Is it safe to use Interactive Brokers?

Yes, it is safe to use Interactive Brokers. Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a multinational brokerage founded in New York City in 1978. Today, IBKR operates worldwide in 33 countries, including Singapore where all brokerages like IBKR are regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

How is Interactive Brokers fees so cheap?

Interactive Brokers is able to offer lower commission fees because they shave off free features such as customer support, and charge users for advanced features such as level 2 market data. Also, IBKR charges users for inactivity fees if you don't accumulate the required US$10 commission fees from your trades per month.

Can I buy Bitcoin on Interactive Brokers?

Yes, you can access cryptocurrency products such as Bitcoin on Interactive Brokers. You will be able to find a list of the ticker symbols on the Interactive Brokers website, e.g. BITCOINXB (SFB) for Bitcoin Tracker One, and use that to search for your choice of coin on the trading platform.

Who is eligible for IBKR Lite?

You will be eligible for an IBKR Lite account if you are a US-based user, or if you have a referral from an Introducing Broker.

How do I use margin on Interactive Brokers?

Before you start trading on margin, know that this could incur hefty losses and should only be used by very seasoned traders. To use maring on Interactive Brokers, you should first create a margin account instead of a cash account.

How do I change my account to an IBKR Lite account?

To change your account type, open your trading platform and go to "Settings", followed by "Account Settings". You will then be able to select another account type and submit that request for approval.

How much money do I need to open an Interactive Brokers account?

There is no minimum deposit to open an Interactive Brokers account in Singapore.

What is paper trading in Interactive Brokers?

Paper trading basically refers to a free demo account where you're granted a "fake" US$1 million in your funds to paper trade based on real-time market circumstances.

How do I withdraw funds from my IBKR account?

To withdraw your funds from your Interactive Brokers account, you will have to access the Client Portal website , followed by the "Transfer Funds" page, where you will be able to make a withdrawal request.

Compare the Best Interactive Brokers Online Investment Brokerages in Singapore 2024

Choose from MoneySmart's curated list of best brokerages in Singapore and Learn how to maximise returns.

What is Interactive Brokers?

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is an American brokerage founded in 1978 in New York City. Today, it operates in 150 markets in 33 countries trading stocks, forex, options etc.

Who is Interactive Brokers best for?

Interactive Brokers is best for Singaporeans who are already trading and investing frequently, and are looking to trade wider range of products across global markets.

Pros #1

Low Commission Fees

IBKR charges lower commission fees that start from $0.0005 per share, which is one of the lowest commission fees in the industry. When considering other types of assets like options, futures, and forex, IBKR's commission fees are also competitive. For example, IBKR charges $0.65 per contract for US options trades. This is lower than the commission fees charged by many other brokerages. Experienced traders who trade in higher volumes can get to enjoy even lower commission fees. For example, to qualify for the 0.050% commission rate for Singapore shares, you will need to have a monthly trading volume of at least S$2.5 million.

Pros #2

Attractive Rates

IBKR pays about 4.83% (as of September 7, 2023) of interest rates on instantly available cash balances, and has attractive margin loan rates ranging from SGD 4.951% to 5.951%.

Pros #3

#3 Worldwide Access

You'll be able to access a comprehensive variety of trading instruments and products – from stocks, ETFs, warrents, to futures, spot currencies, commodities, and more across 150 markets in 33 countries and with 27 currencies.

Cons #1

Minimum Deposit

For basic consumer accounts such as the IBKR Lite (only for US citizens) or IBKR Pro (you'll probably be using this), there are no minimum deposits nor minimum account balance to maintain. If you're eligible to open a margin account, there is a USD100 minimum deposit requirement.

Cons #2

Maintenance Fees

As with all brokerages, there are other fees you should take note of (listed below), such as Monthly Activity Fee, API fees if you require the Trader Workstation.

Cons #3

Complex Commission Structure

If you've just hopped on the trading and investing bandwagon, you may find IBKR's Tiered and Fixed regional commission fees and pricing structure a little more complex than that of Tiger Brokers' or MooMoo's.

For Beginners

If you're an average Singaporeans just starting to invest and trade, the IBKR website's amount of information, instruments, markets, fees and pricing structures may seem confusing at first sight. Here's a suggestion: click on the "Free Trial" and go for a paper account.

Learn To Trade

Interactive Brokers offers an educational platform called IBKR Campus with 5 different categories of learning materials – Trader's Academy to learn how to use the Trader Workstation platform, Webinars, and Insight for market news and analysis, Quant for technology news, and Student Trading Lab for educators.

Trading Platforms

There are 4 main Interactive Brokers online trading platforms – a website client portal, a desktop software called Trader Workstation which you will most likely use, a mobile trading app called IBKR Mobile, and custom trading APIs.

