Interactive brokers review forex software

It's lower than rates at many of the other most popular margin-trading platforms. Margin rates decrease as the size of the margin loan increases. What Are Interactive Brokers' Drawbacks? We've talked about some of the biggest selling points of Interactive Brokers, but it's also important to discuss the features that aren't so great. Below we talk about a few of the major drawbacks of the platform. User Interface There's no denying that Interactive Brokers offers a powerful trading platform.

But it isn't exactly a user-friendly one, especially for beginner investors. It can be challenging to find the information and tools you need on the website. And even once you find them, you may not fully understand them unless you're an experienced investor. For that reason, investors may prefer to start their investing journeys on a more straightforward platform and then pivot to Interactive Brokers when they're well-versed in investment tools.

Lack of Basic-Level Educational Resources Interactive Brokers offers robust tools and resources for experienced investors and day traders but not so much for beginner investors. The Traders' Academy is a free education resource for Interactive Brokers users. But newbie investors may find it too advanced and overwhelming.

If you're just getting started, you may prefer another broker that tailors to investors who are still learning the ropes. Account Types Compared with other popular brokerage firms, Interactive Brokers falls short in the variety of account types it offers. The platform provides basic individual and joint taxable brokerage accounts.

However, you may notice that there are some account types missing from this list. For example, Interactive Brokers doesn't offer Solo k s, even though they're a popular retirement savings tool for self-employed individuals. Finally, Interactive Brokers charges all users the same fees for cryptocurrencies, regardless of account tier. Read more: Investment Fees Matter… a Lot!

You can contact the company via email, phone or live chat. Live chat support is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday, with limited support hours on Sundays. Phone support is available Monday through Friday from 8 a. As a result, there are no physical branches or offices where you can speak to a customer service representative. Best Alternatives Not sure that Interactive Brokers is the right for you?

Once you have signed in, you will find access to a multitude of trading tools and financial instruments, while customising the interface is quick and easy. Additional Features On top of the standard features covered above, there are also a number of useful additional services that make up the Interactive offering. Some of the most beneficial include: iBot — This is a text and voice-based trading interface. It has a solid grasp of basic English commands.

The add-on is available for both desktop and mobile TWS applications. WebTrader — This is a web-based trading platform. It offers many of the same features and functions as the current desktop version. You also get an intuitive interface. Security is guaranteed with a firewall, as well as a number of other security protocols. Risk Navigator — This offers a comprehensive portfolio risk management platform.

One obvious benefit is that it is straightforward to identify hidden exposures. A number of reports use real-time data to offer a current risk summary from a range of perspectives. Mosaic Market Scanner — This simply scans markets in line with customisable numerical criteria. Probability Lab — This can be used to decipher the options markets. There you will find high-quality research, analysis and recommendations.

The information can help users make informed trade decisions. Social Sentiment — This facilitates access to a number of website ticker discussions and commentary. All of which can help to paint a clearer picture of where price may be heading. So, there are a number of fantastic extras traders can get their hands on. However, some of the above may require an additional payment, depending on the account type you hold.

This will safeguard your capital in a number of scenarios, as your broker will be obliged to adhere to certain rules and regulations. It is also overseen by a number of other regulatory bodies around the world. Benefits There are a number of reasons this brand stands out amongst its competitors.

These include: No account inactivity fees. They offer a free demo account. Commission reimbursement with Toggle AI. You can choose from a long list of order types. You get access to powerful and reliable mobile applications. Competitive pricing, as demonstrated by forex spreads reviews. You have a reliable real-time market data feed, that rarely goes offline. Users benefit from competitive commissions and margin rates, plus fixed tiered pricing.

Charts and data feed reviews and ratings are very positive. Users get both choice and in-depth customisation. The high-quality API Python supports algorithmic strategies and automated trading. Note Python API tutorials are easy to find online. Interactive Brokers promise extremely fast execution speeds as a result of sophisticated order routing technology. You can trade from multiple account types, such as IRA, single registered, Joint.

The Trader Workstation trading platform is robust and comes with a whole range of tools. You have a huge range of markets and instruments to choose from, including penny stocks, foreign stocks plus spot gold and gold futures. You can also buy in bitcoin BTC and bitcoin futures. There is a comprehensive education and research centre, with a number of videos, webinars, and tutorials to help you get to grips with the software. Requirements for setting up new accounts are low, plus there are occasionally bonus promotions to attract new users.

Drawbacks Despite the number of benefits mentioned above, there are also several serious downsides to using IB. These include: You can expect a high minimum despite to open an account. Whilst day trading on margin can boost profits, it can also amplify losses if not used carefully.

