Interactive Brokers, established in 1997, is a forex broker dedicated to providing mature investors, active traders, and institutions with premium direct market access execution and clearing services. The broker offers direct trade execution and clearing services for a variety of trading products including global securities, options, futures, forex, bonds, gold, cryptocurrencies, and funds. It serves clients in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Hungary, India, China, Japan, Singapore, and Australia, among others.
Company Background
Interactive Brokers is a brokerage firm providing trading services, headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. It was founded by Chairman Thomas Peterffy on May 5, 1997, and through 46 years of innovation, it has become a top-tier broker operating across more than 150 market centers worldwide. According to Whois information, the domain for Interactive Brokers’ official website was registered on May 5, 1997.
Regulatory Information
Interactive Brokers is strictly regulated by global institutions including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, the New York Stock Exchange, and the UK Financial Conduct Authority. Information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's website confirms that Interactive Brokers is indeed regulated by this authority.
Development History
The development history of Interactive Brokers traces back to the entrepreneurial journey of its founder, Thomas Peterffy.
- In 1982, Thomas Peterffy founded Timber Hill, the first company to trade using computers on the New York Futures Exchange (NYFE).
- In 1993, Peterffy founded Interactive Brokers.
- In 1994, the automated trading platform was launched.
The platform was among the first to implement electronic execution in securities trading, significantly improving trading efficiency and speed. Over time, Interactive Brokers expanded its range of trading products and services, becoming one of the world's leading online brokers. The company not only offers traditional trading products like stocks, options, and futures but also has developed advanced trading platforms, such as the Trader Workstation (TWS), which provide investors with broader and more efficient trading experiences. With continuous innovation and development, Interactive Brokers has achieved great success in the fintech sector and remains committed to offering high-quality trading and investment services to its clients.
Trading Products
Interactive Brokers offers a variety of trading products, including stocks, futures, cryptocurrencies, and bonds.
- Stocks: Interactive Brokers uses SmartRoutingSM to trade at low commissions, offering users a platform for trading stocks in over 90 market centers globally at some of the industry's lowest margin rates, with a professional platform, various order types, and a wealth of tools.
- Futures: Interactive Brokers provides a professional platform for futures trading in over 30 market centers worldwide, benefiting from low commissions.
- Cryptocurrencies: Interactive Brokers offers a professional platform where professional investors can trade and hold Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) in their IBHK accounts.
- Bonds: Interactive Brokers offers bond trading with no markup or hidden spreads, low commissions, and full transparency, allowing direct trading with other IBKR clients.
Trading Software
Interactive Brokers' Trader Workstation (TWS) is a flagship platform aimed at active traders and investors. TWS offers a comprehensive platform for traders, investors, and institutions to trade stocks, options, futures, currency, bonds, and funds across 150 market centers from a single account. The TWS Mosaic provides an intuitive interface for fast access to comprehensive trade, order management, charting, watchlists, and portfolio tools from one customizable workspace. The TWS Mosaic is a global trading platform that allows users access to trading, orders, real-time quotes, technical research, and analysis tools from a single window for efficient trading and management. Additionally, TWS provides a standard mode for traders needing more advanced tools and algorithms. Through TWS, users can customize their workspace to suit their trading needs, easily manage orders, view real-time news and research, and use various trading tools for analysis and trading.
Account Registration
The Interactive Brokers website offers a link to register for a live account. The specific registration process is as follows:
First, go to the Interactive Brokers website, and click "Open Account" at the top right corner of the homepage.
Follow the steps to fill in the information (such as email, password, etc.) to complete the account registration.
Account Types
Interactive Brokers offers 12 different trading accounts: individual, joint, and trust accounts, family accounts, family office accounts, small business accounts, advisor accounts, fund manager accounts, broker and futures commission merchant accounts, proprietary trading group accounts, hedge and mutual fund accounts, compliance officers, administrators, and institutional hedge fund investors. Personal, joint, trust, and institutional accounts each have a minimum of $0 commissions. Advisor, family advisor, non-professional advisor, family office, and hedge fund investment accounts also have a $0 fee. Broker accounts require a minimum of $10,000 for the first eight months, then $2,000 per month starting in the ninth month. Proprietary trading group accounts have a minimum commission of $0. All account types can choose different account types according to their own trading needs.
Deposit and Withdrawal Methods
Interactive Brokers offers a variety of deposit and withdrawal options, such as ACH transfers, linking a new bank account, wire transfers, online bill payment, mailing checks, scanning checks, and transferring from Wise balance, but does not accept physical cash deposits. For physical cash deposits, IBKR charges a special handling fee of 1% of the deposit amount (minimum $50). Additionally, Interactive Brokers has a withdrawal holding period, which is the number of days customers must wait to withdraw deposited funds. The withdrawal holding period starts from the "posting date" and ends at the close of business on the relevant date.
Customer Support
This brokerage provides multilingual support including English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish through various channels, including phone support, email support, and online chat. Traders can contact customer service via the phone number +852 3107 8868 for direct and timely assistance.
Conclusion
Interactive Brokers, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA, is a forex broker providing mature investors, active traders, and institutions with premium direct market access execution and clearing services. It is strictly regulated by the U.S. SEC, FINRA, the NYSE, and the UK's FCA. The firm offers direct market access execution and clearing services for a variety of trading products, including global securities, options, futures, forex, bonds, gold, cryptocurrencies, and funds, covering a wide service area. The TWS platform supports trading in over 150 global markets and provides multilingual customer support.
