Interactive Brokers Complaints and Reviews (2025)

Review:  Comparing my support experience to Fidelity - IBKR gets an F and Fidelity gets an A. Nearly impossible to find a phone number to call - have to weed through SUPPORT page on website - ask bot first - then fill out a ticket - while in the middle of filling my ticket out my session timed out (while I was typing) and I had to start over. Eventually found phone number on mobile app - massive phone tree to get to a human - when I did I got an Asian guy - pretty good english but not great. On hold for a long time - on call for 24 minutes total. Rep eventually told me I could do what I wanted (Depository swap) myself or he could do it for me for $10. I told him the system said my ASSET was not eligible for swap. He had me walk through it AGAIN - sure enough - I was correct - so now he had me take a screen shot - go back through the painful support page and SUBMIT A TICKET. Can you believe that?!?!

Review:  They are cutting off my access because I refuse to install their app (which I can't install on a secure phone). I've had to call them multiple times because they disable my login regularly. Never did I get a person within an hour. Worst experience with a company handling my money ever.

Review:  They have a fantastic Stocks and Shares ISA and the option for overnight trading is a big plus. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get set up to buy crypto, and their customer service could use some improvement. Still, there are plenty of worse platforms out there.

Review:  I wanted to love IB. They offer so much. But they also create these crazy restrictive policies and they follow them to the t's. Customer service cannot help you. It's other departments that are independent from support, and they just don't care.

Interactive Brokers screwed me a few times over the years. The last time there was nothing I could do but to move out.

Review:  I am trying to make contact with IBKR to have an error on my trading permissions corrected. I have logged three web tickets over 10 days - no response. No live chat. Email form does not work. It is really frustrating since I am losing the ability to make profitable trades

Review:  I've added a bank account on IB to transfer money but it's not showing as a transfer option. I've created a ticket and messaged multiple times but no-one bothers to look at that. Classic IB.

Review:  ...wide range of instruments,wide range of stocks,Great agency over your stocks,adaptability depending on the level of your expertise(from the beginner to an ultra specialist

Review:  The worst webpage interface imaginable combined with completely unavailable customer support that hangs up after 3 rings. You'll have limited to no access to your account fumbling with QR codes and challenge responses that never end. The garbage historical information is everywhere and nowhere can you find "transactions" with a history of your account activity. The transaction fees are low, but so is the quality of their service and the trading experience.

Review:  Thought for a couple of seconds
There’s a ton of online advertising and Bloomberg promotions boasting great rates and more. However, they haven’t responded to emails or chats for days! The app is full of bugs and keeps losing connection constantly. What if you urgently need their services?

Review:  InteractiveBrokers is terrible

I’m searching for a platform where I can day-trade without being cheated. InteractiveBrokers won’t install on Ubuntu, one of today’s most popular Linux distributions. The errors Interactive Brokers produce on Linux suggest they’re either inexperienced programmers or simply don’t intend for the platform to work on Linux. As for the web version, it doesn’t seem to function properly either.

Apparently, I’m not the only one facing this issue—there’s a Reddit forum dedicated to the subject. InteractiveBrokers responded by saying you need either a Windows or Apple Mac machine, so I have no choice but to start shopping for a new computer.

Review:  No Phone Support. No Email Communication.

IBKR works fine until you actually have a question. There's zero support unless you possess the patience of a monk to spend your life waiting on hold. You endure listening to a lengthy list of topics to select the one that best matches your inquiry; then, you wait again and again for someone to provide the assistance you need—unless they transfer you to someone else who never answers the ringing phone. I waited an average of 40 minutes more than once. After many years of frustration, I finally moved my account to another broker.

Review:  All the Negative Reviews of This Broker are Spot On

The website is sluggish, hard to navigate, and not intuitive at all. Customer support? I've been on hold for 30 minutes as I write this. The only positive aspect of this broker is their low fees, but it's obvious why the fees are low—the quality of service they provide clearly reflects that.

Review:  I’m pleased to be a client of IB for several reasons. Here are the main ones: access to quotes nearly 24/7 (including overnight trading), access to various ECNs and products, a very useful API, and of course low trading costs. The only downside for me is that IB doesn’t provide or display odd lots.

Review:  Reviews are somewhat mixed, here’s my experience.

Opening an account wasn’t too difficult—I submitted a photo of an ID document and within a day or two, I was up and running.

