In this Interactive Brokers review, we are going to show you the biggest complaints and compliments for this online trading broker, alongside all the information and stats that you will need to make your own decision.
Interactive Brokers is the leading broking firms in the United States. The firm is best known for offering traders access to over 135 global markets in 33 countries. They also offer professionals one of the lowest margin rates, allowing them to leverage the leading industry commissions.
The firm deals in option, forex, stocks, bonds, EPPs, Futures, Future Options, and Funds. With their global reach and exchange system, traders can trade equities, future, and options around the world, at any time.
If you are wondering whether Interactive Brokers fits your investing needs, then this review is for you. In this Interactive Brokers review, we are going to show you the biggest complaints and compliments for this online trading broker, alongside all the information and stats that you will need to make your own decision.
Popularity
Over the years, Interactive Brokers have grown their image to become the leading broking firm in the United States. The firm is recognized globally for providing a no-commission equity trades on its platforms.
Although the company have been around the 1990s, it recorded an exponential growth and popularity from 2000 till date. From 2001, the company started handling more than 200, 000 trades per day. Between 2007-2017, the firm had introduced several other services like the interactive brokers information system and also expanded to other countries.
Currently, Interactive Brokers is well known globally, with a huge following across all mobile platforms and a lot of exposure on most media outlets.
| Query | Answer | Reference URL | Date |
| Number of users (approximate) | 913K | https://investors.interactivebrokers.com | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Website traffic (estimated) | 4.11m | https://www.similarweb.com/website/interactivebrokers.com/ | 26 Aug 2020 |
| # results on web | 37.7m | https://www.google.com/ | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Search volume Google | 60K | https://searchvolume.io | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Twitter followers | 228K | https://twitter.com/ibkr | 26 Aug 2020 |
| FB followers | 148K | https://www.facebook.com/InteractiveBrokers/ | 26 Aug 2020 |
| How popular on mainstream media? | Medium | Motley Fool, Yahoo Finance, Business Wire, Bloomberg, CNBC, FinanceFeeds | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Negative media? | Medium | https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-178 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-interactive-fine/finra-fines-interactive-brokers-5-5-million-for-short-selling-violations-idUSKCN1L525H | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Notable awards | Best Online Broker, Best for International Traders, 5-Star Rating for Outstanding Value, Online Share Trading – Casual Investor | https://webreprints.djreprints.com/57159.html https://www.canstar.com.au/online-trading/2020-star-ratings-awards/ | 26 Aug 2020 |
User Rating
The platform has a lot of positive reviews online across multiple social media platforms and reviews sites. Interactive Brokers was able to score a more than average 62 % of positive reviews out of 100 percent. Most of the positive reviews reaffirm the company’s dedication to opening traders to global markets and providing reliable, round the clock services across all its platforms.
On the other hand, you’ll also find some negative reviews from users. Some of the most common negative complaints you’ll find are that the platform looks outdated and doesn’t cater adequately to the needs of non-US residents. Another common complaint you’ll find is mostly related to the long times of waiting for customer support. In all fairness, this is a common complaint seen for every broker firm.
The company hasn’t really made the signing up process very easy until very recently. Before, now players have to sign a lot of forms to open and get an account functioning.
More so, while users can open an account without making any deposits, you’ll have to fund it within 90days, or else the account will be closed. In general, the user rating for this platform is 3.55/5.
| Query | Answer | Reference URL | Date |
| # users rated on user platforms | 605 on TrustPilot, 0 on SiteJabber | https://www.trustpilot.com/review/interactivebrokers.com https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/interactivebrokers.com | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Percentage of positive reviews out of user reviews | 62% | https://www.trustpilot.com/review/interactivebrokers.com | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Common compliments | Reliable broker, many features, and access to most international markets. | https://www.trustpilot.com/review/interactivebrokers.com | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Common complaints | Not great for non US residents. Looks outdated. | https://www.trustpilot.com/review/interactivebrokers.com | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Positive feedback on Twitter? | Great platform with a lot of features. | https://twitter.com/ibkr | 26 Aug 2020 |
| Negative feedback on Twitter? | Slow responding customer support. | https://twitter.com/ibkr | 26 Aug 2020 |
| App rating (summary) | An average rating of 3.55 / 5 from 8K reviews | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=atws.app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ibkr-mobile/id454558592 | 26 Aug 2020 |
Background Information
Interactive Brokers was incorporated in 1993 to provide brokering services to customers. By 1995, the company had created its trading platform, called the trader workstation from where it executed its first trades.
