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Interactive Brokers Review Part 2.

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Following on from an earlier post, I wanted to do a more in depth review of Interactive Brokers. As I mentioned here I have been extremely happy with them since making the switch from TD Ameritrade. You should seriously consider switching to them, read on to find out why.

Interactive Brokers, or IB as they are commonly known, were one of the early players in the electronic trading sphere. They currently offer trading capabilities on just about any market with a very technically advanced trading platform known as the Trader Workstation. So far, I have only used the platform to trade stocks and options, so that will be the focus of this article.

Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of Interactive Brokers and review some of the features available on their platforms.

* The most obvious benefit of IB that springs to my mind is the commissions. IB have really low commissions on stock and option trades. You’ll be looking at around $1 per contract for options.

* As mentioned above, their trading platforms are very advanced, so you are able to easily enter complex option spread trades as one order.

* The reporting is amazing, and goes in to great detail (sometimes almost too much), in terms of your account, trade history, fees, commissions and profit and loss.

* Security is another great benefit of using IB, as each account has the option to add a security token in order to greatly decrease financial fraud or your account getting hacked into.

* One thing that most impressed me about IB, was the ease in which you can open an account. I have had some pretty bad experiences with other brokers in the past with opening or transferring account, but with IB it was a breeze. Once I transferred my account from E-trade to TD Ameritrade and the process was an absolute nightmare that took over 2 months, during which time my positions were frozen and I couldn’t close any of them out. With IB the process took about 1 week and the other great thing is that I did it 100% online. All the forms can be filled in online and even signed by typing in your name. This was amazing as i really hate filling in pages and pages of documents which is usually what it takes. They are also one of the few brokers that allow residents of the Cayman Islands to open an account. Probably not that relevant for most people reading this, but yay for me!!

* There are a number of regular free webinars. There are a multitude of recorded webinars and each month there are around 6-7 live webinars. I’m sure I don’t know half of the things I could be doing on the system. There is also a trader’s university so you can educate yourself in trading new asset classes or instruments.

* Most mainstream brokers such as TD Ameritrade, Scottrade, E-Trade and Charles Schwab are focused mainly on the US markets, whereas with Interactive Brokers you can trade global markets. With IB you can trade stocks, options, forex, bonds, futures, commodities, warrants, structured products and mutual funds from the one account. In total there are over 90 global markets you can trade.

* IB also provide excellent research for those traders looking to get involved in the commodity markets.

* Given that IB’s platform is fairly advanced and geared more towards professionals, it can perhaps be a bit daunting and confusing for a lot of retail investors. Thankfully, as mentioned above there are a lot of free tutorials and live webinars.

* From my experience their customer service has left a little bit to be desired. They do have a live chat support system, but occasionally it can take 5-10 minutes for someone to join your chat and even then they may not be able to answer your question. I have had a couple of instances such as this where I waited for an extended period of time, only to be transferred to another chat room as the customer service agent didn’t know the answer. When he moved me to the other room, the chat froze and I had to close it down. This has happened to me 2-3 times. I guess this is the compromise you make for a low commission structure.

* For non-IRA accounts, the minimum deposit to open an account is $10,000. This may prove to be restrictive for some people especially those just starting out.

* IB’s charting package, while sufficient, does not have the class and sophistication of other packages. It has all the bells and whistles you need, but it is just not quite as slick as the charting packages offered on other platforms such as Think or Swim. However, one great feature of the chart package is that you can place trades and set stop loss levels directly on the chart screen with 2 mouse clicks. It’s really easy and allows you to get in and out of trades super quick, which is great if you are looking at doing some day trading.

* As another compromise for the low fee structure, there tend to be a lot of other expenses that are charged by IB. These can be things such as order cancellation fees, but they do also charge for certain types of market data and news services.

* This isn’t a huge issue, but sometimes the Trader Workstation, which is a Java application, can take a little while to load.

This is the main trading platform at Interactive Brokers, although they also have a slightly easier to use WebTrader platform. You are able to place virtually every type of order through their software and their system is excellent at tracking trades in your portfolio. The main feature of the Trader Workstation is speed. The platform was designed for quick placement of trades with programmable “hot keys” and one-click order entries. You are also able to trade stocks, futures and options from the same platform.

Value for money – 5 Stars.

Platform usability – 4 Stars.

Platform functionality – 5 Stars.

Customer Service – 3 Stars.

Overall – 4.5 Stars.

