Interactive Brokers Review 2022
Interactive Brokers, one of the biggest US-based discount brokers, was founded in 1977. 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).
Given that the broker has licenses from multiple top-tier regulators, has a long track record and publicly disclosed financials while being listed on a stock exchange; it all points towards IB being a safe service provider.
Interactive Brokers recently launched a new app for global stock trading
In addition, Interactive Brokers also has an app you can use for ESG investing
Pros
- • Low trading fees
- • Wide range of products
- • Many great research tools
Cons
- • Complicated account opening process
- • Complex desktop trading platform
- • Understaffed customer service
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) leads the list of the most comprehensive investment platforms. Clients can trade stocks, options, futures, forex, cryptocurrencies, bonds, and funds in 150 markets from a single integrated account. Sustainable investors will be happy with the Impact Dashboard and app, which helps you evaluate assets through a socially responsible investing (SRI) lens. The Trader Workstation (TWS) downloadable platform serves professional traders and sophisticated, active investors interested in complex technical and fundamental trading tools and deep research. Interactive Brokers stands alone in its breadth of assets, research reports, global market access, tools, calculators, and educational materials. This range of products and services is both a blessing and a curse. IBKR’s sheer wealth of information sometimes can be challenging to digest. That said, the free paper trading and 3-month trial give users a path to try out this comprehensive investment broker. Founded in 1993, by current chairman Thomas Peterffy, Interactive Brokers has a streamlined approach to brokerage services that focuses on broad market access, low costs, and superior trade execution. Well-capitalized and publicly traded, IBKR has 1.92 million client accounts and $2.17 million in daily trade values. This discount broker offers a competitive and transparent fee schedule along with rock-bottom margin pricing. On the negative side, with the breadth of assets and complex tools, it takes time to wade through the pricing guide and navigate the platform. Continuing its commitment to innovate, the company recently added cryptocurrency access and fractional shares trading for U.S. and European stocks. The Impact app is a big initiative to provide investors the opportunity to trade companies based on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) leanings at a granular level. Last but not least, the GlobalTrader app is a boon for international investors who are looking for mobile access to markets. New features and products are regularly added to the IBKR trading platforms, with additional funds regularly added to the massive number of U.S. and international mutual funds. IBKR is a superb platform for advanced and professional traders looking for a massive selection of order types to execute sophisticated trading strategies across assets and markets. Intermediate investors will also appreciate the breadth of assets and the growing educational and research resources. Beginners may be best suited to a more streamlined investment broker, as IBKR can have too many products and services for the new investor.
Filled all the paper work for a company got the account open then i get hit with we need your ss nuber and your drivers license again why do they need my ss #when my company has its own EIN when i talked to the about it i was told thats the way it works which makes no sense why have a company
It is a great platform but it some times is difficult to operate. It will help to have a quick 30 min video that helps how to operate. It is true that it is a training videos but there are so much and some time not perfectly organize. I tried to find to configure but/sell buttons but it has been impossible there for I’m looking out side of IB but still not really professionals.
Core and deep scam organization, luring and calling to join the community where trades are executed with no return of investment. Though Strickensḙige made my refund successfully
Interactive Brokers offers access to markets around the world, I have never come across any stock which wasn’t available on IB. IB is very intuitive to use, in addition their customer service is really helpful. It has been the best broker experience ever since!
Although the web interface is very nice, TWS is not very good, but I believe it will be better, I get opinions that thinkorswim is better in option trading, I wish you to be better than thinkorswim platform in option trading
It is a great platform but it some times is difficult to operate. It will help to have a quick 30 min video that helps how to operate. It is true that it is a training videos but there are so much and some time not perfectly organize. I tried to find to configure but/sell buttons but it has been impossible there for I’m looking out side of IB but still not really professionals.
Ever since the migration to GFIS as data provider I get frequent issues. Long wait times for quotes to load, long wait times for charts to load, we’re talking minutes here and several restarts plus an occasional cache clear when it’s extra slow. Never occurred with old system.
I personally like interactive brokers. It’s not a typical retail broker and it takes some time to get used to the interface, but execution, etc is best.
The web based interface seems to struggle loading data unless the broadband is large
the orginal rep I talked to was the best I have talked to but flow up was terrinble by corp. actions .action did not get done ih timely matter, it was like the rep was going through the actions with out looking at the ticket and telling me I HAD TO DO THINGS BUT NOT TELLING ME HOW. YOUR WHOLE CUST.SERVIVE NEEDS A MAJOR UPGRADE. also your IT service sucks too.
All around good performance. This is no easy feat as pertains to a brokerage with so many moving parts; easily more than any other service business.
Make debit/credit card deposit great again!
Considering the limited high-quality online stockbroker alternatives for non-U.S. citizens Interactive Brokers is a good choice. They offer stocks that you won’t find anywhere else and all that with low fees. However, they could improve their customer service, for example by implementing LIVE 24/7 chat or to make the two-factor authentication process easier when someone loses his phone. The availability of debit/credit card deposit would get them even more customers. Wire transfer makes deposit expensive.
There’s some mixed feelings.
