The platform is good but beware of their call center, they are not at all helpful and won't listen to you. The training of the call center needs to be better. you lodged complaint and they ignored it. you were going nowhere fast. Pure arrogances, treating their clients badly and do not care about them.

I have been using Interactive Brokers for the past 4 years as a non-US resident, and it has been a reliable platform for investing in US and international stocks. I have not faced any issues so far, and I highly recommend it for both long-term investors and active traders.

Not great to trade on from the UK.
The website often logs you out after barely a minute or two and you have to keep logging back on.

Where you are on it the website is very slow, not a good platform for in-day trading due to this.
Time consuming and cannot action buy/sell's the moment you want to.

The account opening process was slow and overly complicated, with a confusing interface and endless forms. After waiting and completing everything, my application was rejected without any clear explanation, just a generic compliance message.
What really annoyed me is that after rejecting the account, it still takes several days to get your own money back, and they may even charge fees for returning it. That feels unfair and unprofessional.
Overall, poor communication, no transparency, and a very unfriendly onboarding experience. Definitely not what I expected from a “professional” broker.

I deposited $11,000 into my account 9 days ago . They stated I had to wire money into the account to help push along getting the account approved. The next day my application was rejected . 9 days later I still have not gotten my money back . This is a Nightmare. They will not send me back my money . I don’t know how to get my money back !? They put me on hold for 20-30 mins at a time . Customer service is the worst I have ever experienced. I’m begging to think they are going to keep the $11,000 I wired into an account that was never approved and closed. Please can some one help me ? Is this a Scam ? How do I get my money back back ?!

IBKR has very low exchange rates! $3 “flat rate”. Compare that with others who charge up to 0,25% This is important when you have ETF’s that pay monthly dividends in $.
However it’s a USA oriented broker. I had multiple problems, not being able to trade European ETF’s because of a missing KIID. However a KIID was readily available and with other European minded brokers I could trade in them.IBKR just didn’t bother. I actually had to upload the KIID to IBKR myself! Basically doing their job without getting paid for it. Be aware that this problem also affect brokers that use the IBKR platform!

The latest IBKR response (18-Apr-2026) is exemplary for how they treat their European customers. They point out that a KIID is necessary for European investors. This is true but IBKR doesn’t bother investigating if one is available. I had to tell IBKR multiple times a KIID was readily available so I could trade.

2025/06/02 11:51:52
Dear Mr.,
The addition of the KID has been requested from our provider. It will be available in the next few days.
Kind regards,
IBKR Client Services

2025/06/11 still can’t trade because missing KID/PRIIP

This product requires a KID in English or in a language approved for your country. Retail clients can trade packaged retail products only if an appropriate KID is available.

2026/06/11
Unfortunately, only the German KID was added by the provider. We have requested for the English version which should be available shortly. Apologies for the inconvenience caused.
Kind regards,
IBKR Client Services

05-01-2026
Sad to say but IBKR has not done anything about the KID trading problems. Can’t trade a new European ETF because of missing KID. It’s available for a while ofcourse and I can trade in it with other European brokers.

Below IBKR’s response (after I did their job and pointed out where to find the KID) I can finally trade in the etf!

2026/01/09 05:06:54
Thank you for contacting Interactive Brokers Customer Service.
We have checked the KID with the internal department. The trading should be available.

IBKR promises a lot of trading possibilities unfortunately not always true for European investors.
Apparently ibkr cannot go on the internet, go to the ETF providers website and get the kid where it is readily available!

frustrating to have to create an account just for looking into what stocks they have available. there should be a list available.

They are famous for their sky high margin requirements. They won't even let you trade Nasdaq Futures without having 35k+ on your account. Doesn't make sense at all. Plus, they have lots of hidden requirements for futures trading. They are not transparent at all. They hide the margin requirements for future trading. It is something separate from what you see in your account balance. Interactive Brokers can close your position any time at a very bad price. In this sense, they are literally scammers. I will withdraw all my money from and never ever use IB again. I am also telling all my fellow investors and traders how bad they are. Stay away from them!

