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General
Interactive Brokers Group affiliates provide automated trade execution and custody of securities, commodities and foreign exchange around the clock on over 135 markets in 23 currencies, from a single IBKR Integrated Investment Account, to clients from over 200 countries and territories. We service individual investors, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, financial advisors and introducing brokers. Our four decades of focus on technology and automation have enabled us to equip our clients with a uniquely sophisticated platform to manage their investment portfolios. We strive to provide our clients with advantageous execution prices and trading, risk and portfolio management tools, research facilities and investment products, all at low or no cost, positioning them to achieve superior returns on investments. Barron’s ranked Interactive Brokers #1 - Best Online Broker four years in a row in its February 26, 2021, Best Online Broker Review. 1
- IBG LLC was founded by its Chairman, Thomas Peterffy. Over the last 43 2 years, it has grown internally to become a major securities firm with equity capital exceeding USD 9 billion 3.
- Interactive Brokers' headquarters is in Greenwich Connecticut, and it has 2,000+ employees in its offices in the United States, Switzerland, Canada, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Hungary, Russia, India, China, Luxembourg, Ireland, Singapore and Estonia. IBKR is regulated by the SEC, FINRA, SFA and other regulatory agencies around the world.
- IBKR is among the largest electronic brokers based on daily average revenue trades (DARTs) executing 2,998,000 trades per day 4.
- Interactive Brokers Group 2 has consistently been at the forefront of trading innovation, starting with the invention of the first floor-based handheld computer in 1983.
- Standard & Poor's issues investment grade ratings to both IBG LLC and IB LLC (IBKR).
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
|
In what year did you begin brokerage operations? |
1993 The original organization was first created as a market maker in 1977 |
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Total sum of client assets (as of 4/1/2021) |
USD 330.6 billion 106% higher than prior year and about even with prior month |
|
Equity capital |
USD 9 billion |
|
Excess regulatory capital |
USD 6.9 billion |
|
Number of client accounts (as of 4/1/2021) |
1,325,000 74% higher than prior year and 5% higher than prior month |
|
Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) (as of 4/1/2021) |
2,998,000 53% higher than prior year and 19% lower than prior month |
|
Percentages of client equity (as of 12/31/2020) 5 |
37% Individuals |
|
Minimum to open a brokerage account |
USD 0.00 |
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Number of market centers worldwide |
135 |
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Number of currencies |
23 |
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Account insurance provided over SIPC |
Excess SIPC coverage per account: USD 30 million, including USD 900,000 for cash. Excess SIPC coverage cap: USD 150 million. In addition, for clients who have received the full SIPC protection, the Lloyd's policy provides up to an additional USD 30 million (including USD 900,000 for cash), subject to an aggregate limit of USD 150 million. |
Products & Commissions
| Product | Commissions | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Stocks and ETFs |
IBKR Lite: USD 0.00 for US listed stocks and ETFs IBKR Pro: USD 0.0005 to USD 0.0035 per share* (based on volume) * Plus, exchange, regulatory, and clearing fees, and if an exchange provides a rebate, we pass some or all the savings directly back to clients. IBKR Pro clients access the IB SmartRoutingSM system, which provides $0.47 per 100 shares price improvement vs. the industry6 |
Clients can trade Stocks on 83 market centers in 27 countries. As an accommodation, IBKR also offers a fixed commission plan at USD 0.005 per share. Fractional shares are available to both IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro accounts. There are 9,831 stocks available to trade in fractional shares as of 3/24/2021. Minimum fractional-share trade is USD 0.01 Interactive Brokers was the first to offer fractional share trading and, based on our research, what is publicly stated on other companies' websites, we offer a larger selection of securities available for fractional share investing than any other broker. Interactive Brokers has a "fee waived" no transaction fee (NTF) program for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) where we will reimburse IBKR Pro clients for commissions paid on ETF shares held for at least 30 days. IBKR Lite clients always pay $0 commissions on ETFs. IBKR may receive compensation from participating funds. |