The UI isn’t the most intuitive I’ve used, but once you get accustomed to it, you can display a lot more information on your portfolio than with other brokers. At a glance, you can see details on all your selections such as betas, volume, EPS, market cap, P/E, etc.

I transitioned from Etoro, and it feels like I’ve moved from a poorly managed Facebook group to a genuinely professional broker.

Review:  I’ve been using Interactive Brokers for a while now and am very pleased with the security and stability they provide. Being listed on major stock exchanges is a significant advantage for me. However, I believe the user interface (both on the website and the mobile app) could use some improvement. It’s not the most intuitive and would benefit from modernization and a better user experience. Overall, Interactive Brokers is a solid and secure broker with room for UI/UX enhancements.

Review:  The software and platform are awful. The website is hard to navigate. Customer service is extremely slow to respond and not very helpful. There are plenty of other brokers available—you can find much better options than this.

Review:  Our existing broker, Saxo Bank, has decided to exit the market in our country. This puts us in the difficult position of needing to find a new broker and transfer all our accounts to them.

While Saxo does have its drawbacks, such as higher fees—particularly custody fees, which are a significant issue for long-term investors—it remains one of the top-tier, reliable brokers. From our research, the only broker that can match or surpass Saxo’s comprehensive offerings in the international market is IBKR. Additionally, IBKR boasts strong financial stability.

Having been with Saxo for so long, transitioning to IBKR is a nerve-wracking experience. Fortunately, the account opening and transfer processes went smoothly. The IBKR account setup is more complex and time-consuming compared to tier 2 and tier 3 brokers because it must adhere to strict regulatory standards. I understand that many people find the somewhat intricate account opening process and the delay in account activation frustrating. However, it’s important to remember that these regulations are in place to protect us all from fraudulent activities, and this complexity is a one-time hurdle.

Some users also feel that IBKR’s user interface is more complicated than that of its competitors, which is somewhat true in my opinion. IBKR was originally designed for professional traders. However, it's important to note that IBKR offers multiple platforms—more than any of its rivals—that cater to beginners, intermediate, and advanced users. You will be able to find a platform that suits your needs. Overall, we are happy customers of IBKR!

Review:  ’ve been locked out of my account and can’t get any help. No one answers the phone. Emails are restricted to only 80 characters, and you need to be logged in to use the chat box. Essentially, I’ve lost my savings because there’s no way to access assistance. One star is more than this company deserves.

Review:  They charge you for extended hours trading. Recurring investing also has commissions. Nobody else does it.

Review:  Last year they twice implemented draconian policies that cost me a fortune. Calling them or contacting customer service multiple times did not solve anything. You need to complain on the BBB website if you have one of those "unresolvable" issues.

Review:  0!!

In order to get my rights exercised, i was obliged against my will to call them. I couldn’t connect on my account due to their fault and everything has an issue with these people. So e-mail impossible. Chat impossible…
Getting your rights respected impossible…

Had to call them and pay 18$ extra on my mobile suscription, after losing hours, to get it (i hope!!!!) fixed. What a shame totally not recommend

Review:  Stay away from these crooks

Review:  Don't even try to send a message to Interactive Brokers support line. You will be lucky to get a response.

Review:  So Frustrating, 2 hours, still can't access tax info i need. Took me 3 minutes for exactly same thing on WeathSimple. Their Bot has been no use except to kill time until past 4pm, office closing time, at which (perhaps)i could have talked to someone. their system asks for 2 factor auth every time i change screens, this at least works about 60- 70% of the time. The dam Chat, every time i get:
--"The application is currently down for maintenance. Please try again later.
Contact Information" --,
but there is no contact info with it in their yellow screen.
I have only used them for a year, but it will probably be the last. Also that referral bonus seems a bit of a scam. Myself, the referrer and my referee, none of the 3 of us received the bonus. Just make certain that you read the fine print (which is not there), but all of us were ineligible for different reasons.

Review:  The worst customer service. Unless they have some feature that is a must-have for you, I would use another company.

Review:  - home page showing "xxx is not a function" error and not working;
- help center can't be reached : 403 access denied;
- community forum doesn't let you create a new post: the post button is NEVER available for some obscure reason...

eventually reddit community answered my questions, the IBKR help center is sh*t, what do i need them for then ???

90% of dividends vanished for absolutely no reason; asked me for an ireland interest tax form but i don't even live in ireland !!! WTF ??

nothing is clear, nothing is explained, interface (both webpage and mobile app) buggy as hell... i'd rather loose some money and get my capital out of their hand as soon as possible. absolutely not beginner free. ok then BYE.

