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


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Overview
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.	AvaTrade is a top-tier multinational broker with more than 7 financial regulators specialising in FX and options trading with their own proprietary platforms.
Best For
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	New traders looking for a more advanced forex and options platform Experienced traders looking to take advantage of their fixed spreads Experienced traders looking to trade FX options
Licenses
Financial Licenses Regulation Regulated Top-tier Licenses 10 Other Licenses 1 Provided by TheTradingBible.com Learn More	Financial Licenses Regulation Regulated Top-tier Licenses 6 Other Licenses 2 Provided by TheTradingBible.com Learn More
🏛 Financial Regulators
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)	ASIC (Australia) FFAJ (Japan) CBI (Ireland) IIROC (Canada) CySec (Cyprus) FSCA (South Africa) ADGM (United Arab Emirates) ISA (Israel)
The Good
High regulation Exceptional number of investment instruments (Above 100,000+) Competitive discount fees	AvaProtect feature for negative trades payback Great variety of platforms (proprietary ones, MT4 & MT5) Smooth platform experiences and easy account management Custom Options trading platform
The Bad
Complicated account opening process Platforms are not beginner friendly Narrow choice of deposit options (Mostly bank transfers)	Lack of variety in stocks, ETFs and bonds Expensive inactivity fees No multi-chart tools High trade minimums in all assets except forex
Status
Operational	Operational
Recent News
No fresh news at the moment. Check again soon!	No fresh news at the moment. Check again soon!
Key Data
⌛ Account Opening Time
1 day	1 day
📋 Documents Required
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.
📍 Year Founded
1978	2006
💳 Minimum Deposit Range
0	$100
💰 Payment Methods
Bank Transfer ACH (US only) Check (US only) Debit Card (US only) BPAY (Australia only)	Visa Mastercard Bank Transfer Paypal
💵 Account Base Currencies
23 - USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, CZK, DK, HKD, HUF, INR, ILS, JPY, MXN, NZD, NOK, PLN, RUB, SGD, ZAR, KRW, SEK.	4 - USD, GBP, EUR, CHF.
🗽 Available to U.S Citizens
Yes	No
❌ Restricted Countries
AF, SY, SO, SD, LY, NG, BI.	US, BE, IR.
📊 STP Account
Yes	No
📊 DMA Account
Yes	No
📊 ECN Account
Yes	No
Banking License
No	No
Debit Card
Yes	No
Assets
📚 Assets Type
Hybrid	CFDs
Total Asset Offering
173,105	863
Exchange Access
78	0
📙 Real Stocks
100,000	0
📙 Stock CFDs
0	626
📘 Currency Pairs
105	0
📘 Currency Pair CFDs
0	55
📗 Commodities
0	0
📗 Commodities CFDs
0	27
📕 Indices
0	0
📕 Indices CFDs
0	33
📔 ETFs
13,000	0
📔 ETFs CFDs
0	59
💸 Cryptocurrencies
0	0
💸 Cryptocurrency CFDs
0	17
📒 Bonds
60,000	0
📒 Bonds CFDs
0	2
📓 Options
0	0
📓 Options CFDs
0	44
📗 Futures
0	0
📗 Futures CFDs
0	0
Trading Experience
📈 Minimum Stock Trade Size
Variable - Fractions Allowed	Variable - From 1 to 100 units
📉 Minimum ETFs Trade Size
Variable - Fractions Allowed	Variable - From 1 to 100 units
📈 Minimum Crypto Trade Size
Unavailable	Variable (eg: BTC 0.01, ETH 0.1)
📉 Minimum FX Trade Size
$25,000 (0.25 lots)	$1,000 (0.01 Lots)
📈 Minimum Commodities Trade Size
Varies per commodity (eg: 1 Ounce of Gold)	Variable (eg: 1 ounce of gold)
📉 Minimum Bonds Trade Size
$1,000 for corporate/muni bonds, $1 million for treasury bonds	10 units
📈 Minimum Futures Trade Size
1 Contract	Unavailable
📉 Minimum Options Trade Size
1 Contract	10,000 FX Option contracts
💪 Retail Leverage
Unavailable	30
💪 Professional Leverage
Unavailable	500
✍ Customisable Leverage
No	No
🎲 Deleveraged Trading
Yes	No
🎓 Demo Account
Yes	Yes
📱 IOS App
Yes	Yes
📱 Android App
Yes	Yes
📺 MetaTrader 4
No	Yes
📺 MetaTrader 5
No	Yes
📺 cTrader
No	No
💻 Web trader
Yes	Yes
💻 TradingView Platform
No	No
💻 Proprietary Platform
Yes	Yes
📊 Multi-chart Tools
Yes	No
👬 Copy Trading
No	No
👫 Social Trading
No	No
🔑 Guaranteed Stop-loss
No	No
🔨 Trailing Stop-loss
Yes	No
Fees
💰 Inactivity Fee
None	$50 per quarter after 3 months of inactivity.
💰 Deposit Fees
None	None
💰 Withdrawal Fees
One free withdrawal per month, subsequent are $10 per withdrawal or equivalent	None
💰 Commissions
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	None
Spreads
📈 EUR/USD
Dynamic - From 0.1 Pips	Dynamic - From 0.9 Pips
📉 SP500
Dynamic - From 01 Pip	Dynamic - From 50 Pips
📈 GOLD
Unavailable	Dynamic - From 34 Pips
📉 TSLA (Stock CFD)
Dynamic - From $0.50	Dynamic - From $1.92
📈 XLK (ETF - CFD)
Unavailable	Unavailable
📉 BTC
Unavailable	Dynamic - From $137.31
Research and Analysis
⭐ Watchlists
Yes	Yes
🔭 Stock Screener
Yes	No
🗓 Economic Calendar
Yes	Yes
📜 Integrated Newsfeed
Yes	No
📡 Reuters Feed
Yes	No
📡 Educational Content
No	Yes
📡 Live Chat Support
Yes	Yes
📡 Video Tutorials
No	No
📡 Account Management
Yes	No
📡 Webinars
No	No