Very good investment platform, very easy to use and a lot of financial instruments available, and the customer service works very well and they are very professional as well.

Efficiency, Transparency, Efective, Real-time transaction.

I use Interactive Brokers now since a year and I am very happy with the Broker!

I like the features and wide range of markets supported by IBKR. However, for money transfer into IBKR for investment, it is a nightmare. The current requirement on clients to use Telegraphic Transfer (Wire) to fund their account is both time-consuming and costly. For example, I have to TT to USA for depositing USD into my account in order to buy USD assets. This is not convenient for clients living outside of USA. Even though I have USD on hand and want to deposit it into the account without needing to convert my local currency into USD, I don't have a convenient and low cost means to do it. Using TT (Wire) to deposit could involve multiple charges from the banks e.g. TT charges from my own bank, Correspondent Bank charges for some intermediary bank. If I withdraw fund from IBKR with currencies other than my local currency, I would also need to pay my bank for Correspondent Bank charge because IBKR send me through Wire and most banks would charge for Correspondent Bank charge or even incoming remittance charges for funds coming from wire (TT). I would strongly recommend IBKR to open accounts of different currencies in a supporting country to facilitate local transfer of various currencies instead of requiring overseas transfers. At least to support common currency like USD in local banks (instead of requiring to wire to USA). Moreover, in terms of processing time, using wire transfer could also take longer time than local transfer. I might have missed a good chance of investment when my deposit takes a longer time to arrive at my account.

Almost never write reviews but needed a way to at least try and warn people STAY AWAY!

I've been trading Stocks, Complex Options and Futures for over 50 years. If the Trader Workstation features are over kill for an experienced trader like me, I can only imagine how overwhelming it must be for a trader with limited experience. The platform is so overly complicated even the Customer Service Reps / Technical Reps have a hard time understanding the trader's needs versus what, and how it offers. The company itself is in the nickeling and diming business, Even the most basic data feeds cost you money. More than one ACH transfer out cost you money. They put excessive holds on ACH transfers in (they basically use your cash for 4-5 days before they remove their hold). Good luck trying to find the customer service number on the platform or the website. When you finally call in, wait times are long and product knowledge is sketchy. STAY AWAY

Whenever there's trouble (cant access trade opportunities, etc.) support is never there. It's even worse talking to foreigners on the phone, unfriendly and unhelpful.

A nightmare to use. A slap in the face of non user-friendlyness. Support is joke. I tranfered a smaller amount, couldnt find regular ETFs without hazzle. No mission impossible trying to withdraw my saldo. They keep giving me wrong IBAN bank number from a town 30km away... Stay away from this hellhole of a site.

The complete package: get interest on money, invest in anything, anywhere from forex to crypto to equities. Lots of extra like stock loan programs and earn about 3.6% on funds held. Professional charting.

Terrible customer support. If you don't mind being left in the lurch whenever a problem exists, then sign up to their service. There is a phone number for them but absolutely NO WAY to get through to them as the call tree loops you round. So if in your trading, you have an urgent issue, that you need to discuss or you may lose money etc - then good luck to you. There is no way at all that you can get any support from them. They used to have an excellent customer support and answer within a few calls with knowledgeable and friendly people. They have taken all that away now and if you need help, you might as well ask your grandma what to do. IBKR are of no help whatsoever. If there is a 0 star I would give it. And to think that I used to give them a 5 star rating.

Awful broker for retail day trading. Locked me in a day trade as the price was falling, forcing a huge loss on me, to do a compliance review designed for company affiliates and restricted shares that didn’t apply to me, especially as I bought the shares I was trading though them off the back of news surfaced in their platform and they enforced it well before the threshold where the rule actually applies (even if it did apply to me which it didn’t) with no warning. Avoid at all costs. It’s genuinely shocking.

Thank you for professional support