If you’re a moderately experience trader, I think you will love Interactive Brokers. Beginners may find it a little difficult, but given the amount of Webinars and the detailed help section on the website, you should be able to get the hang of it fairly quickly. There is a lot of functionality that is not available on many of the mainstream brokers and the commissions structure is probably the best you will find. Overall, I highly recommend them.

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12 Comments.

Wow, great info, very detailed. I had not heard of Interactive Brokers before. I’m currently with E-Trade, how easy is the process of moving over existing holdings? Would I have to sell all my positions?

I don’t use CHAT with them but I have called them a good many times and always found them to be very helpful and polite.

Thank Pat. I haven’t called them often, maybe I will have to try that next time.

I don’t use CHAT with them but I have talked with them many times and they were always very good and polite. l.

If you trade option spreads there are no cancellation fees. Ie an Iron Condor would not be subject to a cancellation fee. If you trade single strikes then you will be charged to modify/cancel your order.

I actually found the commission to be on the high side, especially when you are taking liquidity. I would use optionshouse or eoptions if you want to save on commissions.

I’m new to IB and their commissions are very confusing. I tried a narrow butterfly trade on SPX with total of 40 contracts. I’m supposed to receive USD500 in credit but my account change show only USD50 credit. Which means the fees comes to usd450??

That commission seems much too high so there must be something else going on. Can you send me a screenshot of the trade log? [ protected]

Also, what was the bid / ask spread? Did you enter it as a limit or market order?

I’ve verified Interactive Option broker terms of trading. All my withdrawal requests cancelled by broker.

Stay away from that crap company !

Their chart package is quite simple… but the commissions are low.

I’m confused about their cancellation and modification fee. Does it apply to options? How much are they? I can’t seem to find info specific to options.

I don’t think they charge any, but I could be misunderstanding what you’re asking.

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Interactive Brokers Platform Walkthrough.

Interactive Brokers (IB) comes from a long tradition of open outcry pit trading. It has brought this tradition to its comprehensive, standalone trading platform built for the active, sophisticated trader. IB offers low commissions, best price execution, super low margin rates, and access to thousands of global instruments to invest in – from stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities to simple and complex derivatives strategies using options and futures. U. S.-based traders can also access and trade international markets without having to fund their accounts in multiple currencies.

Homepage - Interactive Brokers (IB) is designed for the sophisticated trader looking to harness the full power of global markets and nontraditional assets. IB's proprietary software provides innovative charting tools and ultra-fast, low-cost execution.

Interactive Brokers Demo Page - Unlike many other online brokerage platforms, Interactive Brokers relies on a standalone application that runs on your computer instead of through its web site. Click the Download Demo button to download and install the software. You can run it as a free demo or sign up and use it to trade for real.

Login - After you've downloaded and installed the Interactive Brokers software, you'll be asked for your login credentials. If you have an account, enter your username and password and click Login . If you are new to Interactive Brokers or just want to take it for a spin, click Try the Demo on the top right corner. The software is compatible with eight international languages, including English, German, Chinese, and Japanese.

Trading Platform.

Front Page Mosaic - Once you've logged in, you'll see the front page Mosaic. This dashboard displays a quick-order entry panel on the left and a monitor of selected tickers and market news on the right. On the bottom of the panel you'll see an activity log that summarizes your open and completed orders. As you might be able to tell, Interactive Brokers is geared toward active traders who don't want a lot of hand holding. To return to this screen at any time, simply click on the Mosaic tab at the bottom left of any page.

Browse Layouts - IB's Mosaic dashboard is completely customizable – you can rearrange windows, add or remove boxes, and more. There are a number of pre-configured layouts that you can pick from – under the File menu at the top of the window, choose Open Layout Library, and you will be able to select the layout that works best for you. You can also save your own custom layouts for later use.

Account Overview - If you want to see your account balances, positions, and funds available for trading, click on the Account menu at the very top of the window and choose Account Window. The Account menu is also where you go to change your profile settings, fund your account, transfer in or out, or view and download statements and reports, including tax forms.

Dropdown Menu - Interactive Brokers has quite a lot of functionality. You can trade U. S. and international stocks and bonds, foreign currencies, options, and other derivatives. If you click the blue New Window button on the top left of the dashboard, it will produce an extensive dropdown menu to navigate to various parts of the platform.

Cheat Sheets: Order Entry - For each window in the IB system, clicking on the question-mark icon will load up a cheat sheet to help you use the features and functions in that part of the system. For example, opening the cheat sheet for the Order Entry box brings up this annotated tutorial.

