Versus Customer Reviews & Alternatives

Is event contract trading on IBKR any good?

Yes, Interactive Brokers offers extensive global market access, institutional-grade trading platforms and low-cost execution. IBKR ForecastTrader adds a unique forecast-contract feature, appealing to sophisticated traders.

Note: ForecastEx is an IBKR-owned affiliate that is an exchange and clearinghouse for forecast contracts (while IBKR ForecastTrader is the trading platform offered by IBKR where you buy and sell these contracts, as well as ones from the CME).

Pricing and Trade Mechanics: Very cheap: Commission free for IBKR ForecastTrader, and traders earn 3.14% APY on their investment with an interest-like incentive coupon. New accounts get USD 3.00 they can use to trade forecast contracts. 

For IBKR ForecastTrader, trading works like this: If an investor purchases a position at USD 0.50 and the market closes at USD 0.50, the daily incentive coupon will be based on USD 0.50. If, on the following day, the market for the same contract closes at USD 0.70, the daily incentive coupon will be based on USD 0.70.

Market Access: Very good, on ForecastEx forecast contracts. Trading is available around the clock, six days a week. Forecast contracts on U.S. elections are only available to eligible U.S. residents.

Apps & Website:  Excellent, these contracts can be traded on the dedicated platform of IBKR Forecast Trader or through Interactive Brokers’ platforms Trader Workstation (TWS), IBKR Desktop. IBKR Mobile, or Client Portal.

Customer Service: Fair, good in-house developed AI chatbots and account summaries, however, unless you are a large client you may find it slow to get through on the phone.

Research & Analysis: Excellent, Interactive Brokers has a section of the IBKR ForecastTrader website dedicated to education content to help traders understand these contracts. There are also courses on IBKR Campus Traders’ Academy that cover the fundamentals of forecast contracts and economic forecasts listed on IBKR ForecastTrader.

Resources include an IBKR Campus section on Economic Forecast Contracts, where traders can earn how to read and speculate on economic data points. And a section on Forecast Contracts Fundamentals.

What’s the IBKR ForecastTrader platform like?

You can see the payout of the forecast contracts trading platform from Interactive Brokers in the below screenshot.

Are Prediction Markets on Plus500 any good?

Pricing: Plus500 charges a per-contract commission on prediction markets, typically around $0.01 per contract, with additional exchange or clearing fees potentially applying depending on the market. Overall, pricing is transparent, probability-based, and easy to follow, particularly for traders new to prediction markets. For isntance, if you are trading the S&P close price at the end of 2026 there is a $0.01 exchange fee and $0.01 commission charged.

Market Access: For financial traders, there is a wide range of short and long-term event contracts from where the S&P will close at the end of 2026, to shorter-term time frames like where WTI oil with close at the end of the current trading day. Plus a good selection of crypto, company, treasury and inflation markets like Core CPI and inflation.

App & Platform: Always good with Plus500, since its inception in 2008, the apps and desktop trading platform have always been intuitive, with only pertinent information displayed, making them ideal for new traders.

Customer Service: No phone number for direct contact through to dealers, but the Plus500 live chat feature has always been quick to answer any questions we have had when tested.

Research & Analysis: For prediction markets on Plus500, there is historic price charting per forecast contract with an event summary. There is also a timeline that shows you key timing and when settled trades are projected to be paid out.