What is the minimum deposit at Interactive Brokers?

Opening a cash account at Interactive Brokers does not require a minimum deposit, although it is important to note that specific account types may have minimum deposit requirements.

Is opening an account at Interactive Brokers worth it?

IBKR is a top-rated broker. There are numerous advantages to opening an account with IBKR, such as its cutting-edge trading technology, low costs, global accessibility, and robust financial security.

What is the minimum balance required to trade in an Interactive Brokers account?

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) does not have a minimum deposit requirement for opening an account. If you wish to engage in margin trading (i.e., utilizing leverage), a minimum deposit of $2,000 is required.

What are Interactive Brokers' fees and commissions?

For IBKR Lite customers, there is no commission for trading stocks or ETFs. Pro members have the option to choose between Fixed Rate Pricing and Tiered Pricing. Under the Fixed Rate schedule, there is a fixed rate commission per share or as a percentage of the trade value. With a few exceptions, such as U.S. stock transaction fees, the Fixed Rate pricing schedule covers all external costs. The Tiered Pricing structure offers clients a lower commission rate that decreases as the monthly trading volume increases. With the Tiered Pricing structure, external costs are passed on to customers.

Interactive Brokers Review: Great for Large Balances, Low Margin Rates

Interactive Brokers might be for you if: You want to keep expenses low and like to use margin. IB stands out in offering some of the lowest commissions and margin rates we've seen. In this Interactive Brokers review, we'll explain how the online stock broker compares on key factors we think are most important to consider before opening an account. Find out more about the pros and cons below.

Ratings Methodology

Interactive Brokers

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Our Rating:

Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.

4.5/5

Bottom Line

A great low-cost option for small trade volume. While the interface isn't as clean or modern as that of other brokers, it gets the job done. Interactive Brokers is also a great choice for options investors, traders, and those trading on margin.

Fees:

As low as $0 stock trades

Account Minimum:

$0

Learn More for Interactive Brokers

On Interactive Brokers' Secure Website.

Alternatives to Consider

We recommend comparing brokerage options to ensure the account you're selecting is the best fit for you. To make your search easier, here's a short list of our best trading platforms of 2024.

Broker	Best For	Commissions	Learn More
Rating image, 4.0 out of 5 stars. 4.0/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	Easy fractional investing in stocks and bonds.	$0 commissions, 1%-2% crypto markups	Learn More for Public On Public's Secure Website.
Rating image, 4.0 out of 5 stars. 4.0/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	Low mutual fund fees.	$0 per trade	Learn More for J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing On J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing's Secure Website.
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	Long-Term Investors, Stocks and Options Traders	Commission-free; other fees apply	Learn More for ETRADE On ETRADE's Secure Website.

Full Interactive Brokers review

Interactive Brokers is a good trading platform with advanced features at an impressively low cost. If you enjoy investing, but you don't want to pay an arm and a leg in fees, Interactive Brokers is worth considering. Investors interested in options or margin might find Interactive Brokers especially suited to their needs.

Here's what the interface looks like:

We tried it: Our team's experience

Here at Motley Fool Money, we pride ourselves as real users of most of the products across our site. Tim White, our Director of Technology, uses Interactive Brokers. Here's his experience:

Tim's review

I've used Interactive Brokers for five years, as my advisor uses it to manage my Separately Managed Account, and overall I think it has improved a lot in that time. I still find the two-factor authentication the most clunky of all the brokerages I use, but I think the PortfolioAnalyst feature is very good and is not something you can get elsewhere. Overall, I think it has excellent advanced features, but seems to be lacking easy access to the basics of checking on your individual positions. I'd recommend it more to advanced brokerage users.

Investment offerings

If you can invest in it, chances are good you can do so through Interactive Brokers. The online brokerage has a vast array of markets and trading vehicles, both in the U.S. and around the world.

