trading platform.

Alerts

You can set alerts only via the chatbot, which is not the most intuitive method.

Special feature – Chatbot

The most innovative and exciting function within the app is the chatbot, call IBot. You can use the chatbot to execute or close an order, or to get basic info quickly.

The chatbot understands basic commands, such as “apple price” or “buy 1 apple share.” On top of this, you can also search for company fundamentals, like dividend yields or PE ratios. Some of the functions, like displaying a chart, are also available via the chatbot.

Interactive Brokers review
Desktop trading platform

Interactive Brokers provides a desktop platform for IBKR PRO accounts with many customizable options and advanced execution functions. However, the platform is not user-friendly and is more suited for advanced traders.

Pros	Cons
• Clear fee report	• Not user-friendly
• Good customizability (for charts, workspace)	• Poor search function
• Good variety of order types	• Too complex for beginners

Interactive Brokers’s desktop platform Trader Workstation (TWS) is so advanced that even a separate review would not be able to cover all of its features. Nevertheless, we tried to provide you with a comprehensive summary of TWS.

In the desktop trading platform, you have literally every feature you could desire. Whether you were dreaming of replicating your favorite ETF or trading with chatbots – with Interactive Brokers, you can do them both.

The desktop trading platform is available in multiple languages, but fewer than the web trading platform. For example, Dutch and Slovakian are missing.

Look and feel

To be honest, this is by far the most complex platform that we at Brokerchooser have ever reviewed. This platform is ideal for you if you consider yourself a professional user. If you are a beginner or someone who seeks long-term investments, you may have difficulty navigating all of TWS’s features.

Despite its complexity the platform is highly customizable, for example, you can set up your own templates.

Login and security

It has the same security features as the web trading platform. You can turn on two-step authentication, which makes the platform safer to use.

Search functions

The search function is the platform’s weakest feature. Search results are not structured and it is quite difficult to filter out the product you are looking for.

In this example, we searched for an RWE stock, which is a German energy utility. However, when we typed in “rwe,” all the structured and derivative products were listed in the results as well, which made it harder to find the real stock.

Using the chatbot is great substitute solution. When you search for RWE directly through this feature, it will direct you to the stock listed on the main stock exchange.

Placing orders

Trading through TWS, IKBR PRO offers many different order types.

Order types at Interactive Brokers

Limit	Mid Price	Market	Market-to-Limit
Stop	Stop-Limit	Trail	Trail-Limit
Relative	Retail Price Improvement	Snap Market	Snap To Midpoint
Snap to Primary	Market-on-Close	Limit-on-Close	IBALGO
Hedge (with Forex, or Pair Stock)

On its desktop platform, Interactive Brokers provides Smart Routing, a great feature that detects the best possible route (e.g. exchange) for your trades automatically. TD Ameritrade also has a similar service.

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

The order term options also include some special types beyond the usual ones:

• Good ’till Canceled (GTC)
• Good-Til-Date (GTD)
• Market-on-open (MOO)
• Limit-on-open (LOO)
• Immediate-or-cancel (IOC)
• Fill-or-Kill (FOK)
• Day ‘Til canceled (DTC)

Alerts and notifications

Alerts and notifications can be set in the ‘Configuration panel.’ You can select email, SMS, or mobile pop-up notifications.

You can also set additional alerts, for example for price changes, daily profits or losses, executed trades, etc.

Reports on the Interactive Brokers desktop platform are really transparent, just like on the web platform.

Interactive Brokers review
Markets and products

Through Interactive Brokers you can access an extremely wide range of markets, with every product type available.

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Stock	Yes	Yes	Yes
ETF	Yes	Yes	Yes
Forex	Yes	Yes	No
Fund	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bond	Yes	Yes	Yes
Options	Yes	Yes	Yes
Futures	Yes	Yes	Yes
CFD	Yes	Yes	Yes
Crypto	Yes	Yes	Yes

Interactive Brokers has a great selection of products, with an exceptional range of ETFs and bonds. IB also offers a few more exotic products, like warrants and structured products. It only lags behind its competitors in terms of its FX pair and CFD selection.

Regarding accessible stock exchanges, the Israeli Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has been added for ETF and stock trading. Since we last checked, IB provides access to almost 140 exchanges worldwide, with alternative services as well, such as Interactive Advisors. This is an asset management service, a mix of robo advisory and social trading.

