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Compare Broker Costs and Price Execution

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Rated Lowest Margin Fees1 by StockBrokers.com

Margin rates as low as 0.75% Learn More

US Margin Loan Rates Comparison2

$25K $300K $1.5M $3.5M
Interactive Brokers3 1.55% 1.21% 0.98% 0.85%
E-Trade 8.45% 6.95% 5.45% 5.45%
Fidelity 7.82% 6.57% 4.00% 4.00%
Schwab 7.82% 6.57% N/A N/A
TD Ameritrade 9.00% 7.50% N/A N/A
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Each firm's information reflects the standard online margin loan rates obtained from their respective websites. Competitor rates and offers subject to change without notice. Services vary by firm.

Margin borrowing is only for sophisticated investors with high risk tolerance.
You may lose more than your initial investment.

Notes:

  1. According to StockBrokers.com Online Broker Survey 2020: Read the full article Online Broker Reviews, February 12, 2020. "Interactive Brokers leads the industry with the lowest margin rates".
  2. Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on USD margin loan balances for IBKR Pro as of 5/1/2020. Interactive Brokers calculates the interest charged on margin loans using the applicable rates for each interest rate tier listed on its website. For additional information on margin loan rates, see ibkr.com/interest.
  3. IB calculates the interest charged on margin loans using the applicable rates for each interest rate tier listed on its website. For additional information, see ibkr.com/interest.

IB's SmartRouting Advantage Delivering Best Price Execution for IBKR Pro Clients1

IB SmartRoutingSM searches for the best firm stock, option and combination prices available at the time of your order and seeks to immediately execute the order electronically. During the second half of 2019, IB SmartRouting provided our clients with an average savings of $6.70 per trade vs. the industry and, after netting for IBKR commissions, an average net benefit of $4.42 per trade.2
US Equities Execution Price Improvement Comparison
Per Trade Average
IB SmartRouting Benefit $6.70
Average Commission $2.28
Net Benefit per Trade $4.42

*Net US Dollar Price Improvement vs. Industry Bid / Offer3. Based on independent measurements, IHS Markit, a third-party provider of transaction analysis, has determined that Interactive Brokers' US stock price executions were significantly better than the industry's during the second half of 2019.4

View IHS Market Letter

Notes:

  1. Access to IB SmartRoutingSM for US listed securities is generally available only to IBKR Pro accounts.
  2. IHS Markit reported that IBKR clients received $0.43 per 100 share net price improvement versus the industry as a whole during the second half of 2019. The average monthly stock order size during that period was 1,557 shares and the average commission per cleared commissionable order was $2.28. The average net benefit was calculated as follows: (1,557 shares)($0.0043 net price improvement per share) = $6.70 average savings - $2.28 average commission = $4.42 net benefit. Access to IB SmartRoutingSM for US listed securities is generally available only to IBKR Pro accounts.
  3. Net $ Improvement per Share Definition:
    ((# of Price Improved Shares * Price Improvement Amount) - (# of Price Disimproved Shares * Price Disimprovement Amount)) / Total Number of Executed Shares
  4. IHS Markit. Industry as a whole for the referenced periods according to IHS Markit. The IHS Markit analysis for US stocks included all market orders of 100 shares or more, up to 9,999 shares from July - December 2019.

What Other Online Brokers Conveniently Leave Out

Our results are even more impressive when you consider that other industry-touted statistics don't give you the whole picture. They only discuss the percentage of orders that saw price improvement, and conveniently ignore the percentage of their orders that were dis-improved or had no improvement. In contrast, our statistics are netted, showing the true bottom-line price improvement including, all improved, dis-improved and unimproved amounts.

  • Unlike smart routers from other online brokers, IB SmartRouting never routes and forgets about your order. It continuously evaluates fast changing market conditions and dynamically re-routes all or parts of your order seeking to achieve optimal execution and maximize your rebate.
  • IB SmartRouting represents each leg of a spread order independently and submits each leg at the best possible venue.
  • IB SmartRouting AutorecoverySM re-routes your US options order in the case of an exchange malfunction, with IB undertaking the risk of double executions.
  • To help provide price improvement on large volume and block orders and take advantage of hidden institutional order flows that may not be available at exchanges, IB includes eight dark pools in its SmartRouting logic.

Our smart router takes into account transaction costs along with the fee or rebate for taking/adding liquidity when determining where to route your marketable order when the inside market is shared by multiple exchanges. For clients who want even more control of their orders, TWS clients can specify stock and options smart routing strategies for non-marketable orders. For stocks, clients with the Cost Plus pricing structure can elect to have their non-marketable orders routed to:


  • The exchange with the highest rebate.
  • The listing exchange on the symbol.
  • The highest volume exchange that has a rebate for adding liquidity.
  • The highest volume exchange that charges the lowest fee for taking liquidity.

For options, clients can choose to send their non-marketable Smart routed orders to the exchange offering the highest rebate. These routing directives can be set on a per-order basis from the "Misc" tab of the Order Ticket, or as a global default setting from the Smart Routing configuration page.