59.7% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
- Good Money Guide experts commend Interactive Brokers (IBKR) for its robust CFD trading capabilities, highlighting its low-cost structure and direct market access, which allows traders to place orders directly on the exchange. The platform is particularly suited for experienced traders, with advanced tools and features that cater to high-volume trading, though some users may find the desktop interface complex.
- Across 1375 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4.6/5, customers frequently praise the platform's low fees, extensive market access, and efficient trade execution. Many users appreciate the comprehensive tools available for both novice and experienced traders, while some express concerns about the complexity of the platform and slower customer support response times.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) CFD Trading Expert rating
Our expert rating is the average of the areas listed here, each scored out of 5 by our team.Our experts have rated Interactive Brokers (IBKR) CFD Trading across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing5.0
- Market Access4.5
- App & Platform5.0
- Customer Service4.0
- Research & Analysis5.0
Pros
- Low-cost CFD trading
- Wide market range of CFD markets
- DMA CFD trading
Cons
- Better for advanced CFD traders
- Complex desktop platform
See full expert review
Our verdict
IBKR offers CFD trading on around 8,500 markets including 100 forex pairs, 20 commodities, 13 indices, and thousands of international stocks. I’ve traded through IBKR a fair bit and there is no doubt that Interactive Brokers CFD offering is one of the best around.
59.7% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Can you trade CFDs with Interactive Brokers (IBKR)?
Yes, you can trade CFDs or contracts for difference with Interactive Brokers, but you have to go through some quite arduous suitability tests to ensure that you understand the risks involved.
But once you are in, I found Interactive Brokers to be one of the best CFD brokers, most appropriate for experienced and sophisticated CFD traders. However, it also has lighter versions of its Workstation downloadable trading platform on the portal for newer traders who may want to stick with one platform as they become more experienced.
Trading Platforms: There are two different platforms, which I tested by short-selling Travis Perkins as a CFD. We discussed TPK in our podcast, and the general consensus in the comments on TikTok was that everyone hates them and that it's too expensive. You can see below examples of both trading platforms and how different they look.
The downloadable platform Workstation lets you trade CFDs with the most types of order execution with IBKR, for instance, VWAP, pairs trading, time and price-sensitive order entry. These tools are most suited to professional and very high-volume traders, or hedge funds that are working very large orders and don’t want to scare the market. Most retail CFD traders will have no need for them, but it is representative of IBKRs overall service in that it provides an exceptional institutional-grade CFD platform to retail clients.
There is also an excellent pairs trading feature where you can simultaneously trade one CFD stock against another as a percentage. IBKR is the only CFD broker that lets you do this. With other trading platforms you have to do two separate orders.
As you can see from when I shorted TPK on the Portal web-based version it is much simpler. But you still get some good order execution types, but it's very much for retail CFD traders compared to IBKR Workstation which is for professionals.
Market Access: Whilst Interactive Brokers does not offer the most CFD markets, they do offer one of the best ways to trade them. With IBKR CFDs you can trade with direct market access (DMA) on the exchange so you can place your orders directly on the order book at better prices than the bid/offer.
In reality, CFD brokers with the most markets are those that offer access to small or illiquid stocks which are probably not suitable for CFD trading anyway. But, IBKR offers access to the majority of stocks and markets most traders could need.
CFD Fees: The commission is charged post-trade so you get clean prices with no mark-up and IBKRs commission rates (added post trade) are the best around. Commission on UK stocks is 0.02% and 0.003% on US stocks.
Out-of-hours Trading: IBKR lets you trade CFDs on US stocks, indices, commodities and currencies overnight and on some parts of the weekend. Overnight trading starts from 8pm US ET time on Sundays and for those with US stock trading permission you get access to free overnight data.
CFDs on restricted ETFs: You can also trade ETFs as a CFD that you otherwise would not be able to invest in if based in the UK. One of the major drawbacks of ETFs listed in the US is they do not provide a Key Information Document (which tells you what is in them and how risky they are), so the UK regulators won't let UK investors buy them as they are not transparent. However, with IBKR you can trade these as a CFD (which is an OTC product).