Stocks and ETFs

Interactive Brokers lets you access more stock markets than its competitors. This includes major stock markets like the NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the London Stock Exchange (LSE), but also minor ones such as the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland or the Mexican markets. Other than regular stocks, penny stocks are also available.

Besides stocks, you can also trade with more than 13,000 ETFs at IB. This is much less than it was in early 2020, but it is still the most extensive selection among competitors.

Stocks and ETFs

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Stock markets (#)	78	36	30
ETFs (#)	13,000	3,100	5,400

Since December 2020, fractional shares are available at Interactive Brokers for individual accounts on all trading platforms. This means you can trade with only a portion of a share which is a great feature if you want to cut share costs.

Forex

Interactive Brokers provides a vast selection of more than 100 currency pairs; only Saxo Bank has more.

Currency pairs

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Currency pairs (#)	105	182	–

Funds

Through IB, you have access to more than 250 fund providers including big market names like Blackrock and Vanguard. Only Swissquote offers more fund providers than Interactive Brokers.

Fund providers

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Fund providers (#)	257	17	68

Bonds

Interactive Brokers gives you access to a massive number of bonds. Out of all government and corporate bonds available at IB, 1.4 million are so-called municipal bonds: these are fixed income investments issued by local US governments, cities, states or counties, but they are tradable only for US residents. The table below does not include municipal bonds in the overall number of bonds product, but even so the number of bonds available is still higher than at competitor brokers.

Bonds

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Bonds (#)	72,900	38,000	870

Options

As with other product types, Interactive Brokers has an extremely wide range of options markets. You can access the biggest options markets, like the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) or the CME Group, as well as smaller markets, such as the Korea Stock Exchange (KSE) or the Mexican Derivatives Exchange (MEXDER).

Options markets

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Options markets (#)	33	5	13

Futures

Interactive Brokers offers an extensive selection of futures products and markets. There are now 32 markets available, which is more than what competitors provide. Similarly to options, you will find both major and minor markets.

Futures markets

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Futures markets (#)	32	23	15

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Only clients who are trading through Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited are eligible to trade with CFDs. Compared to other products and competitors, IB offers an average range of CFDs, mainly stock and stock index CFDs.

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Stock index CFDs (#)	13	29	–
Stock CFDs (#)	7,100	8,800	900
ETF CFDs (#)	–	675	–
Commodity CFDs (#)	–	19	–
Bond CFDs (#)	–	5	–
Futures CFDs (#)	–	–	–

Cryptos

At IB you can trade with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETNs and Bitcoin Futures:

• Bitcoin and Ether ETNs are traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and the US OTC (Pink) markets
• Bitcoin Index is available on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and on the CME Group and Chicago Board Options Exchange(CBOE)
• Bitcoin futures are available on the CME Group and Chicago Board Options Exchange(CBOE)

If you want to know more about crypto investing, we recommend our crypto blogpost.

Interactive Brokers	Saxo Bank	DEGIRO
Cryptos (#)	2	2	2

Asset management service

Interactive Advisors, IB’s own asset management service, allows you to copy professional portfolio managers, letting you automatically make trades as professionals do.

You can choose from many portfolio managers to find the one that fits you best, with real-time portfolio performance available.

The minimum investment depends on the portfolio you want to invest in: the lowest investment amount starts at $5,000.

Interactive Brokers review
Research

Interactive Brokers has almost limitless research possibilities, but the user interface is overly complicated, hard to follow and not well designed.

Pros	Cons
• Good interactive chart	• Not user-friendly
• Trading ideas
• Data on asset fundamentals

The quality of the research available is good and you always have the freedom to choose between third-party providers.

Recommendations

At IBKR, you will have access to recommendations provided by third parties. These research tools are mostly free, but there are some you have to pay for.

Several famous news sources, like Thomson Reuters, Morningstar and Dow Jones, are available for free.

Since January 2020, Interactive Brokers incorporated two new recommendation tools called Validea and TheLeadingEdge. They provide real time analysis, in-depth reports and model portfolios for a monthly subscription. You can enable these features via your Client Portal: to do so, select Menu-Settings-User Settings and then Research Subscriptions.

