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
IBKR INTERNATIONAL
Great worldwide broker
Best overall service and platform
A chose interactive brokers after a long and intensive search for a comprehensive online platform that offers all services I needed. Interactive Brokers ticks all the boxes that are relevant for me.
ISA FX Commission 0.015% vs 1% or more elsewhere - unbeatable for UK investors
I have Stock & Share ISAs with several well known platforms. I also have non-ISA trading accounts. Here I want to specifically commend Interactive Brokers for breaking the 'cartel' pricing of FX within ISAs.
ISAs can only hold GBP, so anyone investing in foreign listed assets has to pay FX commission on every purchase, sale and dividend. The FX commission elsewhere is usually between 1% and 1.5% for trades below GBP5k, the % gradually reducing in a tiered manner as the trade value increases until settling at 0.25% for trades over GBP25k; with IB it is 0.015% irrespective of trade value. Example: buying GPB5k of a NASDAQ stock with most ISA platforms costs at least £50 in FX commission; with Interactive Brokers it costs £0.75. It's the same again when you sell, so £100 FX for the round-trip elsewhere vs £1.50 with IB. Plus, IB offers the full range of order types for ISA trades; none of the "At Best" only nonsense of other ISA platforms.
IB's Trader Workstation trading platform is excellent and can be used for both ISA and non-ISA trading.
Trader workstation -the best trading platform out there
I have been using Interactive Brokers and Trader workstation for over 10 years now. It is my much preferred trading platform and has an amazingly wide array of trading vehicles. It can seem over facing in the beginning but once you know your way around it is the best.
Excellent trading tools
Excellent trading account.
Very good mobile apps.
Excellent value for money and product but very poor customer service
Excellent value for money in terms of the cost of services (including trade commissions and currency exchange) quality of trade execution, algos you can use to trade, research material available, and even the functionality of the website, mobile app and trader workstation (but it takes some getting used to). The cost of competitors seems a little deceptive to me because some competitors offer zero commission but it seems to me their execution is not as good, and so if I save £20 or $20 but pay $500 more for the cost of the shares that's not a good deal for me. However, IBKR customer service is appalling, really bad. They just flat don't answer messages, and if you call they can rarely resolve anything except the simplest issue, and it takes having to escalate to get any kind of response. it is truly astonishing how a company with such good products and pricing have such a bad customer service culture, and the US customer service are the worst because they are often aggressive, dismissive and sometimes b ordering on rude.
Always Delivers
I have a small trading account with IB which I use to access the US market and have found their systems and processes relatively easy to use and the filling of my buy/sell orders to be seamless.
I would recommend them to small investors looking to dip their toes in other markets.
The best product in the UK
The TWS platform is superb with streaming prices and trades. The news service is excellent with access to Dow Jones’s and Refinitiv news wires amongst many others. Live option prices and plenty of customisation opportunities puts it in a different league from the pitiful options available from the UK platforms. Just a shame that they don’t offer full service SIPPs
Exceptional service!
The customer service is excellent anytime I’ve called for any queries. The mobile app is very user friendly and easy to use.
There is no comparison
I have yet to find a comparable trading account to interactive brokers. No one comes close in terms of the breadth of securities or transparency of pricing.
Very convenient for global investments
The platform offers a wide range of products with a wide geographical coverage, probably the best for individual investors. The trading costs are also very competitive.
Excellent trading platform
I have a margin account allowing me to day trade as well as my main trading type of swing trading. The platform is great to use, trades are executed extremely quickly with low commissions.
Awful customer service
Getting in touch with an IB representative is almost impossible . The service is just awful , phones not answered . Over the years I have been with them nothing in this area has improved .
Yes , their fees are excellent and the platform works but if you have a problem then prepare for a frustrating experience.
A really good chart package with plenty of news and detailed information.
I have a Options and Shares account and use Trader Work Station. Really enjoy the risk and reward profile.
Some chart symbols are hard to find especially the 10 year yield and two year yield.
Ease of use
I have used the IBKR platform for about 3 years having tried out a few others. The interface makes it quite intuitive and user-friendly for a non-professional trader. It also has a huge range of products.
Trading with IBKR
I have two individual accounts for stock trading and options trading. I have traded options for about five years on IBKR. Once you get used to it, the platform is not difficult to use and the helpline is really good. I have about 300k in my trading account, having transferred it from Interactive Investor which I found a real pain, AND they charged me £9.99 a month for holding my account, on a website that was dire! Also the commission charges are extremely reasonable. I am very happy with IBKR.
Trading & Commission
Trading account. Excellent execution and reasonable commission/fees schedule
Exceptional platform
Great access to derivative products, fair margining.
Great trading platform
I am a long time customer of Interactive Brokers and a very satisfied one. Great technology, competitive pricing and professional customer service.
Great Broker, but TWS Needs Improvement: Window Management Issues
I've been using Interactive Brokers for my trading activities, and overall, I find their services excellent. The range of investment options and competitive fees are standout features that make it a top choice for serious investors. However, I do have one significant concern regarding the Trader WorkStation (TWS) platform related to window management.
While the TWS interface itself is well-designed, the way it handles other applications is problematic. When I open TWS, the interface is great. However, if I then open another application, such as an Excel file, it invariably opens behind TWS. This forces me to minimize or move TWS every time I need to access another program, which disrupts my workflow and reduces productivity.
Improving TWS so that other applications open on top of it would significantly enhance the user experience. Despite this drawback, I still highly recommend Interactive Brokers for its other excellent services.
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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