Interactive Brokers Review 2022

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) provides access to over 100 market centers in 24 countries, allowing traders to trade stocks, currencies, futures, options, ETFs, bonds, and CFDs. This review will look at everything they offer, including trading fees, the Webtrader platform, mobile apps, customer service, and more.

IBKR has gone through several names over the years, including TP & CO and Timber Hill Inc. Interactive Brokers Inc, on the other hand, had been entrenched by 1993. As a result, users benefit from low commissions and margin rates, as well as defined pricing tiers.

In terms of commissions, margin rates, and worldwide trading accessibility, the company is now a market leader. Its $6 billion in equity capital indicates its performance as well as its clout.

IB has offices all around the world, including Canada, India, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Pros and Cons

Pros

• More than 600 investment services
• 320+ Research Services
• Low trading costs
• Opportunity to earn extra income by share borrowing service
• 135 markets
• Free trading tools

Cons

• High minimum deposit
• No MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

Is Interactive Brokers a Scam: Regulations

The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Financial Conduct Authority are all involved in the regulation of IBKR LLC. In addition, a number of other regulatory bodies around the world oversee it as well.

You obtain a high level of security and protection when it comes to exchanges. This is due to the fact that they use two-factor authentication. Additionally, you can choose to encrypt communications using normal SSL encryption.

Keeping track of the physical token and remembering to use it each time might be a chore. However, even if hackers obtain your username and password, it should prevent them from gaining access to your account. Finally, there are fund transfer limits in place that should prevent someone from withdrawing money from your account without your permission.

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Trading account types

At Interactive Brokers, you can choose from a variety of account kinds, including:

Cash Account type

Only long securities, long options contracts, and covered short positions can be entered using cash accounts.

Margin account type

Margin accounts allow you to buy securities on credit. You can short securities positions, futures contracts, and naked options positions as a result of this.

Portfolio margin account type 

Through these, you can trade in the same way that regular margin accounts do. They do, however, use a different approach for computing margin needs. These requirements are frequently put in place to ensure that consumers can profit from more leverage, but you’ll need a minimum account balance of $100,000 to qualify.

You will also get access to a practice/demo account. This free trial entitles you to unlimited simulated trading without risking any real money. The feedback on the demo account has been excellent. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll have access to a wide range of trading tools and financial instruments, as well as the ability to customize the interface quickly and easily.

Apart from these, Interactive Brokers also provide friends and family accounts, and family office accounts for organisations.

In total, there are 12 categories of accounts given on the website, including

1. Individual, Joint, Trust, IRA, and UGMA/UTMA Accounts
2. Friends and Family Accounts
3. Family Office Accounts
4. Small Business
5. Advisor Accounts
6. Money Manager Accounts
7. Broker / FCM Accounts
8. Proprietary Trading Group Accounts
9. Hedge and Mutual Fund Accounts
10. Compliance Officers
11. Administrators
12. Institutional Hedge Fund Investors

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Account opening

The account opening process in IBKR consists of four steps.

1. Register by providing the personal information needed to register an account and then wait for verification.
2. Your account will be enabled after it has been validated.
3. You must now fund your account using one of the many available payment options, including UPI, online bank transfers, and sophisticated payment networks such as SticPay, Neteller, and Skrill. There is a set minimum deposit for each of these payment options.
4. Start trading on the platform that best matches your needs.

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Trading platform

For many, the Trader Workstation is the most appealing feature (TWS). It may be used to trade a wide variety of securities, including ETFs, futures, and cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. In addition, it’s compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Trader Workstation

The platforms perform admirably in terms of charting. You have a total of 124 studies to choose from when creating a chart. However, because IBKR wants to promote its TWS platform, it does not actively support MetaTrader 4 or 5.

They’ve devised a simple way to make watch list maintenance simple when there are so many asset classes to choose from. Put in any stock symbol to see a list of all available securities. Your watch lists can then comprise a wide range of items. You can have up to 338 distinct columns in total. So, IB’s proprietary platform is unrivalled when it comes to customizability.