Fundamental data

Interactive Brokers provides a broad selection of fundamental data on all of its platforms. These include income statements for the past six years, a dividend calendar and peer group companies, for example.

Charting

The charting features are almost endless at Interactive Brokers. There are 120 technical indicators; however, similar to the platforms, the charting tool is not user-friendly.

Other special technical tools include:

• Stock/ETF benchmarker: helps you to benchmark your stock or portfolio versus a selected benchmark
• Mutual fund and ETF replicator
• Volatility lab
• Option probability lab: a group of option analysis functions
• VaR, Sharpe: portfolio performance analyzers

News feed

You have access to:

• News
• Dailysummaries
• Multiple economiccalendars

Interactive Brokers has its own news domain called Traders’ Insight. It also provides integrated third-party news and recommendations to its desktop platform.

Upon entering the platform, you have the option to read daily summaries of the markets through the Daily Lineup. This feature helps you to be informed about the latest news and analyst recommendations. An Earnings and an Economic Calendar are also helpful quick shortcuts to start off your day.

The Economic Calendar informs you about upcoming events that will have an economic impact. The feature can be accessed separately at any time from the menu, though the design could be better. If you look for an all-around economic calendar that includes upcoming national holidays for the year 2020, find it here on IB’s page.

Interactive Brokers review
Customer service

Interactive Brokers customer service is good. They can be contacted via phone, email, live chat and an automated ‘iBot’ and provide fast and relevant answers. However, most options are not available 24/7.

Pros	Cons
• Phone support	• No 24/7 support
• Live chat
• Fast response time

You can contact Interactive Brokers via:

Customer service is available in several regions and languages, namely in English, Russian, Chinese, Indian and Japanese.

Regional Service Desks and hours of operation

Location	Number	Hours of operation (Time Zone)
United States	1 (877) 442-2757 Toll free 1 (312) 542-6901 Direct dial	14:00 (Mon – Fri) – 02:00 (Tue – Sat) (Europe/Berlin) 19:00 (Sun) – 01:00 (Mon) (Europe/Berlin)
Canada	1 (877) 745-4222 Toll free 1 (514) 847-3499 Direct dial	14:00 – 23:30 (Mon – Fri) (Europe/Berlin)
Europe	00800-42-276537 Toll free +41-41-726-9500 Direct dial +44 207-710-5695 Direct dial United Kingdom	09:00 – 18:00 (Mon – Fri) (Europe/Berlin)
Russia	8-800-100-8556 Toll free +41-41-726-9506 (Russian)	08:00 – 17:00 (Mon – Fri) (Europe/Berlin)
Hong Kong	+852-2156-7907 Direct dial	02:00 – 11:00 (Mon – Fri) (Europe/Berlin)
Australia	+61 (2) 8093 7300 Direct dial	00:30 – 10:00 (Mon – Fri) (Europe/Berlin)
India	+91 22 61289888 Direct dial +91 22 39696188 Direct dial	02:30 – 14:00 (Mon – Fri) (Europe/Berlin)
China	+86 (21) 6086 8586 Direct dial	03:00 – 12:00 (Mon – Fri) (Europe/Berlin)
Japan	+81 (3) 4588 9700 Direct dial +81 (3) 4588 9710 Direct dial (English)	01:30 – 10:30 (Mon – Fri) (Europe/Berlin)

We had lots of problems with customer service when we tested it in 2020, with long wait times one of them. On one occasion, we sent an inquiry in English and received an answer email only after four days – in Russian.

In 2020 we tested the chat, email and phone support, three times. Since 2020, the Interactive Brokers customer service improved a lot, we did not encounter any major problems. Email responses arrived within a day. The wait time for a representative in a live chatroom was rather long (e.g. more than three minutes), but after they came online, the experience was smooth with relevant answers.

The waiting time for a phone call was around one minute.

Also, since we last checked, the Inquiry Response Center got a facelift: now known as Message Center, it has improved a lot in design. We liked the modern look of the interface.

Despite all of the above, the lack of 24/7 availability is still a problem.

Interactive Brokers review
Education

Interactive Brokers offers a wide range of quality educational materials and tools, including videos, courses, webinars, a glossary, and even a demo account.