The customer service is poor. If the website goes down or you have an account query, you may be waiting a while. The TWS platform falls short in terms of technical charting. Although they do offer dozens of analytical and research tools, some users may choose to use third-party products that can more efficiently organise the information needed.

Trading Hours Trading hours are fairly industry standard, depending on which instrument you choose to trade. Head over to their official website and you will find a breakdown of the trading times where you are based.

In addition, extended and after-hours trading is also available. This ensures traders with limited time or those on inflexible schedules will still have the opportunity to capitalise on market conditions. While it is true they offer a live help chat, a telephone line and email support, user reviews show all are fairly poor.

Telephone If you have any security issues, such as resets or security tokens, you must use their contact telephone number, which can be found on their website. There is phone access 24 hours a day, however, the service shifts to foreign venues overnight, making contact more difficult. Live Chat You can expect industry standard wait times to get through on live chat, plus the occasional outage.

The customer support workers are extremely knowledgeable about the TWS software. In addition, they can walk you through all of their products. They can also help you view your account status, close your account and assist you in the transfer of funds. Chat Room Fortunately, chat rooms and forum personnel are relatively quick to respond and helpful. They can inform you of new account promotions, as well as instructing you on how to upgrade to a margin account. You will also be pointed towards useful research and user guides.

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The platform is fast and includes standard features such as real-time monitoring, alerts, watchlists and a customizable account dashboard. An options strategy lab lets you create and submit both simple and complex multileg options orders and compare up to five options strategies at one time. Other tools include a volatility lab, advanced charting, heat maps of sector and stock symbol performance, paper trading and a mutual fund replicator, which helps users identify ETFs that replicate the performance of a selected mutual fund but offer lower fees.

Worth noting: Another broker we review, Zacks Trade , offers its customers access to white-labeled versions of Trader Workstation. Zacks Trade charges higher trade commissions, but offers clients free calls with support reps who are licensed brokers. It's an option worth considering for traders who want the power of Interactive Brokers' trading platforms alongside a bit more personal support. For investors looking to trade with a conscience, Interactive Brokers offers an Impact Dashboard, free to all users on Trader Workstation, the Client Portal or mobile apps.

The dashboard allows investors to select their personal investment criteria from 13 principles including clean air and water, LGBTQ inclusion and gender equality. Investors can also exclude investments based on 10 categories, such as animal testing, corporate political spending and lobbying and hazardous waste production. Mobile app: 3 out of 5 stars The IBKR mobile app, available to both Lite and Pro customers, is Trader Workstation on the go, with advanced trading shortcuts, over data columns, option exercise and spread templates, news, research, charting and scanners.

Users can create order presets, which prefill order tickets for fast entry. Presets set up on Trader Workstation are also available from the mobile app. However, the app gets only average ratings from both Android and iOS users. It's aimed at global investors and lets investors trade stocks on more than 80 exchanges in North America, Asia and Europe. Research and data: 5 out of 5 stars Interactive Brokers provides access to a huge selection of research providers and news services, many for free, including Fundamentals Explorer, which offers fundamentals data from Thomson Reuters on over 30, companies, plus more than 5, analyst ratings, and reports and newswires from 82 companies.

Over additional providers are also available by subscription. Customer support: 4 out of 5 stars Interactive Brokers offers hour phone, email and chat support, six days a week. However, there are no physical branches, so you won't be able to schedule an in-person meeting, if that's your preference. While many brokerages are only open to U. As noted above, Interactive brokers opens the door to investing on exchanges in 33 countries, and lets clients fund and trade accounts in 23 currencies.

Other Interactive Brokers details you should know Margin rates Margin traders will benefit from the low rates at Interactive Brokers. The broker charges a blended rate based on the size of the margin loan, and has a calculator on its website to help investors quickly do the math based on their balance. Only U. Is Interactive Brokers right for you? Interactive Brokers has always been a great choice for active traders, especially those who can move into the broker's cheaper volume-pricing setup.

Interactive Brokers has one of the most extensive market and product offerings out there. From traditional stocks and ETFs to futures, CFDs, and forex trading, this discount broker has the means to help you diversify your investment portfolio on a low-cost, commission-free basis.

In terms of investment portfolio diversification, with Interactive Brokers, you can invest in shares of stock that are listed on international exchanges. Furthermore, this free trading platform also allows you to trade and invest in fractional shares of stock.

This means that beginner and experienced traders can invest as much money as they want to help meet trading objectives and time horizons but also diversify their portfolios without having to calculate how many whole shares they can afford to buy. What we like Commission-free ETF and stock trading for US-based clients Low margin interest rates Access to social trading and robo-advisory services Invest in shares of stocks listed on international exchanges.