DONT TRUST THEM PEOPLE U VE BEEN WARNED

Review:  I got stopped out 185 pips on top of my stop loss for holding my trade over the weekend. They said it was due to low liquidity and they pride themselves to be tight in the spread with good liquidity. A check with the other 5 major FX brokers all does not have their prices even come close to my stop loss. BTW, this is not the first time I face a liquidity issue with IB.

Review:  I've had an account with them for at least 15 years. I also have accounts with many other brokers but only actively trade with IB. Nobody can beat their margin rates.

Review:  Avoid, customer service unable to help on anything. Compliance pressures you to prove source of funds although money has been transferred from your own account.

Review:  They just want your money! all of it! If you make big winnings -- suddenly you can't take your profit, you can't sell \buy--- nothing works!!! As soon as your profit is gone and you are losing money -- then suddenly everything works again!!! If you are lucky now and then,do not thInk you have won!! Just try to get your money out ---that is the real hurdle.no customer help when nothing functions as promised, always new hurdles and excuses pop up-- if you still persist, they shut you down.then you can not even reach anybody,you can not get into your account, nothing!! Your only chance is a lawyer!! Goog luck!!!8

Review:  Trading permissions still not granted after a 15 day "under review" period. I asked to speak with the department that "reviews"... DENIED. They have both cash and equities I transfered from another broker account for over 2 weeks, but I'm not allowed to trade common ETFs? What a SCAM that ties up your money and costs you big since you can't trade.

I'm moving back to e*trade. Should be interesting (disgusting) to find out how long the process to do that takes. I've already been unable to trade for 3 weeks. What creeps IBKR are.

AVOID Interactive Brokers

Review:  I have been trying to get my account out of their clutches since last summer. Every time I jump through one of their hoops, they set up another one. Today, I spoke with a condescending person who identified herself as "Robin" who informed me that they could retain my account indefinitely, if they so chose, "because we can. Read the fine print." Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Review:  I lost over $14,000! The default settings changed overnight. It added a zero to the option default order amount. So 1 became 10. Thats terrible when trading SPX options and u dont see it. It is now being investigated. I will probably have to file a lawsuit. I highly do not recommend using the bug riddled platform.

Review:  Web interface is buggy. Customer service is poor. Desktop app is bloatware, great if you don't have anything to do but spend hours studying the interface.
Bad customer service, vindictive, malicious.

If you're a cheapskate (like me) hold your nose and put up with it for the low margin interest rates, otherwise avoid.

Review:  Been with them since inception, over twenty years now. The customer service has always been terrible. Originally they were a good broker cost-wise, but over time have evolved into one of the more expensive ones. The TWS workstation evolved into something incomprehensible. The web trader was actually useable but it is no longer supported. These days I've been using the IB lite client portal. It's a daily exercise in frustration just doing the simplest of things. Really hard to do anything, like check open orders, hard to even know which account you are trading. It freezes up and is just maddening. I will have to move on, not for me anymore.

Review:  I've been with them since 2003 I believe. This is a great broker for DIY, experienced traders. Their set of products is unmatched.

If you are a beginner, either get prepared for a steep learning curve or find another broker.

Review:  Opened account, after first day realized they would be nothing but problem for trading and support. Cant call anybody, chat is shut off, and calling the institutional lines...no answer just leave a message and no call backs. Software platform is old java script from 1990's, barley functional. The whole thing is just a mess that needs to be shut right down. An embarrassment to trading, and makes canada look real bad for its lack of quality, functionality, documentation, support. I give rating of -100. Can't imagine anything being worse. Garbage, do not get involved with IB canada.

Review:  Unhelpful and confused staff, really long waiting times to get through and then when I cancelled the process, held my initial deposit funds hostage with and unending stream if issues. For a simple custody account to migrate a 7 figure portfolio the amount of information was intrusive and not needed by any other platform. Appalling service, thank god I didn’t move substantial funds to this broker, I hate to see how poor their customer service is when a real problem presents itself. Bunch of pirates, stay away.

Review:  Horrible interface. Crappy front-end code. Slow to funds transfer, slow to settle cash, barely connects at certain times

Review:  Complete piece of garbage platform. First off, the technology is absolutely awful -- the user interface is terrible (super hard to really do anything), the tech is old (looks like something from 90s), and their basic capabilities are severely limited (can't even look at your account activity without clicking 17 buttons or even use a somewhat workable app).