Step 1

First up, try out the platform with a paper account via the free trial. Visit the Interactive Brokers Singapore website, click on "Free Trial" on the top menu bar. Then, click on "Start Your Free Trial". Fill in your personal details, download the TWS, and you're ready to go.

Step 2

Once you're ready to open your Interactive Brokers account, simply scroll up and click on "Apply". You'll be prompted to fill in your personal details to apply for your Interactive Brokers account seamlessly.

Step 3

You'll then be prompted to verify your email address, after which you'll be led to sign in to the IBKR website Client Portal to choose your account type. If you're a Singaporean, you will be able to auto-fill the application via SingPass MyInfo.

Step 4

Then, verify your mobile number (to receive 2FA login codes). You'll then have to declare if you're a retail, accredited, or expert investor, declare your income and net worth, your investment objectives, and choose between a margin or cash account.

Step 5

Next up, the customer knowledge assessment. You'll have to fill up your knowledge and experience with each trading product for approval to trade. As your trading experience grows, you'll be able to add more trading permissions in your account settings.

Step 6

Now that you're done with your application, how to fund your Interactive Brokers account? You'll be receiving Interactive Brokers' custodian bank account information in your email inbox – along with a set of detailed instructions on how to make your first bank transfer, and how to set up subsequent standing orders.

Interactive Brokers Fees

Trading Product	Commission Fee	Conditions
Stocks, ETFs, Warrants	From US$0.0005 per share	Minimum US$0.35 per order with <300,00 share trades per month
Options	US$0.35 - US$0.65 per contract	Minimum US$0.35 per order if you trade > 200,00 contracts per month
Futures, FOPs	US$0.10 - US$0.25 per contract	Minimum US$0.10 per contract if you trade > 5,000 contracts per month
Metals	1.5 basis points of your trade value (US Spot Gold for example)	If your order is below US$500,000
Mutual Funds	Either free or €4.95 (for non-US residents)	Inclusive of regulatory and exchange fees
Spot Currencies	0.20 basis point of your trade value	If you trade <=US$1 million per month
Single Stock Futures (SSFs)	1 basis point (SGX SSFs, for example)	-

Interactive Brokers Trading Platform

Trader Workstation (TWS)

Interactive Brokers' flagship desktop trading platform is called the Trader Workstation (TWS) which you can download from their website. The user interface is more suitable for seasoned traders who already have a good grasp on the complex workings of a trading platform.

IBot

If you're a trading beginner, you might find Interactive Brokers' IBot pretty useful – it is basically a natural-language chat bot which answers your questions with relevant trading information. So, all you need to do is to launch a chat, type in your question, and view the answer.

Client Portal

Interactive Brokers' Client Portal is a website-based administrative and trading platform which allows you to conveniently access your account and trading information anywhere – so long as you have access to the internet.

Comparing IBKR Lite vs IBKR Pro Account Types

Account Features	IBKR Lite	IBKR Pro
Citizenship	For US Residents and individuals under the EmployeeTrack programme	For non-US residents
Commission Fees	No commission for US exchange-listed stocks and ETFs	Fixed or tiered commission fees
Account Minimum	No account minimum	No account minimum
Inactivity Fee	No inactivity fee	If monthly commissions are less than US$10, you'll be charged an inactivity/ maintenance fee of US$10 (minus your commissions)
Idle Cash Balance	Benchmark minus 1.5%	Benchmark minus 0.5%

Wide variety of tools and research resources

IBKR Campus

Interactive Brokers offers an entire online trading news, information, and education programme called the IBKR Campus – made up of 5 programmes listed below. The IBKR Campus aside, there's a Trader's Glossary, Calendar, and Short Videos tutorials available for all.

Trader's Academy

You will find theTrader's Academy on the Interactive Brokers website, and the courses are segmented into 3 levels – beginner, intermediate, and advanced – for you to learn about trading products, how to use the trading tools, risk analysis, trade plans, etc.

Trader's Insight

Interactive Brokers' Trader's Insight is almost like a daily news, expert insight and opinions homepage that you should keep up with to keep your finger on the pulse of global trade and economy news. Here, you'll find articles, market roundups, explanation of key market trends and happenings that are worth your attention.

IBKR Quant Blog

The IBKR Quant Blog involves niche content for quantitative analysts, such as programming, coding, APIs, data engineering and manipulation, excel, alongside relevant market big data news, machine learning algorithms, and more.

Webinars

Interactive Brokers also offer free in-depth webinars exploring topics such as "Bitcoin as an Investment Asset", opportunities in commodities, the future of e-commerce, etc. All webinars are scheduled, so you can mark out specific dates and times for topics you're interested in.

Students Trading Lab

Finally, Interactive Brokers has a free online programme for finance and computer science teachers to tap into – allowing students to experience real-world trading via individual paper trading accounts.

Trader's Glossary & Calendar

What is a floating rate? What are open contracts? What is T+3? Yield-to-Call? If these terms are new to you, or if you are a seasoned trader who just needs to verify the official meaning of these terms, visit the free Interactive Brokers Traders' Glossary on their official website.

