Interactive Brokers Forex Trading Platform Review

He has served as a registered commodity futures representative for domestic and internationally-regulated brokerages. Steven holds a Series III license in the US as interactive brokers forex review a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA). However, the primary focus of Interactive Brokers’ educational offering is the stock market (share trading) – not forex or CFDs. This platform is far more approachable for casual investors, and I found it enjoyable to use in my own testing. Interactive Brokers offers localized support through regional offices across major global financial hubs. These offices support customer inquiries, sales contacts, and regulatory compliance, ensuring service is tailored to regional client needs.

However, We always encourage traders to test brokers with a demo account or with a small deposit. Once you are satisfied with the trading conditions of the broker, you may proceed with real trading. Although Interactive Brokers is primarily known for catering to professional traders, the broker also provides extensive educational resources for beginners and more advanced traders.

Trust score

Blain Reinkensmeyer has 20 years of trading experience with over 2,500 trades placed during that time. He heads research for all U.S.-based brokerages on StockBrokers.com and is respected by executives as the leading expert covering the online broker industry. Blain’s insights have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune, among other media outlets.

Overall, Interactive Brokers is best for intermediate to advanced traders. While beginners can use this broker, they may find the platforms complex and overwhelming at first. Many of the features are aimed toward more experienced traders, and the value may be lost on new users at first. However, this broker offers competitive pricing and excellent tools and research capabilities. To complete a comprehensive review of Interactive Brokers, I put together a set of criteria. This included regulation, platforms, assets, fees, customer support, educational resources, account types, and user reviews.

Is Interactive Brokers A Good Broker For Day Trading?

We rated Interactive Brokers as especially strong in the areas of CFDs on forex, shares, and indices but found room for improvement in CFDs on commodities. I was also impressed by the news and research materials from leading sources like Reuters, Dow Jones, Morningstar, and Zacks. Swaps represent the fees charged (or credit earned) for holding a position overnight.

Types of Interactive Trading Accounts

It is browser-based and does not require any software installation, making it ideal for traders who prefer a lightweight option. When it comes to making informed decisions about forex brokers, it’s essential to rely on trustworthy sources. RationalFX, a company with over 20 years of experience since its founding in 2005, has established itself as a credible authority in the industry. With an impressive collection of over 2,500 reviews on Trustpilot, boasting a score of 4.2, it’s clear that Rational FX has built a reputation for providing reliable and unbiased information.

Can you trade forex on IBKR?

Interactive Brokers made an effort to make sure our queries were answered. On the flip side, a spread refers to the gap between the buying and selling price. Financing or overnight prices are those who are charged when you maintain a leveraged position for longer than a day. As per the organization’s privacy regulations, client information is never to be shared with any other institutions or individuals.

Why trade forex with Interactive Brokers?

• The company emerged as the first online broker to offer direct access to IEX(Investors Exchange), a private forum for trading securities in 2014.
• FATF is an intergovernmental organization seeking to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
• If you feel that Interactive Brokers is not right for you then at the bottom of this Interactive Brokers review you will find a lot of alternatives to Interactive Brokers.
• Interactive Brokers has ten regulated entities and a good track record.
• While advanced traders appreciate the system, others find it user-hostile.

However, to enable overnight trading, they must access the Client Portal and make the necessary adjustments to their trading permissions. IBKR Mobile is available on Android mobile devices and iPhone/iPad devices to monitor and make foreign exchange trades while on the go. For institutional clients, IBKR is No. 1 again in 2025, and earned our 2025 Annual Award for #1 Range of Investments. The Traders’ Academy portal effectively covers broader financial market sectors, with lessons and accompanying videos that are organized by experience level. We also review each broker’s regulatory status; this research helps us determine whether you should trust the broker to keep your money safe. As part of this effort, we track 100+ international regulatory agencies to power our proprietary Trust Score rating system.

• It’s possible to contact customer support via email, telephone, live chat, and social media, so there is a range of options available.
• Interactive Brokers does not charge fees for deposits, but withdrawal fees may apply depending on the chosen method.
• IBKR offers 105 currency pairs with extremely margin rate and low spreads.
• The broker also supports ACH transfers, which are commonly used by U.S. residents for quick and low-cost deposits.
• The process to start trading with Interactive Brokers is super simple.

Stocks & ETFs

The only disadvantage of the IBKR platform is that existing forex traders will need to learn the unique platform. IBKR Lite offers commission-free trading for stocks and ETFs listed in the US exchanges. IBKR Lite accounts are subject to fixed pricing for non-exchange-listed US stocks, ETFs, warrants, and other non-qualifying products. An experienced media professional, John has a decade of editorial experience with a background that includes key leadership roles at global newsroom outlets.

We have sent messages through the Interactive Brokers livechat through their app and website and received a response within 20 seconds. You can download the Interactive Brokers app or also trade with Interactive Brokers through the MetaTrader 4 application on the Apple app store. You can make use of an option for Two Factor Authentications (2FA) with Interactive Brokers for increased security. Interactive Brokers acknowledges the significance of owning a quick order execution. A quick execution will allow users to trade without worrying about slippage safely.

Video content includes Bloomberg Television (U.S. and Asia), daily market updates from IBKR Traders’ Insight, and The Fly Squawkbox Live podcast. Though forex is not its main focus, the Traders’ Insight daily video update is produced by IBKR’s Chief Strategist, which I found to be a great quality. Likewise, IBKR provides a superb video integration of TipRanks, a great resource for non-forex asset classes. Out of all brokers reviewed on ForexBrokers.com, Interactive Brokers still offers the widest array of third-party research in 2025. Yes, IBKR provides margin trading with margin rates up to 53% lower than the industry average, allowing for more leverage and potentially higher returns.

Compare Trading Instruments

This Interactive Brokers review breaks down every one of the applicable non-trading fees for you in detail. Whenever you make a genuine trade, like buying a stock or an ETF, you’re charged trading fees. In such instances, you are spending a spread, financing speed, or even a commission. The kinds of trading fees and the prices vary from broker to broker.

In this review, I’ll share the good and bad of using Interactive Brokers for forex trading. Interactive Brokers has a competitively priced trading environment, which is beneficial for active traders in particular. The IBKR Lite account offers commission-free trading on US stocks and ETFs. The IBKR Pro account allows traders to choose between fixed-rate or tiered pricing.