Interactive Brokers is a great broker for active and casual traders. This has rock bottom pricing and over 4,300 no-transaction-fee mutual funds. NerdWallet existing users that sign up for IBKR Pro get a 0.25 percentage point discount on margin rates, but the most frustrating thing in my eyes is the website is difficult to navigate through. Also if your not active you will be charged Inactivity fees on IBKR Pro. Interactive Brokers has long been a popular broker for advanced trackers, but IBKR lite was also released for casual investors.

Best for

  • Day trades
  • Option trading
  • Casual and advanced trades
  • Margin accounts

Interactive Brokers quick breakdown

Account minimum $0

Stock trading costs

  • IBKR Lite: Unlimited free trades on U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs.
  • IBKR Pro: $0.005 per share; minimum $1 and maximum 1% of trade value; volume discount available.

Options trades

IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro: No base commission; 65 cents per contract with $1 minimum. Volume discount available.

Account fees (annual, transfer, closing, inactivity)

  • IBKR Lite: None.
  • IBKR Pro: $10/month commission minimum for accounts with $100,000 or less, and a $20/month commission minimum for accounts with $2,000 or less.

Number of commission-free ETFs

  • IBKR Lite: Unlimited commission-free trades on all available ETFs.
  • IBKR Pro: 98 commission-free ETFs.

Number of no-transaction-fee mutual funds

Over 4,300 no-transaction-fee mutual funds.

Tradable securities

  • Stocks.
  • Mutual funds.
  • ETFs.
  • Options.
  • Forex.
  • Metals.
  • Bonds.
  • Futures.

Trading platform

IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro customers get access to Client Portal trading platform and powerful Trader Workstation platform.

Mobile app

mimics the desktop app, but for mobile

Research and data

Extensive research offerings, both free and subscription-based.

Customer support options (includes website transparency)

24-hour phone, email and chat support, available six days a week.

Promotion

  • NerdWallet users who sign up for IBKR Pro get a 0.25 percentage point discount on margin rates.
  • $1,000 worth of commission credits for 1 million new customers who participate in IBKR’s simulated sports betting exchange.

Where they shine

Low commissions

  • if you casually invest having free trades IBKR Lite is where it’s at, but even with IBKR at $1 minimum trade commission and a maximum of 1% of the total trade value, and exchange and regulatory fees are included.

Mobile App

The IBKR mobile app is available to Lite and Pro customers and features a lot of amazing tools like spread templets, data columns and even news and researching backing their claims.