Minimize Your Trading Costs
Low Cost
Rated Low Cost Broker
9 years in a row1 by Barrons.
| US Margin Loan Rates Comparison2 | US Commission Rates Comparison2 |
| $25K | $200K | $1.5M | $3.5M | 100 Shares | 1 Stock Option |
1 E-mini S&P 500 Future | ||
| Interactive Brokers3 | 1.58% | 1.33% | 0.95% | 0.73% | $1.00 | $1.00 | $0.85 | |
| E-Trade | 7.94% | 6.14% | 3.89% | 3.89% | $7.99 | $8.74 | $2.99 | |
| Fidelity | 7.575% | 6.575% | 3.750% | 3.750% | $7.95 | $8.70 | N/A | |
| optionsXpress | 8.25% | 7.00% | 6.00% | 6.00% | $8.95 | $12.95 | $3.50 | |
| Schwab | 8.00% | 6.875% | 6.25% | 6.00% | $8.95 | $9.70 | N/A | |
| TD Ameritrade | 8.50% | 7.25% | 6.25% | 6.25% | $9.99 | $10.74 | $2.25 | |
| thinkorswim | 8.50% | 7.25% | 6.25% | 6.25% | $9.99 | $10.74 | $2.25 | |
| Interactive Brokers has lower commission rates for larger volumes and comparable rates worldwide. | Services vary by firm. | |||||||
Best Price Execution - IB's SmartRouting Advantage
IB SmartRoutingSM searches for the best firm stock, option, and combination prices available
at the time of your order, and seeks to immediately execute your order electronically.
| IB Price Advantage*, better than the Industry by: |
|
| US Stocks (per 100 shares) |
$0.41 |
| US Options (per contract) |
$0.24 |
| European Stocks (per 100 shares) |
€1.76 |
Net Dollar Price Improvement
vs. National Best Bid/Offer4
*Based on independent measurements, the Transaction Auditing Group, Inc., (TAG), a third-party provider of transaction analysis, has determined that Interactive Brokers' US stock and options price executions were significantly better than the industry5 during the second half of 2012.
What other brokers conveniently leave out
Our results are even more impressive when you consider that other industry-touted statistics don't give you the whole picture. They only discuss the percentage of orders that saw price improvement, and conveniently ignore the percentage of their orders that were dis-improved or had no improvement. In contrast, our statistics are netted, showing the true bottom-line price improvement including all improved, dis-improved and unimproved amounts.
- Unlike other smart routers, IB SmartRouting never routes and forgets about your order. It continuously evaluates fast changing market conditions and dynamically re-routes all or parts of your order seeking to achieve optimal execution and maximize your rebate.
- IB SmartRouting represents each leg of a spread order independently and enters each leg at the best possible venue.
- IB SmartRouting AutorecoverySM re-routes your US options order in the case of an exchange malfunction, with IB undertaking the risk of double executions.
- To help provide price improvement on large volume and block orders and take advantage of hidden institutional order flows that may not be available at exchanges, IB includes eight dark pools in its SmartRouting logic.
Our smart router takes into account transaction costs along with the fee or rebate for taking/adding liquidity when determining where to route your marketable order when the inside market is shared by multiple exchanges. For customers who want even more control of their orders, TWS customers can specify stock and options smart routing strategies for non-marketable orders. For stocks, customers with the Cost Plus pricing structure can elect to have their non-marketable orders routed to:
- The exchange with the highest rebate.
- The listing exchange on the symbol.
- The highest volume exchange that has a rebate for adding liquidity.
- The highest volume exchange that charges the lowest fee for taking liquidity.
For options, customers can choose to send their non-marketable Smart routed orders to the exchange offering the highest rebate. These routing directives can be set on a per-order basis from the "Misc" tab of the Order Ticket, or as a global default setting from the Smart Routing configuration page.
To modify your pricing structure, log into Account Management and from the Account Administration section select Pricing Structure.
Forex Profitability
Our forex spreads and substantial liquidity have helped
our customers become among the most profitable
Data provided by forexmagnates.com, includes the impact of any commissions
| Percentage of profitable and unprofitable accounts as reported to the NFA - Q1 2013 |
| % Profit | % Loss | Total Accounts | Spread Markups | |
| Interactive Brokers | 43.3% | 56.7% | 19,666 | NO |
| CitiFX Pro | 41.0% | 59.0% | 652 | YES |
| OANDA | 38.1% | 61.9% | 22,121 | YES |
| FXDD | 36.2% | 63.9% | 5,707 | YES |
| Gain Capital | 33.0% | 67.0% | 12,384 | YES |
| IBFX/TradeStation | 33.0% | 67.0% | 9,792 | YES |
| ILQ | 30.3% | 69.7% | 1,021 | YES |
| Alpari | 29.9% | 70.1% | 2,212 | YES6 |
| FXCM | 29.9% | 71.0% | 21,775 | YES |
| MB Trading | 26.9% | 73.1% | 3,877 | YES |
There is a substantial risk of loss in foreign exchange trading.
Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.
- 1. Low Cost Rated by Barron's 9 Years Straight - Low cost broker 2005 through 2013 according to Barron's online broker review. 2005 - 5 Stars, 2006 - 5 Stars, 2007 - 4.8 Stars, 2008 - 4.5 Stars, 2009 - 4.5 Stars, 2010 - 4.2 stars, 2011 - 4.5 stars, 2012 - 4.3. Back Online - March 11, 2013, Barron's ranked Interactive Brokers with a 4.3 star rating for cost. Criteria included Trade Experience and Technology, Usability, Mobile, Range of Offerings, Research Amenities, Portfolio Analysis & Report, Customer Service & Education, and Costs.
- 2. Rates were obtained on June 3, 2013 from each firm's website. Some of the firms listed may have additional fees and some firms may reduce or waive commissions or fees, depending on account activity or total account value. Supporting documentation for any claims and statistical information will be provided upon request.
- 3. IB calculates the interest charged on margin loans using the applicable rates for each interest rate tier listed on its website. For additional information on margin loan rates, see www.interactivebrokers.com/interest.
- 4. Net $ Improvement per Share Definition
((# of Price Improved Shares * Price Improvement Amount) - (# of Price Disimproved Shares * Price Disimprovement Amount)) Total Number of Executed Shares - 5. The Transaction Auditing Group (TAG). Industry as a whole for the referenced periods according to TAG. The TAG analysis for US stocks included all market orders of 100 shares or more up to 10,000 shares. The analysis for US options included all market order sizes in US options and includes exchange rebates received by customers under IB's cost-plus pricing structure. The TAG analysis of orders routed to exchanges in Europe included all orders routed for execution during regular trading hours including all market and marketable limit orders and orders near the market (orders having a limit price within one-tenth of a Euro from the quote price at time of order receipt) on stocks listed on the included exchanges, weighted by the volume executed on each exchange. The exchanges for European stocks are XETRA, EURONEXT, CHI-X, WIENER BORSE, TURQUOISE, LONDON and NASDAQ OMX.
- 6. Standard Account. There is a substantial risk of loss in foreign exchange trading. The settlement date of foreign exchange trades can vary due to time zone differences and bank holidays. When trading across foreign exchange markets, this may necessitate borrowing funds to settle foreign exchange trades. The interest charges on borrowed funds must be considered when computing the cost of trades across multiple markets.
Any trading symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to portray recommendations.