The good:
The API link is excellent, providing much more functionality than other brokers. Prewritten wrappers for it work fantastically.
The commission fees, as well, seem quite a bit lower than other brokers I’ve tried.
The bad:
Extra data subscriptions are provided when your funds exceed 500. You cannot pay for the data without this, even if you are intending to use IBKR to develop a trading algorithm and do not need those funds. This is quite annoying.
Short-selling requires your funds to exceed 2000 as opposed to a dynamic cost, depending what you want to short.
The ugly:
The UI for the Trader Workstation is ancient. The UI for one of the mobile apps is ugly, while for the other the UI is pretty, but it lacks quite a lot of information.
All in all:
IBKR is a great broker, just a tad dated in a lot of ways.
While the platform as such is good customer support is getting worse and worse.
I‘m IB customer since more than 10 years now. In last 2-3 years tickets have been left open or somehow rejected. And some important features as fundamental data has been virtually removed by destroying the functionality in TWS. Now they sent me a form for Irish tax withholding which I returned signed and stamped from local authorities. Now they ask me to make „corrections“ to that official form as the tax id does not match in the way they think.
Overall, I would recommend Interactive Brokers, they have the most competitive pricing for RIAs looking to provide clients the highest interest rates on their cash while providing those interested in utilizing options, margin, or securities lending those options. Their interface favors more experienced users (technology, experience with trading) so not for everyone. The ability to develop customized software also solves many of the weak points for specific clients/niche areas too (I have some background with coding so it was a good fit for me for this reason too). Learning curve can be steep but I found communication was responsive and usually there are multiple workflows in case the primary workflow isn’t the best fit (e.g. client enrollment, trading, performance and billing, etc.).
Trading equities and options in markets outside the USA has been made easy with the software and data services Interactive Brokers offer. I have been able to execute complex trading strategies thanks to the design and delivery of the services offered.
IB is a very trustworthy broker and I’ll keep using then, but I wish their systems become more modern, it’s not user friendly at all. For instance, I was trying to find the orders from the previous day that haven’t been executed, but it’s impossible to find this on the website or the app. Also I was having problems to login and to reach the support center I had to o login!
My real performance was not so good.
I regret BA’s trance actions that I lost my mind.
I tried to get better actions buying and selling but I couldn’t ride appropriately.
Terrible customer support
The web portal keeps disconnecting and no one can offer a definite fix, had to move somewhere else as couldn’t trade any more
Very terrible company, If not for “Wonga Shiēld” i wont have been able to pull my money
Overall I’m happy with IKBER. I’m not happy that the new Event Trader product is not available to Canadians. IKBR has not notified Canadian Users that it is not available in any of its literature.
The site is temperamental and doesn’t work consistently. I clear cache, cookies, reboot my computer and same issues. Unreliability costs a trader money!
I have been waiting for the withdrawal of funds for 3.5 months. They do not withdraw, they ask to wait for an answer in the ticket, but for almost 4 months there is no answer. I do not recommend to anyone.
I will update my review every month. Until you resolve the issue, my money is $57.549
Not a trustworthy broker
IB auto converted a deposit in other currency and reversed it to the original currency one month later when the FOREX rate was in their favor.
To do so they cancelled some of the limit trades I had and all of this without my authorization.
There’re better brokers that don’t think your funds are theirs to operate.
Interface is not user friendly. Not a good platform for trading forex. Deposited money is confusing to access and takes a long time.
Connection and speed.
1. The start of the TWS is too slow and always cannot login during HKT 20:00 – 23:00
2.The interface can be improved to more user friendly
I had a pleasant and helpful interaction with one of the customer service representatives. He answered to my inquiry in a knowledgeable and courteous manner, which I very much enjoyed.
I had to reset my password and it was an easy process. But it would be helpful if calling was also available on the weekends as well.
From what I have seen THE professional broker in Singapore. While other international brokerage firms seem to set up virtual offices with no relevant customer service (3-5h waiting time in hotline, then unqualified and listless staff), as of now, IB is really different. Professional + responsive. Besides the platform, educational content etc. – all top notch.
185 pips slippage loss on AUD/NZD.
I got stopped out 185 pips (AUD/NZD) on top of my stop loss for holding my trade over the weekend. They said it was due to low liquidity and they pride themselves to be tight in the spread with good liquidity. A check with the other 5 major FX brokers all does not have their prices even come close to my stop loss. BTW, this is not the first time I face a liquidity issue with IB.
Great trading app with a lot of features that competition lack. That being said there are still some issues to be ironed out like watchlists not being properly synced between devices, and features missing natively on apps like having to open browser for initiating a transfer etc.
I regret ever dealing here in the first place,
I waited 6 months for my payout but all was fake promises that were never fulfilled.
The support stopped responding to my mails and blocked me out.
Fortunately i was referenced to write Exosystemsllc.io,
The executives assisted to restitute all my money held by IB. i am free from their BS.
IBRK, is such a wonderful broker, your account is secure and you always have a solid customer service assistant at hand to aid you along the way.
I am using IBKR for a very long time and happy with their service overall. I needed to reach them for a small problem I had and it was easily solved. Recommended.