Interactive Brokers: Reputable Brokerage With Good Reviews

Interactive Brokers, or IBKR for short, gives global access to traders who want to invest in stocks, bonds, options, futures, and currencies. So, whether you’re a forex trader or you’re exploring Bitcoin, Interactive Brokers is potentially well-suited to your needs.

Trading Platform Overview

This platform has gotten numerous accolades from Investopedia, Nerdwallet, Barron’s, and Stockbroker.com. One of the reasons for the widespread popularity is that the platform was built with the needs of a professional investor in mind―without forgetting to include the usability features that a novice will appreciate.

The platform includes a front-facing client portal that gives a trader insights into their portfolio at a glance. There’s also a Trader Workstation that provides power and flexibility to execute trades across multiple asset classes. At last count, you could execute 20 different order types.

And, of course, being in the 21st century, there’s gotta be an app. IBKR also has APIs that you can access to build custom trading applications.

Key Features

Free trading tools: Become a better trader by testing out IBKR’s free tools.

Comprehensive reporting: Get an in-depth view of all the data. Not only do you get the basics of trade confirmations in real-time, but you’ll also see details about margins, transaction costs, and more. As you get more trades under your belt and build your portfolio, you can also use the portfolio analysis tool for even more insights.

Flexible trading strategies: Execute any type of order imaginable and get some hand holding along the way.

Advanced research tools: It’s not uncommon for a platform to offer plenty of real-time data but leave you in the lurch when it comes to doing research and identifying new opportunities based on past data. Interactive Brokers has some of the most comprehensive research tools available and caters to both beginning and advanced traders.

Educational content: IBKR believes in the idea of no trader being left behind. Therefore, there’s tons of educational material and content to indoctrinate you into the world of trading and make you the best possible trader. After all, the better you do, the better IBKR can do.

From a regulatory perspective, we see IBKR is about as trustworthy a forex broker as you can get, with licenses in a whopping six tier-one jurisdictions. High-volume traders will appreciate that there are no spreads, but you will be subject to commissions based on your transaction size.

There are also fees involved if you’re not an active trader or your account doesn’t incur any commissions. For this reason, IBKR is recommended for those committed to trading regularly and with decent volume. This is especially true given the minimum deposit requirement of $10,000. There are exceptions to this $10,000 rule depending on where you reside and how old you are.