Pros	Cons
• Demo account	• Courses only available after registration
• Trading platform tutorial
• Educational videos

At Interactive Brokers you can learn in the following ways:

• Paper (demo) account
• Online courses
• Webinars
• Educational videos
• Platform tutorial videos
• Glossary
• News

Once you set up a trading account, you can also open a Paper Trading Account. This is a demo account: all paper accounts start with $1,000,000 in virtual money, which you can use to experiment with IB’s platforms and trading services. Similar to this is IBKR Mobile’s Read-only mode, which lets you check out the mobile interface, although you won’t be able to make any trades. In summary, we think these are great services, and the best way to learn how a trading platform works.

In addition to the above services, you can choose from multiple courses based on your trading skills. There is also a glossary that helps you to understand technical terms, unfamiliar expressions and acronyms.

Interactive Brokers review
Safety

Interactive Brokers is regulated by several financial authorities, including top-tier ones like the SEC in the US and the UK’s FCA. Its parent company is listed on the Nasdaq Exchange.

Pros	Cons
• Listed on stock exchange	None
• Negative balance protection
• Regulated by top-tier financial authorities

Is Interactive Brokers regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by multiple top-tier financial authorities, like the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Is Interactive Brokers safe?

To be certain, we highly advise that you check two facts: how you are protected if something goes wrong and what the background of the broker is.

How you are protected

Not all investments are protected by SIPC. In general, SIPC covers notes, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other investment company shares, and other registered securities. It does not cover instruments such as unregistered investment contracts, unregistered limited partnerships, fixed annuity contracts, currency, and interests in gold, silver, or other commodity futures contracts or commodity options.

Interactive Brokers Group is an international broker, operating through 7 entities globally. This matters for you because Interactive Brokers provides negative balance protection, and the investor protection amount and the regulating authority differ from entity to entity.

Interactive Brokers provides negative balance protection for forex spot and CFD trading, but only for retail clients from the European Union. Professional and non-EU clients are not covered with any negative balance protection

Interactive Brokers legal entities

Covered by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF), regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)

Country of clients	Protection amount	Regulator	Legal entity
European countries*	£85,000	Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)	Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited
USA	$500,000 ($250,000 cash limit)	Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)	Interactive Brokers LLC
Canada	$1,000,000	Interactive Brokers Canada Inc.
Australia	No protection	Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)	Interactive Brokers Australia PTY LTD
India	No protection	Securities and Exchange Board of India (BSE)	Interactive Brokers (India) PVT. LTD.
Japan	No protection	Financial Services Agency (FSA)	Interactive Brokers Securities Japan Inc.
Hong Kong	No protection	Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission	Interactive Brokers Hong Kong Limited

*If you are from Europe, the picture is a bit more complicated. The regulator and the protection amount also depends on what you are trading with:

• If you trade with forex, CFDs, non-US stock index options or futures, you are protected by the FCA, up to £85,000.
• If you trade with stocks, bonds, funds or US stock index options, you are protected by the US investor protection, i.e. $500,000, with a cash limit of $250,000.

As you can see, the details are not very transparent. Our best advice is to ask customer service from time to time about the protection amount of your actual portfolio.

Background

Interactive Brokers is based in the USA and was founded in 1978. During the last more than 40 years, despite multiple economic crises, IB managed to stay on top on the brokerage market, which is a good sign for the broker’s safety.

Interactive Brokers Group (the holding company of the different entities) is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. The listing makes the broker more transparent, as it has to publish financial statements regularly.

Being listed on the Nasdaq and regulated by both the UK’s FCA and the US SEC are all great signs for Interactive Brokers’s safety.

Interactive Brokers review
Bottom line

Interactive Brokers is one of the biggest US-based discount brokers, regulated by several top-tier regulators globally. We recommend this broker for advanced traders.

On the plus side, IB has a vast range of markets and products available, with diverse research tools and low costs.

There are some drawbacks though: there is a high inactivity fee and the account opening process is complicated. The desktop platform is complex and hard-to-understand, especially for beginners.

If you have experience navigating complex platforms and you like transparent low-cost trading, Interactive Brokers could be a great fit for you.

24option Broker Review 2020

In our 24option review, we will inform traders about all trading features and amazing solutions they can use while trading with 24option. Besides providing superior support in various languages, 24option has won many prestigious awards that are just confirming how good they are. 24option is regulated by CySEC and according to the broker, provides a high level of security for its clients. Read more about 24option in our detailed broker review.

