Is Interactive Brokers free as of September 2024?
Interactive Brokers does charge a commission for real stock trading on US markets, so in this sense it is not a free-to-trade broker. However, it might still be a reasonable choice for some of you, as there are many other aspects other than commissions that are important when you choose a broker. If you wish to stick with Interactive Brokers though, then you will find the fees they charge below. Alternatively, you could check our article detailing the best zero commission brokers and how their apps scored in our test.
We should note that the payment-for-order-flow model, which is used by some zero-commission brokers to generate income (rather than relying on commissions), could potentially create a conflict of interest between you and your broker. This could result in trade execution (like routing your orders to specific market makers) that might be unfavorable for you under certain market conditions, especially when using market orders (as opposed to limit orders, which seem to be less affected).
Confused about fees? Use this tool to see what the commission fee of a specific stock trade would be at Interactive Brokers. To check and compare fees at other brokers, go to our main Fee calculator page.
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Overview of Interactive Brokers fees and charges
It's safe to say that Interactive Brokers's fees are low in general. They either don't charge a brokerage fee for things that other brokers do, or they only charge a small amount.
Here's a high-level overview of Interactive Brokers's fees
Assets | Fee level | Fee terms |
---|---|---|
US stock fee | Low | Fixed pricing: $0.005 per share, min. $1, max. 1% of trade value. Free for US clients choosing IBKR Lite plan. |
EURUSD fee | Low | Trade value less than $1 billion: 0.2 bps * trade value; min. $2 |
US mutual fund fees | Average | $14.95 per transaction or 3% of trade value, whichever is lower. There are also more than 18,000 funds with no transaction fee |
Inactivity fee | Low | No inactivity fee |
Interactive Brokers fees explained
Online brokerages in general charge much lower brokerage fees than traditional brokerages do - this is largely because online brokerages' businesses can be much better scaled: from a purely technical standpoint, it doesn't make that much of a difference for them if they have 100 or 5,000 clients.
This is not to say, however, that they don't charge any fees at all. They make money by charging you various rates for various actions or events. Usually you need to keep an eye on the following three types of fees:
- Trading fees - these are brokerage fees that you pay when you actually carry out a trade, like buying an Apple share or an ETF. What you pay is either a commission, a spread or a financing rate. Some brokers apply all of these.
- A commission is either fixed or based on the traded volume.
- A spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price.
- A financing rate or overnight rate is charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than one day.
- Non-trading fees. These are usually related to some operations you carry out in your account, such as depositing money, withdrawing money, or not trading for an extended period.
We compare Interactive Brokers fees with its closest competitors, Saxo and DEGIRO.
Interactive Brokers trading fees
Interactive Brokers's trading fees are low, which makes it suitable for you even if you trade often (i.e. several times a week).
Let's break down trading fees according to the different asset classes available at Interactive Brokers.
Trading fees
Interactive Brokers's trading fees are low.
Stock fees and ETF fees
Interactive Brokers has low stock trading fees.
US stock
|
$1.0
|
$1.6
|
$2.2
|
---|---|---|---|
UK stock fee
|
$3.8
|
$3.8
|
$3.4
|
German stock
|
$3.2
|
$3.2
|
$5.3
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Forex fees
Interactive Brokers's forex fees are average.
EURUSD benchmark fee
|
$13.3 | $10.9 |
-
|
---|---|---|---|
EURGBP benchmark fee
|
$13.3 | $10.5 |
-
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Fund fees
Interactive Brokers fund fees are average.
Mutual fund
|
$15.0
|
$0.0
|
$4.2
|
---|---|---|---|
EU mutual fund
|
$4.4
|
-
|
$10.3
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Bond fees
Interactive Brokers has low bond fees.
US Treasury bond
|
$5.0
|
$21.6
|
-
|
---|---|---|---|
EU/UK government bond
|
$10.0
|
$21.6
|
$3.2
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Options fees
Interactive Brokers's options fees are low.
US stock options
|
$6.5
|
$20.0
|
-
|
---|---|---|---|
US stock index options
|
$6.5
|
$20.0
|
$7.5
|
UK stock index options
|
$21.3
|
$37.5
|
-
|
German stock index options
|
$18.4
|
$8.1
|
$9.7
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Futures fees
Interactive Brokers's futures fees are low.
US micro e-mini stock index futures
|
$2.5
|
$30.0
|
$7.5
|
---|---|---|---|
UK stock index futures
|
$21.3
|
$37.5
|
-
|
German e-mini stock index futures
|
$8.6
|
$43.2
|
$8.1
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
CFD fees
Interactive Brokers has average CFD trading fees.
Apple CFD
|
$1.1
|
$4.1
|
-
|
---|---|---|---|
Vodafone CFD
|
$4.3
|
$10.6
|
-
|
Germany
|
$3.4
|
$11.4
|
$5.7
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Currency conversion fee
Interactive Brokers will charge a Currency Conversion Fee for all trades on instruments denominated in a currency different to the currency of your account. The fee is charged as the following: Trade value less than $1 billion: 0.2 bps * trade value; min. $2.
Margin rates
Interactive Brokers margin rates are low.
USD margin rate
|
6.3%
|
-
|
6.9%
|
---|---|---|---|
EUR margin rate
|
5.5%
|
-
|
6.9%
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Interactive Brokers non-trading fees
When it comes to non-trading fees, Interactive Brokers is a rather cheap broker.
Non-trading fees include various brokerage fees and charges at Interactive Brokers that are not related to buying or selling assets. This can be a withdrawal fee, deposit fee, inactivity fee or account fee.
Withdrawal fee
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0
|
---|---|---|---|
Deposit fee
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0
|
Inactivity fee
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Account fee
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Interactive Brokers deposit fee
Usually, brokers don't charge anything for deposits, and Interactive Brokers is no different.
Bank transfer
|
Yes | Yes | Yes |
---|---|---|---|
Credit/debit card
|
No
|
Yes
|
No |
Electronic wallets
|
No | No | No |
Deposit fee
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Interactive Brokers withdrawal fee
Interactive Brokers generally doesn't charge a withdrawal fee.
Bank transfer
|
Yes | Yes | Yes |
---|---|---|---|
Credit/debit card
|
No
|
Yes
|
No |
Electronic wallets
|
No | No | No |
Withdrawal fee for bank transfer
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0
|
Data updated on September 30, 2024
Interactive Brokers inactivity fee
Interactive Brokers does not apply an inactivity fee, which is great because your account won't be charged even if you do not trade for an extended period (like several months or years).
Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 60.0% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
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Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.