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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
Score composition, out of 10Safety and regulation contributes 2.7 of 9.0. Fees and total cost contributes 2.7 of 9.0. Investment selection contributes 2.2 of 9.0. Account types and features contributes 1.4 of 9.0. The full breakdown is in the table below.
  • Safety2.7
  • Cost2.7
  • Selection2.2
  • Accounts1.4
  • Headroom1.0
How the total is built · Segment width = sub-score × weight. Widths sum to the total.

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

13 of 14 fields verified

Read 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.

Interactive Brokers published fee schedule
US stocks and ETFsIBKR 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$0 on no-transaction-fee funds; otherwise the lesser of 3% of trade value or $14.95US residents, per transaction
Bonds0.1% of face value on the first $10,000; 0.025% aboveUS corporate bonds and CDs, $1.00 minimum, capped at the lesser of $250 or 1% of trade value. Municipals 0.05% then 0.0125%; Treasuries 0.002% with a $5.00 minimum
Futures$0.85 per contractUSD-denominated futures and futures options up to 1,000 contracts a month, falling to $0.25 above 20,000. Excludes exchange and regulatory fees
Crypto0.12%–0.18% of trade value$1.75 minimum per order, capped at 1% of trade value. Execution and custody by Paxos or Zero Hash, not by IBKR, so SIPC does not cover it
Account service feeNone publishedNo platform fees or account minimums
Inactivity feeNone published
Outgoing transfer fee$0IBKR charges nothing for incoming or outgoing ACATS; the firm at the other end may
Broker-assisted tradeNot verified
Margin rateFrom 4.13%Quoted as a spread over a benchmark rate and charged as a blend across balance tiers, so the rate on a large loan is not the headline rate
Currency conversion0.20 basis points of trade value$2.00 minimum per order at the entry tier. The cheapest currency conversion in our set by a wide margin

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.

$0cheapest$1most expensive
Options, per contract · 12 brokers with a verified figure
$0cheapest$2,000most expensive
Account minimum · 7 brokers with a verified figure

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
Sub-scores by pillar · Each pillar scored 0–10 from published evidence
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.

Common questions about Interactive Brokers

Answered from the figures above, each read from a published source on August 28, 2026.

Is Interactive Brokers a regulated broker?
Interactive Brokers is the trading name of INTERACTIVE BROKERS LLC, whose registration read active on FINRA BrokerCheck when we checked it on 28 August 2026 (CRD 36418, SEC 8-47257). It is a SIPC member, which protects the custody of assets up to $500,000, including $250,000 for cash if the firm fails. That covers the firm failing, not an investment losing value.
How much does Interactive Brokers charge to trade stocks?
Interactive Brokers publishes 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) on stock and ETF trades, read from its own schedule on 28 August 2026. Regulatory pass-through fees are charged on top of the headline at every US broker, including this one.
What are Interactive Brokers's options fees?
Interactive Brokers publishes a base commission of $0 and $0.65 per contract per contract. IBKR 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. Read from its own schedule on 30 August 2026.
Does Interactive Brokers charge a fee to transfer an account out?
Interactive Brokers publishes $0 to move an account out (IBKR charges nothing for incoming or outgoing ACATS; the firm at the other end may), read on 30 August 2026. Transfers in are free at every broker we track, so this charge applies in one direction only.
What is Interactive Brokers's margin rate?
Interactive Brokers publishes From 4.13%, read on 31 August 2026. Margin is tiered at almost every broker and the cheapest rate belongs to the largest balances, so a retail-sized loan normally sits in the most expensive band rather than the advertised one.
Is there a minimum to open an account with Interactive Brokers?
No. Interactive Brokers publishes no minimum deposit to open an account, read on 28 August 2026.
Does Interactive Brokers offer retirement accounts?
Yes. Interactive Brokers publishes 3 retirement account types, alongside joint and individual taxable accounts.

Interactive Brokers compared

Sources

  1. [1]Interactive Brokers — Stocks, ETFs, warrants and structured products commissionsRead August 28, 2026
  2. [2]Interactive Brokers — Options commissionsRead August 30, 2026
  3. [3]FINRA BrokerCheck — Interactive Brokers LLCRead August 28, 2026
  4. [4]Interactive Brokers — Other feesRead August 30, 2026
  5. [5]Interactive Brokers — Mutual fund commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  6. [6]Interactive Brokers — Bond commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  7. [7]Interactive Brokers — Futures commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  8. [8]Interactive Brokers — Cryptocurrency commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  9. [9]Interactive Brokers — Margin ratesRead August 31, 2026
  10. [10]Interactive Brokers — Spot currency commissionsRead August 31, 2026

Affiliate disclosure

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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.