Comparison of IBKR vs Saxo vs TD Ameritrade

Interactive Brokers	Saxo	TD Ameritrade
Brokerage founded in 1978 in New York City	Founded by the Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank	Founded in 1971, then known as Ameritrade. Later acquired by TD Waterhouse in 2006, and Charles Schwab Corporation in 2020
If monthly commissions are less than US$10, you'll be charged an inactivity/ maintenance fee of US$10 (minus your commissions)	US$0 Inactivity fee	US$0 Inactivity fee
You'll get to choose between fixed or tiered fees, such as US$0.0035 per stock, ETF, warrant; US$0.25 per options contract; US$0.85 per futures/ futures options contract etc.	0.08% commission for SGX stocks; 0.06% for US stocks; 0.6 pips for FX EUR/USD; US$3 for US stock CFDs; US$3 on US-listed ETFs; 0.05% on US government bonds etc.	$0 no commission fee for online stock, ETFs, options (US markets); US$0.70 per options contract; US$2.41 per futures/ futures options contract; US$7.44 for OTC online stocks
Trading Platform – Trader Workstation	SaxoInvestor, SaxoTraderGO, Saxo TraderPro	thinkorswim website, dekstop, and mobile
Education – Interactive Brokers offers a full fledge IBKR Campus online with materials for both beginners, intermediate, and advanced traders	Saxo offers trading courses, video tutorials, Saxo Insights, and Saxo Market Call podcasts	TD Ameritrade provides access to market news and insights on the thinkorswim platforms. If you're just learning to trade, there's a 5-week introduction to trading course online

Interactive Brokers Minimum Deposit

What is Interactive Brokers' minimum deposit? If you are a Singapore resident using IBKR Pro account, you'll be glad to know that there are no minimum deposits nor minimum account balance to maintain.

How To Deposit Money Into Interactive Brokers Account

How to fund your Interactive Brokers account in Singapore? Like most brokerages, you'll receive Interactive Brokers' local bank details in your email, after which you can follow the instructions and make a bank transfer with your portfolio number pegged to it. It will take up to 4 business days for your fund transfer to be completed.

Interactive Brokers Singapore Contact

Customer Service Hotline

If you're looking to contact the customer service centre, you can call the Interactive Brokers Singapore contact hotline at 800-101-3456 (toll free).

Summary of Interactive Brokers

In a nutshell, Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is an esteemed and globally-recognised multinational brokerage firm founded and based in New York City in 1978. IBKR is most suitable for experienced investors and traders who enjoy trading at higher volumes, across a wider range of trading products, instruments, and markets. The IBKR user should also enjoy optimising and playing around IBKR's several commission fee structures to their favour. Due to the trading platform's complex interface and IBKR's subscription-only advanced market data system, some experienced users may prefer to make use of other trading platforms to do their analysis before returning to trade with IBKR for a preferential commission rate and access to worldwide markets and trading instruments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to use Interactive Brokers?: Yes, it is safe to use Interactive Brokers. Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a multinational brokerage founded in New York City in 1978. Today, IBKR operates worldwide in 33 countries, including Singapore where all brokerages like IBKR are regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
How is Interactive Brokers fees so cheap?: Interactive Brokers is able to offer lower commission fees because they shave off free features such as customer support, and charge users for advanced features such as level 2 market data. Also, IBKR charges users for inactivity fees if you don't accumulate the required US$10 commission fees from your trades per month.
Can I buy Bitcoin on Interactive Brokers?: Yes, you can access cryptocurrency products such as Bitcoin on Interactive Brokers. You will be able to find a list of the ticker symbols on the Interactive Brokers website, e.g. BITCOINXB (SFB) for Bitcoin Tracker One, and use that to search for your choice of coin on the trading platform.
Who is eligible for IBKR Lite?: You will be eligible for an IBKR Lite account if you are a US-based user, or if you have a referral from an Introducing Broker.
How do I use margin on Interactive Brokers?: Before you start trading on margin, know that this could incur hefty losses and should only be used by very seasoned traders. To use maring on Interactive Brokers, you should first create a margin account instead of a cash account.
How do I change my account to an IBKR Lite account?: To change your account type, open your trading platform and go to "Settings", followed by "Account Settings". You will then be able to select another account type and submit that request for approval.
How much money do I need to open an Interactive Brokers account?: There is no minimum deposit to open an Interactive Brokers account in Singapore.
What is paper trading in Interactive Brokers?: Paper trading basically refers to a free demo account where you're granted a "fake" US$1 million in your funds to paper trade based on real-time market circumstances.
How do I withdraw funds from my IBKR account?: To withdraw your funds from your Interactive Brokers account, you will have to access the Client Portal website, followed by the "Transfer Funds" page, where you will be able to make a withdrawal request.