Interactive Broker has been around much longer than most forex brokers, and though out last 6 years that I have account with them, I used almost all of their services, to some degree or other. Actually, they provide one of the back bones of my professional trading career, so I might as well tell you what I personally find them good for and what to avoid.
Opening a new account would require $10,000 which is quite normal for ECN brokers, but certainly does not compare well to some recent forex brokers where you can start trading with only one dollar. Thus, you should already have some experience in trading before even considering risking such amounts and such broker.
For those that graduated to those advanced levels, they will discover fast executions and small spreads, unlike anything you can find among “market making” brokers. The margins required and maximum leverage on Forex products is set to 50:1 which may appear as very conservative to many who like to trade on 100:1 or higher, but even 50:1 is too risky for most professionals. I personally like to trade my large, monthly-expense-paying account at only 10:1 ratio.
The account you have with them is a universal account, which means you can trade almost any kind of financial instruments though it including stocks, futures as well as forex. However, I have to advise against day trading e-minis as their executions and slippage in that area is more inferior to some other brokers in their category.
Commissions and fees are on the low side. You can always find cheaper, but I find them to provide an excellent benchmark in that department.
Recently they raised their security for logging in as now clients have to put in additional info any time they open their trading platform. And that provides really somewhat of a headache for me since I like to log in and out of the platform many times a day.
Getting money in and out is well organized, and I never had a problem with wiring money out even though I use it almost every month. First monthly wire out is free of charge which alone can save you $25-$50.
All of these features make this broker one on the short list to consider if you want to trade Forex professionally. They are well represented in review circles and being a NFA member you can always check their past disputes online at the NFA site. Hopefully they can make your complex trading life somewhat easier….
You Might Want To Check These Out:
- Choosing a FOREX Broker
- Review of Oanda
- Forex Brokers: Assisting You with Your Trading Needs
- How to Choose Best Forex Broker?
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