Interactive Brokers (IB) is a low-cost provider of trade and clearing services for individuals, proprietary trading groups, advisors, brokers, and hedge funds. IB’s premier technology provides direct access to stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, and funds on over 120 markets worldwide from a single IB Universal account.
How to open an account with Interactive Brokers?
If you want to open an account with Interactive Brokers, the first thing to do is contact one of their representatives. After providing your personal details, they will ask you to submit the following documents:
- A copy of your driving license or passport (if applicable)
- Proof of residence (bank or bill statement)
- Your Social Security or Taxpayer number
How to trade on Interactive Brokers?
The first thing you need to do is open an account with Interactive Brokers. To do this, simply go to the IB website and click on “Open an Account”. Once it opens, follow the steps:
- Fill in your personal and contact details.
- Choose a username and password.
- Receive a welcome email from IB, which contains information about how to deposit money into your account.
- Click on “Deposit Funds” in the menu bar on top of the screen or just below where you see “Sign In/Register” after logging in.
Interactive Brokers’ spreads, fees, and commissions
- Interactive Broker spreads are competitive. It’s crucial to know what your spread is when interactive brokers day trading forex because it represents the difference between the bid and the asking price, or in other words how much you pay for a trade. IB’s spreads are some of the best in the industry and have been improving over time as well. When I researched this article, I could not find any reference online that said Interactive Brokers had bad spreads!
- Interactive Broker fees are competitive. As far as commissions go, IB offers different types: per-share commission ($0) or round turn commission (also known as ECN fee). The round turn commission can be fixed or variable depending on whether you choose regular shares (10c/share) or mini shares (1c/share). They also offer mutual funds with no transaction fee on any size order (but still charge a quarterly maintenance fee), ETFs with $10 per transaction plus underlying fund expense ratios charged by their ETF providers; options trade free but require an account minimum balance of $2 million; futures and forex trades have minimum commissions set by exchanges but typically start at $3-$5 per contract traded; bonds cost 1% plus tax except municipal bonds which cost 0%.
Overall this makes IB quite competitive compared to other brokers out there who only offer one type of fee structure–one way they make money off customers is by charging higher fees than most others.
Interactive Brokers’ leverage
Leverage is a tool that allows traders to amplify the profits or losses of their trades. It has become increasingly common for interactive brokers forex to offer leverage on their platforms, with some offering as much as 1:500. This means that if you have $10,000 in your account and use a 1:500 leverage setting, you will be able to trade with up to $500,000 worth of money in your account!
Think about it like this: If you buy one share at $20, then sell it at $22 and earn 10% ($2), your profit would be 10%. But if you buy one contract (100 shares) at $20 per share and sell it back for $22 per share—that’s just two cents more than what you paid—then that’s 20%. That’s how leverage works!
Interactive Brokers’ trading platforms
Traders have a choice of interactive brokers platform
The most popular platform is Trader Workstation download, which is a desktop-based platform that provides traders with fast charts, advanced technical analysis tools, and access to more than 16 sources of data. The downside is that it can be difficult to use for first-time traders who want something simple and intuitive.
Interactive Brokers’ customer support
IB’s customer support team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can contact them by emailing or calling, and you’ll find an online chat option as well. Although it’s easy to get in touch with IB’s customer support team, how quickly they respond and how helpful they are may vary depending on whether your query is a simple one or something more complex.
Depending on what kind of question you have (or what type of feedback you’d like to provide), there are several ways for IB customers to interact with the company:
- General inquiries about trading accounts, such as account management and funding methods
- Trading advice via email
- Online webinars that cover various topics related to stocks/options/ETFs/mutual funds etc;
Interactive Brokers Forex is a great way to diversify your portfolio. From the best broker for futures trading, you can learn about the markets, get in on new trends, and potentially even make a profit. If you’re just starting out with trading currencies or want to dip your toes into international markets, this could be an option for you.