Buy and sell fractional shares. A wide range of currency pairs for forex traders. TraderWorkstation TWS Market Scanners allow you to scour through markets and pinpoint best-performing stocks, futures, indexes, and more. Forex trading fees are based on a volume-tiered commission structure. Spreads as low as 0. Tiers are based on the Monthly Trade Value of spot currency trades. Several third-party vendors who set up order entries, charting and other analytical tools work in conjunction with the TraderWorkstation to execute trades through IBKR.

The user interface can be rather cumbersome especially for beginner traders with little to no experience with online trading. Your capital is at risk.

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Stock loan programs: Stock loan programs generate revenue for brokers when stocks held in customer accounts are loaned to other traders or hedge funds, usually to sell that stock short. Portfolio margining: Eligible IBKR clients can apply for portfolio margining, which can lower the margin you need based on the overall calculated risk.

Typically, portfolio margining works best for customers who trade derivatives that offset the risk inherent in their equity positions. The platform provides numerous screeners, tools, calculators, idea generators, and research to help you find your next trade. All research and screeners are available for clients and those just trying out the site. The research reports include roughly 45 free or freemium offers. In addition to the research and screeners, the PortfolioAnalyst is a professional-level investment analysis tool.

You can use the 49 predefined scanners or create a custom one. It's possible to transmit orders directly from a scanner and save a scan as a template to use again. The Fundamentals Explorer on both TWS and Client Portal dives deep into hundreds of data points covering historical trends, industry comparisons, key ratios, forecasts, ratings, ownership, and more.

This is a professional-level tool that is completely customizable. The categories within the fund type category span types of assets like bonds or equities as well as mixed, alternatives, commodities, and money market. The customization abilities are suitable for the most advanced traders. The Probability Lab translates an equity's option price into the market's price forecast for that equity.

Customers enter a price forecast, and the Lab provides strategies with the richest Sharpe ratio. The Option Strategy Lab generates option strategies based on price and volatility forecasts for a stock. The Option Strategy Activity Scanner scans most active multi-leg option strategies for a given ticker, or you can search by other options-related metrics such as volume and open interest. We found this one of the best options platforms, but too complex for the average retail trader. That said, IBKR has upped its game with more education and assistance in navigating the platform.

Fixed Income Screener The Bond Search Tool is another pro-level fixed income screener that surpassed our expectations. The search categories began with global corporate, U. CDs and Treasuries, U. Next, the criteria become granular with choices from maturity date, yield to worst, coupon rate parameters, country, and currency. Tools and Calculators Numerous calculators are available throughout the platforms, including options-related calculators, margin, order quantity, interest, and financing.

The PortfolioAnalyst enables advanced investment analysis and planning. This tool lets you dive deep into hundreds of data points covering historical trends, industry comparisons, key ratios, forecasts, ratings, ownership, and more. You can see how a company compares to competitors and industry averages across various data points, as well as how the company has performed over time with historical trends.

Charting Charting helps you process market data into something meaningful. IBKR's charts are fully customizable, and you can set chart parameters, modify them from within a chart using the Edit menu, and save a chart layout as a template. You can choose the time period, primary display, bar type TWS native charting offers line, bar, candle, historical volatility, implied volatility, option open interest, option volume, heikin-ashi , and hollow candles , volume plot height, dividends, number of bars to display, and the vertical scale—plus dozens of additional chart parameters.

Technical traders will enjoy more than technical indicators and a suite of easy-to-use drawing tools. Trading Idea Generators All of the screeners also provide trading ideas. In addition to screeners, the news and educational resources can inspire traders with new ideas. As parameters are customized, clients will uncover trades, specific to their preferred asset classes.

News Dozens of real-time news sources are available on all platforms. Premium news subscriptions are available for a monthly fee. Users can screen and sort suitable research resources by categories like fundamental, technical, Macro, Quantitative, Ratings, and Media. You can transfer cash, borrow, pay bills, and deposit via a mobile device.

Interest is paid on cash balances according to a formula, with higher interest paid on larger balances. By automatically reinvesting dividends, clients can make sure that their money remains invested in the markets, instead of sitting in cash, on the sidelines. However, if there is not enough cash to buy a share, fractional shares will not be purchased and the cash is instead credited to your account.

First, you create your personal impact lens. Next, select ESG investment criteria from 13 impact values and principles, including clean air, pure water, ocean life, consumer safety, ethical leadership, gender equality, racial equality, LGBTQ inclusion, company transparency, sustainable product lifecycle, mindful business models, fair labor, and thriving communities. You can also exclude investments based on 10 categories: animal testing, business ethics controversies, corporate political spending and lobbying, energy-intensive, fossil fuels, greenhouse emissions, hazardous waste, high water usage, tobacco, alcohol and gambling, and weapons and gun manufacturers.