Order Entry Settings - Interactive Brokers is a highly customizable platform. You can change how the Order Entry box looks and behaves, add or remove buttons and shortcuts, program hot keys, and much more. Click on the small wrench icon at the top right of the Order Entry box to load the settings manager. In fact, nearly every box within the Mosaic dashboard is customizable to some degree using the appropriate wrench icon. Advanced traders may want to consider the Rapid Transmit setting, where orders can be placed immediately, simply by clicking on Buy or Sell . Many platforms require multiple clicks to place a trade. But by using this setting, combined with suppressing the confirmation box, you can create true one-click trading from your workstation.

Classic: Trader Workstation & Mosaic - If you don't care for the customizable layout of the Mosaic dashboard and its dropdown menu, IB lets you choose an alternate format. Click the Classic TWS tab at the bottom of the dashboard window to switch to a Classic Trader Workstation. The top horizontal menu bar now lists quick links to popular screens, and the main window displays a monitor of real-time price quotes.

Classic: Orders - To place an order in the Classic TWS, click on the Order icon on the top left of the menu bar. This will open the classic order window. Simply enter the asset symbol, quantity, and order type, and you're ready to trade.

Classic: Account - Click the Account button on the menu bar for a snapshot of your account balances and status.

Trading Stocks & Funds.

Buy & Sell From the Mosaic - You can buy and sell stock and other assets directly from the front page. On the top left corner is the Order Entry box. Input or look up the ticker symbol you're interested in and you'll be asked if you want to trade stocks, options, or other investment products attached to that symbol. To trade stocks, choose Stock from the dropdown. Then choose Buy or Sell and enter the quantity of shares. You can choose from a customizable dropdown menu of standard quantity sizes (for example, 100, 200, or 500) or enter your own quantity. Choose your order type and then click Submit. You can generate this Order Entry window at any time from the dropdown menu by choosing the first option, Order Entry. In addition, if you right-click on quotes or monitors, you can quickly buy and sell the item you've selected.

Mosaic: Advanced Options - If you click on the small Advanced button in the Order Entry box, you can include some additional directions with your order. For example, you can route your order to a specific exchange or use a routing algorithm such as the SMART router to send your order to the best location for the best execution. You can also have Interactive Brokers hide the size of your order; execute large orders in smaller, discrete chunks; or add an automatic hedging order. If you want to see the market depth and liquidity for a stock, choose the Market Depth (Level II) option from the dropdown menu.

Mosaic: Order Confirmation - After you've submitted your order, you'll get a confirmation screen with an overview of the order details and funding requirements. If everything is correct, confirm the order. Otherwise, cancel it and fix any mistakes. For active traders who don't want to spend extra time on a confirmation screen, you can eliminate this step by clicking the check box on the lower left that says Don't Display This Message Again to activate one-click trading.

Mosaic: Activity Window & Orders - You can see all of your orders in real time in the Activity window, found on the lower left of the default layout of the Mosaic workstation. Open orders can be modified or canceled before they are filled. Click on the Trades tab for a history of executed trades or the Summary tab for another way to visualize your trading activity.

Trading Derivatives.

Options Chain - If you're interested in buying or selling options or just want to see some quotes, click on the Option Chain button on the top right of the Order Entry box. This will give you a new window with quotes for near-the-money calls and puts for the stock ticker that was loaded. To enter an order to buy or sell an option, click on it to load it up into the Order Entry box on the main screen.

Options Chain: Strategy Builder - If you're planning to trade more sophisticated options strategies, such as spreads and combinations, choose the Strategy Builder link from the dropdown menu. This will open an options chain linked to a window where you can construct various complex options strategies by adding individual legs (parts of a spread). You can customize your spread by changing the relative volume of each leg (for example if you wanted to do a 1x2 ratio spread). Click Submit Order to enter the whole strategy as a package to buy or sell.

Options Chain: Complex Orders and Trades Scanner - Once you've entered a complex options order, it will appear in the Complex Order Book (COB). You can view the COB by selecting the Complex Orders and Trades Scanner, which you'll find in the dropdown menu under the Technical Analysis heading. Here you will also be able to browse and trade any other options spread on the order book. The spread description is spelled out, along with the size of the order and the bid/ask for the strategy. Hover over a particular spread to get more information about it. Clicking on a spread will populate the Order Entry box with that order for you to trade.