24option Special Features

Traders are welcome to register with five different trading accounts and find most attractive features that perfectly fit their preferences. Trading accounts are carefully adjusted and we are sure traders will find an appropriate account that will satisfy their trading style. 24option has ensured 24option Demo account for trading newbies that will be able to practice before placing real trades.

Minimum deposit for 24option is $100 and the minimum investment is $24. Find out in our detailed article about 24option trading accounts here.

In the further text you can read more about 24option trading accounts and their features:

24option maximum leverage is 1:200 which is not the highest but it also is reasonable when one remembers that leverage increases losses as well as profits. The minimum spread on EURUSD starts from just 1.5 pips

It is noted that investors should not place trades with money that they do not afford to lose. Trading Binary Options involves substantial risk and may result in the loss of your invested capital.”

As we have already mentioned, 24option traders can first start using 24option Demo account. Demo is only available for registered traders and they will be contacted by 24option account manager to get most important info about Demo features. 24option Demo is excellent for beginners in the binary industry, but it is also a good starting point for all traders that have earlier experience too.

24option Demo account introduces all important trading tools and lets traders learn more about the trading platform. Beginners can simply place trades with virtual amount of money to spend.

24option Trading Software

24option has recently integrated MT4 platform which is mostly used for trading with Forex. The platform is available for download and it is available for both dektop or mobile version. This trading platform provides many novelties and if you are tired of using SpotOption platform, 24option and MT4 will give you a refreshing combination that could keep traders interested.

24option web-based platform is recently refreshed with a new in-house trading platform called Scipio. Scipio allows traders to trade with both binary options, CFDs or Forex.

We have found 24option offers more than just basic trading options which are especially great for traders with more experience.

Update*: 24options is leaving TechFinancials platform and they are developing their own. Read more about it in our news article.

We have found 24option offers more than just basic trading options which are especially great for traders with more experience. Among classic High/Low and Touch Options, traders can find 60 seconds, Boundary and High Yield options.

If trading platform plays a big role in trader’s preferences, then 24options might be a great selection. Traders will be happy to know that 24option provides Early Close option. Besides plentiful trading options, 24option provides a variety of expiry times that give traders even more trading choices: 60 seconds, 2 min, 5 min, 15 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 24hr+, End of Month.

24option also provides a mobile version, that might be more convenient for traders that travel a lot and have less time to trade with the desktop version.

24option Support Information

We can say that 24option support service provides various languages for its clients. 24option broker allows support on more languages and clients will be happy to get support on their mother tongue. 24option serves their clients with live chat, email, contact form or phone.

There are more than 18 different phone numbers available, and we are ensured traders will find the appropriate number for support. In our 24option broker review, we have tested live chat service, which is rated as prompt and provides all important support for its clients.

Live chat is supported in various languages, so if you are not very good with English, their support agents will try to find adequate support for your language. If traders prefer more classical support service, they can send questions on [email protected]

Tip: Trade with a reputable and regulated broker such as IQ Option.

24option Banking and Company Information

24option provides diverse banking opportunities where traders can use plenty methods, depending on their preferences. 24option supports: Visa, Bank Wire, MasterCard, JCB, Diners Club, Dankort, Laser, Visa Electron, Liberty Reserve, Skrill/Moneybookers and even more. A wide amount of payment services enables easier transfers since traders don’t need to open accounts with new providers.

First withdrawal in a month is free of charge. This is a great advantage since most of the traders charge for every withdrawal. Traders are recommended to check 24option withdrawal fees that apply after the first request. Minimum withdrawal with 24option is $100 and it is important to know that traders need to verify their 24option accounts before their withdrawal will be processed.

24option will charge different fees, depending on payment method:

• Bank wire: $30
• Credit cards: 3,5%
• Skrill/Moneybookers: 2%
• Liberty Reserve: 1%

24option is serving its services from 2020 and as we have already mentioned, it is regulated by CySEC. This certificate confirms that broker follows certain rules and conditions determined by this regulatory body. One of the important things to mention is that 24option segregates their client’s accounts from a central bank account.

24option is available for trading in all countries except in USA and Australia.