Portfolio Analysis The PortfolioAnalyst is not your typical money management system. With an option for institutional and individual investors, this software consolidates, tracks, and analyzes all of your financial accounts.

The tool offers a portfolio checkup, including total returns, risk measures, and allocations by geography, asset class, and sector. IBKR's proprietary Tax Optimizer tool lets you set a default matching method, which you can override for specific symbols if desired.

You can save screenshots as part of a note, attach notes to trades, and configure charts to display both orders and executed trades. This is one of the more comprehensive trading journals available from any brokerage. Education IBKR provides a broad range of investor education programs for customers and the public. The multi-language tutorials aid international investors in learning to navigate the platform.

Traders Academy is an online, on-demand resource with a structured, rigorous curriculum intended for financial professionals, investors, educators, and students who want to learn about asset classes, markets, currencies, tools, and functionality available on IBKR's trading platforms. Quizzes and tests benchmark student progress against learning objectives.

Course offerings include introductions to asset classes such as options, futures, forex, international trading, bonds, and how to use margin. IBKR and industry experts offer daily webinars. Finally, the broker asks you to submit a host of different documents to verify the accuracy of the information that you provided.

You will have to confirm your mobile number and upload a variety of documents, including your photo ID document, proof of residential address, signature image file, proof of financials, proof of bank account, photograph, and the IBKR application document that must be printed out, physically signed, scanned, and uploaded. Your application will only be processed after uploading these documents, and once all information is verified, the broker opens a trading account in your name.

However, you should wait up to 48 hours for the broker to process your application, but it can take longer in some instances. Interactive Brokers Registration Interactive Brokers Webtrader and Trader Workstation Platform Evaluation The Interactive Brokers app options are restricted to a couple of proprietary interfaces, as the company does not offer third-party platforms such as the MetaTrader or the cTrader. There are two trading platforms, the Interactive Brokers webtrader and the installable Trader Workstation platforms, both of which were developed in-house.

With the market access and trading features on offer, we were not surprised to see the company develop its proprietary trading platform. It offers greater flexibility in incorporating new features and functionalities without depending on external third-party sources. However, we are indeed disappointed that the Interactive Brokers webtrader is not available for Lite plan users, who have to download the Trader Workstation for their trading needs.

The Interactive Brokers webtrader is not as graphically advanced as most browser-based platforms in the market, but it offers some of the most advanced trading tools that a trader would ever need. If you have been trading with webtraders from other Forex brokers , it might take some time to get used to the IBKR webtrader, but you will soon get the hang of it.

However, if you want a bit more flexibility, you can always check quotes, open charts, and place trades via the Client Portal, which has a much smoother and visually pleasing trading interface. The Client Portal may not offer most of the advanced trading tools and features offered by the webtrader, but you can still manage your account through the portal. It allows you to make an Interactive Brokers deposit, change your account settings, open additional trading accounts, and even initiate an Interactive Brokers withdrawal.

It is an installable app available only for Windows 64 bit users, which is a severe inconvenience for 32 bit Windows and MacOS users. Therefore, together with the nonavailability of the webtrader for Lite plan users, we feel that a large chunk of Windows Home and MacOS users will not be able to trade the markets with an Interactive Brokers forex account unless they opt for the Pro plan.

It does appear that the broker expects its traders to have an advanced Windows trading system capable of running its TWS platform. Although the TWS interface feels slightly more premium than the web-based Interactive Brokers app, it does not look as rounded as a MetaTrader or cTrader terminal.

Nevertheless, the TWS interface is highly customizable, with traders able to open multiple charts, windows, snippets, and trading terminals through the interface. The platform also provides several innovative technical and fundamental analysis tools to ensure that traders perform a comprehensive analysis of the markets.

Traders are even offered the API option for building custom trading applications and integrating trading into existing applications, which provides excellent flexibility for advanced traders. You do not have to make an Interactive Brokers deposit to test the platforms, as the broker offers paper trading access to all verified users through its demo account option. The demo platform provides the same trading environment and functionalities as the real account.

Still, the paper-trading option ensures that you do not incur any losses owing to your inexperience with the Interactive Brokers app. Overall, we are extremely satisfied with the platform options, efficiency, market access, trading tools, and the general trading environment. It works brilliantly on all types of smartphones and tablets, which makes it a must-have platform for traders on the move.

Unlike the desktop interface, the mobile Interactive Brokers app felt modern and usable, adding to the appeal. The IBKR mobile app offers access to over markets with almost all advanced order types and trading tools available with the TWS desktop interface. It even provides an immersive charting option, along with access to an automated artificially intelligent trading system known as the IBot. Moreover, mobile apps employ several state-of-the-art security measures, including preauthorization and two-step authentication, making them one of the most secure mobile trading platforms in the market.