Interactive Brokers Review 2026: Fees and Platforms

Interactive Brokers is an international broker for professionals. Investors and traders use it to trade stocks, ETFs, options, futures, forex, CFDs, bonds and funds on many markets around the world.

The broker is especially suited to active traders, options traders and investors with an international focus. For people who only want to save into ETFs, or for complete beginners, Interactive Brokers is less comfortable.

In short

• Pros: 170+ markets worldwide · very low fees · stocks, ETFs, options and futures · professional Trader Workstation
• Cons: no tax withheld at source · complex platform

Kagels Trading uses Interactive Brokers itself. Our rating: 8.9 out of 10. Website: interactivebrokers.com

Risk warning: your capital may be at risk.

Overview: is Interactive Brokers the right broker for you?

Topic	Interactive Brokers
Regulation	Central Bank of Ireland; your contracting party is IBKR Ireland
Platform	Web, app and TWS (Trader Workstation)
Instruments	170+ markets worldwide: stocks, ETFs, options, futures
Costs	German stocks from 0.05% tiered, minimum €1.25 per order
Trading tools	Professional software: scanner, options tools, API
Orders and execution	100+ order types; market, limit, stop, OCO

The Trader Workstation (TWS), the desktop platform of Interactive Brokers.

Interactive Brokers rating

This is our rating of Interactive Brokers for costs, product range, platform and customer service, plus our view on safety and how well it suits beginners.

Pros

• Very large product range with access to global markets
• Professional trading platform with many order types
• Especially strong for active traders, options and futures

Cons

• US ETFs such as SPY or QQQ are blocked for EU retail investors
• The platform is quite complex for beginners
• You have to handle tax matters yourself

Final score: 8.9 out of 10. An international broker for professionals, built for active traders and global markets.

Category	Score
Costs	9.3 / 10
Product range	9.5 / 10
Platform	8.5 / 10
Customer service	8.5 / 10
Safety	9.5 / 10
Beginners	5.5 / 10

The first four scores are made up of the criteria below. Our rating system uses transparent criteria, a practical check and data, and is updated when something changes.

Costs: 1,400 of 1,500 points (9.3 / 10)

Criterion	Interactive Brokers	Points
Custody fee (€ per year)	€0	300
Order fee (€ per trade)	€3 (Interactive Brokers’ own example: 75 shares at €80, Fixed with SmartRouting)	200
Small order surcharge (under €500)	€0	300
Savings plan execution	Commission-free	300
Inactivity fee (€ per month)	€0	300

Product range: 1,420 of 1,500 points (9.5 / 10)

Criterion	Interactive Brokers	Points
Stocks	20,000	300
ETFs	5,000	300
Derivatives	50,000	300
Trading venues	170	300
Savings plans	Shares and UCITS ETFs	220

Platform: 1,270 of 1,500 points (8.5 / 10)

Criterion	Interactive Brokers	Points
App and web	Both	300
Order types	Limit, stop, stop-loss, OCO, trailing stop	300
Real-time trading	Real-time	220
Analysis and extras	Professional tools	300
Ease of use	Learning curve required	150

Customer service: 1,270 of 1,500 points (8.5 / 10)

Criterion	Interactive Brokers	Points
Contact channels	4 channels	300
Service hours	Around the clock on trading days	300
Language	German and English	250
Help centre and FAQ	Decent	220
Service quality	Good	200

The same account runs on the desktop, in the browser and on mobile.

What Interactive Brokers offers

Everything you need to know at a glance.

Regulation: for clients in the EU the Central Bank of Ireland; the sister companies are supervised by the SEC, FINRA, the CFTC and the FCA.

Platforms: Trader Workstation, IBKR Desktop, GlobalTrader app, API.

Costs and trading

A professional broker with very low fees.