|
Options |
USD 0.65/contract
Assuming option premium is greater than 10 cents. |
Clients can trade Options on 34 market centers in 18 countries. These options costs are the maximum. If you do more volume in a month, it goes down to USD 0.15 per contract with no extra charge. |
|
Futures |
USD 0.25 to USD 0.85 per contract plus exchange, regulatory and carrying fees. |
Clients can trade Futures on 31 market centers in 18 countries. |
|
Bonds |
Corporate bonds: Municipal bonds: Treasury bill, note and bonds: |
IBKR offers low and fully transparent commissions on bonds, with no mark-up on bond prices, and provides access to a full universe of US government securities, corporate bonds, municipal securities, CDs, and non-US sovereign bonds, plus fixed income futures and fixed income options. |
|
Mutual funds not in the No Transaction Fee (NTF) program |
Inside the US: the lesser of 3% of trade volume or USD 14.95 flat rate. Outside the US: EUR 4.95 or currency equivalent. |
Total Number of U.S. Funds: 12,205 Neutral – no proprietary funds. |
|
Spot currencies |
0.08 to 0.20 basis points * Trade Size |
Direct access to interbank quotes. No hidden price spreading, no markup, no kickbacks. Just the combination of real time prices from 17 of the world's largest FX dealing banks plus a transparent, low commission that avoids the conflict of interest of FX platforms which deal for their own account. Our tight spreads and substantial liquidity are a result of combining quotation streams from 17 of the world's largest foreign exchange dealers. This results in displayed quotes as small as 1/10 PIP wide. 23 trading currencies including USD, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNH, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, NOK, NZD, PLN, RUB, SEK, SGD, TRY, ZAR and KRW (with special conversion functionality). |
Non-US products are available at equivalent low rates.
Financing
| Financing | Rates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Current financing rates |
IBKR Lite: 2.59% Rates are same regardless of account balance. IBKR Pro: 0.75% to 1.59% Rates charged decrease depending on the size of the debit balance. Benchmark rate +0.3% to 1.5%. Current rates and tiers can be viewed here. |
Interactive Brokers is consistently offers the lowest margin rates of all competitors. See comparison here: ibkr.com/compare |
Other Fees
| Category | Fees | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Monthly inactivity fee |
IBKR Lite: USD 0.00 IBKR Pro: USD 0.00 for accounts with USD 100,000+ Inactivity fee is USD 10.00 minus any commissions paid that month. |
Platforms
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
|
Trader Workstation |
Trader Workstation (TWS) is our flagship platform designed for active traders and investors who trade multiple products and require power and flexibility, TWS includes all of our most advanced algos and trading tools, and offers a library of tool- and asset-based trading layouts for total customization. See Trader Workstation(TWS) |
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IBKR Mobile |
Our IBKR Mobile smartphone app for iOS and Android makes it easy to trade and monitor your IBKR account on-the-go. It includes many of the same advanced capabilities as our flagship desktop trading platform, such as chart trading and options analysis, and supports trading in all the product types we offer. See IBKR Mobile |
|
Client Portal |
Client Portal is our one-stop, web-based platform to check quotes and place trades, see account balances, P&L and key performance metrics, funding, reporting, and more. See Client Portal |
Tools
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
|
Stock and ETF Tools |
Fundamentals Explorer Fractional Shares Short Securities Availability Mutual Fund/ETF Replicator Stock Yield Enhancement Program Social Sentiment by Social Market Analytics (SMA) |
|
Options Tools |
OptionTrader Options Portfolio Mobile Options Trading Options Analytics Options Strategy Lab Probability Lab |
Futures Tools |
ComboTrader SpreadTrader Index Arbitrage Meter |
|
Bond Search Tool |
IBKR offers low and fully transparent commissions on bonds, with no mark-up on bond prices, and provides access to a full universe of US government securities, corporate bonds, municipal securities, CDs, and non-US sovereign bonds, plus fixed income futures and fixed income options. This is one of the easiest ways to get pricing on bonds, rather than calling around to various brokerages. See Bond Search Tool |
|
Mutual Fund Search Tool |
