Interactive Brokers Review

Haven't got an account from IB, but decided to give it up after reading so many bad reviews and plus my bad experience in opening account with them.
I handed in my first application online two week ago, I've uploaded my bank statement, Canadian driver license whatever they asked.
Got first rejection saying that I have to upload my Canadian SIN card photo copy since I'm currently living in Canada.
OK, I uploaded my SIN card and received the 2nd rejection, saying since I had a Canadian SIN then I need to reopen a new application and fill in "Canada" in residence field.
So I opened a new application and attached the same bank statement I've using in previous application, got 3rd rejection saying that my bank statement is out of date, actually the bank statement was from last month and I guess they didn't even open it for review.
So I replied them that the bank statement was the latest one and tried to upload it again.
Now, I've got my 4th rejection saying that they want a debit card statement not the credit card statement!
Don't even bother to apply again, after reading so many interesting reviews, absolutely disappointing.

IB trades against you (or the bank they use -- JPMorgan -- trades against you as they have unlimited Fed money to do it). I have traded thousands of trades with them and 10's of thousands of trades with other brokers over more than a decade (profitablly I might add) -- and the way the market recognies your entry with them again and again is rediculous -- they trade against you or the bank they use trades against you. Day trading with them is an absolute scam. You have to trade small and hold for longer periods to make money with them. Any broker that advertises how profitable their Fx customers are should be avoided -- just like the used car salesman that tells you how honest he is. They don't make their money on commisions, they make it on market making. The low rates are the bait. When you deposit funds with their bank then the name of the game for them is to move as much of your funds to their side of the ledger. They trade against you. They target active traders as these are the easiest targets I think.

2010-03-08 2Star It is impossible to reach customer service after market hours. If you have any problems during the market hour, deal with it yourself, because you will not get any assistance from IB. The quickest way is chat, but I have watied for over 30 min. during market hours. If you get anyone on the phone, they are always so dipressed.
Your stops will receive the worst fills and the system will freeze when volatily pick up. It may seem convinint to trade all markets from one platform, but it is not woth it. This truly is the worst brokerage experience we ever had. Stay away!!!!!!!!!!

I switched to IB from TD Ameritrade for the lower fee's a month ago and I couldn't be more disappointed. The Trader Workstation platform is terrible, it's unorganized and tough to navigate through, the charting is bad, you have to pay for just about any type of data, the Account Summary is downright shady, the list goes on... It will literally take you a month to get used to the platform. I've been trading for 10 years and have traded on TD, Etrade, and Scottrade as well and have never experienced anything like this. The Intraday Margin Requirements move to overnight 15 minutes before pits and exchanges close depending on what you're trading. They claim their "SMART Routing Multipurpose" is top of the line but I'm not getting fills like I did for years with other brokerages. I mostly trade Futures, some FX, and maintain a portfolio of stocks, and my results have suffered significantly. It honestly feels like they are trading against you. But the worst part about IB is their Customer Service. They are completely useless and disrespectful. If you're thinking about transferring to IB for cheap commissions, DON'T! It's not worth it.

The best platform ever . The customer service can improve a but nothing beats this fast and cheap service.

Hi there .this is the most worst broker platform i have ever used in my life .i traded UBS ,Baxter,hotspot and many other small platforms .it always hang out very complected and it coast you so much and prices don't reflect real market movement .if you enter a position you will always have a big draw down i don't advice any one to trade with them unless they do a proper correction to there behavior

IB is not only the worst broker but one of the worst companies I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.

I transferred money in to fund a CTA account. The day of the transfer they upped their min account size for CTAs thus stopping me from trading. Nice of them to warn me or the CTA himself.
No amount of reasoning from him (even though he brings lots of custom) would change their mind.
I therefore decided to transfer the money out to another broker.

It has taken me months and months to get the money (still haven't got it out).
The transfer was refused as they took 1/10th a cent out of my account saying it was an interest adjustment (I earned no interest on this account, nor should I have been charged anything - no positions were opened or closed).
I assume it was a rounding error in one of their systems.

So after weeks of trying to transfer the money, I transfered 1 cent less.
The transfer goes out but then gets lost as they didn't enter the correct account number.
The receiving bank returns the payment but IB can't locate it.

This is still ongoing.
No one seems to care and my complaints don't get answered.

They send vague messages on their internal message system, which is as bad as the rest of their site.
It's also a complete pain in the a** to login as they have a complicated security process that seems to expire and get confused etc. meaning I have a tough time logging in sometimes.

Overall a horrible experience and I'm yet to get my money back or be offered any apology or compensation.

Avoid like the plague.

Interactive Brokers has proven to be a sub-par broker and broker platform. I trade equities and currencies and their performance is worse than than the other broker platforms I use.
It seems like you get what you pay for, and their very cheap costs are nullified by their poor performance.
Also, "customer service" at IB is an oxymoron.

Everything in 1 place, great execution, great spreads, though their swap rate are not the best. I am using them for FX and stocks.

Interactive brokers are scammers. Stay away from these shady brokers. They will deactivate your account login just to have you call their customer support number.

Instead, when you call them, they attempt to sell you add-ons these you don't even need. Horrible experience. Much rather work with a real broker instead of these scammers. Buyer be aware.

Interactive Brokers has best execution and lowest commission / spreads. They are good at this. I only trade futures even currencies and thier commssion is lowest that help me make good scalp trades. Thier platform and customer service is okay or worse sometimes. But trust me, in trading execution and commission counts, anything else is just nice to have but not necessary.