Interactive Brokers
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Investing in financial products involves taking risk.

Vs.

FXCM
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77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

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

Updated Oct 20 2022

Visit

Investing in financial products involves taking risk.

Visit

77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

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.

FXCM is a global brokerage headquartered in the U.K that specialises in both retail and institutional trading with a comprehensive API offering. 

**The below information is provided based on FXCM EU LTD. For other FXCM entities, please go to the corresponding FXCM website for more information.

TheTradingBible.com is acting in a capacity of marketing affiliate for FXCM EU LTD.

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
  • Professional algorithmic traders looking to benefit from their comprehensive API offering.
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

2

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)
  • CySec (Cyprus)
  • FCA (United Kingdom)
  • FSCA (South Africa)
The Good
  • High regulation
  • Exceptional number of investment instruments (Above 100,000+)
  • Competitive discount fees
  • Comprehensive API offering with a variety of conditions and programming languages at no additional cost
  • Proprietary platform (Trading Station)
The Bad
  • Complicated account opening process
  • Platforms are not beginner friendly
  • Narrow choice of deposit options (Mostly bank transfers)
  • Lack of asset variety in their offering (over 463+ financial instruments)
  • Costly spreads when compared to similar competitors
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 1999
💳 Minimum Deposit Range
0 $50
💰 Payment Methods
  • Bank Transfer
  • ACH (US only)
  • Check (US only)
  • Debit Card (US only)
  • BPAY (Australia only)
  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • Bank Transfer
  • Neteller
  • Skrill
💵 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 - EUR GBP, USD, CHF.
🗽 Available to U.S Citizens
Yes No
❌ Restricted Countries

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

RU, US, CA, JP, SK, BE and more.

📊 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
173,105 447
Exchange Access
78 0
📙 Real Stocks
100,000 0
📙 Stock CFDs
0 341
📘 Currency Pairs
105 0
📘 Currency Pair CFDs
0 41
📗 Commodities
0 0
📗 Commodities CFDs
0 14
📕 Indices
0 0
📕 Indices CFDs
0 19
📔 ETFs
13,000 0
📔 ETFs CFDs
0 0
💸 Cryptocurrencies
0 0
💸 Cryptocurrency CFDs
0 22
📒 Bonds
60,000 0
📒 Bonds CFDs
0 10
📓 Options
0 0
📓 Options CFDs
0 0
📗 Futures
0 0
📗 Futures CFDs
0 0
Trading Experience
📈 Minimum Stock Trade Size
Variable - Fractions Allowed 1 Share
📉 Minimum ETFs Trade Size
Variable - Fractions Allowed Unavailable
📈 Minimum Crypto Trade Size
Unavailable 1 Unit
📉 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) Varies by Commodity (Eg: 1 Troy ounce of Gold)
📉 Minimum Bonds Trade Size
$1,000 for corporate/muni bonds, $1 million for treasury bonds Unavailable
📈 Minimum Futures Trade Size
1 Contract Unavailable
📉 Minimum Options Trade Size
1 Contract Unavailable
💪 Retail Leverage
Unavailable 30
💪 Professional Leverage
Unavailable 400
✍ 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 No
📺 cTrader
No No
💻 Web trader
Yes Yes
💻 TradingView Platform
No Yes
💻 Proprietary Platform
Yes Yes
📊 Multi-chart Tools
Yes Yes
👬 Copy Trading
No Yes
👫 Social Trading
No Yes
🔑 Guaranteed Stop-loss
No No
🔨 Trailing Stop-loss
Yes Yes
Fees
💰 Inactivity Fee
None

50 units of the account's base currency yearly after 1 year of inactivity.

💰 Deposit Fees
None

Yes on bank transfer withdrawals depending on location (from $10 to $40 on local currency).

💰 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 1.2 Pips
📉 SP500
Dynamic - From 01 Pip Dynamic - From 58 Pips
📈 GOLD
Unavailable Dynamic - From 41 Pips
📉 TSLA (Stock CFD)
Dynamic - From $0.50 Dynamic - From $1.04
📈 XLK (ETF - CFD)
Unavailable Unavailable
📉 BTC
Unavailable Dynamic - From $51
Research and Analysis
⭐ Watchlists
Yes Yes
🔭 Stock Screener
Yes No
🗓 Economic Calendar
Yes Yes
📜 Integrated Newsfeed
Yes Yes
📡 Reuters Feed
Yes No
📡 Educational Content
No Yes
📡 Live Chat Support
Yes Yes
📡 Video Tutorials
No No
📡 Account Management
Yes No
📡 Webinars
No No