Buy & Sell FX Matrix - Users of Interactive Brokers can trade more than just stocks. If you want to trade foreign exchange (FX) markets, select the FX Matrix option in the dropdown menu under the Quotes heading. Once you click on that, a new window will pop up with a matrix of real-time quotes in the top six global currencies (USD, GBP, JPY, CHF, CAD, and EUR). You can add additional currencies to the matrix by clicking on the wrench icon for settings. You can trade any of these currency pairs by clicking on one of them. That will populate the Order Entry box in the Mosaic dashboard.

Tracking Investments.

Monitor: Portfolio - To view your investment portfolio and a snapshot of its relative performance, click on Portfolio from the dropdown menu. Here you can see the daily profit and loss for your portfolio, as well as the individual holdings in your account.

Monitor: Menu of Options - The monitor window is also a springboard for a ton of functionality. Right-click on a ticker to bring up a menu full of options – including trading tools, analytics, charting, and more.

Monitor: Performance Details - Click on the Profile button at the top of the window to open the Portfolio Performance Profile window. This screen will show you some sophisticated performance and risk metrics, including the calculated value-at-risk (VAR) for your portfolio, and predict your portfolio's performance given simulated scenarios – for example, what would happen if the S&P 500 index moved by +/- 10%. You can bring up this screen at any time from the dropdown menu by using the Portfolio Performance Profile link under the Technical Analysis heading.

Portfolio Builder - Interactive Brokers has some really powerful tools for building custom portfolios that follow the strategy of your choice. Click on Portfolio Builder from the dropdown menu to get started. With the Portfolio Builder, you can backtest your strategies, create portfolio alerts and notifications, and manage multiple strategies all in one place.

Create New Strategy - Click on the + Create New Strategy button at the top of the window to start building your portfolio. You can choose from among pre-loaded strategies or create your own. Simulated historical performance is displayed on the top left, with a sector breakdown on the top right. Below this is a detailed list and summary of the components of the proposed portfolio. Like the strategy? Click on the green Invest button on the top to execute the strategy based on the dollar amount that you want to dedicate to it. Click on Edit Rules to change the strategy at any point. Other buttons let you Divest from the strategy or Rebalance your portfolio to the original strategy weights with one easy click from this window.

Alerts - Alerts are useful for monitoring prices and market activity while you're focused on other things. Open an Alerts window from the dropdown menu to set up alerts based on price changes, time of day, volume spikes, and more. Build in complex logic to your alerts and even have them activate trades when triggered. The Preview will let you know exactly what the alert is programmed to do. When alerts are triggered you'll be notified on your workstation – and also by or push alert to your mobile device.

IBot - One really cool feature is the IBot chat bot – it's still in beta but well worth trying out. Click IBot from the dropdown menu to load the chat window. Here you can enter text (or speak using a microphone), and IBot will interpret your query and return the appropriate results. You can ask for quotes, see charts, place orders, and more from IBot. Type "help" at any time in the chat box to get a list of common commands and more.

News & Market Insights.

Event Calendars - There are numerous corporate and government events each day in the U. S. and around the world. Here you'll find when companies are scheduled to report earnings or go ex-dividend, or when the next federal unemployment report will be released, for example. You can view the whole range of events – or filter them by region or by stocks relevant to your portfolio – by clicking on the Event Calendar button at the top of the Mosaic dashboard.

News - Interactive Brokers offers access to a variety of corporate and economic news and headlines. Click the News button at the top of the Mosaic dashboard, or find the News link on the dropdown menu under the IB Information Systems heading. Go here to select news tailored to your portfolio or strategy, select which feeds you'd like to subscribe to, or simply view top headlines or trending stories. Headlines also update in real time and appear on the lower right corner of the Mosaic dashboard. Filter or screen news items by ticker, asset class, region, or other keyword. In addition to feeds by news outlets, you also have access to social media mentions such as Twitter via an integrated StockTwits feed.

Bloomberg TV - If you'd like to view real-time financial news, you'll have live access to the Bloomberg TV feed (both audio and video). Find Bloomberg TV under the News options in the dropdown menu.

IB Daily Lineup - For a digest of the day's market news, corporate actions, economic events, and more, all in one handy place, go to the IB Daily Lineup link in the dropdown menu under IB Information Systems.

Market Signals - If you're a market technician, you can get a summary of emerging Market Signals based on spikes in volume, price moves, or patterns that are setting up. Click on a signal headline to load that ticker into the Order Entry box.