Second, the platform just isn't very smart. They freak out about market orders for ultra liquid securities like SPY or QQQ and send a million warnings to you. That is laughable.

Lastly, the whole "no fees" thing is a joke. There are loads of hidden fees they try to hit you with (I got hit with a minimum balance fee when I put my first deposit in!).

In an age of super user friendly platforms that are modern and intelligent (Ameritrade, Fidelity, Schwab, Robinhood), there is absolutely no need to use this crappy brokerage.

Review:  They have greatly degenerated over the last few years. Totally dumbed down their platform so it does have the portfolio analysis tools that it used to have. Customer service helpline used to be good. Now is pathetic. Hard or impossible to withdraw funds from your account. Something has changed there. They are not the company that they used to be.

Review:  Got accounts transferred when Foliofn closed to retail.
Customer service is non-existent. Sit on hold for an hour and then no help. All service is foreigners, not even US service. Will charge you $100 per account when you transfer out!! What the hell?? NEVER been forced to pay fees to close out accounts!! Avoid if at all possible. ANY other brokerage will be a better alternative.

Review:  DO NOT EVEN GO TO THEM, EVEN IF THEY ARE CHEAPEST IN THE MARKET

I am customer and hold couple of accounts with IBKR recently moved from folio investing.
Definitely there UI is pretty complex and getting my existing advisor to do the trade was cumbersome and it took almost 3 months to get him on trading on my behalf.
Though I have questions which I asked waiting for an hour on call, their customer care was pushing me out without giving satisfactory answers saying there are others in line and he is not there to do general discussions.
Ridiculous customer care (no matter what you never say such thing to customer).

I decided to write them message on other issues and everyday asking for acknowledgment and there is no response (it has been 3 days so far).

I would decide to go out of this along with my my other 5 friends once my advisor fails completely as we move out together.
Surprisingly if we opt to move out there is $100 charges as we are coming from Folio Investing. I am sure if they don't care about their own's customer message they are not even reading this to see what open web is thinking about them. They must be such big.

Review:  Waited on the phone for hours just to get customer service.

Review:  There are powerful tools and wide access though the system is complicated and there is no support whatsoever. Hard or impossible to contact and lately even impossible to create a ticket due to their not so intelligent AI bots.

Review:  Absolutely everything else. The Account Homepage is a mess to navigate if you have sub accounts. Between my English and USA account the site structures are different (that makes 2 messes). CS is a non-responsive disaster, and if you get an answer, most of the time it is a counterquestion by someone who did not understand the problem anyway. Now waiting for already 30 minutes for someone to pick up the phone. There must be a lot corruption here as CNBC is repeatedly promoting Uncle Tom in interviews. So it is only a 1, even if the car is nice, a useless mechanic will be frequent trouble. The waste of time does not compensate for the low prices.

Review:  Every time I had to interact with their online ticket customer service, their response was deplorable. Long delay or no answer. And when they answer they ask more irrelevant questions to delay their action.

If not for access to great exchange rate, international trading, cheap option, cheap trading, cheap margin, lot of orders choice, I would have changed broker a long time ago. But I am still a customer until such time that their customer service antics push me over the edge of my patience.

Review:  I opened an account 15 years ago.
I was living in Singapore at the time and deposited from Citibank in Singapore. Now 15 years LATER THEY ARE ASKING ME TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF WHERE MY FUNDS CAME FROM WHEN I DEPOSITED 15 YEARS AGO!!!
THEY NOW TOTALLY refuse TO LET ME HAVE MY OWN MONEY AND I AM NOT ALLOWED TO WITHDRAW any funds!!!!
THEY SAY I CAN ONLY WITHDRAW TO ORIGINAL BANK THAT I DEPOSITED THE FUNDS FROM!
I HAVE NOT HAD THAT BANK ACCOUNT FOR 12 YEARS . i AM TRYING TO DEPOSIT TO MY CURRENT AUSTRALIAN BANK. I AM Australian woman.
THIS SITUATION IS KILLING ME WITH STRESS . I AM OVER 60 AND THEY WONT LET ME TAKE MY OWN MONEY OUT.
PLEASE NOT deposit ANY money with this evil evil company.

