Interactive Brokers Review 2023: How It Differs From Other Brokers?

Interactive Brokers, founded in 1978 by Thomas Peterffy, provides a range of brokerage services with a focus on wide access to markets, low fees, and effective trading.

Interactive Brokers Main Highlights

🚀 Minimum deposit:	0$
⚖️ Leverage:	Up to 1:100
🛡️ Regulations & Licenses:	US SEC, FSCS, CFTC, FCA
💵 Deposits/Withdrawals:	Bank wire, Bill pay, ACH, Direct Debit / Electronic Money Transfer.
💻 Trading platform:	IBKR Lite, IBKR PRO, Mobile app
🌙 Islamic Account:	No
🔗 Main domain:	interactivebrokers.com

A Look at Interactive Brokers

Since 1978, Thomas Peterffy has been the chairman of Interactive Brokers. They provide brokerage services with a focus on wide market access, low costs, and reliable trade execution. IBKR is well-funded and publically traded, with over two million customer accounts and daily trade values of almost two billion USD, as of February 2023.

This discount broker provides a transparent pricing system, as well as low-margin prices. However, since there are so many assets and tools, it will take time to understand the pricing and figure out how to use the platform.

The company recently made it possible for people to buy and sell digital money and tiny slices of stocks from the United States and Europe. The Impact app is a major project that allows people to invest in companies that are doing good for the environment, society, and governance.

Interactive Brokers Account Types

Individual account

Client	Single account holder
Trading access	The account holder has full control. They can also give other people permission to use the account with a Power of Attorney document.

Joint account

Client	2 account holders
Trading access	Both account holders can use all features. They can also give someone else authority to use their account by granting them a Power of Attorney.

Trust account

Client	A type of arrangement where one party holds assets for another party’s benefit.
Trading access	At least one trustee has the ability to use all features.

IRA account

Client	A Retirement Account for individuals who pay US taxes.
Trading access	Same as individuals

UGMA/UTMA account

Client	A person or organization who looks after a young person’s money until they reach a certain age. Only available in the United States.
Trading access	The Custodian has full access to all activities.

Products Offered by Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers has a wide array of products available for trading. It adds more options regularly in response to customer requests and connects to new digital exchanges as soon as possible. Clients can buy up to 46,000 mutual funds with no extra fees, and none of them require an upfront payment.

Stocks	17,500+ U.S. available
ETFs	150+ no transaction fee ETFs (PRO users)
Mutual funds	Over 46,000 funds and 18,000+ no transaction fee funds
Bonds	Corporate, municipal, treasury, CDs, international
Options	30+ market centers
Futures	& futures options
International trading	Stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, funds, CFDs (150 exchanges in 33 countries)
Forex currency pairs	24 currencies and 100+ trading pairs
Fractional share trading on U.S. stocks	NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ, ARCA, or BATS, as well as OTC Pink U.S.
Cryptocurrency trading offered by IBKR	Access to 8 coins: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash

Interactive Brokers Trading Platform

IBKR global trader

Trade stock markets from all over the world, such as NYSE, NASDAQ, LSE, and HKSE. Trade US ETFs, including QQQ and SPY, 24/7, as well as options and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

IBKR client portal

Stay Up to Date – Stay up to date on your key account information, such as your Net Liquidation Value, P&L, Buying Power and more – all in real-time.

Track Your Performance – Monitor your portfolio performance with our easy-to-read cumulative and monthly return charts.

Everything You Need. Made Easy – All the essential information about your account is organized and available on the Client Portal home page. Monitor your rate of return, current positions, recent transactions, notifications and messages, portfolio news, available cash, and more.

IBKR mobile

With the IBKR Mobile app, you can access over 150 markets worldwide and trade stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and more. The app also includes advanced order types and trading tools, as well as over 50 data columns and access to institutional quality research.

Trader worstation (TWS)

TWS Trader Workstation allows traders, investors, and institutions to buy and sell stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and funds across more than 150 markets around the world using one platform.

Interactive Brokers Education

IBKR campus

IBKR campus offers a large source of educations and tools:

• Latest financial news.
• Financial courses.
• Upcoming webinars.
• IBKR podcasts.
• IBKR quant articles.

Trader’s academy

For traders, investors, educators and students, there are free online courses available to learn about the concepts and tools of financial trading. These courses provide lessons that use award-winning trading tools and come with notes and quizzes to help solidify each lesson.

Interactive Brokers Deposits & Withdrawals

Credit Period is the amount of time, typically measured in days, before funds are available to be traded in the customer’s account. The posting of the credit is done after the end of the relevant day. For example, if the Credit Period is four business days, the credit is posted at the close of the fourth day.

The Withdrawal Hold Period is the number of days before funds deposited can be withdrawn. This period begins on the Entry Date and finishes after the close of the relevant day. For instance, if the period is six business days, funds can be withdrawn on the seventh business day.

Interest is not paid during the hold period for checks. If this is a concern, customers can send an electronic funds transfer (such as wire, ACH, SEPA, or BACS) and interest is paid from the settlement date of the deposit.

No physical currency

Interactive Brokers does not accept physical currency (cash) deposits and will charge a 1% fee (with a minimum of $50) for any physical currency deposits. US Treasury Bills may be deposited as collateral, however, a minimum of $1,000,000 is required to initiate the transfer. To start this process, contact Customer Service.

Physical stock certificates are not accepted by Interactive Brokers.

Third-party deposits are discouraged and generally rejected by Interactive Brokers, as they are highly susceptible to fraud and money laundering. The amount of interest paid on credit balances varies depending on market conditions and can be found on the Interactive Brokers website. Any fees charged by the financial institution involved during the process of wiring funds to the IBKR account are the responsibility of the customer.

Before wiring funds, customers should ask their institution if they or their correspondent banks charge for that service.

• For wire deposits, routing instructions are available on the Client Portal and vary depending on currency type. If instructions are not followed accurately, the deposit may be rejected or automatically converted based on the policies of the bank.
• For check deposits, IBKR will only accept checks made payable to the IBKR account holder, with the last name matching the individual account holder or affiliation with the account in the case of organization/institution accounts. In the US, checks may also be deposited through the Mobile Check Deposit feature, but they must be endorsed as directed and the check must be retained until deposit confirmation.

For the withdrawal methods:

• Wire.
• US Automated Clearing House (ACH) Transfer Initiated at IBKR.
• Direct Debit / Electronic Money Transfer.

Interactive Brokers Regulations and Licenses

IBKR is controlled by the US government and is a member of the SIPC fund. Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited is approved by the FCA and the products they offer are protected by the UK FSCS.

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