The Interactive Brokers Mutual Fund Marketplace provides our clients access to funds worldwide including access to no-load funds from over 380 fund families. It can be accessed by clients from over 200 countries and territories and includes many prominent fund families, including funds from Allianz, American Funds, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Invesco, MFS and PIMCO. Over 8,300 funds are available with no transaction fees. The Mutual Fund Search Tool can be used to identify funds by your country of residence, commission charged, fund type or fund family. See Mutual Fund Search Tool |
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Portfolio Management Tools |
PortfolioAnalyst PortfolioAnalyst is also avaiable as a standalone product for non-clients. Standalone PortfolioAnalyst is also free. The tools shows how much money people could potentially save or earn if they had an Interactive Brokers account. See PortfolioAnalyst Portfolio Checkup With Portfolio Checkup, investors can:
Mutual Fund / ETF Parser |
|
Sustainable Investing |
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Impact Dashboard |
API Solutions |
Our proprietary API and FIX CTCI solutions let institutions create their own automated, rules-based trading system that takes advantage of our high-speed order routing and broad market depth. See API Solutions |
Order Types and Algos Tools |
Order Types and Algos Accumulate/Distribute |
IB Risk Navigator |
The Risk Navigator is a real-time market-risk management platform that provides a comprehensive measure of risk exposure across multiple asset classes around the globe. See IB Risk Navigator |
Portfolio Builder |
Create an investment strategy driven by top-tier research and fundamentals data, then back-test and adjust as needed. When historical performance meets your expectations, invest in the strategy and tracks its performance in your portfolio. See Portfolio Builder |
Model Portfolios |
Advisors can use a more organized approach to investing client assets with Model Portfolios. Construct a custom portfolio of financial instruments, and then trade this model on behalf of your clients. See Model Portfolios |
|
IBot |
IBot is an Artificial Intelligence-powered resource that provides access to a wide spectrum of information, account data and trading tools. With IBot you can speak or type plain English commands to:
IBot can respond to:
Available within Trader Workstation, Client Portal and IBKR Mobile. See IBot |
Education – IBKR Campus
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
|
Traders' Academy |
51 courses including over 300 lessons. Interactive Brokers' Traders' Academy is intended for financial professionals, investors, educators and students seeking a better understanding of the asset classes, markets, currencies, tools and functionality available on IB's award-winning Trader Workstation (TWS), IBKR Mobile, Account Management and TWS API applications. Please see www.tradersacademy.online for more information. Our complimentary courses use a blended delivery method of lessons, videos, quizzes, and notes to help TWS users improve their understanding of its tools and capabilities. See Traders' Academy |
|
IBKR Webinars |
Watch, listen and learn about current market topics, IBKR tools and more by participating in any of our free webinars or browsing our extensive offering of recorded webinars. Topics span market research, fundamental & technical analysis, options trading strategies, institutional topics, algorithmic trading, trader tax issues, and more. See IBKR Webinars |
|
Traders' Insight |
Traders' Insight, our market commentary blog, features written and video market commentary from nearly 100 contributors. In addition, IBKR's Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick offers market commentary and Senior Analyst Steve Levine provides weekly previews. See Traders' Insight |
|
IBKR Quant |
The IBKR Quant Blog serves quantitative professionals who have an interest in programming. Discussion topics include deep learning, IBKR API, artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain and other transformative technologies influencing modern markets. Discussions about R, Python and other popular programming languages often include sample code to help you develop your own analysis. See IBKR Quant |
|
Student Trading Lab |
A free online resource for educators looking to blend finance or computer science classwork with real-world trading experiences. See Student Trading Lab |
Disclosures
- For more information, click here
- Includes Interactive Brokers Group and predecessor companies.
- Includes Interactive Brokers Group and its affiliates.
- Fourth Quarter 2020 Results
- Q4 2020 Results - Earnings Call Transcript. View press releases
- Average net benefit is calculated using IHS Markit® price improvement and IBKR monthly execution statistics. For more information see ibkr.com/info.
- As of 04/01/2021