Investments

Bonds
Contracts for differences
Cryptocurrency
Debt instruments
ETFs
Futures
Futures options
Foreign exchange
Mutual funds
Options
Precious metals
Stocks
U.S. Equities

Brokerage accounts

Advisor
Broker and FCM
Family office
Hedge fund
Individual investment
IRA
Money manager
Mutual fund
Non-professional advisor
Proprietary trading groups
Small business
Trust
UGMA/UTMA

TIP

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Commissions and fees

Before we get into a discussion of Interactive Brokers' pricing, it's important to mention that there are two pricing plans from which customers can choose.

IBKR Lite: The IBKR Lite plan has commission-free trading, but is lighter on features and has higher interest rates for margin loans. For options trading, the IBKR Lite plan offers a flat commission rate of $0.65 per contract and $0.85 per futures contract. The IBKR Lite plan is sufficient to meet the needs of most U.S. investors.

IBKR Pro: The IBKR Pro plan is intended for frequent and professional traders and charges significantly lower rates on margin loans. It offers more features while also offering higher interest rates on uninvested cash. IBKR Pro users can use the fixed or tiered commission plan.

Product	Cost
IBKR Lite: Stocks and ETFs	$0, no minimum
IBKR Pro (Fixed): Stocks and ETFs	$0.005 per share, no minimum
Mutual Funds (No-Fee Funds)	$0 transaction fee
Mutual Funds (IBKR Transaction Fee)	The lesser of $14.95 or 3% of trade value
Options	$0 per trade, $0.25 to $0.65 per contract, depending on option price
Cryptocurrency	0.12% to 0.18% commission, depending on monthly trade volume

Data source: Interactive Brokers. All options trades have a $1 minimum per contract charge.

Margin rates

Interactive Brokers' margin rates are some of the lowest we've come across. Here's a rundown of its effective margin rates by margin balance. Note that "BM" stands for "benchmark rate."

MARGIN BALANCE	IBKR PRO ACCOUNTS	IBKR LITE ACCOUNTS
$0 - $100,000	6.080% (BM + 1.5%)	7.080% (BM + 2.5%)
$100,000 - $1,000,000	5.580% (BM + 1%)	7.080% (BM + 2.5%)
$1,000,000 to $50,000,000	5.330% (BM + 0.75%)	7.080% (BM + 2.5%)
$50,000,000 to $200,000,000	5.080% (BM + 0.5%)	7.080% (BM + 2.5%)
$200,000,000+	5.080% (BM + 0.5%)	7.080% (BM + 2.5%)

Data source: Interactive Brokers.

Interactive Brokers promotions

Interactive Brokers sometimes offers promotions that could save you money. Click below to go to our dedicated page covering current Interactive Brokers promotions:

Interactive Brokers Promotions

Research and education

This brokerage offers a wealth of research, with a catch: Not all of it is free, as certain research providers charge a flat-rate monthly subscription fee for access. We'll explain in more detail.

Some of the stuff you can get for free:

News: Interactive Brokers offers news and reports from a variety of sources, including 24/7 Wall Street, a daily brief from Dow Jones, and reports from Market Realist. It also offers Social Sentiment data from MediaSentiment, as well as real-time updated crypto news from The Tie, Coin Metrics, and Benzinga.
Mutual fund/ETF replicator: This tool is really valuable for fund investors. It enables you to enter a ticker symbol to find mutual funds and ETFs that offer a similar performance profile.
Market scanner: This tool is excellent for finding investments based on fundamental and technical parameters. If you want to find stocks that pay a dividend of more than 2%, have a P/E ratio under 20, and are based in Angola, you can do it with a few clicks. The depth of its screening tools is really remarkable.

Beyond these freebies, research you might expect to receive for free at other brokers isn't free at Interactive Brokers. For example, many brokers offer Morningstar equity research reports for free, but Interactive Brokers' non-professional customers pay per month for the service.

That said, a la carte research and news options are plentiful, and many offer a free trial so you can see what you'll get before you commit to a monthly charge for access. Additionally, IBKR offers The Research Data Bundle for each region. It includes the following: Region Specific Dow Jones Trader News, Briefing.com, MT Newswires, The Fly, and Trading Central.

Interface

Interactive Brokers has very robust trading platforms, both on desktop and mobile. So much so, in fact, that investing beginners may feel somewhat intimidated, and there is a definitive learning curve to using the platforms.

