Broker review
Interactive Brokers review
The widest published market access in our set, with a two-tier commission model and no account minimum.
- Written by
- Juan Manuel Gonzalez
- Published
- Data verified
In summary
Interactive Brokers LLC is an active SEC-registered broker-dealer and SIPC member. It publishes two US pricing plans: IBKR Lite, which is $0 commission on US exchange-listed stocks and ETFs but is restricted to US residents, and IBKR Pro, which charges per share — $0.0035 tiered or $0.005 fixed at the entry volume band — with per-order minimums of $0.35 and $1.00 respectively, capped at 1% of trade value.
Editorial score, based on our methodology
How this is calculated- Safety2.7
- Cost2.7
- Selection2.2
- Accounts1.4
- Headroom1.0
Legal entity and regulation
Read from FINRA BrokerCheck on August 28, 2026. Check it yourself — the reference number below is all you need.
- Legal name
- INTERACTIVE BROKERS LLC
- CRD
- 36418
- SEC
- 8-47257
- Registration status
- ACTIVE
- Regulators
- SEC, FINRA, CFTC
- Investor protection
- SIPC member — up to $500,000, including $250,000 for cash
Published fees
7 of 14 fields verifiedRead from Interactive Brokers’s own published schedule. Fields we could not find on the pages we read are marked not verified — we do not fill them with estimates, and a blank would read as zero.
| US stocks and ETFs | IBKR Lite $0; IBKR Pro from $0.0035/share (tiered) or $0.005/share (fixed)Pro minimum $0.35 (tiered) or $1.00 (fixed) per order, capped at 1% of trade value |
|---|---|
| Options base commission | $0No ticket charge or platform fee published |
| Options per contract | $0.65 per contractIBKR Lite, first 1,000 US contracts a month. IBKR Pro tiered: $0.25 under $0.05 premium, $0.50 under $0.10, $0.65 above. Minimum $1.00 per order either way |
| Account minimum | $0No account minimums |
| Mutual funds | Not verified |
| Bonds | Not verified |
| Futures | Not verified |
| Crypto | Not verified |
| Account service fee | None publishedNo platform fees or account minimums |
| Inactivity fee | None published |
| Outgoing transfer fee | $0IBKR charges nothing for incoming or outgoing ACATS; the firm at the other end may |
| Broker-assisted trade | Not verified |
| Margin rate | Not verified |
| Currency conversion | Not verified |
Where these costs sit
Against every other broker we publish that has a verified figure for the same field. Brokers whose figure we could not verify are left out rather than plotted at zero.
What you can hold
- US stocksOffered
- ETFsOffered
- OptionsOffered
- Mutual fundsOffered
- BondsOffered
- FuturesOffered
- Spot currenciesOffered
- CryptoOffered
- International listingsOffered
- Fractional sharesOffered
- OTC equitiesOffered
Account types
- Individual taxable offered
- Joint offered
- Traditional IRA offered
- Roth IRA offered
- Rollover IRA offered
- SEP / SIMPLE IRA not offered
- Custodial not offered
- Trust offered
- Solo 401(k) not offered
- HSA not offered
- Margin offered
- Managed portfolio offered
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Published commission schedules for the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific on a single page
- IBKR Pro tiered pricing falls to $0.0005 per share at the top volume band and is capped at 1% of trade value
- Fractional share trades are charged at the same rate as whole shares, with a $0.01 minimum
- No account minimum and no published platform fees
Limitations
- IBKR Lite is restricted to US residents and to individual, joint, IRA and certain trust accounts
- IBKR Pro order minimums ($0.35 tiered, $1.00 fixed) make small orders proportionally expensive
- Pricing is materially more complex than a flat $0 schedule and rewards readers who model their own order sizes
Check these yourself
- IBKR Lite routes certain order types to Fixed pricing — OTC stocks, delisted ETPs, warrants, overnight-hours trades and recurring investments are all excluded from the $0 headline
- Lite clients exceeding 10% of monthly volume in auction, outside-RTH or sub-dollar orders are charged the lesser of $0.005 per share or 1% of trade value on those trades
- IBKR states it does not pass through all venue rebates it receives on the Tiered plan
How Interactive Brokers scores
Under our default weights. Individual rankings re-weight these same sub-scores, which is why Interactive Brokers sits in different positions on different pages.
- Safety and regulationweight 30%9/10
- Fees and total costweight 30%9/10
- Investment selectionweight 22%10/10
- Account types and featuresweight 18%8/10
- Safety and regulation9/10 · weighted 30%
- Active SEC-registered broker-dealer (8-47257), FINRA member, SIPC member, and part of a US-listed group. No headline retail enforcement matter identified in our sourced review.
- Fees and total cost9/10 · weighted 30%
- IBKR Lite is $0 on US listed equities for US residents. IBKR Pro tiered starts at $0.0035 per share with a $0.35 order minimum and a 1% of trade value cap, which is the cheapest published schedule in our set for large orders. Small Pro orders hit the per-order minimum, so it is not universally cheapest.
- Investment selection10/10 · weighted 22%
- The only firm in our set with every asset class we track published on one schedule, including futures, spot currencies, bonds, mutual funds, crypto and non-US listings across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
- Account types and features8/10 · weighted 18%
- Taxable, joint, IRA and trust accounts are all named in the published IBKR Lite eligibility terms. No HSA or solo 401(k) identified.
Not scored
- Access and eligibility — Not scored in v1.0. Requires per-country eligibility confirmed against each firm's own onboarding terms, which we have not completed.
- Platform and usability — Not scored in v1.0. Requires hands-on use of a funded account, which we have not done.
- Research and education — Not scored in v1.0. Requires logged-in access to the research suite, which we have not had.
- Customer service — Not scored in v1.0. Requires timed contact tests across channels, which we have not run.
- Execution quality — Not scored in v1.0. Requires analysis of Rule 605/606 order-execution reports, which is scheduled for a later release.
Interactive Brokers compared
Sources
- [1]Interactive Brokers — Stocks, ETFs, warrants and structured products commissionsRead August 28, 2026
- [2]Interactive Brokers — Options commissionsRead August 30, 2026
- [3]FINRA BrokerCheck — Interactive Brokers LLCRead August 28, 2026
- [4]Interactive Brokers — Other feesRead August 30, 2026
Affiliate disclosure
We currently have no affiliate or commercial relationship with any broker on this site, and every outbound link is a plain link. If that changes, it will be disclosed here and on the broker's row. Read the full disclosure.
Risk warning
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Nothing on this site is personalized investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security, or a solicitation. Figures are read from public sources on the dates shown and can change without notice — verify anything you intend to act on with the provider directly. Read the full risk disclosure.