However, it was until 2001, that the company changed its name from Timber Hill Group to Interactive Brokers. By 2002, the platform has become one of the major markets in the United States single stock futures. In 2003, the firm expanded to include UK, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada trading options to its platform.
Surprisingly, Interactive Brokers was able to raise a whopping 40 million shares during its first initial public offering in 2007. Since then the company has continued to expand its reach, shares and market. The revenue for the quarter ending June 30, 2020, was $539 million, which represents a 30.51% increase year-over-year.
| Company public/private | Public | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_Brokers |
| Revenue Data | 539m for Q2 2020 | https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/IBKR/interactive-brokers/revenue |
| CEO and bio | Milan Galik – served as Senior Vice President, Software Development of IBG LLC from October 2003 to October 2014. | https://financefeeds.com/interactive-brokers-board-directors-formalizes-changes-top/ |
| Number of employees | 1,643 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_Brokers |
| Notable investors (private companies) | None | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/interactive-brokers-group |
Security
Security is one of the primary focus of Interactive Brokers due to their global reach and having clients all over the world. The platform’s security generally meets industry standards.
Some of the core areas of their security measures include:
- Provision of biometrics like fingerprints and face recognition to mobile users to log in to their apps.
- Two-factor or multiple authentication processes through the IBKR mobile key.
- Insuring each account for protection. Each Interactive Brokers account is insured with $150 million, and for clients who have full insurance, there is an additional $30 million for protection against risks.
- The company also ensures that they have maximum data security to prevent any data breach. For instance, throughout 2019, there was no record of any data breaches on the platform.
| Query | Answer | Reference URL |
| HTTPS Certificate | Yes | https://www.interactivebrokers.com |
| 2FA ? | Yes | https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=2334&p=log |
| Device monitoring? | Yes | https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=846 |
| New device extra security? | Yes | https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/am3/am/settings/secureloginenroll.htm |
Fees & Offering
Interactive Brokers allows customers to buy fractional shares and also Bitcoin futures. The fees are non-existent for most of the usual trades. Those that inquire a fee are pretty low.
In 2019, the platform introduced a lite pricing plan that allows traders to take advantage of the no-commission equity trades on its various platforms.
The interactive platform has the widest range of offerings available in the United States. The company frequently adds new products and services to its portfolio. Although the firm offers diverse future options and trades, it is yet to offer cryptocurrency trading except for Bitcoin futures.
Users of the platform have the option to trade stocks, mutual funds, bonds, futures and futures options, single and multiple legs options and forex.
Trading App
Interactive brokers have a mobile app for mobile users. From all indications, the app is user friendly, intuitive, interactive and have a lot of functionalities. Although the app streams data in real-time, users can only stream one platform per time. This restriction can be quite challenging for traders that are using multiple devices to stream at the same time. Some traders also complain about bugs and logins problems.
However, this issue is hardly any concern on the platform’s traditional trading session. Though the platform’s trading app isn’t the best if we look at the ratings, nonetheless, the app is updated pretty frequently, and that might be a big plus for future development.
The mobile platform also offers research features to users. Traders can make use of the different tools like options strategy tool, screens and the client portal to improve their skills.
| Query | Answer | Reference URL |
| Android app # installs | 500K+ | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=atws.app |
| Android app # reviews | 4K+ | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=atws.app |
| iPhone app # reviews | 744 | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ibkr-mobile/id454558592 |
| Android app rating | 3.6 / 5 | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=atws.app |
| iPhone app rating | 3.5 / 5 | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ibkr-mobile/id454558592 |
| Common compliments on app | Quick access, easy to use and lots of functionalities. | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=atws.app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ibkr-mobile/id454558592 |
| Common complaints on app | Login problems and bugs. | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=atws.app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ibkr-mobile/id454558592 |
| Weighted average app rating | 3.55 / 5 | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=atws.app https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ibkr-mobile/id454558592 |
Final conclusions:
Over the years, Interactive Brokers have invested a lot into making their platform appealing to its users and the larger public. One of the major strengths of the company is its ability to adapt to changing times and trends. Their wide range of tools has helped them stay ahead of their competition even in the 21st century.
In recent years, Interactive Brokers has grown a lot in recent time, and the pandemic of 2020 seems to be one of their best growth periods yet. With so many casual new traders stuck at home and giving investment a try, the company might its customer base grow even further.