Customer reviews for Interactive Brokers
Customer ratings come from reviews left on this site. Every review is read and approved before it is published.Based on 1,375 reviews
- Excellent74%
- Very good14%
- Basic7%
- Poor2%
- Bad2%
What customers like
- Low fees and competitive pricing
- User-friendly platform
- Fast execution and reliability
What customers dislike
- Poor customer service
- Confusing account management
- Slow response times
Read customer reviews
Useful
Useful overview of Interactive Brokers’ strengths and trade-offs: low costs, broad global market access, and advanced tools stand out, while platform complexity and slower customer support for some smaller clients are worth considering. The article’s 4.6/5 customer rating is helpful context alongside the risks of CFD trading. More details are available in the Bestecision review: https://bestecision.com/review/interactive-brokers-review
good
information
Yes, I'm just wait to see how they perform
Digital Crypto currency, stock exchange, trading and stock market
Informative
All the information is so easily accessible for beginner investors like myself.
Simple & Best Price
Nice Interface and very good Prices in General...also easy to use.
Excellent
Excellent mobile platform for trading global markets
Complete
Very broad, stable and cost efficient
Value
They provide a comprehensive service, which they are constantly improving and enhancing. Excellent value for money and sophisticated functionality. I'm constantly finding new resources to help with my investment decisions and risk management.
Quickly & easy
Answer/ trasnfers
Best
Fast and easy execution
professional
great value for money
Outstanding
The level and quality of service is above and beyond any other 'broker' operating in the UK. Most others call themselves brokers but don't have direct market access and so are, in reality, merely platforms: agents that push orders to other brokers. The result is a poor service, bad execution quality and a negative impact on investment returns. Additionally, the Interactive Broker platform is in a league of its own.
If you want an analogy, Interactive Brokers is like driving a Ferrari, while the competition are still using bicycles!
Reliable
Is reliable and diversified
Professional
Customer support is excellent. The app are clunky but work well. I used them for personal investments.
World class trading
'- Multi-currency account
- Worldwide trading
- Sophisticated 24h real-time trading system
- Easy to use client interface
- FX trading
- Favorable fees, commissions and interest rates
- Powerful reporting tools
- Broad range of investment products
- Fair deal execution
- Comprehensive worldwide market information
- Client focus - Fantastic value for money
Organised
They are very clear and sympathetic in encouraging good practice were proper risk management is concerned.
Value for money
Excellent rates
Confusing customer service
My experience with IBKR customer service fell short of my expectations and the response time was excessively long.
Their customer service representatives appear to copy-paste responses without much care.
Security
Provides several investment instruments.
Cheap and complete
IBKR shows really good prices and provide more details and better record-keeping than other providers.
Compare Interactive Brokers to other CFD trading platforms below:
| CFD Broker | CFD Markets | Overnight Fees | Customer Reviews | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,500 | 2.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 125 reviews) | See Platform 69% of retail investor accounts lose money |
| 5,000 | 2.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 21 reviews) | See Platform 74% of retail CFD accounts lose money. |
| 1,200 | 2.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 110 reviews) | See Platform 73% of retail investor accounts lose money |
| 2,000 | 20% Long / 10% Short | (Based on 146 reviews) | See Platform 76% of retail investor accounts lose money |
| 8,500 | 1.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 1,375 reviews) | See Platform 59.7% of retail investor accounts lose money |
| 10,000 | 3% +/- SONIA | (Based on 272 reviews) | See Platform 61% of retail investor accounts lose money |
| 17,000 | 2.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 746 reviews) | See Platform 70% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 12,000 | 2.9% +/- SONIA | (Based on 237 reviews) | See Platform 69% of retail investor accounts lose money |
| 9,000 | 2.5% +/- SAXO RATE | (Based on 137 reviews) | See Platform 62% of retail investor accounts lose money |
| 2,976 | 6.4% +/- SONIA | (Based on 283 reviews) | See Platform 61% of retail investor accounts lose money |
| 2,100 | 9% Long / 0.4% Short | (Based on 139 reviews) | See Platform 74% of retail investor accounts lose money |
Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
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