Preview Thumbnail Blank

Interactive-Brokers Review Discount Trading Brokerage

Interactive Brokers (IB) is one of the most popular online discount brokerage platforms globally.

It provides services to investors throughout the world.

Thomas Peterffy founded the company in 1978, and it has headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut, in the United States of America. Still, it has offices in Canada, Hong Kong, and the U.K., among other locations.

Since its founding, I.B. has grown, and it now serves thousands of clients across the world.

It offers services to traders on all time frames, from intra-day trading to long-term investing.

The Interactive Broker is a financial tool designed to help you manage your investments.

How to Open A new Interactive Broker Account

To open a new Interactive Brokers account, you must use the online application form.

You’ll need to provide your details, financial information, and employment history.

If you’re opening a joint account, you’ll need some of your co-owners information.

The process is straightforward, but it will take some time.

The first part of the application asks for personal details and financial information, such as net worth and investment goals.

After that, you’ll be prompted to upload your signature and proof of residence documents.

You’ll also need to upload a document certifying your identity — usually a passport or driver’s license.

Finally, the process concludes with a risk assessment questionnaire and some consent forms.

Interactive Brokers doesn’t have set minimums for opening an account.

However, if you want to trade forex or futures contracts, you must deposit at least $10,000 for these asset classes.

How Interactive Brokers Work

Interactive Brokers is a brokerage and investment firm that offers low-cost trades to investors of all types, from novice investors to professionals.

The company provides customers with many accounts, including individual and joint accounts for married couples.

You can open accounts for a trust or a business entity. Interactive Brokers also has custodial accounts for minors.

IRA accounts are available in traditional, Roth, SEP, and SIMPLE versions.

Commission/Fees Charged To Trade

The price you pay to trade stocks and ETFs with Interactive Brokers is its main strength.

The base rate is $0.005 per share, with a $1 minimum and a 0.5% maximum.

There’s also an additional fee of $1 /trade when trading fewer than 150 times per quarter or holding less than US$100,000 in your account.

These commissions are about as low as you’ll find anywhere — in fact, the company is one of the few brokers that actively advertises how it makes money from trades.

It does this by charging larger accounts a small amount of interest (on top of the commission) for holding positions overnight (which most investors do).

Traders who don’t hold positions overnight can get away without paying any interest.

Different Software Available

Interactive Brokers offers several types of trading platforms that cater to various investors.

The most basic is WebTrader, which the average investor will use.

WebTrader provides access to all asset classes and is available on Windows and Mac desktops and mobile devices.

More experienced traders will use Trader Workstation (TWS).

This platform is designed for active traders and those who want access to complex order types.

TWS provides an impressive array of order types, including the most significant (limit orders) and more advanced ones like iceberg orders or hidden orders.

Access is also available through APIs so that you can create custom front ends if desired.

TWS can be used on either Windows or Mac systems and includes mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.

Those who prefer coding their trading strategies may choose I.B.

Is Interactive Brokers A Good Broker

Yes, Interactive Broker is a good Broker.

Interactive Broker is one of the top-rated brokers in the industry.

The brokers offer a wide range of instruments for trading and investing.

The Broker is also known for its low commissions and transparent pricing.

It provides trading through its web-based brokerage platform, which is user-friendly and easy to use.

It also provides various other services to its clients, including access to research tools, technical analysis tools, and financial news.

Is Interactive Brokers Commission Free

Interactive Brokers is a discount broker. It charges low fees but doesn’t give you much-personalized service.

It’s best for intermediate or advanced traders who want to trade stocks or options, especially after-hours.

It also offers forex trading and commission-free ETFs.

The Broker offers various platforms, including mobile, desktop, and web versions.

The most advanced one, TWS (Trader Workstation), is best suited to experienced active traders with high trading volumes.

Is Interactive Brokers Good For Beginners

No, Interactive isn’t an ideal online trading platform for beginners.

An interactive Broker is a strong option for advanced, frequent traders:

Interactive Broker provides low commissions, international trade capabilities, and a quality online trading platform.

However, high balance requirements, inactivity fees, and inadequate educational resources might turn off new traders.

Interactive Brokers is a quality broker that offers meager commissions and fees.

The company is considered a good choice for active investors who do not need an extensive offering of investment choices.

Can You Link Interactive Brokers To Tradingview

Yes. You will need to open an account at TradingView, then connect it to your Interactive Brokers account using TWS.

Click the New Window button on TWS, and select TradingView.

Your trading view charts will be connected to your Interactive Brokers account, and you’ll be able to trade directly from the charts in TradingView.

How To Fund Interactive Brokers With Transferwise

You can fund your Interactive Brokers account in many different ways.

If you live outside the U.S., funding with Transferwise can be a great option, as they offer a free borderless account and low fees on transfers.

Open an account with Interactive Brokers.

Please send your details through to I.B. online, then wait for them to send you an email before you can finish opening your account.

