Interactive Brokers Reviews

Complete piece of garbage platform. First off, the technology is absolutely awful -- the user interface is terrible (super hard to really do anything), the tech is old (looks like something from 90s), and their basic capabilities are severely limited (can't even look at your account activity without clicking 17 buttons or even use a somewhat workable app).

IMHO, they are just another extension of the crooked minds of Wall Street. They just put a suit on before stealing from their customers. Their options/margin policies are arguably criminal--allowing purchase of an option with same day execution **only if THEY THINK the option will expire worthless**. And then, once that changes, you cant buy that option anymore. "because of margin requirements to exercise". Even if you want to exercise the option at 3:59 PM, yourself. Or heck, SPY options can be executed til 4:15. But no.

The best thing about IB was the low commissions. However, now everyone has those so it's not really a differentiator any more. That said the platform is customizable and fairly easy to use after some practice. However, the customer service is weak. They take up to two days to get back to you and oftentimes the responses are vague or don't answer your question at all. I'd recommend if you're looking for a powerful trading platform and can mostly get by without customer support.

I am Financial Adviser and have been working with Interactive Brokers on my personal as well as my clients' accounts for 15 years. It used to be a cheap alternative for online trading with a very good electronic trading platform. They have always been bad when it came to the customer service. But recently things got worse and worse and worse. They do not follow industry standards on Margin Requirements for example. The customer service never properly answer any questions. And they are all too eager to make trades in your account to help benefit to their own traders. I am advising all my new clients to open an account with an alternative broker for the last year or so. I also advised older clients with an existing Interactive Brokers account to move their business to another broker.

My mother had her trust account with Interactive Brokers. When she passed, there was a dispute between family members that went before a judge to be settled. Even though we had a court order on how funds were to be dispersed, it took Interactive Brokers over six weeks to take action. Slowest people on the planet! No way would I ever leave my money with them.

IB is cheap. That is the only advantage. You get what you pay for. Service does not exist. You deal with callcenter employees who have no clue and no power to help you as a customer. If you ask for a supervisor they will put you on hold for 40 minutes and promise a callback which will never happen. The internal system is broken. They answer with text modules which sound like sent from a bot and which have nothing to do with your questions. Be warned: they do not return your funds and they will not tell you why even though you do not owe them anything and you just want your funds back. Better get Schwab, Fidelity, Scottrade or Ameritrade. They all are excellent in customer service and you can talk to a supervisor who will make it right.

The IA platform is a bit more difficult to navigate than other online brokers I've used in the past. So there was definitely a learning curve. They do provide ways to speed up this curve, however, and I've availed myself of them from time-to-time. When the going got too difficult, I contacted their Chat function and was very happy with the results. Overall, I think this has been a good move for me!