Interactive Brokers ACAT Fee Reimbursement
At this time, Interactive Brokers does not reimburse the account transfer fee (ACAT) for moving
a taxable or non-taxable brokerage account from another broker.
As an alternative, Charles Schwab will
reimburse you up to $100 of your broker’s transfer fee.
Balance transferred must be at least $10,000.
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Charles Schwab review.
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Overview of Interactive Brokers
Whether you’re a buy-and-hold investor, a day trader, or anything in between, Interactive Brokers wants your business—and it has a lot to attract it. This survey will judge the company in vital categories and make some recommendations for you.
Range of Investment Products
Traders at Interactive Brokers get a very large smorgasbord of assets to buy and sell. In fact,
it’s the longest list we have found in our many research studies: stocks (including both
penny stocks and over-the-counter stocks), ETF’s, closed-end funds, mutual funds, option contracts,
warrants, currencies, cryptocurrencies, precious metals, fixed-income securities, structured products, EFP’s, inter-commodity spreads, futures (including bitcoin futures), options on futures, contracts for difference, single stock futures, and IPOs.
We told you it was a long list. Oh, wait a minute, there’s more. Interactive Brokers also is one of the best investment firms on the market for trading international securities. In fact, it received top honors from Barron’s in this category. IB offers accounts denominated in foreign currencies plus direct access to many foreign markets. We found exchanges in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Israel, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and more. To trade on these exchanges, IB provides currency exchange.
Level II Data
Interactive Brokers customers get to use Level II data on the company’s very advanced desktop platform (more on that up ahead). This service does come at a cost, however. Data packages range from $3.50 per month up to $25.00, depending on the information you need.
Extended Hours
Interactive Brokers users can trade during the normal session and outside these
hours as well. The company’s Pro pricing plan pre-market period starts at 4:00 am (Lite pricing
plan starts at 7:00 am) and runs to the closing bell. The late-night session starts at the
closing bell and ends at 8:00 pm. That’s 16 hours of total trading for Pro clients.
Each security entered on the desktop platform displays its available trading hours. Interactive
Brokers does not provide any ETF’s for overnight trading.
Customer Service
US-based customer support is available over the phone from 7 o’clock in the morning until 7 in the evening, Monday through Friday. The company is closed on Saturday, but there is a Sunday session from noon until 6 pm. Online chat (for clients but not guests) is available during the week from 8 in the morning until 8 in the evening. Although the firm doesn’t have any branch locations, it does have a dedicated bond desk.
Because IBKR caters to international traders, there are phone numbers for customers in Canada, Europe, and Hong Kong. An e-mail messaging system is available to both guests and account holders.
Mutual Funds
Although Interactive Brokers is known primarily for equity and options trading, it does have the best selection of mutual funds. We
counted more than 30,000 from most fund families. On this list, most of the funds are no-load products; and there are roughly 8,300
that have zero transaction fee. All other mutual funds cost $14.95 per transaction.
Exchange-traded Funds
Interactive Brokers has jumped on the bandwagon of commission-free ETF’s, and all of them are now
free in IBKR Lite plan. The broker’s desktop software has an ETF screener.
Pricing
There are two commissions plans at the broker: IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro.
Both accounts can trade the same investment vehicles. So what is the difference
between the two? Commissions.
IBKR Lite customers pay no commissions on U.S.-listed stocks and ETF’s. However, Lite accounts
pay 1.00% more in margin interest.
Interactive Brokers does not offer SmartRouting to Lite customers. SmartRouting is the
company’s computerized order routing system that looks for the best available price as quickly as
possible.
Commissions for options are based on the amount of the premium and account volume. The commission ranges from 15¢ to 70¢ per trade, with a $1 minimum.
Mutual funds that aren’t on the broker’s transaction-free list cost $14.95 per transaction (or 3% of trade value, whichever is lower).
Foreign securities traded on foreign exchanges have their own pricing. Commissions tend to be a little higher.
The company’s minimum opening deposit requirement is no longer enforced.
Retirement and Education Accounts
Coverdell and 529 accounts aren’t available through Interactive Brokers. The company does offer UGMA/UTMA custodial accounts for minors who are U.S. residents.
As for retirement accounts, there are Roth, Traditional, SEP, and Inherited varieties. We didn’t find a SIMPLE plan. IRA’s follow the same policies as regular brokerage accounts for fees and minimums.
Margin
In addition to custodial and retirement accounts, Interactive Brokers offers margin accounts.
Currently, IB’s rates are the lowest in the industry, at 5.62%.
As for margin requirements, the broker-dealer follows Regulation T parameters, which require 50% as initial margin and 25% as maintenance. On short positions, IB increases the 25% to 30%. Stocks priced below $16.67 have higher requirements.
A nice service IB offers in this category is updated margin requirements on its trading platform for any ticker symbol entered (just click on “advanced” and then “Check margin” on the order ticket).
Updated on 12/2/2025.
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