Review:  I use different IB platforms every day, e.g. Mobile, Desktop, Client Portal and WebTrader. Client Portal and WebTrader are the platform of website. Last year, I was charged the SnapShot fee but was sure that I didn't click any button or icon of SnapShot. I made an inquire to IB and they insist that I would be charged only if I used the SnapShot. Since the problem occured after I started to use Client Portal, I tried to stop using Client Portal. As a result, I haven't been charged the SnapShot fee until now. Recently, IB has sent a message to inform me that the WebTrader will be replaced by Client Portal in the future. Therefore, I have sent a message to IB and request them to fix the bug OR provide an option for us to 'Opt-out' the SnapShot. Then IB replied as follows:
"I do not see a 'bug' here. I do not believe you can 'opt-out' of the Snapshot.
If you do not use it, you are not charged for it."
What are the poor customer services! The respondent is so inpolite

Review:  Except for the product range and multi-currency the rest is pretty terrible.
Software is often buggy and over complicated. As for reporting there is tons of it and 90% of it is garbage, extremely difficult to see where you made a profit and when you didn't. There is no simple ledger where you see money going out to buy something and money coming in when you sell something except on the TWS trades tabs and that only goes back a few days so unless you write it down each day it scrolls off TWS trade tab after a day or two.
You can't figure out when dividends get paid to your account there are reports but they show the dividend coming and going the explanation is some cock and ball story about the report showing the declared dividend and then when its actually paid its removed from expected and credited. In other words you can't figure out WTF is happening to it and in general to your money.
The whole things is a mess. They cover it all up by saying its for professional traders. Well that's bollocks!

IB is basically suitable for buy and hold strategies, limit orders and not much more. Its usable because its cheap, it has lots of products and in all that cloud of mess they run you can just about figure out how to buy something and sell it and if you keep a spreadsheet you can figure out what your balance should be!

Review:  1) absolutely horrible client service. had multiple run-ins with them. Tried to withdraw money. I got one of the digits wrong. The money was sent to the bank which could not credit my account. On IBchat with CS for ages and I asked them to amend the SWIFT message which they refused. Told them to recall the funds on IBchat which didn't register with them. Waited for a few days and no one called until I had to contact them again and found out they did not take any further action. I am still waiting for my money. Literally their CS people have no accountability.
2) margin - their margin requirements fluctuates massively. one night I could have enough margin and overnight I could literally lose 50% of the margin. Their internal calculation is way off. I also have a Schwab account and their margin calculation is quite orderly.

If there is another platform with multi ccy and multi markets, I would switch away from IB.

Review:  Not the best platform out there but for international users is probably the best option. Their margin account is decent, 3x leverage with around 2.5-3% interest. If you’re in the US and trade only US equities you probably better off with TD or eTrade, otherwise it gets the job done.

Review:  If you’re an experienced investor then IBKR is a fantastic platform. Not the easiest to get started with, as evident from some reviews, but very powerful once you become familiar. The mobile apps for iPhone and iPad reflect that as well. Eg Complex multi-legged option strategies can be executed with it. Desktop TWS has more features still of course, but this is quite impressive for a mobile app. But probably not a good fit if you just want a simple UI with limited functionality.

Review:  BEWARE of Interactive Brokers. Had a very nasty experience today with iB. I profitted from the Oil Futures and wanted to withdraw my profit and funds, but iB lockup the funds under "Excess Liquidity" under US Commodities (Futures) account which I do not have any open position. When contacting the Support (Peter C), they try to be fishy and did not resolve the issue but gave excuses. Peter C was Rude and UNPROFESSIONAL. I suspect iB face shortage of funds for withdrawal and using all these techniques to prevent funds from being withdrawn. Now they disable all Chat features so that users could not contact them. What can I do to get back my funds? Losing trust in iB.

Review:  Their trading platforms and mobile app are the worst I have ever seen. They need to look at just about any other trading app to see how to make something that is actually usable. I trade on several different platforms and IB's is the worst. I regret the day I ever opened an account with IB. Do yourself a favor and go elsewhere.

Review:  I tried for 6 weeks to link my two accounts so I could see them with one log in. they were incapable of making that happen despite saying they could so I decided to transfer my accounts to a different brokerage. Now they are seemingly doing everything possible to stop that process and will not answer the phones. After a 2hour and 28 minute wait they picked up and transferred me twice with me hanging up an hour later. My next step will be to report them to FINRA to see if they can exert pressure to release me from their incompetent house.

Review:  Average of 40 minute wait time just to reach a live person and most likely India. Most of the work staff is based outside of USA.

Add New Interactive Brokers Review

Your Interactive Brokers Rating