IMPACT App Review

IMPACT has really unique and easy-to-use tools to help your ESG investing. You can personalize your ESG goals and your portfolio is given an impact score based on how much it's aligned with your values. There are great educational materials about ESG investing, a robust ESG search function, and US customers can also donate through the app.

Personalized ESG investing goals

We really liked IMPACT's core feature, where you can personalize what ESG values are important for you when considering ESG investing:

1. When starting the IMPACT app, you can select which impact values are important for you. You can choose values like ocean life or pure water.
2. You can also select which business practices should be flagged. For example, you can flag companies that do animal testing or use large amounts of water.

Impact scores for portfolio & companies

To align your portfolio with the selected impact values, your portfolio is given an impact score, which can be either High, Medium or Low. 'High' means that your portfolio is well-aligned with your impact values.

Besides your portfolio, stocks are also assigned impact values. For example, you can see whether the stock you select supports your values or not.

The impact scores are provided by Refinitv and Truevalue Labs.

ESG search function

We really liked the 'Explore' tool that helps you find the best companies for your ESG values.

You can filter for stocks based on impact values (like ocean life) and industries (e.g. financials). If you filter for impact values, you will see US stocks that have the highest score in that value category.

Donation

Through the IMPACT app, you can donate to organizations. The app helps you to analyze the best organizations that fit your impact values. This is a really unique feature we have not seen at other brokers. This feature is currently available for only US customers.

There is also an initiative called 'Plant a Forest', which means that for every $1,000 you deposit, IMPACT will plant 25 trees. 

Carbon offsets

Another really unique feature of the IMPACT app is that you can offset your carbon-emitting activities.

This feature is available for clients in the US, Western Europe (clients under IB IE & IB UK), Singapore, and Hong Kong.

First, you can add your carbon-emitting activities or enter a specific amount of carbon (in dollars or tons) you want to offset. Based on your inputs, Interactive Brokers will transfer funds to the appropriate agencies, while you can track the number of tons of carbon that have been neutralized.

Swap stocks

The swap feature allows you to swap a certain stock for another stock, i.e. sell your existing stocks and use the money to buy new stocks. This feature works between stocks that are denominated in the same currency.

This feature allows you to easily swap a stock to another stock that better fits with your selected values.

ESG education

We liked that you can find a lot of great materials for learning about ESG investing. You can find these tools if you go to IMPACT's website.

For example, there is an ESG course provided by the Interactive Brokers Traders' Academy.

Interactive Brokers has low trading and non-trading fees. IMPACT charges zero commission for US customers when trading US stocks. There is no inactivity or account fee.

Commissions

Just like most US brokers, IMPACT provides zero commission for US clients when trading US stocks. Non-US clients can trade US stocks with a small commission.

 *Spot crypto trading is provided through Paxos. This feature is available for clients of Interactive Brokers LLC.

It’s important to highlight that there is no free lunch. When you trade commission-free stocks, most brokers earn revenue from payment for order flow. As a result, you get worse execution quality and a smaller price improvement than if you would use a broker that doesn’t earn revenue from payment for order flow, e.g. Fidelity or Vanguard. 

Interactive Brokers also earns revenue from payment for order flow when customers trade commission-free stocks. If this is an important factor for you, you can open an IBKR Pro account, which charges a small commission, but in exchange provides high-quality execution.

Other fees

Other fees are also favorable at IMPACT. For example, the first wire withdrawal each month is free of charge, while most brokers usually charge between $30-50 for each wire withdrawal.

The IMPACT app is user-friendly and well-designed. We also liked the search functions and wide range of research tools available. On the other hand, we were unable to find price alerts.

IMPACT is available both for iOS and Android devices. The app is available in the following languages:

Look and feel

IMPACT is a user-friendly and well-designed mobile trading app. You'll find all relevant features easily. 

Login and security

You can use a two-step login, which is safer than a simple login. Furthermore, if your device supports such features, you can also use biometric authentication for more convenience.

Search functions

The search function works well. You can just start typing the asset name and receive relevant search results. 

We also liked that you can select pre-categorized sectors, such as energy or financials. You can also search for impact values.

Placing orders

You can use the following basic order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

You can also use the following order time limits:

• Day
• Good 'Til Canceled

Research tools

There are multiple great research tools on the IMPACT app. For example, you can find analyst ratings, news, and basic research tools when clicking on an asset. 

However, we couldn't find any option to set up price alerts for assets.

IMPACT gives access to an extremely wide range of markets. From stocks to options, you can trade all asset types.

*Spot crypto is available for clients of Interactive Brokers LLC

Stocks and ETFs

Interactive Brokers grants you access to a wide range of stock markets. This includes major stock exchanges like the NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE), as well as minor ones such as the Warsaw Stock Exchange or Mexican markets.

You can also buy and sell fractional shares of a stock, which allows you to invest small amounts and still diversify your portfolio. Fractional shares are available for US and European stocks.

Besides stocks, you can also trade more than 13,000 ETFs at IB. This is a generous selection compared to other competitors.

Crypto

Clients of Interactive Brokers LLC can trade spot crypto, provided by Paxos. Only a few spot cryptos are available:

• Bitcoin
• Bitcoin Cash
• Ethereum
• Litecoin

Other products

To find out more about other available products at Interactive Brokers, read the relevant chapter of our full IB review.

If you would like to learn more about Interactive Brokers's service, check the following links:

Fees

Understand the pricing of stocks, ETFs, options, etc. in detail.

Safety

Check which financial authorities regulate Interactive Brokers and what protection you could get.

Account opening

See if you can open an account at Interactive Brokers, what account types are available, and how much you are required to deposit.

Deposit and withdrawal

Learn what deposit and withdrawal methods you can use and what they cost.

Trading platform & research

Interactive Brokers has other platforms and research tools you can use: Client Portal, IBKR Mobile, TWS, etc. Read about the usability and features of these platforms.

Customer support & education

Understand what customer support channels and educational materials are available.

Expert opinion

See what our experts say about the IMPACT app!

Gabi Lovas, analyst

It’s great that I can see the impact score of my portfolio and the values I support on the home screen, besides the usual information like return, holdings, and watchlist. I also like the news feed at the bottom of the screen.  When you tap the impact score, the app displays the subscores for the values you support and the business practices you flagged as unacceptable. Both can be adjusted easily. 

If you tap on a value, such as 'Company Transparency,' you will see the factors that were considered to give it a particular score, the best-scoring US stocks, and, best of all, you will see the top news on company transparency. 

The app uses ESG data from two vendors, Refinitiv and Truvalue Labs. Although they are among the top ESG data providers, these scores are only as good as the available ESG data and reporting standards. So I do my own research as well.

As for the trading platform, it is simple, even minimalistic with a clean design. With its easy-to-use features and a lack of complex tools, this app is suited for responsible, but casual investors.