Compare Broker Costs and Price Execution
Compare Online Brokers
Minimize Your Trading Costs
Rated Low Cost Online Broker 17 years in a row1
& Lowest Margin Fees2 by Barron's
| US Margin Loan Rates Comparison 3 | Commission Rates Comparison 3 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25K | $300K | $1.5M | $3.5M | Equity Trades | Option Trades | Futures Trades | ||
| Interactive Brokers4 | 3.90% | 3.56% | 3.26% | 3.02% | $2.17 | no base cost $0.68 per contract |
$1.81 | |
| E-Trade | 10.50% | 9.00% | 7.50% | 7.50% | $6.95 | $6.95 base + $0.75 per contract |
exchange & regulatory fees plus $1.50 |
|
| Fidelity | 9.32% | 8.07% | 5.50% | 5.50% | $4.95 | $4.95 base + $0.65 per contract |
N/A | |
| Schwab | 9.32% | 8.07% | N/A | N/A | $4.95 | $4.95 base + $0.65 per contract |
exchange & regulatory fees plus $1.50 |
|
| TD Ameritrade | 10.25% | 8.75% | 8.00% | 8.00% | $6.95 | $6.95 base + $0.75 per contract |
exchange & regulatory fees plus $2.25 |
|
| Calculate Your Rate | View IB's Commission Rates | |||||||
Interactive Brokers has lower commission rates for larger volumes and comparable rates worldwide.
Each firm's information reflects the standard online trades pricing obtained from their respective websites. Competitor pricing and offers subject to change without notice.
Margin borrowing is only for sophisticated investors with high risk tolerance.
You may lose more than your initial investment.
IB's SmartRouting Advantage Delivering Best Price Execution
IB SmartRoutingSM searches for the best firm stock, option, and combination prices available
at the time of your order, and seeks to immediately execute your order electronically.
| US Equities Execution Price Improvement Comparison* | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Net US Dollars (per 100 shares) |
|||
| Interactive Brokers | $0.58 | ||
| Industry | $0.06 | ||
| IB Advantage | $0.52 | ||
Net US Dollar Price Improvement vs. Industry Bid / Offer 1
*Based on independent measurements, the 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 2018. 2
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.
Disclosures
- Low Cost Rated by Barron's 17 Years Straight - Low cost broker 2002 through 2018 according to Barron's online broker review. 2002 - 5 Stars, 2003 - 4.9 Stars, 2004 - 5 Stars, 2005 - 5 Stars, 2006 - 5 Stars, 2007 - 4.8 Stars, 2008 - 4.5 Stars, 2009 - 4.5 Stars, 2010 - 4.2 stars, 2011 - 4.5 stars, 2012 - 4.3 stars, 2013 - 4.5 stars, 2014 - 4.5 stars, 2015 - 4.5 stars, 2016 - 4.5 stars, 2017 - 4.5 stars, 2018 - 4.6 stars. Interactive Brokers earned a 4.6 star ranking in the March 26, 2018 Barron's Annual Best Online Brokers - “All Together Now”. Criteria included Trade Experience and Technology, Usability, Mobile, Range of Offerings, Research Amenities, Portfolio Analysis & Reports, Customer Service, Education and Security, and Costs. Barron's is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Co. Inc.
- According to Barron's Online Broker Survey 2018: All Together Now, March 26, 2018. Lowest margin fees of any broker listed in Barron's survey of accounts having $100k or more in assets with margin rates of $10k, $25k, $50k and 100k balances.
- Rates were obtained on February 4, 2019 from each firm's website, and are subject to change without notice. The IB equity and futures commission rates shown are the average of the client commissions for trades executed in January 2019 and are subject to minimums and maximums as shown on the IB website. Some of the firms listed may have additional fees and some firms may reduce or waive commissions or fees, depending on account activity or total account value. Services vary by firm.
- 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. Under some commission plans, overnight carrying fees may apply. Options and futures are risky and are not suitable for all investors. Please review "Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options" and the CFTC Future Trading Risk Disclosure by clicking here before trading these respective products.