Interactive Brokers Review Australia & Test 2023

Once you have done the necessary research and decided to invest some of your time and money within the online trading industry, you should be hoping to receive a welcome offer or at least a catered new customer experience when you are signing up. This will usually provide the perfect kick start to your career. With Interactive Brokers Australia, you will be able to open a free trial account within their service. This will allow you to determine the quality of their online service while not having to pay a cent to open an account.

You will also be able to make use of the IBKR Campus which has an academy, an insights page, a number of blogs and webinars, a trading lab, explanatory videos, glossary definitions and even a calendar for the trading year. The number of educational resources made available to new traders is one of the best within the industry. If you would like to see how it stacks up against competitor offers, head to our CMCMarkets review.

4.6/5

Interactive Brokers Bonds

T&Cs apply, 18+

Go to Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers Highlights

• No mark-ups
• Fully transparent commissions
• Treasury bills and more

When you sign up with an online broker, you will most likely be spending most of your time on their website and the trading platform that they have chosen to provide. We take a look at the usability of each to determine just how easy it is to get to where you need to be and make those trades. The Interactive Brokers review found that the website is very well designed with a modern layout making navigation a breeze. You can find the information you are looking for in a matter of seconds on the site.

For the trading platform, you will be using IBKR’s Trader Workstation or TWS. This platform is in line with some of the more conventional options out there, such as MetaTrader and cTrader. There is also a comprehensive client portal within their site which allows you to place trades, check balances and conduct some data analysis. All of these factors certainly provided a boost to the Interactive Brokers rating.

Each online broker will also offer a variety of accounts to cater to the different customers within the industry. Interactive Brokers has included a number of different accounts that you can sign up for depending on your circumstances. There are individual brokerage accounts that include both a joint and individual option. There are also trust accounts, advisor accounts, institutional accounts, administrator accounts and hedge fund allocators. These account types will depend on your specific circumstances.

IBKR Lite: Our Interactive Brokers review Australia also found two different account options for individual traders. IBKR Lite offers $0 commissions on US-listed stock and ETF trades. There are also no account minimums for this option.

IBKR Pro: IBKR Pro provides an offer for more experienced traders on the scene. You can access the SmartRouting system which allows you to take advantage of the $0.47 per 100 shares price movement against the industry as a whole. To see what accounts are available with other providers, head to our ICMarkets Australia page.

4.6/5

Interactive Brokers Bonds

T&Cs apply, 18+

Go to Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers Highlights

• No mark-ups
• Fully transparent commissions
• Treasury bills and more

Fees

Another important consideration to make towards an online service is the fees you are going to have to pay. Interactive Brokers Australia offers a large variety of trading instruments and the fees will vary according to what instrument you are using. There is a transparent volume-tiered pricing structure applicable to trades and this will depend on your transaction. There is also a fixed rate low commission per share price and if you are trading with US exchange-listed stocks and ETFs, you are eligible to complete transactions for free.

It is fairly common for an online broker to do this and the fees were in line with what you would be paying at other operators in the industry. If you are active on the US stock market, then Interactive Brokers Australia might just be the service you are looking for. Make sure to double-check how the tiered and fixed fees will apply to your account if you are making use of one of those services. To see how another broker’s fees compare, head to our Suncorp review Australia page to find out more.

When it comes to actually completing your online trades, you will mostly be using the broker’s trading platform to do so. It is fairly common for an online broker to offer a platform that is used by numerous other brokers, such as MetaTrader. You will also sometimes find an offer, such as Interactive Brokers Australia, where they include a trading platform within their service. With IBKR, you are able to make use of their Trader Workstation software. This is a flagship desktop platform designed for traders who are very active within the industry.

There is also an IBKR mobile app which allows you to trade and monitor your investment portfolio on the go with both tablets and smartphones. Our Interactive Brokers review also found that you can make use of their APIs in an Excel or txt format. There are few brokers on the scene who can offer this quality when it comes to trading platforms and account management. Just another contributing factor to our Interactive Brokers ranking.

There would be no use having this tremendous offer without having the necessary payment methods to back it up. Once you have opened an account with IBKR, you will find a variety of payment methods that are made available to you depending on where you are in the world. For Interactive Brokers Australia, you will be able to fund your account using bank transfers or by using the BPAY service. You will also be able to deposit some funds using your debit or credit card provided they are with VISA or MasterCard.

It is important to keep in mind that each payment method will come with their own processing times and you might find that there will be a delay when using a bank transfer. These payment methods are fairly disappointing when compared to the vast amount of support that is available with other online brokers. To get an idea of what we are talking about, head to our Nabtrade review to see what methods they support.

Another crucial aspect of our reviews involves taking a thorough look at the customer service that is on offer with each broker on the market. Our Interactive Brokers review Australia has determined that the online broker has put together an extensive FAQ page which even answered most of our experts’ questions. You will find information related to the entirety of their service on this page and it is accessible before you have opened an account. There are also video tutorials of various topics that are covered on their page.

IBKR has also put together a community forum where members can discuss any topics related to the service. You can also browse through some of their User Guides, Knowledge Base, Release Notes and Platform FAQs all from the website. If your questions still aren’t answered, you can contact the Interactive Brokers Australia team via email. There is also a contact number for telephone if you would like to speak to one of the customer service representatives.

There is a live chat option for customers looking to find support immediately and if you need to send any physical documents you will be able to post them to an address or make use of their upload system to get the documents sent over. Our Interactive Brokers review Australia team could not be more impressed with the amount of support that has been made available to the public and you will surely have any issues addressed fairly quickly while using their service.

When you are looking to make some transactions with the Interactive Brokers service, you will need to be aware of the regulations that they have to abide by and determine if there is any insurance in place on your deposits. Interactive Brokers is based in the US but has the jurisdiction to offer their service to a number of countries all over the world. In the states, they are a registered Futures Commission Merchant and are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Futures Association. That is enough support to know that you can trade with a certain degree of safety with IBKR.

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In terms of deposit insurance, your account will be protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation for a maximum coverage of $500 000. This is very impressive when compared with other brokers on the market. Your funds will definitely be safe, or at worst, returned to you if there are any mishaps with the Interactive Brokers Australia service. Be sure to check that your account is covered by quickly chatting to a customer service representative. To see just how other brokers compare, head to our Pepperstone review.