Item	Details
Stock trading	US tiered from 0.0035 USD per share, minimum 0.35 USD; fixed 0.005 USD, minimum 1.00 USD
Options	From 0.15 USD per contract: one of the cheapest providers worldwide
Custody	€0: no custody or inactivity fees
Margin	Very low financing costs for margin traders
Order types	Limit, stop, stop-limit, plus 100+ special order types
Trading venues	170 markets in 40 countries

Markets and instruments

One of the largest product ranges in the world.

Item	Details
Stocks	On exchanges across North America, Europe and Asia
ETFs	Thousands of ETFs worldwide, international selection
Options	US and international options markets
Futures	CME, Eurex and other futures exchanges
Forex	More than 100 currency pairs, direct trading
Bonds	Government and corporate bonds, available worldwide
Event contracts	Kalshi, CME and ForecastEx through IBKR Prediction Markets, for eligible clients aged 21+

The biggest advantage of Interactive Brokers is access to almost all important exchanges and asset classes worldwide.

Account, safety and payments

An internationally regulated broker for professional investors.

Item	Details
Demo account	Yes
Account types	Cash, margin
Minimum deposit	€0
Custody fee	€0
Regulation	Regulated in several countries
Founded	1978
Client money	Held separately
Securities	Fully paid client securities are held separately

Does it suit you?

• A good fit for: active traders, options and futures traders, international investors.
• It depends: ETF investors, long-term investors, buy-and-hold portfolios.
• Less ideal for: complete beginners, users of simple neobrokers, investors who want their broker to handle tax withholding for them.

The most important point about Interactive Brokers: hardly any broker offers more markets, instruments and professional features, but the platform is much more complex than a typical neobroker.

For clients in the EU: US ETFs such as SPY or QQQ are blocked for retail investors there, because of the EU’s PRIIPs regulation.

For day traders: FINRA’s new intraday margin standards replaced the old day-trading rules, including the 25,000-dollar minimum, with effect from 4 June 2026. Brokers may phase the change in until 20 October 2027, and the rule binds FINRA members, meaning the US entity. What applies to your account is set out in your account terms; the details are in FINRA Notice 26-10. Positions held overnight were not day trades under the old rule; what that means for overnight trading is covered in our guide to swing trading. Funded accounts remain an alternative, which we compare on our prop trading page.

My experience with Interactive Brokers

This is not a test account. I am a client of Interactive Brokers and trade there every day, with my own money and my own commissions. What follows comes from that daily use. The contracts, the venues and a commission report are further down in this review.

While many brokers in Europe focus mainly on stocks and ETFs, Interactive Brokers gives access to an enormous number of exchanges, markets and financial instruments. That breadth is the reason I stay. The complexity that comes with it is the price, and it shows in our own rating: usability is the one criterion where the broker scores just 150 of 300 points.

Opening an account is done fully online and is generally straightforward. After logging in, you get access to several platforms. Besides the simple GlobalTrader app, there is the powerful Trader Workstation (TWS), the desktop application, and many web solutions.

The GlobalTrader app: the simple way into Interactive Brokers.

A product range at professional level

The biggest advantage of Interactive Brokers is its product range. Investors get access to stocks, ETFs, options, futures, forex, bonds, funds and many other asset classes. You can also trade securities on exchanges in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Especially for traders who want to use international markets, Interactive Brokers is one of the best providers of all. While many German brokers only offer a few trading venues, IBKR gives you access to 170 markets in 40 countries, according to the broker.

When it comes to platform and features, Interactive Brokers plays to its strengths. The Trader Workstation offers extensive charting, professional order types, market scanners, risk analysis and many tools for options and futures traders. For chart work I also use TradingView, which is where the charts in our forecasts come from. IBKR accounts can also be connected to TradingView; what that requires is in our guide to TradingView brokers.

Fees and costs

On trading costs, Interactive Brokers is one of the cheapest brokers in the world. Fees for stocks, options and futures are often clearly below those of many European competitors.

The broker also charges no classic custody fees or inactivity fees.

Especially with larger trading volumes or regular trading, the low costs can make a noticeable difference. That is why many professional investors and institutional market participants have used Interactive Brokers for years.

