Forex trading has the potential and opportunities that very few markets provide to both newcomers and experienced individuals. For this reason, it has emerged as a profitable investment that is also worthwhile in the eyes of countless Indian investors. Each year millions start their forex trading experience with the help of properly regulated, experienced, and genuine forex brokers such as Interactive Brokers. This Interactive Broker India review is meant to address those forex traders who wish to know more about the benefits and potential risks of forex trading in India with Interactive Brokers. Let us begin our review with the most important aspect of forex brokers that you can count on.
Regulation and Legal Information
Without knowing the details about whether a brokerage company is regulated or not, forex traders cannot start trading forex or any other asset legally. One of the most prominent things about being associated with Interactive Brokers is knowing that it has several years of experience in forex markets. Interactive Brokers is a NASDAQ-listed brokerage company that was founded in 1978. In addition to being a constituent of the S&P 500, this company is also compliant with the guidelines provided by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and 8 other regulatory agencies. Users of this platform are protected under the laws of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
To have a full overview on the broker, visit the IB website.
Unique Features of Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is known in the industry as a solid brokerage company equipped with a noteworthy track record in terms of legality, transparent operations, and expert management of traders’ portfolios. Following are some of its features that make it a unique forex broker to use:
- Segregation of client funds is a priority of this forex broker which keeps those funds safe and accessible to its owner.
- As mentioned earlier, Interactive Brokers operate as a genuine company that releases timely earnings releases at the end of each quarter.
- When it comes to listing requirements, this broker complies with all legal procedures required to do so.
- To improve security features and protocols, Interactive Brokers allows third-party security audits to expose and mend the weakness in its trading environment.
- To help users’ Robo portfolio and other such requirements, they offer the services of Interactive Advisor. It is a robot portfolio unit of the main forex broker.
- Just like Interactive Advisor, there is Probability Lab supporting options traders and a PortfoioAnalyst to help traders with portfolio optimisation.
- Interactive Brokers also provide an excellent support section that can help clear doubts arising in an interested forex trader’s mind. Their FAQ section is full of knowledge regarding every single process occurring on the platform. If need be, clients can also get their queries solved via email, phone calls, and chat options.
- They have a significantly extensive section dedicated to research and education with the know-how of their platform. This section is complete with insight, academy, webinars, trading lab, videos, glossary, and even a calendar.
Tradable Assets Available
Upon opening an account with Interactive Brokers, traders get full access to several world-famous investment opportunities such as the following through a single integrated account:
1. Stocks:
IB SmartRouting gives clients of this platform low commissions for trading stocks on more than 80 market centres. Interactive Brokers provides an opportunity to earn extra income on fully paid shares held by traders.
2. Metals:
Metal trading with this versatile brokerage company comes with access to wholesale pricing without indulging in wholesale quantities at a low commission rate that starts with only 0.0015%.
3. Options:
Options traders get low commissions from $0.15 to $0.65 per U.S. option contract using Interactive Brokers. Clients can get access to more than 30 global options markets with several professional trading platforms and compatible tools.
4. Futures:
Interactive Broker provides low commissions ranging from 0.25 to 0.85 per contract in case of a Futures contract on its professional trading platform equipped with various order types and tools.
5. Currencies:
Clients of Interactive Brokers enjoy a 1/10 pip as a spread with deep liquidity and approximately 100 currency pairs. Professional trading tools with no hidden fees, makes this broker, one of the best in the industry.
6. Bonds:
Clients who access the bond marketplace get an extensive collection of fixed income securities without mark-up and spreads and low commissions.
7. ETFs:
With transparent shortable inventory and pricing, Interactive Brokers allows clients to benefit from some of the lowest financing rates when they deal with ETFs.
8. Hedge Funds:
Some eligible clients are also given a chance to participate in the Hedge Fund Marketplace that requires a minimum investment of $25,000.
Note: Traders are allowed to deposit 24 types of currencies to fund their trading account and start trading any of the aforementioned products. Currencies supported on Interactive Brokers are AUD, GBP, CAD, CNH, CZK, DKK, EUR, HKD, HUF, ILS, YEN, KRW, MXN, NZD, NOK, PLN, RUB, SGB, ZAR, SEK, CHF, TRY, and USD.
Types of Trading Accounts
The official website of Interactive Brokers indicates that account configuration for new clients is versatile and easy to understand. An IBKR account’s structure is fully equipped with features that are necessary for both individual traders and investors. According to an Interactive Broker India review, this broker offers 16 different trading accounts types that new users can choose. 3 for individual traders, the other 3 are allotted for retail traders, and the remaining 10 are perfect if you are an institutional trader.
Visit IB to have a full overview on the account types offered.
Trading Platforms Available
Interactive Brokers caters to a wide range of global clients who prefer to trade using the following trading platforms made specially to trade stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, and funds.
- Client portal
This one is a web-based application that acts as the perfect solution for checking quotes, placing trades, finding performance metrics, funding, reporting, and accessing account balances. The client portal of Interactive Brokers is a capable and trustworthy trading platform for all kinds of traders.
- Traders workstation
This particular trading platform is a signature desktop platform developed by Interactive Brokers for active traders and investors from over 200 different countries. Trader Workstation can handle multiple products that require power as well as flexibility.
- IBKR Mobile
For those who trade on the go, the IBKR Mobile is a dependable trading platform that acts as a perfect companion. The IBKR Mobile supports most iOS and Android devices (either smartphones or tablets).
- IBKR APIs
Interactive Brokers also provide their clientele with an easy Excel API for beginners and an industrial-grade FIX API for experienced users. There is also a TWS API is known to support several top features to help new users.
Other Important Information
- Minimum Deposit: There is no mandatory minimum deposit required by the Interactive Brokers on its different trading platforms. But it is better to remain on the safe side and trade with just enough amount in your trading account.
Visit IB for more details of required minimums.
- Commissions: This broker implements a somewhat complicated cost structure where new clients can choose between a fixed commission and a tiered one that suits high-frequency traders. Commissions available on Interactive Brokers vary with assets like CFDs, currencies, etc.
For more information visit Interactive Brokers.
Deposit and Withdrawals
Being a highly regulated and transparent company, Interactive Broker supports only a limited type of payment method for deposit and withdrawal and that is Bank Wire. Since this is an expensive form of fund management, many first-timers consider it a weakness of Interactive Brokers. In terms of withdrawals, each month traders get one free withdrawal. Any subsequent withdrawal from their trading platform comes with a fee depending on the currency involved.