Analyst Research - While Interactive Brokers does not provide its own in-house research, it does offer access to a number of useful research feeds. Click on the Analyst Research button at the top of the Mosaic dashboard or find this link in the dropdown menu. If you want to see a digest of recent analyst upgrades and downgrades, select Analyst Action. You can also view research provided by Zacks, Altavista, Briefing, Slingshot, and Reuters.

Trading Tools.

Charts - Are you more of a visual learner? IB's charting tools are a powerful way to visualize market prices and trends. These charts are fully customizable and can be saved for later reference. You can also trade directly from the charts, using the Buy and Sell buttons on the top right corner of the chart window, or set an Alert. You can open a chart from the dropdown menu or by right-clicking in the market Monitor.

Charts: Studies & Settings - You can add an overlay on your charts from dozens of studies, indicators, trend measures, and more. Right-click on a chart and choose Studies, or find the Studies link from the Edit menu in the window. You can also use this box to change chart parameters to fit your preferences.

Quote: Market Depth - Level-II quotes with market depth and liquidity from across all subscribed exchanges are accessible via the dropdown menu. This information is useful in seeing how likely an order is to be filled at a good price and in a reasonable amount of time. Click on a price to populate the Order Entry window.

Time and Sales - You can also get a trade-by-trade history of the market activity for a particular ticker symbol. Choose Time and Sales from the dropdown menu to see exactly what has traded and when.

Toolbox - For a quick reference to many of the most frequently used tools – quotes, options chains, fundamentals, news, charts, etc. – open a Toolbox from the dropdown menu. This will create a separate window with these functions at your fingertips.

Researching Investments.

Analysis: Fundamental & Technical - If you like to get under the hood of your investments, IB has some nice analytic tools for you. In the dropdown menu, there is a heading called Technical Analysis. The first option is Fundamental Analysis. Here you have access to all sorts of stock analytics, including financial ratios, analyst ratings and forecasts, and more. Click on the Financial Statements link to bring up the current and historical income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement for the company you're interested in.

Analysis: Analyst Forecasts - Do you have an idea about what the price of a stock should be? Why not compare your judgment to what the professionals think? Click on the Analyst Forecasts link under the Fundamental Analysis sub-menu to bring up a slew of consensus estimates and trends for everything from share price to dividends, book value, and future cash flows.

Analysis: Stock/ETF Benchmarker - One neat tool to check out is the Stock & ETF Benchmarker, found under the Technical Analysis heading of the dropdown menu. Here you can compare your investment portfolio strategy against a number of benchmarks to see how you're performing and to analyze more closely which is the appropriate benchmark for your investments.

Analysis: Advanced Market Scanner - If you want to search for individual stocks, bonds, or other asset classes in the U. S. and abroad, find your way to the Advanced Market Scanner under the Technical Analysis heading of the dropdown menu. Here you can screen and filter investments based on a host of criteria and search functions.

Analysis: Mutual Fund/ETF Replicator - Another neat tool is the Mutual Fund/ETF Replicator, found under the Technical Analysis heading of the dropdown menu. This tool lets you search for the ETF that best matches an existing mutual fund. You can enter the mutual fund symbol or search for the one you are interested in. Then the replicator gets to work, telling you which ETF or combination of ETFs comes closest to that mutual fund. This is a useful feature if you like the low-cost and stock-like attributes of ETFs.

Analysis: Options Analysis - If you're interested in trading options, IB has some very good analytic tools. Under the Technical Analysis heading of the dropdown menu, find Option Analysis. From there, choose the Probability Lab. This tool will help you develop options strategies based on how you judge a particular stock's odds of success. You can then trade these strategies in the market.

Advanced Trading: ScaleTrader - ScaleTrader is an automated trading algorithm that you can customize to buy dips or sell rallies. This tool scales your total order so that it fills at progressively better prices in a trending market. This can translate into better fills and be more effective than setting a series of stop loss orders.

Advanced Trading: Baskets - For more advanced traders, IB has a sub-section of its dropdown menu called Advanced Trading Tools. One handy tool here is the Basket Trading screen, where you can create groups of stocks to be bought or sold all at once as packages.

Advanced Trading: Risk Navigator - For advanced traders who want to know more about their risk exposures, the Risk Navigator tool lets you analyze your potential downside in real time, with tools like value-at-risk (VAR). The Risk Navigator also has a What-If portfolio feature for playing out the impact of hypothetical scenarios on your P&L.

