Interactive Brokers

Best broker for shorting

I been with IB for about a year and they are the best broker for shorting. Good execution and customer service is good. They usually always have shares to short. Platform is ok but not great. Charts are not that good as etrade pro charting.

Kev2128

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Good Broker

I've been using IB for about a year trading US stocks, If you're trading anywhere from 1-2000 shares then this is the broker for you. They have fast executions, good borrows on shorts a stable system and of course great commissions.

If I have a question I use their online chat service and usually get someone on the other end within 2-10 minutes. All my questions have been resolved quickly and to my satisfaction.

I don't trade anything other than stocks, mainly large caps and small caps at odd times so I cant comment on their other services such as options, forex, etc, etc.

If you're trading penny stocks with massive lot sizes i don't believe IB is the right fit since they charge per share and not a fixed amount.

StockRfun

If You're Thinking Of Using Interactive Brokers, Think Again

First of all, these guys have no regard for their customers. They failed to exercise options worth $8000, supposedly as risk prevention. I am not an inexperienced trader disgruntled over a bad trade. If you understand how GIVING AWAY YOUR MONEY somehow protects your account, you are smarter than me. Note, I am not talking about market priced liquidations. I am talking about failure to exercise options of considerable value, and getting nothing in return.



Second, the Web Trader product is completely unreliable. I have actually witnessed it change terms of my order entry on its own. That is, it changed my sell orders to buy orders, and vice versa. This can prove very costly. In addition, the site constantly runs slow and frequently becomes completely unresponsive. It is almost amazing that this can happen at an online broker site.



Third, the company recently adopted a policy of "preemptive liquidation". This means that even if you are in margin compliance, they might still liquidate you if they think you MAY not be in margin compliance the next day. This is bad. Worse, if you call Interactive Brokers and ask them which positions they are concerned about, or which positions may be liquidated, they can't tell you. IB engages in this practice even at the same time claiming it cannot accurately predict future margin requirements. In fact, more times than not, in my personal experience, IB's pre-emptive liquidations have not only failed to reduce margin requirements, but actually served to INCREASE them.

Fourth, after putting up with this crap for too long, i tried to transfer my assets to another broker. Interactive Brokers was not cooperative with this process.



There are a host of other reasons to not use Interactive Brokers, and i will add to them at a future time.

Hankmia

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Too expensive

As good as many other brokers but their commissions are way too expensive for an active trader who deals in big volume blocks of shares. I've heard some people have managed to get their commission fees reduced but if I have to ask for a reasonable commission on my trades I'll just move on to the broker who offers it up front.

Saroq

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Still trying to find a better broker

I live in Australia and use IB mainly for my Nasdaq and NYSE investments. I am a long term investor who trades mostly long positions and shorts only selectively. For me, IB provides a great platform in TWS 4.0 to trade and quick tech analysis. Although if you're new to online trading, expect some learning curve here. Probably a week of hands-on learning and 8-10 trades and you should know your way around. Pretty easy to catch on.

Customer service is excellent too with local (Australian) support hotline and local transaction bank accounts (deposit in AUD-AUD).

Only word of caution is to be aware of the monthly account keeping fee of US$10 if the month's trade commissions fell below the US$30 mark. Depending on your volume, for someone whose strategy is buy-and-hold, you need to weigh this out.

Edam

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Terrible web platform and support

I have had accounts with them before and moved them to another low rate broker. Unfortunately I have an IRA account which is actively traded and have run into T+3 violations because of unsettled funds. So now this account is frozen only to trade with settled funds. The only Brokers who will let you set up a limited margin account with an IRA to avoid T+3 violations are TD america and Interactive Brokers. There is no comparison between the commission costs between TD and IB which is much cheaper particularly if you are scaling in and out of positions. So I have to suck it up and reopen an account for my IRA with them.

They do nickle and dime you on data charges and non activity. They also have a ridiculous rotating coding numbers system besides your user name and password you have to put in to access parts of your account. It is totally unnecessary and time consuming.

Their supports is the pits. It will take you longer to find their support number than boot up your computer and place a couple of trades with another broker. They really don't want you calling them. I really hate this company but they are the only game in town as far as low commission allowing trading with unsettled funds in an IRA. My cash accounts will stay at my other firm.

RAYGUN

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Amazing broker. Can't go wrong choosing these guys!

I read a lot of reviews before choosing this company, and I am glad I did. Super reliable, great execution speeds, and I personally like the TWS.

2 negatives is that if you want to use tick charts, you can't with IB because they don't provide market data tick by tick. Secondly, you will need to use another charting software if you are looking to do more than look at the volume and candlesticks...

Joethedaytrader

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Good not Best!

Seems to be a trustworthy company and service is good.

A bit of a learning curve on the trading platform though.

However, customer service could be better.

DavidC

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good broker but pricey

Had an account with IB and like the platform fine.. they had good borrows for stocks.. or at least used to.. been having a little bit of trouble with that lately. Added up how much I was spending in commissions and it was so ridiculous that I closed my account. If you actively trade then I wouldnt recommend this broker.. there are plenty of other ones out there that are much cheaper... and just as good if not better

Bhtrader

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Best out there

Great Execution

Great Commissions

Difficult to learn program

Much better customer service

TeeLee

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