While you wait on that email from I.B., open an account with TransferWise. First, open your borderless account using Transferwise’s website or app (iOS or Android)1) and verify your identity (you’ll need to upload one government I.D.)

Set up your I.B. account as a recipient. You don’t have to fund the Transferwise Account yet.

You can choose which country you want I.B. in, but it doesn’t matter if it’s not in the U.S. (unless you want your accounts in USD) because you can switch currencies anytime.

Use Transferwise to transfer funds from that account to your I.B. account

When prompted by Transferwise, select I.B. as the destination and enter the code for Interactive Brokers

Wait for the funds to arrive in your I.B. account (usually less than 24 hours)

Withdraw Interactive Brokers To Transferwise

There are lots of ways to withdraw Interactive Brokers to Transferwise:

You can wire funds from interactive brokers to your local bank account, then use Transferwise.

Or you can use I.B.’s Interactive Brokers Debit card (with 2% cashback) to withdraw from ATM and transfer the fund to Transferwise.

Can I Connect Interactive Brokers To Tradingview

You can’t connect Interactive Brokers to TradingView, but you can use IBKR TWS for your charts and TradingView for alerts and the social aspect of trading.

It would be best if you had charting software connected to your Broker’s data, in this case, Interactive Brokers.

You could use IBKR TWS for your charting.

You can also use IBKR Web Trader, a browser-based version of their software.

They both offer all the technical indicators that you need.

However, TradingView has a lot of tools on it as well.

The social aspect of trading is one of them, and another is the alerts you can set up.

Alerts aren’t available on IBKR yet, so if you want them, you need to be able to get a signal through either an email or text message (or both).

When you get the alert, you can place your trade on IBKR using their platform or even through their mobile app.

How To Connect Interactive Brokers To Tradingview

Below are steps you should follow to connect Interactive Brokers to Tradingview.

1. In TradingView, click the settings icon in the top right corner of the charting platform.

2. Scroll down to “Integration” and click on “Interactive Brokers.”

3. Click on the “Create Application” button.

4. Attach your Trading View Username and Password to the app. This is for security purposes only; you will not be able to trade directly from Trading View’s platform.

5. Fill out all required fields on the App Distribution Form, then click on “Submit.” Click OK after this step is complete.

How To Link Interactive Brokers To Yahoo Finance

Below are steps to follow for you to link Interactive Brokers to Yahoo Finance:

1. Log into your account, and click on the “Reports” tab at the top.

2. Click on “Transaction History.”

3. Under the “Search By” header, select the desired selection of dates for the transactions you want to download (a month or a year works well). Then click on “Export.”

4. Save the file to your computer as a .csv file (Comma Separated Values). Make sure it doesn’t save as an Excel file (.xls).

5. Open Yahoo Finance, and under the “Portfolios” tab at the top, click on “Add a new portfolio.”

6. Name your portfolio whatever you want and click “Create Portfolio.”

7. Click on this new portfolio you just created and click on “Add Transactions.”

8. Under where it says “Import History,” select “Brokerage” and then upload the .csv file that you downloaded from Interactive Brokers.

Is Interactive Brokers Safe

Interactive Brokers is safe to use for trading for several reasons.

First, it offers negative balance protection to its trader, which means that you can’t lose more money than what is in your account.

Moreover, it is listed on a stock exchange which means that it has to pass all the security checks required before being listed.

Finally, it is regulated by top-tier financial authorities that audit the security features of exchanges and brokerages to ensure that they are valid and meet the required standard.

How Much Does Interactive Brokers Charge For Foreign Exchange

Interactive Brokers makes a market in foreign exchange for retail clients, just like it does in stocks, options, futures, and other assets.

The cost of trading forex at Interactive Brokers is comparable to its major competitors.

One advantage is that IBKR offers a single fixed commission regardless of the size of the trade.

That sets it apart from firms like FXCM, which charges less per unit traded on a larger volume.

Is Interactive Brokers Good For Forex

Yes, it’s suitable for forex trading because of the low spreads and overall transparency.

They offer various forex pairs, with spreads as low as 0.5 pips on majors.

The Interactive Brokers forex offering is available on all account types, including IBKR Lite.

Interactive Broker is a top choice for active and advanced traders looking for an institutional-quality trading platform at reasonable prices.

How Much Does Interactive Brokers Charge For Market Data

Interactive Brokers has an average price of $0.03 per share with a maximum commission of $1.00 per order and a minimum commission of $0.01 per share.

It also offers volume discounts on all the market data that you access.

The price you pay depends on your monthly trading volume, and the more you trade, the less you pay per order.

If you’re trading more than 1 million shares each month, you can qualify for lower fees.

At 3 million shares traded each month, your fee will be $0.005 per share or $1 per order, whichever is greater.

This fee structure applies to accounts under $100K inequity and goes down from there.

The max fee drops to $0.002 per share with a minimum of $1 at 100 million shares traded each month, which applies to accounts over $5M in equity.

They charge a monthly market data fee of $10 to customers who make fewer than 35 trades during the month.