Advanced Trading: More Advanced Tools - There are many other advanced trading tools and features for sophisticated investors that are beyond the scope of this walkthrough. Click on More Advanced Tools to see what else IB has to offer.

Customer Support.

Client Services - If you need help with anything related to your IB account or the software platform, you'll find the Help menu at the top of the dashboard window. Click on Customer Service/Customer Service Info for ways to get in touch with support staff by phone, , or live chat. You can also view quick tips and FAQs here.

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Interactive Brokers Review.

Given the number of online brokers available these days, I wanted to take a good look at my broker and conduct and in depth Interactive Brokers review. I have found Interactive Broker s to be great, and if you are with another broker, you should read this and then decide whether switching brokers might be the right decision for you.

Interactive Brokers, or IB as they are also known, are one of the main providers of electronic trading. With IB, you can trade just about any market with a very advanced trading platform known as the Trader Workstation. So far, I have only used the platform for stocks and options, so keep that in mind when reading this article.

We can start by taking a look at some of the benefits and disadvantages of switching to IB.

* IB has some of the lowest trading commissions going around. Costs are around $1 per contract for options. It has been said that IB’s fees are actually lower than what it costs them to execute the trades.

* As discussed above, their trading platforms are very advanced, so you can enter in complex option spread trades as one order, which is a huge advantage for sophisticated traders. There are also detailed tutorials on how to trade credit spreads.

* The reporting is fantastic, and goes into a lot of detail (perhaps too much), in terms of your account, trade history, fees, commissions and profit and loss.

* Security is another great advantage to using IB, as you can add a security token to your account management login, in order to greatly decrease the risks your account getting hacked into.

* The fact that impressed me the most with IB, was the simplicity of the account opening process. I have had some horrible experiences with other brokers in the past with opening or transferring account, but with IB it was so easy. One time I transferred my account from E-trade to TD Ameritrade and the process was really painful and ended up taking over 2 months. During this time my positions were frozen and I couldn’t close any of them out, or make any trades. With Interactive Brokers, the process took only 1 week and I was able to do it 100% online. You can fill in all the forms online and even sign by just typing your name.

* IB also has a number of free webinars each month. There are quite a few recorded webinars and each month there are roughly 6-7 live webinars. There is so much functionality on this system that I feel like I still have a lot to learn. You can also educate yourself in the trader’s university where you can learn to trade new asset classes or instruments.

* With Interactive Brokers you can trade global markets whereas most typical brokers such as Charles Schwab, Scottrade, E-Trade and TD Ameritrade focus mainly on US markets. With IB you can trade stocks, options, forex, bonds, futures, commodities, warrants, structured products and mutual funds from the one account.

* The free tutorials are great, but you will probably need them if you are a retail investor or are not used to the more professional looking platforms. The platform can be a little confusing and even daunting if you are a fairly new investor, so that may be something that turns people off. However, once you get the hang of it, I think you will like it.

* Like anything that is low costs, their customer service leaves a little bit to be desired. There is a live chat support system, but don’t be surprised if it takes 5-10 minutes for someone to join your chat and even then they may not be able to answer your question.

* The minimum deposit for non-IRA accounts to is $10,000. This may prove to be restrictive for some people especially those who are new to investing.

* IB’s charting package, while adequate, does not have the class and sophistication of other packages. It has all the standard functionality you need, but it doesn’t measure up when compared to other platforms such as Think or Swim. However, they do have one great feature. You can place trades and set stop loss levels directly on the chart screen with 2 mouse clicks, I’m not sure if this is available on Think Or Swim.

* There can be a lot of other fees, which is one of the reasons they can keep their trading commission so low. These can be things such as order cancellation fees, but they do also charge for certain types of market data and news services.

* This isn’t a massive problem, but occasionally the Trader Workstation, which is a Java application, can take a little while to load.

This is the main trading platform at Interactive Brokers, although they also have a slightly easier to use WebTrader platform. You are able to place virtually every type of order through their software and their system is excellent at tracking trades in your portfolio. The main feature of the Trader Workstation is speed. The platform was designed for quick placement of trades with programmable “hot keys” and one-click order entries. You are also able to trade stocks, futures and options from the same platform.

If you’re a moderately experience trader, I think you will love Interactive Brokers. Newbies may find it a little difficult, but given the amount of instructional videos and the very thorough help section, you should be able to master it fairly quickly. There is a lot of functionality that is not available on many of the mainstream brokers and the commission structure is probably the best you will find. Overall, I highly recommend them.

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR) Option Chain.

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