Overall, this trading platform is a good alternative for advanced traders. It’s an efficient and entertaining platform to use because of its comprehensive features, watchlists, and customised account interface. The risk assessments and technical tools are merely a part of the overall package.

Beginners, on the other hand, may find the Trader Workstation overwhelming. Instead, customers might wish to take a look at the mobile app or their IB WebTrader. The latter is a simple browser-based trading platform that is easier to use.

Mobile App

Apps for iPhone and Android are available from IB. Tablets are also supported by their apps. Because the interface employs Key technology, you must enter a PIN or swipe as an added security step.

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Trading instruments

You can trade in wide range of financial instruments. The various asset classes include stocks and options, futures, currency pairs, cryptocurrencies, metals, bonds and mutual funds. 

There commission and leverage offered on all these products is fixed and can easily be accessed by clients. 

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Commission and spreads

In terms of pricing comparisons, Interactive’s forex spreads and other fees are comparable. This is due to the fact that the majority of the brand’s customers are professional traders and institutions. As a result, offering low commission rates is critical.

On all products and at comparable pricing, you may expect a modest, fixed commission rate of $0.005 with a $1.00 minimum. Stocks, stock futures, options, futures options, forex bonds, and CFDs are currently included.

European clients can also choose a fixed-rate cost of 3 EUR/GBP for trades worth less than 6,000 EUR/GBP, after which the rate rises to 0.005%.

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Leverage 

For clients with accounts worth more than $1 million, initial margin rates range from 1.41 percent to 1.91 percent.

However, while margin trading in futures and options can improve your buying power, it can compound your losses. If not handled carefully, these loans can swiftly wipe out a trader’s entire account balance.

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Deposit and withdrawals

Before you can begin day trading, you must first fund your account. A $10,000 deposit is required for individual accounts, Trading Group Masters, and Broker Masters. There are two different ways to make a deposit. Deposits that move capital and deposit notifications are also included in this category.

A small number of high-risk margin customers are charged an exposure fee by IB. This is to make up for the danger of servicing such high-risk accounts. The deductible amount is determined by proprietary algorithms and is based on the individual’s circumstances.

Following the completion of the deposit notification, you will receive specific instructions on where and how to pay funds. Note that the instructions you receive will be specific to your area and the sort of assets you have. Your funds will not be moved as a result of a deposit notice. To do so, you must contact your bank or broker and request that the transfer be completed.

Interactive Brokers accepts wire and Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) withdrawals. Your bank may charge a wire transfer fee. When you open an account, you will get wire instructions through email. Debit cards, credit cards, and Mastercard are all accepted methods of payment.

The first withdrawal of each calendar month will be free of charge. All further withdrawals, however, will be subject to platform withdrawal fees.

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Educational and research support

IB educational support includes a trader’s academy, which contains several resources for traders. In addition, there are some insightful sections, webinars, quant blog, short videos, and glossary.

The brokerage firm also provides the economic calendar for research support. 

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Customer support

If you have any security difficulties, you must use their contact telephone number, which may be located on the website, such as resets or security tokens. Contact support via phone is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

The TWS software is well-understood by the customer service representatives. They may take you through all of their items. They can also assist you in viewing your account status, closing your account, and transferring funds.

Fortunately, the chat room and forum staff are generally responsive and helpful. They can keep you up to date on new account incentives and show you how to upgrade to a margin account.

Other ways to reach customer support are live chat and email.

Interactive Brokers Review 2022: Verdict

The firm offers exceptionally low costs and tight spreads while facilitating genuinely global trading. With their bespoke solid trading platform, you can simply switch between forex, futures, options, and CFDs from a single screen. 

In my opinion, you can easily trade with the most popular and common trading platform MetaTrader 4 (MT4) which is offered by a reputed brokerage firm Investby.

Overall, IB is probably best suited to experienced traders with a large amount of money. In general, there are a lot of simple ways to contact IB.