Interactive Brokers

Decent But Flawed

I use IB to find shares to short on hard to borrow penny stocks (yes, my strategy is weird and its not scalable, but it is hugely profitable up to a point), but I have to say IB has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. If I ever have a paperwork or trade problem, forget about it, I know going into my phone call I'm going to have to wait an eternity and even when I do talk to someone, that person will have attitude like no other and usually their incredibly entangled back office will screw me over.

I don't give them terrible marks because I have profited form their solid executions and short borrows. But unlike my preferred broker (and affiliate) Thinkorswim, I cannot even reserve shares to short of hot stocks as it's first come first serve and that screws up many of my trades.

I would only recommend IB for advanced traders as I can't imagine any beginning trader being understanding of their many flaws. They probly don't even care about beginner traders though as I've reached out to them multiple times to setup an affiliate relationship (as I've said I have profited with them which makes them better than most of the thieves I mean brokers out there), but they haven't even returned my phone calls or emails regarding a potential partnership! Cocky, snobby, indifferent like a boring british aristocrat with bad teeth whose food tastes horrible, that's what IB reminds me of...

(this review will probly hurt my chances of ever having a relationship with IB, but it's the truth so people need to hear it and maybe, just maybe IB will take the reviews on this site to heart and actually improve their customer service, as their main executions and tools are great so there's hope for them yet) (after all, British people love going to the dentist to fix their messed up teeth! Just suck it up IB, thousands of us are tired of your crap)

Trust Score

10

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Great, cheap broker

InteractiveBroker has some great executions at great costs. I do enjoy how you can short the stocks with them. They list all the stocks available to short on their website and then it's a first come, first serve model.

Commission is very cheap, which is great, especially when trading penny stocks or other stocks in which the commission can have a significant impact on profits.

The account interface is somewhat confusing, but once you have it figured out, it's not too bad.

InteractiveBroker also allows you to have your account in any currency you want. I keep my account in Euros, but can trade all over the world. When I trade US$ stocks, I basically borrow against my Euro deposit. However, this means that I'm still impacted by any currency impacts.

When your account is within 5% of maxing out, you'll get reminders from their automated system, letting you know that your account has used almost all it's margin.

Login is also secure because 2 pins are required when loging in.

Trust Score

1.4

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Cheap and Good

Interactive Brokers has incredibly low commissions and a much greater variety of shortable stocks than other brokers. The $10,000 minimum for a taxable account is higher than many other discount brokers.

Trust Score

4.6

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

good

I have used various brokers and like IB the most. Very cheap commissions and I have received good customer service on the phone and very timely replies via email. Their trader workstation takes some time to get used to and figure out but is good once you understand it.

Trust Score

3.4

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

retail trading king

Low commissions, all exchanges available, no arbitrary rules about shorting stocks under a dollar, lots of hard-to-borrow stocks, reliable execution and software --> what more could you want?

Maybe a little bit better in customer service but otherwise very good. Whatever limitations it has, it still beats every other broker for run of the mill retail guys.

Trust Score

2.5

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Best Global Broker

After using Interactive Brokers for so many years, I still can't find:

(1) any broker providing lower commission than Interactive Brokers;

(2) any broker offering universal account to trade futures, options, forex, stocks in all major international market;

(3) any broker providing free real time data feed connecting to popular trading software;

(4) any forex broker offering lower spreads than Interactive Brokers;

(5) any broker providing robust and free trading API's in popular languages, such as in Excel VBA and C++;

Trust Score

1.6

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Advanced tools

IB is the most powerful broker / tools i've used so far for individual investors. Highlights include full hours for AH and premarket trading. Being able to short stocks that normally aren't shortable. A non-web based platform for trading and quick executions.

Its very data and technical driven so if you've never traded before you may want to try a more user friendly broker first such as tradeking.

Trust Score

1.8

User’s Review Ratings

Overall