59.7% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
- Experts highlight Interactive Brokers Trading Platform as a top choice for advanced traders, winning accolades for its sophisticated tools and extensive market access. While the platform excels in pricing and execution capabilities, it may be overly complex for some retail users, with a noted need for improved customer service response times.
- Across 1375 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4.6/5, customers frequently commend the platform's low costs, broad market access, and advanced trading tools. However, some users express concerns regarding the complexity of the desktop interface and occasional delays in customer support. Overall, the platform is praised for its reliability and comprehensive service, making it suitable for both novice and experienced investors.
Interactive Brokers Trading Platform 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 Trading Platform across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing5.0
- Market Access5.0
- Online Platform5.0
- Customer Service4.0
- Research & Analysis5.0
Pros
- Low cost
- Wide market range
- Investment accounts
Cons
- Complex desktop platform
- Customer service can be slow
See full expert review
Our verdict
Overall, Interactive Brokers, as the pioneer of the online trading industry, remains one of the best all-round online trading platforms for sophisticated investors and traders. We rank Interactive Brokers as the best online trading platform as it is exceptionally good for sophisticated trading. It offers by far the most access to the most markets through DMA futures, options, physical shares and CFDs. it also has the most advanced execution tools for retail traders, including complex order types such as VWAP, pairs trading, iceberg, and algorithmic trading.
60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Is Interactive Brokers trading platform any good?
Interactive Brokers won "best trading platform" in our 2024 and 2023 awards as they offer an exceptionally advanced platform for advanced traders, but also a very simple interface for beginners. They also scored very highly in our annual survey for pricing and market range.
We rank Interactive Brokers as the best online trading platform as it is exceptionally good for sophisticated trading. It offers by far the most access to the most markets through DMA futures, options, physical shares and CFDs. it also has the most advanced execution tools for retail traders, including complex order types such as VWAP, pairs trading, iceberg, and algorithmic trading.
When I was testing the trading platform, one thing that is immediately obvious though is that the desktop version is almost too good for retail traders and most will only use a small percentage of its capabilities. However, new traders should not be put off by its institutional-grade offering. The heavy-duty Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation is available as a download on PC, but there is also a simplified web-based version that is very simple to use called Portal.
On the web-based Portal trading platform, you can execute trades as physical deals, CFDs, futures and options (on the widest range of stocks). There are lots of webinars (with the founder Thomas Peterffy and his team) that cover trading strategy. You can also evaluate your portfolio based on how ethical your positions are. There are stock scanners, fund scanners, bond scanners, a fundamentals explorer for hunting out undervalued stocks and you can convert currency at some of the best exchange rates around.
IBKR also gives you more control over your currency exposure. Most other trading platforms automatically convert currency when you trade instruments outside your base currency but IBKR lets you do it manually on a per-trade or ad hoc basis.
What does Interactive Brokers trading platform look like?
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
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.
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.