This fee is waived if the customer trades at least 35 times during the month or maintains a certain account balance.

It makes a lot of money from its traders.

They charge a monthly data fee, and then their commissions are meager.

It’s not uncommon to see an Interactive Brokers trader lose a few thousand dollars in fees every month while only making $10 or so on commissions.

Does Interactive Brokers Charge A Monthly Fee

Interactive Brokers doesn’t charge a monthly fee; however, it offers a few different ways to pay your commissions.

The easiest way is to add a little money to your account and let it sit there until you need to pay the commissions.

If you don’t want your money sitting around, you can link an external checking account or credit card to your brokerage account and automatically pay the $10 each month.

Does Interactive Brokers Charge For Real-Time Data

It does not charge for real-time data.

In addition, interactive Brokers have no minimum on the account balance, but it charges $10 per month if the account balance is below $100,000.

How To Add Interactive Brokers To Mint

There is a way to add Interactive Brokers to Mint; here are the steps you’ll need to take to make that happen.

1. Log in to your Interactive Brokers account

2. Go to Account Management > View/Edit Profile

3. Click on “Read-Only Request Access.”

4. Enter your Mint email address and click “Send.”

5. You should get an email from Interactive Brokers

6. Click on the link in the email to grant permission (make sure you’re signed in to Mint)

7. Wait a few minutes, then go back to Mint and refresh the page, which will hopefully show your I.B. account

Is Interactive Brokers Legal In Malaysia

It is legal in Malaysia for forex and stock trading.

While Interactive Brokers does not offer its services to residents of Malaysia, it does accept clients from Malaysia.

However, I.B. isn’t regulated by the Securities Commission Malaysia.

Therefore, if anything happens to your account, there’s nothing that the commission can do to help you.

Therefore, you’ll be required to go to the U.S. Security and Exchange commission instead.

How To Fund Interactive Brokers Account Malaysia

There are a couple of ways to fund an Interactive Brokers account.

The easiest way is to use a bank wire transfer.

This can be completed by going to the Account Management area and following the directions for wiring money from your bank account to Interactive Brokers.

The other method is through a check or ACH transfer. These options can also be found in the Account Management area.

The most popular way to fund an Interactive Brokers account is via a bank wire transfer, which usually takes around one business day to complete after the funds are sent from your bank account.

This method is the cheapest and most efficient, with an $8 fee for incoming wires that are $50,000 or less and no cost for more significant amounts.

Unlike many other brokers who offer this service, interactive Brokers do not accept credit cards as funding methods.

Alternatively, you can use your Wise account to deposit directly to your I.B. account.

How To Download Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation

Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation (TWS) is one of the most powerful trading platforms available.

It has the most advanced order management capabilities, and it supports all asset classes, including stocks, options, futures, and foreign exchange.

The platform can be customized to your needs, and there are no trade minimums or account restrictions.

Interactive Brokers allows you to download historical data for selected securities and periods.

You should use the historical data downloader tool provided by Interactive Brokers to do this.

The historical data downloader will allow you to quickly and easily create custom studies, explore different charting options, historical review data, and test strategies.

The software is free and allows you to download up to 1 year of daily bars for stock quotes, indices, or mutual funds.

Here’s how you can download it:

  1. Log in to your account on the Interactive Brokers website and navigate Account Management > Software User Settings.
  2. Click the Download TWS link (the icon looks like a piece of paper with an arrow).
  3. Download the appropriate version for your operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux).
  4. Run the installer and follow the prompts.
  5. You’ll have to authorize NinjaTrader to act as an API client. To do this, run Trader Workstation and follow these steps:
  6. In Trader Workstation, select file> Global Configuration.
  7. Select API > Settings.
  8. On the left side of the dialog box, under Configure API Access, check Enable ActiveX and Socket Clients. Then click OK.

How To Close Interactive Broker’s Account

If you still have money in the account, you must withdraw it and make sure your account is up-to-date.

To close your Interactive Brokers account, place a sell order for all of your shares and follow the steps listed below.

1. Go to Client Portal -> Account Management -> Close Account.

2. Select an account you would like to close in the drop-down menu and click on Submit.

3. You will see a message is warning about closing your account and the possibility of losing access to your trading platform.

Click on Yes, I understand.

4. You will need to enter your password, click on Submit, and see a message confirming that you have requested to close your account.

How To Delete Interactive Broker’s Account

If you want to delete your Interactive Brokers account, you’ll need to contact customer support.

Compose an email to the appropriate customer support team.

You’ll need to include your name and your account’s email address.

You can also include a brief message explaining why you want to delete your account.

Then,

  1. Log into your account.
  2. In the navigation bar on the left, click Account Management.
  3. At the top of the page, select Account Management (IBKR Lite) or Account Management (IBKR PRO).
  4. From the menu on the left side of the page, select Login and Security.
  5. Click delete account.

To Read More Of Our Latest’s Posts – Click Here