Interactive Brokers Vs. ActivTrader - Compare Trustworthiness, Capabilities, Fees and Legitimacy

Interactive Brokers is a global brokerage founded in 1978 that holds 11+ high tier financial licenses and provides discounted electronic trading services in nearly all the globe with access to more than 100,000+ financial instruments.

ActivTrades is a global broker founded in Switzerland in 2001 that specialises in providing CFDs on stocks, ETFs, currencies, indices, commodities and cryptocurrencies along with their own proprietary platform and MT4 & 5.

• Seasoned investors looking for a one-stop shop to cover a variety of needs
• Global investors who seek the most reliable discount service available
• Traders from intermediate to advanced level

• Beginner and intermediate traders looking for a simple and powerful platform
• Experienced currency traders looking to exploit the tight spreads
• CFD traders looking for an de-leveraged option to trade

• SEC (United States)
• FINRA (United States)
• FCA (United Kingdom)
• ASIC (Australia)
• IIROC (Canada)
• MNB (Hungary)
• BSE (India)
• CBI (Ireland)
• FSA (Japan)
• CSSF (Luxembourg) CSSF
• MAS (Singapore)

• FCA (UK)
• SCB (Bahamas)
• CSSF (Luxembourg)

• High regulation
• Exceptional number of investment instruments (Above 100,000+)
• Competitive discount fees

• Great and intuitive proprietary platform
• MT4 and MT5 offered
• Low currency spreads

• Complicated account opening process
• Platforms are not beginner friendly
• Narrow choice of deposit options (Mostly bank transfers)

• Asset offering is small when compared to similar competitors
• Commissions are charged
• Cryptocurrency trading is disabled during weekends

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• Valid identity document (Passport, ID Card, etc)
• Valid proof of residence document (Bank statement, utility bills)

All documents must be under the account holder's name.

• Valid identity document (Passport, ID Card, etc)
• Valid proof of residence document (Bank statement, utility bills)

All documents must be under the account holder's name.

• Bank Transfer
• ACH (US only)
• Check (US only)
• Debit Card (US only)
• BPAY (Australia only)

• Visa
• Mastercard
• Neteller
• Skrill
• Sofort
• Bank Transfer

AF, SY, SO, SD, LY, NG, BI.

US, CA, SY, IR.

$10 monthly after 1 year of inactivity.

Yes depending on method:

• Credit and Debit cards have a 1.5% fee

One free withdrawal per month, subsequent are $10 per withdrawal or equivalent

Only for bank transfer withdrawals (9 GBP each)

Commissions depend on market and residency:

• US residents are eligible for zero commission US stock trading. Else, for US stocks it is $0.005/share with a minimum $1 and maximum 1% of the trade value.
• European stocks have €3 minimum and 0.05% trade value.
• Forex commissions are volume based starting at 0.20 basis points of trade value or $2 minimum per trade, and going low as 0.08 basis points and $1.
• Options start at $0.25 per contract and go as low as $0.15 per contract.
• Futures start at $0.85 per contract and go as low as $0.25 per contract

Yes depending on asset:

• For European shares (excluding London) there are fees of 0.05% of the transaction value (minimum 1€) or 0.01% of the transaction value (minimum 5€)
• For London shares there are commissions of 0.10% of transaction value (minimum 1£)
• For New york and other international shares there are commissions of $0.02 per share (minimum $1)

Along specific commissions per asset there can be market data fees such as 1€ monthly for New york exchanges or others.