59.7% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
- Experts rate Interactive Brokers Options Trading highly, awarding it a total rating of 4.9/5. They commend its extensive market access, low fees, and advanced platform features that cater to both beginners and professional traders. However, they note the platform's complexity and the requirement for trading permissions as potential drawbacks.
- Across 1375 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4.6/5, customers frequently highlight the platform's low costs, broad global market access, and advanced trading tools. Many users appreciate the user-friendly interface and efficient execution of trades, while some express concerns about the complexity of the platform and slower customer support responses.
Interactive Brokers Options 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 Options Trading across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing5.0
- Market Access5.0
- App & Platform5.0
- Customer Service4.5
- Research & Analysis5.0
Pros
- Simple to use for beginners
- Global market access
- Expert tools for professionals
Cons
- Complex product
- Need to request trading permissions
- High minimum deposit
See full expert review
Our verdict
IBKR has one of the best options trading platforms for all types of clients because of their market range and strategy builders let you create options trading strategies visually and with AI.
59.7% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Interactive Brokers good for options trading?
Interactive Brokers won "best options broker" in our 2025 and 2023 awards. They offer a huge range of markets to trade options on, low fees and platform features that enable you to easily create options strategies.
IBKR offers one of the most, if not the most, advanced options trading platforms for private clients, both for derivatives markets (indices, commodities, and forex) and stocks and shares. They provide access to a huge number of UK and international stock options, but where they really win business is through their execution capabilities.
Their strategy builder tool automatically creates the legs for spreads based on what you think is going to happen to the market and you can set your profit and loss visually through drag and drop charts.
For this review, I spent an hour or so talking to Steve Sanders, who runs product development for IBKR and it's epic. There is far too much to go into for a short piffy review and even an a options broker myself I found some of it overwhelming. If you are a professional options trader, I would say there is no better platform out there.
However, if you are just getting started trading option, IBKR has a new options tool called Options Wizard, which identifies options strategies according to market outlook, as well as the ability to add option chains into layouts and customise the data that is shown.
What's great about this is that it will create strategies around what you think will happen in the market rather than having to work it out longhand yourself. For exmaple, one of the most popular pieces of analysis we write is about whether or not the Lloyds share price will reach £1 in 2025. So to test IBKR's Options Wizard I asked it on the GlobalTrader app to to come up with an options strategy that would make me the most money if Lloyds reached £1 before the end of the year. 
Users can also now make use of options screeners, which sort and scan for option data within new dedicated sections and sub-tabs.
Options Wizard: Identify options strategies that match a market outlook.
Option Chain in Custom Layouts: Add one or multiple option chains into layouts and customize data columns to show option-specific data, such as the Greeks or Implied Volatility, and use color grouping to connect to other tools in the custom layout area, such as the Rapid Order Entry, to create trades.
Options Screeners: Sort and scan for option data with new dedicated sections and sub-tabs that offer complex combination strategies volume and trades for the day, among other features.
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%
Read customer reviews
Fantastic institutional quality platform delivered to private investors
Great platform, aggregated loan to value very useful. Would give 5 stars if they had UK tax reporting.
Great for Options
Can take some time getting use to the platform but its worth the effort.
Huge range of products and great for Options
Sophisticated and Flexible System
Excellent customer service.
My preferred Broker
I have used 2 other brokers one in the UK and one in Singapore.
Interactive Broker is my preferred choice and I have been with them for some time.
Interactive Brokers review
I have used for around 4 years now, I have found to be very reliable, very detailed data, platform able to be changed to suit the individual, support is good
Excellent low fees. Easy to trade
Wonderful platform. Very easy to use.
Low fees. Cannot get easier
Terrible
Poor customer service. Unprofessional, unattractive staff.
Good service
Direct acsess.
I haveca margin account pro.
5 stars 🌟
A well established company
the whole universe of deriavtives at your finger tips
Customer support is always there to help you max in hal a days time,, very swift executions..customer oriented ffedback algos in the platfoem always guding you to a more efficient way of trading and execution of trades,
Brilliant platform and company
Extremely poor customer service
I have never managed to get resolution when things have gone wrong. The new rule on withdrawal restrictions is confusing and even the IBKR team don’t seem to understand it.
Great
Very Helpful stuff
Significant Flaws with Interactive Brokers Options Account
Options account with IB.
I do not like the way you never know what commissions you are going to be charged on a trade in advance and the commissions you are subsequently shown on the live account balance screen do not always agree with what is charged for commissions in the overnight daily report.
Also I do not like being charged for live options feeds and for being charged a significant minimum fee on a monthly basis. Other brokers do not charge for options fees nor have minimum monthly fees.
Extremely comprehensive platform with excellent products
I have an IBKR Pro account. Very good option chain and reasonable fees. Great FX flexibility.
Reliable institution with a great, modern App
I'm very happy with my Interactive Brokers experience over the last 7 years. They have a very reliable trading platform with access to .... pretty much every instrument out there (USA, EU, UK, etc..). I use it as my primary retail investment platform and the only place where I manage my personal active investment portfolio.
Also, they have a great app and it's by far the easiest way to place and monitor your orders. You don't even need the desktop application. Just automate all your portfolio reporting to be delivered to you by email and run your optimizaiton mondels on your own computer.
Charting is a weak point.
I like everything about the platform, including competitive fees and a large selection of trading assets and instruments. The only weak point is charting, which is cumbersome and inflexible.
Best broker for an amateur trader like me
Apart from the ux and the user features the overall experience and flexibility of IB has made me move all my portfolios to them.
Beat Broker
Good value for money. Low fees, great trading platform.
Great service and platform
Amazing service and great trading platform with a lot features aswell as a reliable and trusted brokerage!
Very reliable
A little daunting at first sight but it’s easy to pick up and intuitive once you’re familiar.
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.
Richard’s contributions and expertise have been recognized by respected publications such as The Sunday Times, BusinessInsider, Yahoo Finance, BusinessNews.org.uk, Master Investor, Wealth Briefing, iNews, and The FT, among many others.
Under Richard’s leadership, the Good Money Guide has evolved into a valuable destination for comprehensive information and expert guidance, specialising in trading, investment, and currency exchange. His commitment to delivering high-quality insights has solidified the Good Money Guide’s standing as a well-respected resource for both customers and industry colleagues.