IB Trader Workstation (TWS): TWS is a full-featured desktop trading platform that offers all the functionality (and more!) that investors have come to expect from desktop solutions. Fully customizable, you can design your screen how you want to. Its watch list feature can include an extraordinary amount of information on every stock, from its P/E ratio to how many days it takes the company to sell its inventory, on average. TWS is chock full of screeners, stock option analysis tools, and backtesting options.

IBKR Desktop: The newest addition to Interactive Brokers' platforms, IBKR Desktop offers the same tools as TWS, as well as extra features suggested by clients. Interactive Brokers says this platform is more beginner-friendly than TWS, promising "it's just as easy to create a complex multi-leg option strategy as it is to buy a single stock."

If you'd rather not download anything, you also have the option to use the IBKR Client Portal, which offers all of the essentials, including the ability to view, trade, and manage your account, all from your browser.

App

Interactive Brokers' flagship app is IBKR Mobile, available on iOS and Android devices. The app offers streaming data, charting tools, and the ability to place even the most complex trades from a mobile device. With access to over 150 worldwide markets, mobile users will find that there are no limitations on their ability to trade from the palm of their hand.

For a more streamlined mobile experience, the newer IBKR GlobalTrader app provides a clean interface with minimal data overload. Users can access more than 90 worldwide stock exchanges, as well as trade options in more than 30 market centers. There's also the ability to trade cryptocurrencies -- including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin -- from anywhere, 24/7.

Customer service

Reviews on Interactive Brokers' customer service are a mixed bag. Some folks report having no issues getting prompt service, while others complain that the waits are long. There may be a quality difference between U.K./European support and U.S. support.

You have a few different options for contacting Interactive Brokers customer service:

By phone: 877-442-2757 Toll-Free, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET (Mon - Fri)
Online chat for existing clients, 24/5 (Mon - Fri)
iBot automated response system

Security

Interactive Brokers maintains high security standards for both desktop and mobile services, including two-factor authentication. Eligible devices can make use of fingerprint or Face ID features. You may also choose to use the IBKR Mobile Authentication (IB Key) app.

From an institutional standpoint, Interactive Brokers is a well-established brokerage with more than 2.5 million client accounts and over $10 billion in excess regulatory capital. Client securities accounts are protected by both the SIPC, as well as an excess SIPC policy through Lloyd's of London.

About

Interactive Brokers began in 1977 when its now-Chairman, Thomas Peterffy, bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange. In 1993, Interactive Brokers Inc., was incorporated as a U.S. broker-dealer, and executed its first public client trade in 1995. Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., went public in May of 2007.

Learn more about Interactive Brokers

Keep reading about Interactive Brokers on these pages:

Review sources

Our brokerage rating methodology

At Motley Fool Money, brokerages are rated on a scale of one to five stars. We primarily focus on fees, available assets, and account types; however, we also take into account features like research, education, tax-loss harvesting, and highly rated mobile apps. Our highest-rated brokerages generally include low fees, a diverse range of assets and account types, and useful platform features.

See our full methodology here: Ratings Methodology

FAQs

Opening a cash account at Interactive Brokers does not require a minimum deposit, although it is important to note that specific account types may have minimum deposit requirements.
IBKR is a top-rated broker. There are numerous advantages to opening an account with IBKR, such as its cutting-edge trading technology, low costs, global accessibility, and robust financial security.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) does not have a minimum deposit requirement for opening an account. If you wish to engage in margin trading (i.e., utilizing leverage), a minimum deposit of $2,000 is required.
For IBKR Lite customers, there is no commission for trading stocks or ETFs. Pro members have the option to choose between Fixed Rate Pricing and Tiered Pricing.
Under the Fixed Rate schedule, there is a fixed rate commission per share or as a percentage of the trade value. With a few exceptions, such as U.S. stock transaction fees, the Fixed Rate pricing schedule covers all external costs.
The Tiered Pricing structure offers clients a lower commission rate that decreases as the monthly trading volume increases. With the Tiered Pricing structure, external costs are passed on to customers.

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