Interactive Brokers
Is This Your Business?0.0
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Author: Kaitlyn Short
LAST UPDATED: June 27th, 2019
Founded in 1993, Interactive Brokers is a renowned brokerage firm that's won awards for its technology and specific services. The company is mainly known for two of its key features, international investing and competitive commission rates. They compete in various categories such as price, size, speed, diversity of products, and advanced trading tools. Today, the brokerage firm provides a comprehensive range of funds and securities for active and advanced traders. The company's portal offers more than 100 market centers in 24 countries around the world. The platform meets the needs of professional investors who don't require the additional educational resources and assistance to guide their investments.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- Convenient platform
- Secure transactions
- Mobile app
Convenient Platform
The brokerage firm offers an online trading platform, WebTrader, and an advanced, downloadable platform, Trader Workstation (TWS). Both platforms are offered at no additional cost to Interactive Brokers' clients. Users on WebTrader enjoy the ability to customize the entire page by selecting what they wish to view and how they'd like to view it. TWS, however, is the prime platform that investors and critics alike, tend to gravitate toward. It's an intricate system that trades numerous securities, funds, and global assets. It's perfect for market-savvy individuals who want a functional system to place trades, rethink orders, and manage their watch lists. Critics hail the system for its seamless approach and for the fact that investors can make trades straight from the platform. It's no wonder Barron's magazine awarded the firm 4.8 starts in 2015 for the Best Trading Experience and Technology.Secure Transactions
The firm's security features are also one of the company's strong suits. The account login feature requires investors to enter a code in order to log in. While it may take longer for users to access their accounts, the general consensus on this feature is it's a great way to garner some peace of mind.Mobile App
Interactive Brokers' mobile app has also garnered it great accolades. It's available on all popular devices and even on Nokia smartphones. Traders on the go can rest assured knowing the app will allow them to place trades, get quotes, and view real-time changes in the market. One of the greatest features of the mobile app is its full demo. It gives users $500,000 of playing money so that investors can experiment with placing trades and monitoring stock performances before trusting the app with their real money.The Bad
- Platform limits
- Account access
- Client support
Platform Limits
The two platforms that the brokerage firm offers are exceptional but not without their own downsides. The web-based platform, WebTrader, is exclusively for placing trades. While users can perform some research on the platform, it's very bare bones, where they can only access their portfolios and view trading positions. The downloadable Trader Workstation, on the other hand, provides a variety of data, but it can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate. This heavy learning curve is evident for anyone trying to use the platform for the first time and it can put off beginner and some intermediate investors. To make up for the confusing platform, Interactive Brokers began offering a more user-friendly version called Mosaic. Both platforms can run at the same time, however, this can create yet another element of confusion for beginners new to the brokerage firm.Account Access
Current users of the brokerage firm complain about their ability to easily access separate parts of their account, such as reports and statements. In order to access these parts, investors have to go into a separate account management section and log in again. This poses a major disadvantage to using Interactive Brokers since a lot of its competitors offer a more streamlined, unified system that allows users to access everything they need, in one location.Client Support
While the brokerage firm has positive reviews about most of its services, unfortunately, customer service isn't one of them. Many users complain that the customer service, via phone and email, is unreliable. Clients criticize the long wait times they endure after making a call before being connected to an actual person. Then, the representatives they're connected to tend to have difference experience levels and courteousness, which is another inconsistency in the brokerage firm's customer service.The Bottom Line
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