Interactive Brokers Overview
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a leading global online brokerage firm that provides a comprehensive and sophisticated trading platform designed to cater to a wide range of investors, from individual traders and financial advisors to institutional and high-volume traders.
What the Product Does
Interactive Brokers offers an integrated investment management account that enables clients to trade a vast array of financial instruments, including stocks, options, futures, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, bonds, foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies, and precious metals. The platform provides electronic market access to over 150 market centers across 34 countries and 28 currencies, making it one of the most extensive global trading platforms available.
Key Features and Functionality
Trading Platforms
Interactive Brokers offers multiple trading platforms to suit different user needs:
- Trader Workstation (TWS): A top-end platform for sophisticated high-volume and institutional traders, featuring advanced order routing, customization options, and specialized tools.
- IBKR Desktop: A robust platform designed for beginner and intermediate-level traders, offering a balanced set of features without the full complexity of TWS.
- IBKR Client Portal: A web-based portal for managing accounts, trading, and accessing account analytics.
- Mobile Applications: Including the IBKR GlobalTrader app, IMPACT app for ESG-focused investing, and other mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Investment Products
The platform provides access to a broad spectrum of investment products:
- Stocks and ETFs: Including U.S. and international equities, with options for fractional shares and commission-free trading under the IBKR Lite plan.
- Options and Futures: Global options trading on over 30 market centers, futures, and options on futures.
- Bonds: Direct access to U.S. government securities, corporate bonds, municipal securities, CDs, and non-U.S. sovereign bonds.
- Forex and Cryptocurrencies: Trading in 24 currencies and over 100 currency pairs, as well as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
- Mutual Funds: Access to over 43,000 funds from more than 600 fund families, with many available at no transaction fees.
Advanced Trading Tools
Interactive Brokers is renowned for its advanced trading tools:
- Accumulate/Distribute Algo: Helps achieve the best price for large volume orders without market impact.
- Bracket Orders: Designed to limit losses and lock in profits.
- Strategy Builder: Simplifies building complex multi-leg options strategies.
- Fundamentals Explorer: Provides comprehensive worldwide fundamentals data at no cost.
- Impact Dashboard: Allows investors to align their investments with their values based on ESG criteria.
- Risk Navigator: A real-time market-risk management platform.
- Social Market Analytics: Uses social sentiment processing technology to spot changes in investor attitudes.
Educational and Support Resources
The platform includes extensive educational content and support:
- IBot: An AI-powered resource providing access to information, account data, and trading tools through plain English commands.
- Interactive Brokers University: Offers over 51 courses with more than 300 lessons.
- Customer Support: Available 24/5 via phone and chat, with additional support on Sundays.
Additional Features
Other notable features include:
- Fractional Shares: Allows trading in fractions of shares to diversify portfolios.
- Model Portfolios: Enables advisors to construct and trade custom portfolios for clients.
- Shortable Instruments Search: A self-service utility to search for shortable securities.
- Index Arbitrage Meter: Analyzes the spread between futures contracts and their respective spot prices.
- Mutual Fund/ETF Replicator: Helps identify ETFs that replicate mutual fund performance at lower fees.
Interactive Brokers stands out for its unparalleled breadth of trading markets, competitive commission and margin rates, excellent trade execution, and a wide array of advanced trading tools, making it an ideal choice for both novice and advanced traders, as well as institutional investors.