Opening an account at Interactive Brokers: what to know beforehand

The application runs entirely online, but the real decision comes earlier. Anyone signing up in the EU becomes a client of Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited. There is no minimum deposit, so you can start with a small amount. More important than the sum are two choices in the application that cause work later if you get them wrong.

The first choice is the account type. With a cash account you trade only with the funds you hold. With a margin account you can also trade on credit, sell short and trade futures. For the way I trade, meaning futures on rates, indices and commodities, there is no way around it. Note the minimum age: a cash account requires you to be 18, a margin account 21.

The second choice is the account structure. Interactive Brokers distinguishes between the individual account with one holder and the joint account with two. Beyond that there are structures for trusts, families and companies. If you intend to trade through a company, pick the right type from the start rather than moving later.

And the point many people only notice after opening: Interactive Brokers is a foreign custodian and withholds no tax at source, in no EU country. You receive detailed annual reports and declare your investment income yourself, wherever you are tax resident. In Germany that means no Abgeltungsteuer is deducted for you; in other countries the local equivalent applies. That is not a reason against the broker, but it should be a deliberate decision rather than a surprise at tax time.

Safety and investor protection

Your contracting party in the EU is the Irish company. Anyone opening an account here becomes a client of Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland. The SEC, FINRA, the CFTC and the FCA supervise the sister companies in the USA and the UK. What matters for your rights is the company that holds your account.

The Irish investor protection is not a deposit guarantee. Retail clients of the Irish company fall under the Investor Compensation Scheme. It covers 90% of the loss, up to a maximum of €20,000 per investor, and only applies if the firm itself fails. Market losses are not covered. Professional clients and institutions are excluded. The scheme is administered by the Investor Compensation Company DAC.

Part of your assets may carry additional US protection. The Irish company holds some positions with its US affiliate, Interactive Brokers LLC. To the extent your securities are held there, SIPC protection of up to 500,000 US dollars applies, with a cash sub-limit of 250,000 US dollars, plus excess coverage at Lloyd’s of up to a further 30 million US dollars. Whether and how far this applies depends on where your positions are held. Interactive Brokers states the conditions on its investor protection page.

Savings plans

Savings plans exist, they just look different. The Recurring Investments feature buys shares from the USA, Canada and Europe automatically on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule, including fractional shares. For UCITS ETFs, Interactive Brokers advertises savings plans from €10 with no commission. What is missing is the kind of curated savings-plan list that local brokers offer, for example the lists German banks publish, executed through a single venue. The details are on the Recurring Investments page.

The apps and platforms at Interactive Brokers

There is no single Interactive Brokers app, there are five ways in. The Trader Workstation is the professional desktop software, IBKR Desktop the newer and leaner version of it. The Client Portal runs in the browser. On mobile there are two apps, and they differ considerably.

IBKR Mobile is the full app. According to the broker it reaches the same 170 markets as the desktop software and offers the same order types, including algorithmic execution and routing options. Scanners and watchlists sync across devices. If you need to adjust a running position while you are out, you can do it here just as you would at your desk.

IBKR GlobalTrader is the stripped-down app for beginners. It is aimed at investors who want to buy shares and fractions without working through professional features. It is not built for futures, options or complex order types.

The App Store ratings say something interesting about that split. IBKR Mobile sits at 4.52 out of 5 from 1,567 ratings, IBKR GlobalTrader at only 3.78 from 37 ratings (German App Store, as of 24 September 2026). The professional app is rated clearly higher than the simplified one. That matches the picture running through this whole review: Interactive Brokers is strong when you have demands, and less convincing when you want convenience.

I work with the Trader Workstation myself. For the markets I trade there is no way around it: I need the futures chains, the order types and the risk overview on a large screen, which is also why the hardware matters more here than with a neobroker app. I use the app to check on things, not to work. Anyone going the other way and trading mainly on mobile should be clear beforehand about which of the two apps fits their plans.

What I trade there myself

I trade here every day, mostly futures. My focus is on gold, crude oil, equity indices such as the Nasdaq 100, interest rate markets such as the Euro Bund and other commodities, traded on COMEX, NYMEX, CME, CBOT and Eurex. For currencies I use the forex CFDs, where the selection at Interactive Brokers is excellent.

The commissions can be checked against real statements. The table below is not taken from a price list. It comes from my own statements for 22 to 24 September 2026, and every figure is the charged commission divided by the number of contracts. The screenshot underneath shows the same trade log in the original.

Market	Exchange	Commission per contract
Euro Bund (GBL)	Eurex	€2.00
Euro Bobl (GBM)	Eurex	€2.00
10-year T-Note (ZN)	CBOT	$1.66
E-mini Dow (YM)	CBOT	$2.24
E-mini S&P 500 (ES)	CME	$2.24
E-mini Russell (RTY)	CME	$2.24
Micro Nasdaq (MNQ)	CME	$0.61
Gold (GC)	COMEX	$2.51
Micro Gold (MGC)	COMEX	$0.96
Palladium (PA)	NYMEX	$2.51
Natural gas (NG)	NYMEX	$2.46

Extract from my trade log in the Trader Workstation. The commission column shows the amount charged per order, the column next to it the realised result.

The figures can be verified in full. The complete trade log for those three days is available as a PDF with all 88 executions. Only the account number has been masked. For forex CFDs Interactive Brokers charges differently, based on notional value: one million AUD/CHF cost 11.61 Swiss francs, 500,000 GBP/AUD cost 18.88 Australian dollars. In both cases that works out at roughly 0.002 percent of the traded volume.

For active traders this is where the difference sits. If you turn over several positions a day, many European brokers charge a multiple of that. At the end of the month it stops being a detail and becomes a real item in your own accounts.

My verdict on Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers is not a typical beginner’s broker, but a professional trading platform for demanding investors. The huge product range, the very low fees and the powerful trading tools are among the broker’s greatest strengths.

If you mainly want to save into ETFs or buy stocks now and then, a simpler neobroker is often easier to start with. For active traders, international investors, and options and futures traders, on the other hand, Interactive Brokers is one of the best brokers in the world.

Risk warning: your capital may be at risk.

Frequently asked questions about Interactive Brokers

Is Interactive Brokers safe and reputable?

Yes, the broker is regulated in several jurisdictions and publicly listed. Clients in the EU are served by Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland. The parent company has been in business since 1978 and is listed on NASDAQ. Client money is held separately from the firm’s own assets.

How high are the fees at Interactive Brokers?

It depends on the market and the tariff. German shares cost 0.05% of order value on the tiered plan, with a minimum of €1.25 per order. US shares start at 0.0035 USD per share with a 0.35 USD minimum. On futures I pay €2.00 per contract for the Euro Bund and 1.66 US dollars for the 10-year T-Note. There are no custody or inactivity fees.

What is the minimum deposit at Interactive Brokers?

There is none. You can open an account with no fixed minimum and start with a small amount. The broker only makes sense once you trade regularly, because its strength lies in low trading costs rather than in a comfortable entry.

Does Interactive Brokers handle my taxes?

No, and that is the main trade-off. Interactive Brokers is a foreign custodian and withholds no tax at source. Your tax liability remains, and you declare your investment income yourself, in Germany as anywhere else. The broker provides detailed annual reports you use for your own return.

Does Interactive Brokers offer savings plans?

Yes, they just work differently. The Recurring Investments feature buys shares from the USA, Canada and Europe automatically at set intervals, including fractional shares. For UCITS ETFs Interactive Brokers advertises savings plans from €10 with no commission. What is missing is the kind of curated savings-plan list that local brokers offer.

Is Interactive Brokers suitable for beginners?

Only to a limited extent. The product range and the costs are excellent, the usability is not. The Trader Workstation takes real time to learn, and you organise your own tax reporting. If you only buy ETFs occasionally, a simpler provider in your own country gets you there faster.